October 7 – “Being recognized”

We have made our way back to the Island.  Gotta love the smell of salt in the air when you hit the causeway.  Why back so soon?  Well, I agreed to a part in the program of a reunion for people who have at some time in the past been a member of one of the youth groups at First Baptist Church Galveston.  The event lasted the whole weekend, but we were just on the docket for the barbeque dinner last night.  Really good barbeque, by the way.

I made some good reconnections with some long-ago Little League friends, as well as a few others I remembered from my short tenure in the youth group back in the day.  I even got recognized by a most surprising individual – the caterer.  I approached him after the meal to let him know it was really good and I appreciated the work he and his crew put in.  He received the encouragement graciously, then responded, “Do you know how I know you?  I thought I recognized you.”  I was stumped, so he continued, “Didn’t you used to coach basketball?  A group of kids that were homeschooled?  It was several years ago now.”  Wow.  That’s a good memory.  I think he was one of the referees we had on occasion back in the day.  And “the day” would have been when Nathan was still in high school.  Now he’s … well, he’s well beyond that.  Small world.

Oh, my responsibility for the evening?  The organizers had arranged a candle lighting ceremony to remember the folks with a connection to the group who have died, both parents and youth group members.  They also mentioned Pastor Grayson Glass who was the one figure who seemed to bind each different group together.  After the lighting of the candles I led the group in prayer.  That was the first half of my job.  After I agreed to do that part, I was also asked to preach this morning in recognition of the reunion weekend.  Someone asked me last night if I had ever preached at First Baptist before.  I replied, “Once.  Back when I was eighteen.  Took me about five minutes, as I recall.  But it was on a Wednesday night.  Brother Glass would never turn me loose on a Sunday morning or Sunday night.  Too unpredictable.”  I can’t imagine why he would think that …

Psalms 104:2-4 says, “He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.  He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.  He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.”

Father, would you fill me with your Spirit this morning?  Keep me out of the way so these folks will see and hear only you.  Amen.

October 6 – “One-on-one”

The Waco arrival didn’t happen until a little after 10 p.m., so all the kids were already asleep.  It did give us a chance to chat for a while with Josh and Christi.  Kind of debriefed some highlights of that final harrowing short cut we had just been on.   I think we were all ready to get some sleep, though. 

The next day we remembered that we had purchased a gift for Christi’s birthday in that Ozarkland shop we were in (the one with the big metal chickens for sale).  But we didn’t have a bag to put it in, so we made a quick Target run (That’s kind of like a WalMart run in Galveston.  Target is about a mile from their house).  Right away, Chris found a bag and some of that frufie paper that sticks up out of it to hide the actual gift.  But then we had to do a little walking.  You know, get in at least a fraction of the steps we had been logging each day (when we weren’t stuck in the car for seven hours).  Lo and behold, she found a purse that she liked.  She’s been looking for one for at least a year.  And shock number two … she actually bought it.  This being on vacation has really gotten to her. 

In the afternoon we did a little babysitting.  I mean a “little” babysitting.  Josh was at work, and Christi and the boys went somewhere (Somewhere that included a place where they could each don a horrifying mask and then send me a picture addressed simply to “Hi, DadDad”).  That left AnnaGrace with us.  Tough job, but someone had to do it.  The highlight of the first half of our duty time was watching AnnaGrace deal with her babies.  When it came time to change their diaper, she ran into her room and came back with … a pair of winter gloves.  Can’t change a diaper without gloves.  Unsanitary and all. 

At one point Chris asked if I would keep a closer watch on the youngster while she went in the other room to hook her phone up to the charger.  A reasonable request since AnnaGrace had been scrolling through her pictures for a long time.  However, a few minutes after she disappeared, I realized that her phone was sitting on the couch beside me.  Hmm.  I grabbed it and walked in to see what was up, followed closely by my little charge.  I found Chris crashed out on the bed, snoring peacefully.  Uh huh. 

