RVing With a Purpose

Month In Review

Sunday, August 28, 2022

So… Another month has slipped away. It’s been a busy month and a hard month in some ways. The estate sale at Aunt Helen’s house is now complete and the house is now empty. We are thankful that project is complete. We have spent time cleaning out and then cleaning up. We are praying that God will bring the family He wants to have the house, to make Pine Mountain their home and be good members of the community. Of course, we want that to happen NOW, but… we know that God’s timing is perfect timing and that’s what we want.

Good friends that Anne worked with invited us to Destin a few weeks ago. As we were preparing to make the trip south, we realized we couldn’t remember when we had last slept in a house that didn’t have wheels underneath. They have a beautiful new home there where they can walk out their door, onto their deck and into their boat. It was a great weekend of visiting and catching up. Of course, we also had some great seafood and fun time on the water. So blessed to still have friends from the years at Cullman Internal Medicine. We plan to stay in closer contact since we both have plans to have extended time on the Gulf Coast. BTW, we were able to sleep just fine in a house without wheels.

We enjoyed some time on the water with our friends in Destin.

We attended at wonderful worship service on the beach before we left Destin.

We decided to take a few days “off” to celebrate our 40^th wedding anniversary in Maggie Valley, NC. We are so blessed! We were able to meet up with Barry and Donna on Saturday for a hike and lunch. We share the same anniversary day but different year. After lunch, while walking around in Cherokee, a large herd of elk walked out of the woods and into the town. The huge buck stayed in the edge of the woods for a while then began bugling, and shortly, all the ladies and children rejoined the buck and wondered across the parking lot and back into the woods. Such a treat to watch! We also got to meet some NOMADS for dinner on Monday night. It was a great few days of celebrating our 40^th.

In Maggie Valley we stayed at Stonebridge RV Park. This is the “brochure” style picture of our site.

This is the “reality” version. Our slideout was less than 6′ from our neighbor’s slideout.

However we did have this nice view out our windshield at our site

We had a delicious breakfast one morning at The Buttered Biscuit near Lake Junaluska.

We visited Soco Falls which is just a few minutes from Maggie Valley.

The trail to Soco Falls can be interesting. At least someone has left some ropes there to make it easier.

We visited Mingo Falls on our way to meet up in Cherokee.

We went to Mingus Mill to hike one of the trails after meeting up with Barry and Donna in Cherokee.

We chose the Mingus Cemetery Trail. Good choice.

The bull elk acted like he owned Cherokee and all its streets.

Some of the rest of the herd enjoying the river. A group of folks floating on tubes went by shortly before this.

We also took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped for a hike at one of the overlooks.

It is another rocks and roots trail typical of the Smokey Mountains

The NOMADS friends we visited are workcamping at Lake Junaluska so we hiked around the lake there after visiting them.

When in the Maggie Valley-Waynesville area you have to visit Mast General Store.

As we were preparing to leave Maggie Valley, one of Fred’s slides wouldn’t retract. Max was able to bypass the motor and get some help to push the slide in so that we could drive Fred and meet Randy and Debra for a few days of fun at South Cove County RV park in Seneca, SC. There we had fun visiting, resting, kayaking and of course eating. We played mini golf for the first time in a very long time. Oasis Ranch mini golf was different than any we have played before. There were water hazards with large fish, sand traps and all sorts of curves, inclines, and dips. It was also nicely shaded and lots of fun.

The view from our campsite at South Cove County Park

We really enjoyed kayaking with Randy and Debra.

Oasis Ranch has the nicest mini-golf course we have seen.

We left South Carolina yesterday and are now back in Red Bay, Alabama at Tiffin Motor Homes factory service center hoping to get Fred repaired this week. We are fortunate that we can live with the one slide in but sure will be glad when we have that added space again. We usually enjoy our time at Red Bay and have already returned to our favorite pizza place and visited with the owner there again, and then back to our favorite ice cream shop. Now if we can just get good news in the morning about the timing of our repair. It’s really not fun to have both RV’s in the shop. We will keep you posted. Prayers appreciated.

