November 2020 – RVing With a Purpose

Day One of 2020 Hattiesburg Work

Monday, November 30, 2020

The rain from yesterday continued during the night and it was still misting this morning. Of course we started the day with team devotion brought to us by Mary Ann. She shared with us the Parable of the Pencil which we may have shared with you in the past but it still a good reminder.

After our morning meeting we all headed to our first work assignment. It’s a house in the same neighborhood we worked in 2017, a neighborhood of small older homes many of which were flooded. A lot of work has been done on the house but there are still a number of things to be done. There are a lot of drywall repairs needed because there were electrical problems and the electrician had to trace looking holes cut in the drywall, but we began the repairs today. After looking over the entire house and work needed, we all began working on different problem areas and made some nice progress today. We are hoping to complete the house this week but we will see. All the drywall repairs will require taping and mudding and then time to dry between coats but with nine NOMADS working…

Daryl and Chris showing what needs to be done at Arledge St. There are several drywall repairs, trim to install, some kitchen cabinet work …

… and there are several doors to install …

Our assignement was to repair the walls in a half bath after a plumber had cut them to install some new plumbing. First we had to install new insulation …

Stel and Jodi worked on the living room wall.

Gene and Jim working on installing a kitchen sink.

After work we all came home and prepared for the cold weather arriving tonight. Our low is predicted to be 26 so it was time to bring in the water hose. Our friends from Pennsylvania are rather disappointed. They didn’t come south for 26 degree weather. Oh well, it will be warm soon. Hope you all have a great week. Stay healthy!

Thanksgiving Week 2020

Sunday, November 29, 2020

This Sunday was much different from last week. Today rather than 8 miles and over 25,000 steps we have barely over 10,000 steps. It has rained all day with very brief periods of misting rain. But more on today later. First let us catch you up on our wonderful Thanksgiving week.

Last Sunday we were in Gaffney awaiting our Monday appointment for Fred’s annual service. We checked in at the service center at 7:45 and they were all ready for us with the paperwork for our desired work already complete – annual service on Fred and generator, check for any recalls that were ready to be worked and schedule our service next year – Monday before Thanksgiving just like this year. Fred received a great report with no problems found and all work complete and was back in our campsite by about 1:00. We ran a few more errands after paying our bill and stayed the night at the service center. Tuesday morning we were on the way to see Randy and Debra. It was so good so see them. We had not seen them since Randy’s two week follow up after his heart attack so this week was especially special. Randy looks and seems to feel great. Just a reminder of how much we have to be thankful for every day! Anne and Debra always have fun planning our meals and cooking. The guys always have some project that needs work. This time it was the tractor and taking down some pine trees. None of the four of us ever left the property after we arrived until we headed to Hattiesburg, MS on Friday morning. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

A local store in Gaffney still has its gourmet food on sale

Max helped his brother fell a few dead pine trees.

We stopped for the night Friday night in a rest area south of Tuscaloosa on I 20 shortly before the MS state line. It had started to rain so we called it a day. It rained most of the night but by 7:00 am Saturday morning all the storms we to our east. It was a very easy drive on into Hattiesburg yesterday and we were able to get parked, set up at Oak Grove UMC and made a grocery store run before it began to rain again. It is still raining – 5:30 pm Sunday. Not a problem. We have enjoyed a quiet day, been blessed by our church service at Lester Memorial as well as the service at Oak Grove which we also streamed. Tomorrow we were begin our work repairing homes damaged by tornadoes. Please pray for the safety and health of our team.

We found a few rest area geocaches along the way

NOMADS in Hattiesburg for a few weeks

Hiking Lake Whelchel Trail

Sunday, November 22, 2020

It’s Sunday, so of course we started today with our live stream of our worship service at Lester Memorial. Great service! We will be so glad when Covid is history and we can all worship in person but are so glad our church will continue to live stream for those of us who can’t always be there in person.

Of course, we also enjoyed more of our goodies from Sunny’s Donuts for our breakfast today. Today’s treat was cinnamon rolls. YUM! Max also found another hike (we did eat cinnamon rolls) when he was looking for new things to do in Gaffney. Today’s hike was the Lake Whelchel Trail which loops around the lake that is the water source for Gaffney and the surrounding areas. The trail also happens to be part of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail that stretches 330 miles from Virginia to Gaffney, SC. The Patriots used this trail during the Revolutionary War Battle of Kings Mountain. The Lake Welchel portion was 8.5 miles of trail through a mostly wooded area with many ups and downs and roots and rocks. It was a very peaceful trail that today seemed to be used more by mountain bikers than hikers but we think it is a great hiking trail. It is scenic forest, similar to much of the north Alabama forests with views of the lake for much of the route. It took us just under three hours to complete and was a good workout. We are already making plans to do this hike again next year. It was another great day!

… but part of it is beside the road across the dam.

There are a couple of pretty stream crossings

When we are hiking in the woods we look for oddities – like this sweet gum tree wrapping around a pine tree …

… and this is probably the largest tree we saw today.

We Are Rolling Again

Saturday, November 21, 2020

We are on the road again! We spend the first part of the week getting the houses ready to leave again, all the laundry done and Fred ready for travel. There were also dental appointments and some shopping to do. Friday we headed to Gaffney, SC to the Freightliner service center for Fred’s annual maintenance. We arrived yesterday afternoon and are set up waiting for service Monday.

The Gaffney peach tower is almost as nice as the real one in Clanton, Alabama.

We didn’t notice this one little oak limb hanging over the roof when we parked yesterday evening. We did notice when the acorns started falling on the roof over the bedroom last night.

These acorns all over the ground should have been a clue.

Of course we made our required visit to Sunny’s Donuts.

Today we hiked a Broad River Greenway trail, a calm and peaceful, approximately 5 mile, trail running by the river. This Greenway is just about a 15 minute drive from the service center and we never knew it was here until Max happened to find it online this morning. The internet is such a great thing! It’s been a fun, relaxing day. Everybody stay safe!

The Up River Trail runs beside the river in the Broad River Greenway.