So now it was just the two of us.  I think I did pretty well.  We had sort of a modified tea party.  She brought in the teapot and a cup.  I picked up a stuffed dog with a really long tongue hanging out.  When she handed me a cup, of course I offered it first to the doggie.  Good manners, you know.  And he whipped that tongue into the cup and slurped his way to the bottom in about a second and a half.  And AnnaGrace, being the consummate hostess that she is, poured him some more.  We laughed and giggled as that dog drank up cup after cup from the never-ending teapot.  Next she disappeared into her room.  I waited in intense anticipation.  And soon she returned … with a sock.  One sock.  Purple, I think.  She sat down and held up her foot, so I slipped the sock on.  She then ran back into her room.  I assumed she went to get the other sock.  Silly me.  She returned with a shoe.  One shoe.  And she held up her other foot.  So I helped her get it on.  And she was pleased as punch.  Not sure how pleased her Mom was when she saw it, though, but hey, you left her alone with me.  We concentrate on the things that matter, not … shoes. 

Oh, and I almost forgot … I plugged in Chris’ phone.  Multi-tasking.

Psalms 104:1 says, “Praise the Lord, O my soul.  O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.”

Father, thank you for one-on-one kiddo times.  Amen.

October 5 – “Siri's Short Cut”

We wanted to go on some backroads that would take us through a slice of Oklahoma just so we could say we were there, but apparently Chris’ favorite friend Google Siri felt rather strongly that we needed to be on an Interstate for a while.  Hey, what can you say?

And speaking of interstates, I30 just happened to be under construction right where we needed to get through – just after we re-entered Texas.  Siri assured us it would only add five minutes’ drive time.  Wait.  She changed it to six.  No, five …

We did make it through the construction delay and headed ever further west.  The town we intended to eat supper in didn’t have anything appetizing on their signs, so we kept going.  An hour and a half later we finally made a desperation stop (read here, “bathroom”) at a McDonald’s.  But the lobby was closed for renovations.  So we went next door to Burger King.  Haven’t been to one of them in years.  Chris’ chicken was burnt.  My jr. bacon burger was passable.  I haven’t missed Burger King. 

Further on down the road we got another message from Siri.  Seemed Dallas was a mass of wrecks, and we needed to take a special shortcut she had prepared just for us.  It was indeed special.  We decided to get gas at a small town before we headed further into the wilderness.  We chose the station where a volunteer fire crew was filling up the tank on their ladder truck.  I shook the driver’s hand and introduced myself.  After that we were never sure where we were because it was so dark.  We passed a dam.  Must have been a big lake.  We were accosted by swarms of bugs with a death wish.  They pelted our windshield to such an extent that we had to stop in nowhere-town to wash it all off.  Finally, we happened upon the high school homecoming bonfire at a place called Willis Point.  Everybody in town was there.  Huge fire.  Exciting stuff.  Hope they do well in the football game.

We finally came to I20, which we sort of recognized.  At least the names of the major streets and towns were familiar.  We made our way under Siri’s direction all the way to … Waco.  Seven plus hours driving time.  A new record.

Psalms 103:22 says, “Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.  Praise the Lord, O my soul.”

Father, thank you for keeping us safe through those back roads and dark twists and turns.  And be with those high school kiddos.  Amen.

October 4 – “I have been exfoliated”

The Russellville hotel gets the nod as the best of all of our accommodations.  In fact it absolutely shattered all other opponents.  How?  Simple.  They served bacon at the free breakfast.  Hard to top bacon.

