nomads – Page 4 – RVing With a Purpose

Quick Catch-up

Saturday, July 12, 2025

We have been really busy since our last post. These are the states we have traveled to or through since then: SC-NC-TN-KY-OH-IN-OH-KY-TN-NC-SC-NC-VA-WV-DE-PA-NY-VT.

We drove back to SC on Saturday after the close of our portion of the 2025 Constructors for Christ build. Sunday we packed BB for a quick trip to Middlebury, IN to have the glass that was broken by the mentally ill man in California repaired. We left South Carolina Monday morning, over-nighted at a Cracker Barrel in Shelbyville, IN, across the street from a Culver’s. Yes, we had ice cream for supper and Cracker Barrel for breakfast Tuesday morning. We arrived at the Coachman campground in Middlebury Tuesday afternoon. Several friends were also in the campground after they attended the Coachman rally, and we were so pleased to have time to visit with them. Wednesday morning right on time, our service guys, Paul and Jake picked up BB. They were finished by lunch! They did a great job and even cleaned off all the black tape we had put on the side of BB. We cannot say enough about the great care and service we receive from Coachman. When we have a problem, they are always extremely responsive and have us back on the road in short order. Nick and his entire crew are the BEST!

On the way to Middlebury we drove though this town and wondered why it was called Turtle Town, USA. You might want to Google that. We found it pretty interesting.

We picked up BB, and began our drive back to SC. On the way we stopped back by East Barbourville Baptist Church to see all the progress the Week 2 crew had made. We made it back to South Carolina on Friday, June 27th.

One of the reasons we stopped back by Barbourville was to see one of our friends who was not there on Week 1

They were making progress on the new building

And the Week 2 crew had all the interior walls framed and most of the electrical roughed in.

The front porch is being enclosed to make 2 more classrooms.

We had about a week to get ready to leave for Vermont for a disaster rebuild project so Anne and Debra decided they would use the time to visit the farmer’s market. We have some really good food in the freezer to enjoy this winter.

There were two boxes of peaches waiting when we returned from Indiana

The bushel of corn ready for the freezer

We don’t really like to be on the road on the 4^th of July so we waited to leave for Vermont until all those festivities we over. We took a more leisurely trip this time, stopping in Roanoke for a day of sightseeing and checking out the build site for next year’s Constructors for Christ project.

We also checked out Dixie Caverns Campground as a possible place to stay for the project.

One of the sites we visited in Roanoke was the famous Roanoke Star. We wanted to see it because of our family’s involvement in building and maintaining a large lighted star on the side of Pine Mountain in Remlap, Alabama.

While at the Star we decided to visit the little zoo there.

The last zoo we visited had a Red Panda, but it stayed hidden the whole time we were there. We were glad this one was not as shy.

This giant tortoise kept trying to open the gate. We wondered why until one of the keepers told us they occasionally took it for walks around the zoo.

We then drove some short days with stops at some really nice Harvest Host locations. They were all quiet and peaceful, off the interstate locations. We really enjoy Harvest Hosts locations. We have made some good friends!

First Assembly of God Harvest Host site in PA

Winn Hill Farms Harvest Host in Port Crane, NY

Living Waters Church Harvest Host in Saratoga Springs, NY

We arrived at Cabot, Vermont about 2:30 Friday, 7/11/25. We will be spending the next six weeks working to repair homes and doing some sightseeing. We will bring you along to see what we are doing.

Constructors for Christ 2025 Project

As noted in our previous post, we arrived in Johnston, SC on June 8, giving us just four days to “rest”, do all the laundry, move everything back into FRED, get both of us haircuts, wash BB, and probably other things we have forgotten, and be ready to roll in FRED Friday morning June 13. Randy led the way for us to make a rather long, slow trip to Barbourville, KY. There is so much construction going on from Helene and now I-40 is closed again due to mud slides making for a hard drive. We arrived at our campground Friday afternoon in time to get set up and then go to the church to see the job site and meet up with friends. It was such a joy to see friends we haven’t seen since this time last year. This year Constructors for Christ summer project will have teams in Barbourville for five weeks. There will be people from over 17 churches from many states. This year is also the 50^th Anniversary of CFC. Fifty years of building churches, worship centers, and fellowship halls each summer. It is an honor to be a small part of this work. We have been with the group since 2015.

Our RV sites for this project were at Thompson RV Park in Barbourville. It is a very nice city owned park.

This map of Constructors for Christ projects was made for this year’s 50th Anniversary.

Saturday morning we got to sleep in – 7:00am – because we didn’t have to be at work until 9:00. Anne and Debra worked, along with some other ladies, moving cooking equipment from the trailer into the church and setting up the kitchen and doing some general cleanup, before everyone arrived on Sunday. Anne and Debra were also responsible for the merchandise table again this year so they spent a good deal of time working on that. Randy and Max along with some other guys began working in the old sanctuary, leveling the floor and readying the site for the rest of the crew. This year we actually have two job sites that are next to each other. The old sanctuary is being converted into classrooms, and the new sanctuary is being built next door. Unfortunately, due to way too much rain this spring, the concrete had not yet been poured nor the metal building erected for the new sanctuary. Sunday morning we worshiped with the members of East Barbourville Baptist . Such a welcoming community! We then returned to our campground to ready ourselves for a busy work week – gathering up tools etc. Sunday evening we had our opening meeting and were able to reconnect with more friends.

Reorganizing the kitchen equipment trailer

The church members had done a lot of work getting the old sanctuary ready for us.

The laser level was used to make sure the new floor would be flat and level.

