ROAD TRIP

August 25
ROAD TRIP vs. road trip
Our Road Trip was delayed a week due to a medical issue. This time it was my turn and not Jerry’s arm. Nothing major just a nuisance. So for Jerry’s birthday we decided to take a day trip. We headed to Yellow Springs OH. A place we have heard about for a long time but never had the opportunity to visit. The ride up was a long one, mostly back roads. We had a nifty little book that directed us to a Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs. That was our first stop. We stopped in at the bookstore to ask about the trails. The lady recommended one that lead down to the yellow spring – what an idea. Except part of the trail was closed and we had to back track. Oh, no, a Von Handorf going back the way they came! After the hike we headed in to town in search of some lunch. Town consisted of a lot of little shops, just like any trail town. We ate at Peaches Grille and then headed back home. It was good to get away for a day road trip.

August 28 – ROAD TRIP
Headed out of Dodge, aka Covington, about 6:45. We were aiming for 5:00 but someone had a late night out with his brothers and decided to ‘sleep in’ until 5:30. By the time we gassed up and got someone’s coffee and donuts it was about 6:45. We took the road more traveled and passed through OH, IN, IL, IA. The end of the 13 hour drive found us in western IA. In looking for a place to pitch our tent we discovered that most of the state parks in that area were still closed due to the flooding of a couple months ago. The road we were on was still sand bagged in places. The fields were still under water. We finally found Lewis and Clark State Park which has just opened three weeks ago. Still a major part of the campground was closed because of water in the sites. The campground was next to a lake full of water lilies (?). Sleeping was good but the best part was waking up at night and going out to see the stars, and the stars, and the stars. Hadn’t seen the Milky Way in a long time. How wonder-full. It was a good place to be even if we were in only little tent in RV City.

August 28 – Quickly we crossed over in to ND. Took a little jaunt to Sioux Falls. Another beautiful spot. I even went up on the observation tower, folks! A lot of water, a lot of falls, a good place to stretch our legs after becoming one with the van. We ended up in The Badland National Park for the night. We drove through a little rain late evening but resisted the temptation to spend the night in a motel. The sleep was again good. Many stars early on interrupted by a shower and a little thunder. This morning the stars were back. I woke up the guy in my tent and talked him in to getting up and going somewhere to watch the sunrise. If you never been to the Badlands put it on you Bucket List. It is indescribable. The sun coming up over the pinnacles was magnificent. After breakfast we took in two ranger talks. Anyone want to guess the topics? Geology and fossils – that’s right, folks. Talk about a rocky relationship…. We did have our first argument of the trip today. I thought it was Monday, Jerry tried to convince me it was Tuesday. Of course…he was right-again – but we did have to check our cell phones to be sure. Clair has asked us to stay in touch with the kids as much as we could. So today I called … Clair in Antarctica. From a high spot in the Badlands to The Ice. How about that! We left the Badlands and headed west again for a couple of hours. Our goal was Custard State Park. And we made it. Turns out you need reservations to camp anywhere in the park. So we had to call from the gate and take the site they gave us. Our first impression was not a good one. Kind of crazy looking spot. But we worked with it and now our tent is set up, there is a fire in the fire place, Jerry is munching on a mett and I’m getting chilly. Saw mountain goats – in our campsite today and a great horned owl in a tree within a stone’s throw – which we will not do. Heard that buffalo frequently walk right through our campground – not just one or two but sometimes a whole herd. Good sleep tonight? – I doubt it.

Just a short walk...

......
before dawn – streets are quiet - no exhaust fumes in the air just yet – only one cyclist passes – branches hang over the sidewalk - I reach my modest goal

dawn – is breaking between the houses of the city keeping it’s summer distance from the church steeple – heat waves already begin to rise in the air – the hill is more of a challenge now

early afternoon – a walk in the rain – no umbrella just feeling the rain, listening to the thunder and being aware of the lightening in the distance – feelings of childhood – looking for puddles to step in - smells of freshness – cool breeze last for a short time before turning warm again – steam rises from the sidewalk

I reached my modest goal

A Few Last Thoughts

Body Art – It was amazing to see some of the tattoos that visited the Center. Some were typical. Some you wished you hadn’t seen. Some were in color. Some were almost beautiful. There was one on the back of a woman that was fascinating. From what I could see it was a trunk of a tree those branches became arms of a woman, the branches were full of life i.e. birds, animals. There was the face of a woman above the trunk. I would have loved to have seen the whole thing or even to have taken a picture of it. Never having visited a tattoo parlor I can’t imagine how expensive these works of art are.

The Guest, Staff and Volunteers of the Rebuild Center – God bless every one of them, please.

Hats off to our traveling team - I was grateful and happy to be a part of it.
As far as the New Orleans adventure goes – Amen!

My Old Kentucky Home...

It is so good to be home.