Well, we couldn’t stand it (Read here, I couldn’t stand it).  We were back in Arkansas.  There was just one thing left undone in this crazy state (If you don’t count finding a diamond), and to get it done we had to make a return trip to … Hot Springs.  We never got our foot and neck massage at the same bathhouse Babe Ruth went to.  It was only an hour and a half from Russellville, too.  How could we not …

We checked in and got our appointment time.  Three hours to kill.  Fortunately in was around lunchtime, so we had some food over at Granny’s Kitchen.  Best chicken fried steak I have had in years.  It was actually thicker than a piece of construction paper, and the meat filled in the whole breaded covering.  Nice.  Oh, and Granny had one of those big, four foot tall metal chickens.  I really wanted a picture, but Chris thought the couple sitting in front of the chicken might get offended.  I offered to include them in the shot, but she still said no. 

After lunch we bought a souvenir or two and headed to the parking garage to deposit them.  A random guy walked up to me while we were there.  He said he saw my fire department shirt and thought he could ask me for directions.  Funny thing was, I actually knew the answer.  Score one for the FD’s of the world.

We spent our final minutes of waiting time in rocking chairs on the porch of the visitors’ center (one of the old bathhouse buildings).  It was there that the “Official Presidential Big Brother Text Message” arrived.  Loudly.  Phones exploded with the emergency honking sound.  People all around us stopped what they were doing and checked their phone.  “Presidential Alert: THIS IS S TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System.  No action is needed.”  So … no action needed.  Only a test.  With that information in hand, I rightfully and dutifully (and rather loudly) announced to the world around us, “No need to worry, ladies and gentlemen.  It was only a test.  Everything is fine.  Please go on about your business, resting assured that all is well.”  at least seven or eight others immediately responded with comments of their own.  Some received the message.  Others are apparently on a “Do not contact in case of emergency, let them flounder through it on their own” list (That would include Chris.  She didn’t get it).  My favorite response was from the old guy who proudly held up his flip phone and announced, “I didn’t get it.”  One of the Park Rangers then came outside and gently and quietly asked of anyone had received the text message.  She just wanted to assure us that it was only a test, and we had nothing to worry about.  Holding back my inner compulsion to explode with laughter when I made eye contact with the couple who had been sitting in the chairs behind us, I assured Ranger Rita that we had “everything under control out here.” 

So then it was on to the spa room for our foot/neck/head massage (weird combination, huh?).  The very nice receptionist pointed us to some steps and said, “People call that the stairway to heaven.”  I glanced at the stairs and quickly back at her.  “But,” I whispered in reply, “they lead … down.”  And down those eerie stairs we went, into a hot basement room.  How hot was it?  At risk of carrying the allusion too far, let me just say this.  The floors were heated.  That’s right heat emanating from beneath your very feet.  Now, I ask you, what image does that evoke? 

After being offered some ‘special spring water” (Yeah.  Sounds suspicious to you, too, doesn’t it?), and filling out some paperwork, we were led into a small locker room and issued sandals and a robe.  We were assured that everything was quite private “down here,” and we could take off or leave on whatever we wanted.  However, “you must leave all your jewelry and especially your cell phones in this locker.”  Sounded like a heist to me.  Or worse, they were removing all hope of contact with the “Upper Realms.”  Oh, sure, we were taught how to operate the locker combination, but would we ever be able to find our way back to this room?

