If ya snooze, ya lose, 2nd time this trip. Wed, Jun 20, 2007.

06/20/2007. Journal entry. (Road trip to visit family, continued. 2nd day of driving.) On this stop I was going to repent of chickening out at a certain gas station last year. I was going to intentionally visit the same gas station, and look up a person to whom I should have given material last year. It was the "missed opportunity" with a 50-ish lady cashier, between encounters #656 and #657.

My memory had gotten fuzzy. I thought it was a certain brand of gas station, but it was a different one. However, the main thing I remembered was its location, because it was exactly opposite the street from the gas station where I placed an LDS edition Bible.

I went in, looked around, and it was indeed the same place where that lady worked last year, but she was not there. So I planned on leaving a note with some material with the on-duty cashier to give her later when she came in.

I purchased something and asked the cashier if so-and-so still worked there. He said she moved out West a couple weeks ago.

It was everlastingly too late. Second time this trip.

Road trip. Hindi at gas station. Tue, Jun 19, 2007.

06/19/2007. 833. On the road to visit family. This was going to take a little over a day's drive. I could have made it directly in one day, starting early, and arriving late, but I'm not a morning person. Last year I took a mostly similar route, with many stops along the way.

I headed out around 4:00pm, figured I'd stop for supper at a particular Chinese restaurant I scoped out last year (but didn't actually eat at), and then drive until I got tired, stay at a motel, and end up at my destination some time Wednesday evening.

My first stop ended up being at one of the same gas stations where I stopped last year, but I didn't intend it that way. I didn't realize that I had been there before until I got off the Interstate and saw it. The cashier was a different guy, but spoke the same languages as the one last year, English, Hindi, and Punjabi. When I offered him free books from my church, he responded positively and said he wanted to read something about Jesus. He accepted Hindi and English copies of the Book of Mormon, and an English Gospel Fundamentals.

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06/19/2007. Journal entry. An exit or two down the road. Sub-title: "Ya snooze ya lose." This was a very humbling experience. Last year I found this Chinese buffet restaurant about an hour out of Indianapolis, but it wasn't meal time. I put it on my list to visit later. I was intending to make a special trip out there for lunch or dinner some time, maybe even take someone for a dinner companion, or one of the kids in the ward for an adventure. But I kept putting it off.

I found the spot all right. But it was closed. As I write this, I just thought that maybe they relocated to a different location in that town, and I can go back and find it. But at the time, I felt pretty rejected by my failure to act.