RVing With a Purpose

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

We left Letchworth State Park Saturday morning, July 19, after a wonderful visit.  Beautiful park, as was Watkins Glen.  We never knew the state of New York was so pretty.  Lots of woods, trees, and trails.  Outside of the big city traffic and crowds it’s a great, restful place to visit.

Just a few miles from Letchworth, is the little town of Mount Morris.  One of the town’s claims to fame is that it is the birthplace of Francis Bellamy, the author of the original Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.  His childhood home is located on Main Street as is a mural commemorating the Pledge of Allegiance.  So, we decided to check out the mural and town. While walking around downtown, we spotted a nice-looking steeple a few blocks away and decided to take a look.

We found what was previously a beautiful gothic Episcopal church but the sign outside said, Lamplighter Ministries. While we were outside admiring the church a gentleman walked up and asked if we would like to see inside.  Of course, we said yes since we like to tour old churches. When we entered the church, we were surprised to see in addition to all the usual accoutrements the walls of the sanctuary were lined with bookcases full of books – all hard cover.  We were taken into a room behind the sanctuary that was full of book publishing equipment.  A side room was a radio/pod casting studio.  The gentleman asked us if we were born again (YES) and told us his name is Mark.  We went next door to meet some of the people who work with him.  He had to leave to attend a funeral and we stayed and visited with one of the employees.  We learned that the gentleman was Dr. Mark Hamby.  Dr. Hamby is the founder and president of Lamplighter Ministries International.  There were many more books lining shelves in this building.  The books are for all age groups from children through 99 years old.  Lamplighter Ministries, according to their catalog publishes a family collection of Christ-like, character-building books.  From the Lamplighter website – “Dr. Hamby has given new life to these 17th – 19th century rare stories which inspire readers of all ages to adopt the godly virtues that have now been etched into their awakened conscience.”  We were gifted one of their audio theater recordings for us to listen to while driving.  We were told they are used in a number of states’ home-schooling programs.  Everyone we met there seemed to believe in the ministry of “Building Christlike Character One Story at a Time.”  Click on the link above and check it out – and let us know what you think.  So, a beautiful church, a “chance” encounter with a very interesting gentleman – another God Wink?

After leaving Mount Morris, we headed to Erie, PA for the night.  However, as we love to do when we travel in BB, in the small town of Randolph, we stopped at a very nice produce market.  We bought fresh cherries, blueberries, corn and a tomato.  We have been enjoying it all.  Love fresh produce!! We headed on to the same Cracker Barrel we visited on the way to Bath.  Another quiet night with another enjoyable breakfast after a good night of sleep.

Monday, July 22, 2024

After enjoying our extended time at the Huddle and Bath, Thursday July 18 was our day to say our final goodbyes.  We did our usual morning walk, (try to get about 5,000 steps in the morning before it gets too hot) said goodbye and made our way to Letchworth State Park in Castile, NY.  We arrived before lunch and really didn’t know what to expect.  We had no reservations but had learned from some friends that it was a great park, and we would probably need a couple of days to do it justice.  Cost to enter park $10.00 which we had to pay before we could go see if there were any camp sites available.  We made our way to the campground check-in to see if there was any possibility of getting a site for a night or two.  We really were not very hopeful.  This is when the God winks began.  We walked up to one of the two windows to get some additional information about the camping and the park.  Of course, early in the conversation the ranger asked us where we were from (Seems we talk a little differently than most of his customers.)  Surprise, the ranger’s grandmother lived in Eva, AL, which is just a few minutes from where Anne worked at Cullman Internal Medicine.  So after visiting with the ranger for a bit, we learned that even though usually you must make online reservations at this park, they do usually have a few walk-up sites available after 3pm.  So, we could wait and see if maybe there was anything available at 3:00.  After a little more conversation about the park and things we should do there, the ranger said, “we have a hidden site that I can let you have for two nights.”  Seems the park keeps a few sites off their rental list to use for emergencies, VIPs or when they must move someone from another site for some reason. What are the chances that we would “happen” to walk up to a ranger in New York whose grandmother lived in Eva and we could have great conversation about the small German town of Cullman?  God wink one!  Anne began giving him all the necessary registration information when Max began talking to another camping couple who were in an Ekko RV.  By the time Anne completed the registration process, Max was in deep conversation about NOMADS with the couple.  They were newly retired (1 month) and are looking for some purpose for their travels.  By the end of the conversation, they had a brochure and instructions on signing up.  God wink two! Don’t know if they will join but we just keep sowing seeds.  God just asks that we be faithful in sharing Him with others.

After going to our wonderful camp site, we went to the visitor center for maps and to see the displays.

From there we began our viewing of some of the larger of the many waterfalls in Letchworth.  First, we visited the upper falls, 70 feet tall.  Part of the beauty of that waterfall comes from the arched rail bridge over the Genesee River. We climbed up to the rail bridge where we saw some of the remains of the old bridge.  However, for those of you who climbed the Watkins Glen steps, this was even more steps!  Next we hiked down to middle falls.  This one, 107 feet high and most afternoons you can see a beautiful rainbow in the mist.  Letchworth is pretty smart because they have an ice cream vender between the upper and middle falls.  Most of you know – we hike for ice cream! Oregon blackberry cheesecake ice cream is mighty fine.  Lower falls were a little harder to find.  Another 70 foot water fall.  After all that hiking it was time to return to our camp site.  It was a long and active day – 8.27 miles and 22,464 steps.  Time for bed.