Finally the actual massage people came and led us to a “treatment room” where we were instructed to remove our robe and “get comfortable” on the table.  It bothered my back some to have to lie flat, but with some slow, concentrated breathing, I managed.  So, feet first.  We heard, “If these are too hot, let us know.”  And instantly, hot wet towels encased us from toes to ankles.  Then the towels were removed and lotion applied.  Then the lotion was removed by vigorous scrubbing.  I have been exfoliated.  And before this date, I didn’t even know what that word meant (Still not sure).  But she didn’t stop there.  She actually did a pretty decent foot massage (not that I have anything to compare it with.  This was my first).  Chris’ massager (she was in training) followed pretty much the same procedure, except she forgot to do Chris’ right foot.  She is only half exfoliated. Not sure why, but I guess it meant she got a little longer neck attention.  And that neck part was interesting.  Several times she began at my neck in the front and slid around to a spot in the center of the back of my head.  Then she turned my head to each side and massaged the exposed neck there.  She did one of those tricks where you tap your head, then slowly slide your fingers down the sides of your head.  Feels like cracking a raw egg open and having the insides slide down.  Oh, and another time she was rubbing both sides of my head.  Felt really nice.  As did the ear massage.  Then, suddenly, with no change in the pressure on the sides, I felt pressure right in the center of my head as well.  So much for relaxing.  By that time I was convinced that the lady had a third arm that she only revealed at moments like this.  Perhaps that’s why she was confined to the depths of this cave.  Maybe that explains the temperature.  Creatures like her can’t survive at normal temps.  A little disconcerted now, I concentrated on my breathing techniques.  Slow and easy, long breaths.  That’s when I felt more that saw that he hands were hovering mere inches in front of my face.  She wasn’t moving them.  Ah, then I got the message.  She had dunked them in some kind of stinky substance that I was supposed to inhale.  That’s it.  She was waiting for the inhale.  I held out as long as I could, but finally had to oblige.  It did smell.  Not too bad, though.  And then it was over.  All done, just like that.

We were both a little shaky on our feet when they got done, but we redeemed our valuables and our contact with the outside world.  We made it to the car and pointed it in the general direction of … well, West.

Psalms 103:21 says, “Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.”

Father, thank you for the whole foot massage experience.  Strange, but actually rather pleasant.  Be with those massage ladies as they go about their day.  Oh, and maybe give them some time on the surface … Amen.

October 3 – “Into a foreign land”

So … Paris, Tennessee.  When we checked into the hotel, imagine my surprise when the desk clerk commented favorably on my Astros shirt.  He was from Clear Lake.  Then another customer came in.  It was a young girl wearing a Jose Altuve jersey.  I shook her hand.  Three Astros fans in a foreign land.  Gotta stick together.

We finally heard those dreaded banjo tunes.  Oddly enough it happened when … we took a shower.  Every time we turned it on the plumbing sounded exactly like a banjo strumming.  It was … frightening.

Oh, and one other thing happened in Paris that we haven’t seen since we left home.  It rained.  A lot.  For about twenty minutes.  The rain didn’t bode well for the folks we shared breakfast with.  Two college golf teams (University of Tennessee at Martin and Murray State) were in town for a tournament.  Good lunch, fellas.

We went back by the baby Eiffel tower that we took selfies at the night before.  We wanted another to go with the night views.  A kindly Parisian gentleman taking a stroll in the park took our picture for us.    We were especially excited that he spoke English so well.  Not a trace of a French accent.  He said he wouldn’t do this for just anybody.  We are so special.

And finally we hit the road.  We decided to pick up the one National Park in northern Arkansas that we missed last week, Buffalo River.  But to get there, it’s all back roads, all day.  Six and a half hours of drive time.  How “back roads”?  Well, Chris started keeping track of road kill. 

It took a while but I was excited when we made it to Missouri again.  Well, we made it into that little comma-looking bottom eastern corner.  We went through Hayti.  I think that’s how they spell it when it isn’t an island near Cuba.  We saw acres and acres of white – cotton fields. 

In Imboden we saw a sign – “You can fool the pastor but you can’t fool the Master.”  Yep.

In Ravenden we saw a giant, big as a house statue of … a raven.  Amazing.

We went through Bobo.  Just one street there – Bobo Avenue.

My two favorite town names of the day, though were Flippin and Yellville. 

When we got to Harrison, a ranger showed us where to go to actually see the river.  Then he suggested we eat in Jasper, and find a place to stay the night in Russellville.  We even saw that Dogpatch was on that route.  Finding the river was easy enough.  We even hiked down and I put my finger in.  Kind of a watery tradition of mine.  But we never saw Dogpatch.  In fact we never saw Jasper.  Fortunately, though, we connected with Randy and Janet Richardson, some friends we knew in Denver, who now live in a place called Pelsor, which was not on the map.  Instead the map called it Sand Gap.  But after we turned on the road toward their house we ended up in a place called Ben Hur.  Blacktop road to dirt road to rock driveway.  We heard those banjos again.