We’re Still Here – (In Alabama For Now)

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Wow, it’s been a month since we posted a blog entry. That’s about as long as we have ever gone without a post. But we haven’t been working on mission projects so not much has been interesting enough to blog about.

When we last posted we were both sick with COVID. YUK! We both had relatively light cases with none of the serious symptoms of shortness of breath or the like. But, we certainly would not have wanted it to be any worse. It took Anne about two weeks to be back to normal with Max a much shorter time. After returning to health we had a visit with family in South Carolina. While making one of our return trips to Alabama to work on estate stuff we were rear-ended while stopped at a traffic light outside of Atlanta. We were driving the van and now we are waiting for parts to arrive for the repair. Almost $10,000 damage but could have been so much worse. Most importantly everyone is okay. Unfortunately, no van meant we had to cancel our planned New England trip and NOMADS project in Maine. Maybe next year.

Randy installing a new storage rack and box on the van. If you remember, we installed one on the other door a few months ago.

And three days later this is what one of the rear doors on the van looked like. We think it would have been much worse if the newly installed storage box had not absorbed most of the impact.

We were able to go camping with Randy and Debra as they were learning more about their new-to-them travel trailer. They are ready to go out on their own but we will gladly go with them anytime! Always great to spend time with them. We had a good time at Modoc Campground which is a Corp of Engineers campground in South Carolina about 45 minutes from their house. We enjoyed camping by the lake and watching all the critters. We saw eagles most days as well as great blue herons and ospreys. It was a relaxing few days, although too hot for much hiking except early morning.

… and next to it Randy’s and Debra’s site.

We had some pretty sunsets at Modoc Campground …

… and a few afternoon thunderstorms. After all, is is summer in the south.

We really were not planning to stay in the hot south this summer, but…we make plans and God laughs. We stayed in South Carolina so we would be out of the way during the estate sale at Aunt Helen’s house. The sale was over last weekend and now they will be cleaning out what was left. Hopefully that won’t take too much longer and the house will sell quickly after that. We still have other estate work to do as well. Anne has also been busy with NOMADS work. We are staying busy but hope to be back to some fun travel soon. Hope everyone is staying healthy, safe and cool!

And to update you on this year’s Constructors for Christ project which finished up last week:

This is Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bremen during week 5 of the Constructors for Christ project. A lot of progress was made after we left.

The attendance stats for this years project

Click here to see a local TV news story about the project.

Constructors for Christ 2022 – Bremen, KY

Sunday, June26, 2022

Since our fun night at Christian Way Farm and Mini Golf, we have been camping at Horseshoe Acres RV Park in Bremen, KY. After getting Fred situated on the site, we headed to the job site for our build. We were disappointed to find that the rough plumbing and slab were not completed. As we have seen previously, where there are disasters, the craftsmen have more work than they can handle and sometimes you just have to wait. Interesting, the sermon Sunday was on building on a firm foundation, on the rock and not the sand. The new church must be built on a firm foundation so, we had to be patient and wait. The plumbers competed their rough-in work on Monday, and the concrete was poured Wednesday. While waiting, other work was done. Debra and Anne clean out and reorganized one of the tool trailers. Headers and tees were also built so the walls will go faster for the team next week. Thursday and Friday most of the wall baseplates were installed while we waited for the concrete to cure. Of course, Constructors for Christ is so much more than just building a church. We renewed old friendships – this is our eighth year to build with Constructors. It was great to share meals and catch up. Unfortunately, some team members tested positive for COVID earlier in the week. We had hoped to visit with some NOMADS friends in the area this weekend but we both tested positive Saturday. For now we plan to isolate here at Horseshoe Acres and figure out what we do next when we are feeling better.

It was very disappointing to see this when we arrived on Wednesday. We then realized Week 1 was going to be different this year.

At least the lumber was here when we arrived.

The church had these items sitting on the old slab.

These items from the old church building are still sitting the the front yard.

Randy and Max usually help layout and install baseplates on Saturday before the rest of the team starts work on Monday. This year we erected tents and set up equipment with the help of Anne and Debra and a few other team members.

We actually had to resort to reading the instructions to assemble one of the tents.

The first tent finally finished and anchored.

