Mark's Notebook

All Articles - April 2006

More Photographs

Here are a few more photographs ... click to get a larger view ...

Bunkhouse, used for housing	The Upper Room, used for devotions
Mordecai, Pete's sweet doggie (really)	Showers with solid walls!
One of the tents Mary and I repaired	The trailer where Mary and I are sleeping
Mark's ugly legs covered with bites

Drywall

I never knew you could put drywall on a ceiling. Yow! Ouch! I also never knew that there are at least three kinds of drywall: the regular kind for walls, a thicker "fire resistant" kind for ceilings, and a "water resistant" kind for bathrooms.

There were only two of us working on this job, and Nick told me it was really a three-person job. I found out why. To put up drywall on the ceiling, someone has to hold up the piece while the other quickly puts screws into it before the first person collapses. The smaller pieces were not difficult, but the pieces that approached 4x8 feet in size were miserable. Nick held up all of those, and he said my screwing speed was pretty fast, but he did turn a greenish color a couple of times.

If there had been three of us, who could have held up the drywall easily, one at each end, while the third put in the screws. We didn't have that luxury.

What most consider the difficult part is the measurement. Not only do you have to cut the pieces to exactly the right size, but you have to cut out holes for things like light fixtures and heater vents. With only the two of us on the job, we found the measurement part to be easy compared to the (literal) grunt work. It turns out Nick was a system administrator at his last job, and he has a Math degree from Portland State University. So I guess you'd expect a couple of math/computer geeks to have no trouble putting the holes in the right places, but difficulty holding the drywall over their heads.

It also turns out there is nothing square in this particular house we were working on. When putting in a sheet, we could take measurements of all four sides, but we didn't have the appropriate tools to measure all the angles. Unfortunately, for any set of four lengths, there are an infinite number of quadrilaterals that might have those dimensions. In most cases we could be sure that there was at least one angle of 90 degrees, but without the good tools, we could not tell which angle it was. Sometimes we could put a piece of scrap "factory angle" (corner not yet cut) to see if an angle was close to 90, but if not, we could not always tell how far off.

Blech. Enough of this. It was a really fun day. Nick is a fun guy and we had a lot of laughs, especially when a piece of drywall not quite securely fastened yet fell on our heads.

Tomorrow, Nick, Roger and I are supposed to finish the carpet at the house where we were working yesterday. Mary is supposed to stay at camp and run the distribution center with a skeleton crew. We are supposed to get a crew of six contractors here tomorrow, so the next week promises to involve a lot more house building.

CityTeam's goal is to completely rebuild the insides of 50 homes. This means the foundations, frames, and outside walls are intact, but the crews will replace the drywall and carpet, add inside paint and trim, usually replace the electical system, but not usually the plumbing, which generally needs new fixtures at most. Anyway, I hear they have worked on about eleven or twelve houses, but only finished one or two. There are two problems: the labor might be very slow, because volunteer contractors generally stay here for only a week or two, not long enough to finish a job, so another contractor has to finish the work later. A more pressing problem is that it can cost $15,000 in supplies (mostly drywall and carpet, I guess) to finish a house. You can do the multiplcation yourself. That's a lot of money, and CityTeam can't really afford to buy all those supplies and pay for the plane flights too.

The real heroes here are not the "short-timers" like Mary and me, but the long-timers like Roger, John, and Nick. Roger has been here since January, and before that he was in New Orleans. Nick has been here on and off for twelve weeks since Katrina hit. Ralph and Pete have been running the CityTeam camp here pretty much since it opened, with only a week here and there to go back home to Philadelphia.

Time Tags

The blog entries get time tagged with the time on the server, which is in California. Mississippi is actually two hours ahead of California, so all the time tags are actually off by two hours. For example, last night's post tagged at 10:30 pm was actually posted at 12:30 am. Since we get up around 8:00 am to get ready for 8:30 am devotions, I really do have to do the blog earlier and get some more sleep.