Monday morning and every other morning we were on the job site working by 6:00am. We had breakfast at 7:30, Lunch at 12:30 and Dinner at 6:00 pm. All the job site work was in the old sanctuary this week. As always, we were very blessed to spent a week in service with our friends and family. God is good!

As always, each morning started with prayer.

It took several team members to get it all up.

The first pieces of sub-floor were at the door ramp.

Once the joists were finished the crew started on the rest of the sub-floor installation.

When not involved inside, the crew members cut studs …

In addition to a lot of sweat, some people left their blood on the project.

When the youngsters weren’t working they taught themselves new skills.

The last piece of sub-floor being installed

The sub-floor was finished Friday morning

Since we didn’t put up any walls this time we wrote scripture on the floor joists.

Anne and Debra worked with the kitchen crew preparing delicious meals. (This is only part of the kitchen crew.)

This year several boxes of peaches were brought for the crew.

Randy addressing the crew after our evening meal.

The great news is that the concrete for the new sanctuary was poured Friday and should be ready for the erection crew to begin work on Monday. That means that our CFC crew may be able to start work on the new sanctuary sometime next week.

The concrete contractors were already at work when we arrived Friday morning.

The contractors had a lot of finishing equipment.

On Friday we finished work a little early so we went with Randy and Debra to see Cumberland Falls. It was a nice break from work.

2025 Spring Road Trip – 3 New States in 3 Nights and More

Thursday, June 12, 2025

We left the Switch It Up Huddle in Roseburg, Oregon mid-morning on June 2^nd and started a quick cross-country trip. We only had a few days to get back to South Carolina to prepare for our next mission project. We did, however, deviate from the quickest route a little to add three new states to our RV’d in map. By dropping down to I-70 from I-80, we were able to pick up Nevada, Utah and Colorado and yes, we spent the night in all three.

This is what we saw for several slow miles shortly after we left Roseburg.

Our drive allowed us to see many more snow-capped mountains …

After driving in mountains the next section of the country looked really flat.

The Eisenhower Tunnel was the highest point on our route at 11,158 feet (3,401 meters) and is also the highest vehicular tunnel in the United States.

That route also made it possible for us to visit a few iconic tourist spots such as Diamond Lake in Oregon, Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and, of course, Buzzard Belly General Store in Cisco, Utah.

We had not studied the route very much, so we were a little surprised when we topped a hill entering Utah and saw all this white.

But we took time to stop and take a couple of pictures.

The rest of the trip was state after state of Interstate highways and construction. We overnighted at 4 rest areas, 1 Walmart, and 1 Bass Pro Shop.

We were entertained by prairie dogs at one of our stops.

One of the rest areas we stopped at was infested with these giant Mormon crickets.

And a little ways dow the road they were all over the shoulders.

We arrived in Johnston, SC around 4:30 pm on June 8^thafter driving 2,940 miles in 7 days.

Our RVing map at the end of the trip. Only two states left. (We have been to all 50 states, just haven’t spent the night in an RV in New Mexico and Arizona. We probably won’t take our RV to Hawaii.)

2025 Spring Road Trip – Oregon Huddle

Thursday, June 6, 2025

After spending close to half the day at Home Depot making repairs to BB and trying to clean the glass out of the couch and floor without cutting ourselves, our hearts were not in any more touring in California. On the afternoon of May 26, we decided to return to Oregon where we had planned to be on Wednesday anyway. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and was a good time for us to wind down from the events of the day. We arrived in Roseburg late afternoon and were able to check into the site we had reserved for the Huddle, 3 days early, so we wouldn’t have to move again. Since we had been moving almost daily, we were looking forward to being stationary for a few days.

We were told that the person who designed and built this gate used to work for Disney.

Tuesday, May 27 we began the process of scheduling the repair of BB. We emailed Paul, one of our friends at Coachman and explained what happened. He was very helpful and by Wednesday we had an estimate for the repair and a time tentatively planned to get the work done. The folks at Coachman Class B Division are always so helpful. We also had to make a claim with the insurance company, Progressive, and get that process started. They have always been good to work with and we trust that this time will be no different. The rest of the day on Tuesday we just rested and visited with friends. The rest was definitely needed.

The Switch It Up Huddle began Thursday afternoon and it was great to see old friends and make some new ones. Friday was our give back day when we always do some work to leave the community better than when we arrived. This time we worked at a children’s center, improving the play areas and some landscaping on the front of their building. We had a great group of workers and we accomplished everything the agency had planned for us by lunchtime.

Adding the sand to one of the two sandboxes

Cleaning out one of the raised planting beds

Spreading gravel around one of the buildings

Raking and cleaning one of the playgrounds

The kids and staff presented our crew with this “thank you” banner.

Friday afternoon there was a painting class. There was a lot of laughter and visiting with friends along with learning more about painting. Anne says that she still has a lot to learn.

Saturday was a very busy day. We drove the Waterfall Highway to hike to some great waterfalls as you will see below. We would have loved to have more time at the waterfalls but we barely managed to get our deviled eggs ready for our potluck dinner that night.

Like many of the trails in the area, the trail to Susan Creek Falls goes through a burned area.

As always, the potluck was one of the highlights of the huddle.

Sunday we had a worship service with Todd and Shelia, always one of the highlights of the weekend. We had a wonderful catered dinner at a winery Sunday night. The setting was so peaceful, landscaping beautiful and food delicious. This was a smaller than usual Huddle, but because of that, we were able to get to know more new friends. It was very good. Monday morning is the hard day at a Huddle. We will probably never see some of the people again. Sad! It’s when we have to say “see you down the road” to our friends. We will see some of these friends at Talona Ridge (Georgia) in the fall but until then we will keep them in our prayers for safe travels.