The second tent was erected on the slab to provide some shade in the heat and protect the saws and wood from rain.

We also helped Ray build a hand washing station for the crew.

Bethlehem Baptist Church is now meeting at Bremen Elementary School. We joined them for worship last Sunday.

Of course, each morning starts with prayer at the work site.

We were able to stay busy and make progress even while waiting for the slab to be ready. We cut the studs for the 20 foot high walls …

Concrete finally going in early on Wednesday morning

One of the great things about Constructors for Christ is that young people are encouraged to work on the job. We think it is important to teach the importance of mission work at an early age. This year Abraham was always eager to help and learn.

While waiting for the slab to be ready Abraham built himself a house out of fire blocks …

… or sleeping in a wheelbarrow in front of a fan.

Baseplates finally started going down on Thursday.

One of three baseplate crews working Thursday and Friday

While we were installing baseplates other team members were cutting fire blocks.

Normally team members write scripture on the wall studs. Since no walls went up this week they wrote on baseplates…

This year Anne and Debra worked on the build site some days. Most years they cook for the crew.

Sacramento Methodist Church opened their facility for our team to prepare and eat meals and to house some of the team members.

On Friday after work Randy and Debra drove us to Bells Run Baptist Church which was their first Constructors for Christ project the year before we started.

Pumpkin Planting Day

Wednesday June 15, 2022

Yes, apparently June 15th is Pumpkin Planting Day – but not for us. Keep reading.

Last week, we were back in Alabama, taking care of estate items, and other business. It was a busy week and we still haven’t had an estate sale. We are making progress but sometimes it seems very slow. Monday, we spent on laundry and packing, etc., and yesterday morning pointed Fred north fruitlessly looking for some cooler temperatures. (Actually we headed north for our annual Constructors for Christ project.) We stopped at Christian Way Farm and Mini Golf for the night – a Harvest Hosts site. This was a wonderful choice! We met two of the nicest people, Janie and Milt who own this beautiful farm. Their largest event each year is the Pumpkin Patch. They raise over 10,000 pumpkins each year and have many more visitors than that. This is in a small rural area of KY. They also have precious goats, cows and other farm animals. They do school tours, educating the kids on where their food comes from etc. What makes this place so very special though is that they share the gospel with all their visitors in such a special way, with a pumpkin seed. We suspect that for some it may be only time they hear about the love of Jesus. Special, special place. If you are ever in the area of Hopkinsville, KY, it’s well worth the drive off your route for a visit.

“Sowing Seeds for Tomorrow’s Harvest” is the true mission of the farm. They incorporate sharing the gospel in everything they do at the farm.

The mini-golf course was all farm-themed and looks like a lot of fun, but it was just too hot yesterday.

It was also too hot to try out the tricycle race course.

The farm has the largest Scrabble board we have ever seen. Might be a good place for a tournament.

These Fruitful Plates were some of our favorite items in the farm’s store. We particularly like the one in the lower left for self-control.

Janie cooked us some great bacon cheeseburgers in the Christian Way Cafe. We really enjoyed hearing her share the history and mission of the farm.

We enjoyed watching these baby goats out our front window this morning. They are small enough to climb through the fence, but stay close enough that if they feel threatened they can quickly climb back through to safety. In fact, we watched them climb through then go around to where the feed troughs were up against the fence, stick their heads back through and eat. That was easier than trying to work their way to the trough through the bigger goats on the inside.

Milt and Janie always plant tens of thousands of pumpkin seed on June 15th so they will be ready just in time for their fall pumpkin patch. It is their busiest time of the year. Milt has modified an old tobacco planter for the task. They started at 6am to avoid the heat, but it still took 6 hours to plant the 44 rows.

We will begin working in Bremen, KY this beginning this weekend. We will be building a church with Constructors for Christ and are really looking forward to seeing people we haven’t seen since last year. As with NOMADS, we have made some special friends in Constructors. We were hoping for cooler temperatures but the forecast looks only hotter, 95-100 degrees every day. Please remember our Constructor friends in your prayers, that we all work smart and stay hydrated, while serving the people of Bethlehem Baptist Church.