Leaving, we narrowly missed hitting three deer who chose that moment to leap across the road.  We also saw two others.  Not much speeding happens on that road.  Self defense.

We were happy to see an interstate, because that meant Russellville and a hotel for the night.  We checked in, went to McAllister’s Deli for a bite to eat, and settled in to watch the wild card game.  Looks like a return trip to Hot Springs tomorrow.

Psalms 103:20 says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.”

Father, thank you for the chance to see Randy and Janet.  Please encourage them and give them strength as they prepare to move.  Amen.

October 2 – “Rocks, Santa, Eagle and Eiffel”

Ah, the places we have seen and the places we have been.  Just yesterday we passed through Holland (That’s in Europe, right?) and Greenville (That would be South Carolina, I thought) and Sacramento (California, I’m sure).  Except that the last two were at the same exit and all of them were somewhere in Indiana.  Weird.

I forgot over the course of this journal to include a very important reference.  That would be … Ian.  Ian showed up in at least three of the first parks that we went to.  Chris found out at one point that he was from Ohio.  I thought he said Iowa, so that’s what I called him the next few times he showed up.  I finally just asked him his name since we were spending so much time together.  Ian.  I’ll miss Ian. 

We made our way a little further east, of all directions.  Chris found a National Park site about 45 minutes from where we were, so off we went.  It was Abe Lincoln’s boyhood home.  We got our book stamped and then decided to take the hike back into the woods and see where his Mom was buried.  The featured attraction of this hike?  Rocks.  But not just any rocks.  Oh, no.  These rocks all had special Abe Lincoln meanings.  They dotted the landscape of the trail route.  Get a load of these “special” rocks:

1. A rock from where he was born in Kentucky.

2. A rock from the store where he used to shop.

3. A rock from Vincennes where he first saw a printing press.

4. A rock from the Berry-Lincoln store in Illinois.

5. Bricks from Mary Todd’s home in Kentucky.

6. A monument that used to mark the site of his parents’ cabin, but they moved it.

7. A rock from the White House of 1861.

8. A rock from an old soldiers’ home where he wrote the Emancipation Proclamation.

9. A rock from where he stood to deliver the Gettysburg Address.

10. A rock from the old capitol building where he gave his 2^nd inaugural address.

11. A pillar from the porch of the house where he died.

12. A really big rock from his tomb in Springfield.

I think there was another one, too, but I must have missed it.  Never fear, though.  At the end of the hike I was so inspired that I set up a rock of my own.  Mosquito Rock.  In honor of the early predecessors of the hundreds of mosquitoes that currently stand guard over the Rock Trail today.  Mosquito Rock is quite small, though, so you might miss it.

Right after Abe’s farm, we realized we were mere moments away from Santa Claus, Indiana.  How could we not go there?  We shopped in the Santa Claus shop and took a selfie with the nose-picking elf, himself.  That shop is where we found a new friend.  Little dachshund.  Brought tears to our eyes.  Know why?  She had a tiny little stub of a tail.  Sniff, sniff.  Her name is Stubby.  Most of the town was closed already, so we just drove by the monstrous statue of Santa.  We couldn’t spend too much time there, though.  We had more places to go.  Chris found another National Park.