Needless to say we spent a lot of time in the car yesterday. We left New Orleans at 4:30 a.m. on the dot. We arrived home at 8:00 p.m. (maybe missing the dot by a minute or two). Spent about 1 ½ hours in Birmingham picking up our van from the garage, taking the rental back to the airport. You can do the math. On the way to the airport while I was driving our van the check engine light came on – O, Good Lord, really? A call to the garage assures us that it was okay to drive. All my instincts and background said – you’ve got to be kidding? Everything else looked okay so we hit the road hoping and praying for the best. Well, I guess the Good Lord was just kidding (what a sense of humor …).

We ate a fast food breakfast sandwich in Mississippi (I think), we had lunch at a rest area just as we arrived in Tennessee and we snacked our way through supper.

We arrived back in Covington safe and (somewhat) sound. Hats off to Sisters Ruth, Claire, Dolores and Amanda. It was a good week, a little too short but still good.

There are still a few reflections rattling around in my head. Perhaps they will find themselves in the blog in the next day or two – perhaps not.

It is good to be home!!

Quote of the day from one of the guest

If you ain't got faith - you ain't got shit !

Toast Anyone ?

Here’s to our last day at the Rebuild Center - to the staff, volunteers who give so much energy, understanding and love

Here’s to the guest who struggle to survive day by day, sometimes hour by hour to maintain their dignity, their humanness

Here’s to those who donate their time, energy, talent to make the place a warm and welcoming one

Here’s to those who shared their knowledge and experience with us, helping us to understand -to question just why places like the Center need to exist and what our response needs to be

Here’s to the Sisters of Notre Dame who allowed us to stay in their home while they were away, giving us a comfortable place to return to in order to become refreshed and renewed

Here’s to Dan and the workers of the Catholic Worker’s House who mirror for us gospel values everyday in every way – how many people do you know who would offer a retreat for the homeless

Here’s to the men in Winn Dixie, the ‘big wigs’ who we happen to run in to who went above and beyond the call of duty with their friendliness and helpfulness

Here’s to Sister Ruth and her ability to navigate the streets of New Orleans – no small feat my friends

Here’s to Sister Claire, usually mild mannered and soft spoken, who learned that if she lowered her voice she could project loud enough for the guest to hear her as she called their name for the use of the phones

Here’s to Sister Dolores who really likes Butter Snap Pretzels

Here’s to Amanda, our NDA senior, who shared her energy with us and kept us smiling. But, really Amanda, the ‘old’ jokes got a little old real fast

Here’s to team work, cooperation, good humor that allowed things to work so well

Here’s to a safe trip home, good weather and awake drivers

Here’s to our God who manifests herself in so many glorious ways and allows us to be a creative part in the eternal scheme of things. Yeah, God – nice work!

Here’s to the fact that I did not lift a glass after every toast – at least not yet

So, what did today bring....?

Honestly sometimes I'm so tired I can't remember - but...

I helped Brian and Horace in the showers today. Okay, I wasn’t in the shower with Brian and Horace but I help them by cleaning the shower after it was used and providing towels, soap, etc. for the guests. There are ten shower stalls all together or maybe they are saunas in disguise. Can’t imagine trying to dry off in the heat and humidity trapped in those small compartments.
Horace is a guest that seems to help out around the Center whenever he can. Today he was sitting writing for a while. Finally he handed me two papers and told me he wanted me to have them. They were two prayers that he wrote. One prayed that God would give all doctors and surgeons the knowledge they needed to heal the sick. Now most of you probably know what has been going on with Jerry and his arm but I didn’t tell Horace. I don’t know if he knew or how he knew or didn’t know at all but his prayer certainly hit the nail on the head for me. So much so that it’s kind of scary.

After lunch today we took a driving tour with Sister Enid as our tour guide. We drove over to the Lower Ninth Ward. This was the area where there was so much devastation and death due to a barge breaking loose and breaking through the levee. Interesting to see the effort to rebuild. We saw the houses financed by Brad Pitt and Ophra. Houses each painted in bright colors. The design of the houses was all the same but they were made home by the individual colors and landscaping. Bright, bold colors – I look at these homes and realize that we (whoever ‘we’ are) have missed out on a sense of freedom of expression. We’re not the ones who are free folks – at least not when it comes to expression of exuberance.

And then….the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down ……for quite a while. It began while we were still driving back to the center. It was raining so hard that we sat in the parking lot for about 15 minutes hoping it would ease up – no such luck. We finally got out of Sr. Enid’s van and into our rental. We did not manage to run between the rain drops. We headed towards the gate of the parking lot when we realized that the street we needed to turn on to was flooded. Cars were passing on it with water up over the wheels. It had to be getting in on the floor of the cars. So we waited a while longer finally venturing out hoping for the best.

Home to a night of leftovers. Needing to clean out the refrigerator. Thinking about the adventure coming to a close. Hoping for good weather on Saturday when our journey once again takes us home. (of course that will include a stop in Birmingham for a game of musical cars.)

Okay, the computer just started doing something goofy so I’m hoping this posts correctly – if not, good luck! Otherwise - Good Night!