The remainder of our time at the park, Friday and Saturday, we visited the Nature Center, Museum, the Mt Morris Dry dam, hiked some shorter trails and revisited the Upper and Middle falls and of course the ice cream vendor.

Sunday, July 21, 2024

The huddle officially ended Monday, July 15.  We have learned just how hard it is to say all the goodbyes and be able to get out of the campground on time so we now, along with many others stay over until at least Tuesday morning.  We had some work to do for Sheila and some things we still wanted to see in the area, so we stayed until Thursday, July 18.

Wednesday morning, we visited the First Presbyterian Church of Bath.  Wow! Some church history first.  This church formed in 1808 and erected their first little white church with a 100-foot spire at East Morris Street in 1825.  At the time it was the only church in Bath, NY and the first spire in Steuben County.  In 1853 the little white church was enlarged and remodeled. In the 1870’s the church was torn down, and a Venetian Gothic church built with native stone was erected in the same location.  The exterior of the church still looks much like it did in 1877 when the church was dedicated.  When church member, John Davenport, died in 1895 his brother hired Tiffany Glass Company of New York to remodel the sanctuary.  First Presbyterian, Bath, is one of five remaining churches with an entirely Louis Comfort Tiffany designed interior.  It is gorgeous.  Of particular note are the Tiffany acorn light fixtures, the geometric stained glass Tiffany windows and the detailed inset mosaics of the chancel rail and pulpit.  There are still original gas lamps that have been converted to electric, hanging in the sanctuary and narthex.  Pictures can’t really do this justice, but we took them anyway.  You should put this on your bucket list.  We are so thankful we saw the flyer that was in the campground office!   Currently they give tours on Wednesdays  from 10:00-1:00.

After the fabulous tour of the church, we visited the nice but small farmers market across the street.  The same park the Switch Crew clean up and placed mulch on Friday.  Good job crew!

Saturday, July 20, 2024

(This post was delayed because we have had almost no connectivity for the last couple of days.)

With our last post, we had just arrived at Hickory Hill Camping Resort in Bath, NY for a Switch It Up Huddle.  We arrived on Wednesday, July 10, a day before the Huddle began but many of our friends were already there. Jack and Mary, who were parked across the street, greeted us when we arrived.  We appreciated Jack letting us know that the area was currently under a severe thunderstorm watch.  Being in BB, (Beyond Blessed, our class B RV) it took us only a few minutes to be settled in our site and all was safe and secure before the storm arrived.  We thought we left that sort of weather in Alabama. There was no damage in Bath but we understand there were some tornadoes north of us.

After our Bible Study group meeting on Wednesday night, we were free to explore, rest and visit with friends until Thursday afternoon when the Huddle began. There were lots of hugs as we visited with friends we had not seen for a while.

We were ambassadors at this huddle, meaning we were responsible for greeting and shepherding seven of the first-time couples.  We had great fun meeting and getting to know our “newbies” and hope they enjoyed the huddle.  We look forward to meeting them again down the road.

This huddle in NY was another amazing experience and we thank Todd, Shelia, and all the rest of the crew for the great food, fun adventures and new friends.

After our opening dinner on Thursday night, we were up early Friday for breakfast and then off to work at our “give back”.  We had three projects for the village of Bath.  About twenty-five worked with us at the school, clearing a fence row – a long fence row.  Others worked downtown at the city park.  There one group worked painting a gazebo and another group cleared out around the trees and put in mulch.

We were all hot and tired but after lunch headed to Watkins Glen State Park.  What a beautiful area.  Just the drive from Bath to the park was so beautiful and when we began hiking the gorge it was amazing.  The hike was challenging, and the two of us made it harder by walking up and back down the gorge rather than taking the shuttle one way, but glad we could do it.  The entire Watkins Glen area is just so beautiful and if you haven’t been you should add it to your bucket list.

After sleeping really well after the give back and our hike, our adventure for Saturday was the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY.  We could have spent two days and still not seen it all. We particularly enjoyed watching some of the artists and visitors doing some glass blowing.

Saturday evening was the potluck where we always have a good time sharing great food. We finished off the day munching on popcorn and watching a movie on the big screen at Todd and Sheila’s RV.

The most important time of the Huddle is Sunday morning when we have worship. Dellynn, Jason and family provided the worship music followed by Shelia sharing the message from her heart.  You could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Hearts were touched.  Lives were changed.

We had one more dinner together Sunday night in the peaceful setting of a vineyard out in the country.  The hugs and goodbyes began Sunday night after dinner but Monday morning when we gathered for coffee and doughnuts there were hugs, tears, and pictures galore. We don’t know when we will be together again but…until then safe travels to all and we will keep you in our prayers.