RVing With a Purpose

Friday, January 4, 2018

Yesterday, it rained all day. Rain, rain and more rain. Reminded us of Lumberton. There were flood warnings, just like Lumberton. Lumberton, by the way, is still under flood warnings too.

There was a staff meeting at 9:00 that we attended for a little while. We were able to meet some new case workers and renew friendships with the ones we met last year. Charles and Daryl are still construction coordinators and they have added Eric who we got to meet. We learned that there are still about 100 homes that the conference wants to have completed by the first of August. We understand that FEMA has given that date as the final day for everyone to be out of the FEMA trailers. They’re counting on NOMADS helping finish up a lot of this work. There had several groups signed up to work January but now some have canceled. People are being called to work in so many other parts of the country. Baton Rouge really does need to be completed so people can move on to more recent disasters. After attending the first part of the staff meeting we returned to the rig and did some paperwork. We considered pulling out of Baton Rouge after the meeting and get a few miles behind us before dark. However, we really didn’t want to drive in the downpour. We decided to just make today a long day and spent yesterday in Baton Rouge. We got our grocery shopping done and rested.

Today we were pulling out of the Francis Asbury UMC parking lot at 6:00. We wanted to get over the I-10 bridge and out of Baton Rouge before morning traffic began and we were successful in doing that. We then took I-10 all the way across Louisiana and into Texas. Traffic was not bad and we were making pretty good time. We stopped for fuel in Orange, Texas. Had not heard of that town before today. It was then on to Beaumont, TX and a traffic tie up due to a wreck. The closer we got to Houston, the more traffic and the more road construction we experienced. And the road repairs are definitely needed. I-10 is in horrible shape through parts of LA and TX. In Houston there was a long time we were going 1.7 miles per hour. There was one area where we went from 8 lanes to 2 lanes. Talk about a mess! We left Houston on I-69 which became US 59. There was 39 miles of construction. Again badly needed but not a fun drive.

We stopped for the night in Edna, TX. It was only about 3:00 but we had been on the road 9 hours and we decided it was time for a break. We are at a Boondockers Welcome home and have met a very nice couple who allow RVers to spend the night in their driveway. The have been so welcoming to us, sharing information about the area and sharing fruit from their mandarin orange and grapefruit trees with us. We have had a fun evening making new friends and sharing stories of our travels. They have recently completed a Route 66 trip from beginning to end. For those of you unfamiliar with Boondockers Welcome, it is an organization of RVers who offer to let fellow RVers park for the night, or a few nights, at their house. In exchange, when there are traveling, they can stay at fellow members’ houses. We enjoy using a Boondockers Welcome site when it is along our route. It’s free, you meet wonderful people and it’s a lot more fun than a Walmart or Lowe’s parking lot. It was a long, tiring driving day – but a good day. And we made new friends.

January 2, 2018

The first part of New Year’s Day was spent organizing and putting away things in Fred as well as some book work. Then, since we are so close to everything in Tuscaloosa, we also decided to do a little shopping. Unfortunately, our purpose for the trip to Tuscaloosa, showing Mama Ruby’s house to a prospective buyer, did not work out. The gentleman was sick and unable to make the drive and rescheduled with Jim to visit the end of the week. We left Tuscaloosa for the drive back to the mountain about 3:00, leaving Fred at Mama Ruby’s.

This morning, we were at the courthouse at 8:00 and first in line for purchasing new tags. Fortunately it was a very quick procedure and after short visits with a few friends at the courthouse we were on our way. We stopped by the nursing home to see the LOL’s and say goodbye. They probably won’t remember, but we told them we were going to Texas for a mission project. The rain started shortly after leaving Oneonta. There was a short break in the rain so we were able to hook up the truck to Fred without getting wet. It was raining again as we drove to the interstate and it continued to rain all the way to Baton Rouge. The intensity varied greatly but it was always at least misting. About 1.5 hours before arriving, we hit fog. Most importantly, in spite of the rain, drizzle, and fog, we arrived safely in Baton Rouge about 4:30. Thank you, God, for safe travel!

Almost immediately upon arriving at Francis Asbury UMC, we met the new volunteer coordinator, Linda. Very sweet lady and we look forward to working with her this year. Glenda, who was our contact last year, retired. Hope she is enjoying retirement! We scheduled dinner tonight with Laraine, the pastor over all the mission efforts, including disaster recovery, of the LA conference. We met her at a new-to-us restaurant, Walk On’s. It is a local restaurant/sports bar with very good food. We will definitely ask the team if the want to return here. It was so great to see Laraine again. We had a wonderful meal together and a great time of conversation. Everyone is excited that the NOMADS will be back to work in February and again made us feel so welcomed. We are tired, but it was a very good day.

Monday, December 31, 2018

Happy New Years Eve! Please be careful everyone. We have been hearing fireworks exploding since early afternoon.

Yesterday was a cloudy day with rain scheduled to begin again in the afternoon. We went up to Helen’s and visited with Randy and Debra, Dave and Jennifer until time for church. We had one combined service at 10:00 in the sanctuary. It’s nice to worship in our sanctuary. Pastor Harvey challenged us with three questions that Mary addresses in her ‘Magnificat’ – Luke 1:46-55.

Do you fear God? Are you willing to be a disciple? Do you desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Questions we all need to think about.

After worship we went to see the LOL’s at the nursing home. Randy and the rest of the family were there as well. After visiting a bit, we headed back to the mountain grilled a steak for lunch and then did some more cooking preparing for our travels – baked spaghetti and chicken and dressing casserole. We learned that someone wants to look at Anne’s mom’s house on Monday or Tuesday so we worked hard all afternoon on the final packing.

This morning we were up and moving early because it appeared the rain would hold off until about 1:00, meaning if we were on the road by 10:00 we could get set up in Tuscaloosa without getting wet. Freezer packed, refrigerator packed. Final clothes. On the road by 10:30. No travel problems and the rain began about 30 minutes after we got set up. It’s been raining all afternoon and it continues tonight. Anytime the rain goes down to a drizzle we start hearing fireworks. Then the rain picks back up. We will head back to the mountain tomorrow afternoon. Alabama tags are purchased based on first letter of last name, meaning we have to buy our tags in January. You can’t by them early. So, we will be at the court house when they open Wednesday morning to get our tags, come back to Tuscaloosa hook up the truck and start our 2019 adventures. We are ready!

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Today started as a cloudy cool day but cleared as the day went on and we had a little sun. It became a rather pleasant day to be out working in the yard. We had a lot of clean up to do in Aunt Helen’s yard. We moved lots of fallen limbs, trimmed a few limbs away from the roof, cut a few trees that had sprung up in the flower beds too close to the house, repaired a downspout and cut some ivy back. We also cut and moved a few limbs around our house.

We are glad to see some of our ducks have finally returned. We have been watching for them since we came home. This morning when we looked out we found we have a male and female mallard and a male and female hooded merganser. The mergansers are diving ducks. Just when you get the camera focused just right they dive. They are larger than the mallards and leave a much larger wake when they swim. Of course we also saw the deer again today. We see them just about every day and evening. They are not very happy that we have invaded their territory. We think they are like us. Counting the days till we leave again.

We were glad we got to see Randy and Debra and David and Jennifer for a few minutes today. There are here for Debra’s family Christmas. Hopefully we will see them again in the morning for a few minutes.