by Mary R. Snyder

Twelve days traveling old Route 66—the land of iconic motor court motels, remnants of old roadside attractions, and 2,500 miles of open road. It’s a road trip I’ll never forget.

I packed up the rental car, picked up my girlfriend, and we hit the road looking for adventure. We found it. From April 12–24, we drove through dust storms in Texas, across more than a thousand miles of desert, maneuvered our way onto a 1930s unpaved section of old Route 66, painted Scripture at Cadillac Ranch in Texas, and we rode a 1940s train to the Grand Canyon. 

We found adventure everywhere from the road to the rest stops. We slept in a teepee, a caboose, a 1930s motor court, and the 1920s hotel that housed the stars as they filmed Westerns. We stopped to walk the now-empty grounds and photograph the remains of roadside attractions that once beckoned people with promises of the biggest, the best, or just the most. It’s a fun place out there on the old road where it’s more about adventure than the destination.

While the old motels, ruins, and miles of history were all fascinating, it was the people who grabbed hold of my heart. We talked, laughed, listened, and shared. Their faces are still in my heart, and I pray they will remain there.

    • There’s the young, Navajo woman with a name that means brave and the California couple who are traveling across America on the back roads.
    • I listened to the stories of a 6th-generation Louisianan who now makes his home in an eclectic artist community in New Mexico.
    • I hugged a young girl who’s homeless but proud. I asked her about Jesus, and I pray that He is keeping her safe tonight.
    • I visited with a champion washtub player who won’t likely see another winter.
    • I chatted with a former astronaut’s wife and met more new girlfriends than I thought possible.

Connecting.

    That’s what Route 66 now means to me. It’s forgoing the high-speed interstate for the slower paced byway. It’s about the connections we make when we slow down and take time to engage with the people God places in front of us. 

God calls us to an adventure in faith. We (and this is me too!) get so caught up in figuring out God’s will for our lives that we miss the Route 66 adventure God has for us.

The Lord is placing wondrous sights before you. Are you missing them because your focus is on the destination rather than on the adventure in daily living?

Pull back, slow down, and ask God to show you the adventure in every one of your days. . . or rather, every minute within your day.

Ask the Lord to show you His will in everything you do from the simplest to the most challenging. God is right there—He wants us to experience abundant life in Him—but we can’t do that if we’re racing down the interstate and refuse to pull onto the road less traveled.

 

Mary Snyder’s busy blog is one of multiple ways crowds of women connect with this leader’s message of hope, joy, and adventure in Jesus Christ. As Premier Christian Cruises Girl’s Get-A-Way group coordinator, contest director, and girlfriend leader, Mary has a following that’s near, far, and across cultures. When she’s not cruising, she can be found at home with family near Birmingham, Alabama. Her first release from New Hope Publishers is God, Grace, and Girlfriends.