This one was in a place called Dover, Tennessee, right on the Cumberland River.  Important Civil War battle fought there.  But we faced one obstacle between us and the park … Kentucky.  Not to be deterred, we set out.  Chris drove and drove and drove.  She absolutely destroyed the mileage through Kentucky until we got to the last little corner before we entered Tennessee.  The road narrowed.  The road curved.  The road twisted.  Civilization became sparser and sparser.  We saw lots and lots of two things: cemeteries and Confederate flags flying.  And I was pretty sure I heard some banjos playing in the distance.  Finally we pulled into Dover, however, and once we tracked down the temporary visitors’ center, we began the driving tour.  Gotta say, this was one of the pretty ones.  Oh, the canon replicas were amazing, but the view of the river from the Park grounds were breathtaking.  I can see why Fort Donelson was important.  The tour took us through the expected park, but it continued into the nearby town as well.  and one of the places was a restored hotel where U.S. Grant demanded the unconditional surrender of the fort (That’s where he got his nickname – Unconditional Surrender Grant).  The highlight of the tour, though had to be the most unexpected sighting of our whole trip.  We found (using binoculars and the telescopic lens of our camera) a nesting bald eagle.  Amazing.  That one I’ll remember.

Our final stop of the day was not far from Dover.  I took Chris to Paris again.  We had dinner in the best restaurant in the city.  We took selfies at the base of the Eiffel Tower.  It was so romantic.  What?  Oh.  Paris.  Paris, Tennessee. 

Psalms 103:19 says, “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”

Father, it was sure exciting to see that eagle.  Your majestic creatures are so inspiring.  Amen.

October 1 – “Indiana travels”

I forgot to mention that I finally saw one of those redbirds Chris keeps insisting she sees everywhere we go up here.  Of course it took me until we got to St. Louis … in a gift shop … next door to the St. Louis Cardinals baseball stadium.  But I found one – Casey.  He was happy to join the team.

Well, we decided to switch hotels for the first time since we left home.  Why?  Well, this one was not very clean, and the AC didn’t work at all in the first room they had us in.  So they moved us.  The second was some better.  At least it was cool.  Then came breakfast.  In a word – horrible.  The whole experience was not one worth two nights, so we checked out the next morning and decoded to find a different place later.  As we drove to church we searched for all the barn quilts in the area.  We’ve done that kind of thing before.  It’s like going on a treasure hunt.

We went to church with some friends in Princeton, Indiana.  They didn’t know we were coming, so it was worth seeing the look on Wayne’s face as he slowly realized who it was that was asking if they allowed anybody to come to church there.  He said it took hearing my voice.  But then the voice that he recognized didn’t match the face he was seeing.  Too gray.  Thanks, Wayne.  Wendy knew us right away, though.  She’s been following our trip on FaceBook.  Their church plant just purchased a huge old church building built in 1869.  The stained glass windows in it have been appraised at over a million dollars.  They got the building for $40,000.  It still needs a lot of work to bring it up to code and usability, though.  Anybody up for a mission trip?

We stopped at Applebee’s for lunch.  They left us with a horrible legacy.  Their service was slower than … Denney’s.  I didn’t think it was possible.

In the afternoon we made our way to the site of the second tallest monument in the U.S., honoring the work of George Clark during the Revolutionary War.  He is the big brother of the guy who became famous as the second half of a duo.  Perhaps you’ve heard of them?  Lewis and Clark.  The Ranger there was another who was absolutely passionate about her job.  She loved talking, too.  Never stopped the whole time we were in the visitor’s center.  Sometimes it was to us, other times it was to anyone who would listen.  We also went into a basilica nearby that had a crypt under it with four bishops buried in it.  We thought about also walking across the bridge into Illinois, but it just looked too much like the causeway.  Too far to walk.

Last night we went to church with some other friends, the Cullison’s.  Actually we saw David because he had to preach.  Kim, however, stayed at home to cuddle with their brand new first grandbaby.  Kim … we were devastated that you chose him over us.  We understood completely, but we were devastated.  Oh, the new hotel we chose turned out to be seven minutes away from the church.  And it was very nice.  Same price as the last one, but way better on all counts.  But the final test approaches … breakfast.

Psalms 103:17-18 says, “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children — with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.”

Father, thank you for friends from long ago.  Be with the Wester’s as they work to get that church started.  Meet their every need in your way and in your time.  Amen.