FYI:

• Nevada - same time zone as California
• Arizona - AZ standard time is the same as Pacific Daylight time
• (AZ never has DST, so same as CA during the summer, same as NM in the winter)
• New Mexico - one hour ahead of California
• Texas - most of it is two hours ahead of California
• Louisiana and Mississippi - two hours ahead of California

See you LATER ...

Trip Photographs

Click any image to see a larger version

Badwater, 282 feet below sea level	Death Valley
Our mascot Pahrump goofing around	Pahrump at Petroglyph Nat. Mon.
Tuzigoot National Monument	Montezuma Castle Nat. Mon.
Patriotic Advertising in San Antonio	Rocket Park at Space Center in Houston

Find M&M on a Google Map

You can see where we've been on this google map:
http://www.mixed-up.com/maps/?searchtype=roadtrip

I will try to update the map as we move across the country.

Q&A

What would you like to know about our trip? What would you like to know about working in Mississippi? Send us your questions so we can answer them on this blog. I feel a lot of the posts are pretty mundane. We'd like to make them more interesing to you by letting you decide what is interesting. So let us know what you'd be interested in hearing about.

Week One

One Week

We have just finished our first week here. Since Monday we have been doing many different things that we haven't done before.

Monday, April 24

Today we stocked the shelves at the distribution center. Boring. Nothing new today. Oh, I think we also tried to fix some tents that had come down in the last storm. Not too exciting there either.

Shirley made a dinner of shrimp alfredo and barbequed shrimp. Mary liked it even better than red beans and rice, but of can't eat the alfredo pasta at home ... maybe we could create a gluten-free version of it.

Tuesday, April 25

Today we did something entirely different. Mary and I cut down a bunch of dead or damaged bamboo for a couple not far from here. Their yard was pretty large. Their house is only the second from the water. But they got only minimal damage because the larger house next to them on the water shielded them, their bamboo prevented a lot of debris from landing in their house, and they are on an inlet, not directly on the gulf, so the water sort of came up their street sideways instead of straight on.

It was quite warm and sunny as we cut the bamboo, and Mary started to feel sick. But then a starm started, and it felt really good to work with a little water to cool off. We took a bit of a break, sat on their large front porch, drank cokes, and chatted while it was raining only a few feet away. A very southern kind of experience. But eventually it turned into a real thunderstorm and they chased us away so we wouldn't be hurt by lightning.

While cutting the bamboo, at one point I dropped my car keys and didn't notice until about an hour later. We scoured the whole yard, hoping that the keys had not ended up in the huge pile of bamboo we had made. We didn't find it until the moment Mary started praying ... and there they were, right at my feet.

Nola made spaghetti with cajun spices tonight. Wow!

Wednesday, April 26

The storm started up again early evening, and it rained all night long. In the early morning, it turned into a severe thunderstorm that prevented us from opening the distribution center today at all. They were afraid that the tent poles would act as lightning rods and people would get hurt. I was surprised that anyone would even show up to get food at the distribution center in such a storm, since it tends to be moms and their kids. But a few did show up anyway. We were sorry to have to turn them away.

I slept in this morning because I woke up with a sore throat. I felt better after a coke to cool off my throat, and some aspirins that Mary found for me. It turns out the storm was so bad they just told us to stay in our trailers anyway. Even the mess tent etc. are natural lightning rods. They even turned off all the computers and the wireless routers to prevent any damage to them. This meant we couldn't even use the Powerbook from our trailer because the wireless system was turned off.

In the afternoon, once the storm passed by, they told us just to clean up the camp, things that the storm had caused. Things like water in the trash cans. A screen room that Mary and I had put up before was damaged in the storm and we couldn't repair it right away, so we took it down. Some other tents that we'd fixed earlier also suffered some damage. All of the guy lines and other parts of the tents had rotted away in the changes of weather over the last few months. Mary and I bought some nylon twine at 84 lumber and we tried to replace all the guy lines, and we also patched up some of the other problems. We hope this keeps them going for a few more months.

They took us to Sicily's, all you can eat Italian, buffet style, with pizza, pasta, salad, and desserts. All the food we can't ever eat at home! Yum.

I cleaned up the showers again with the power washer because after dinner there was just enough sunlight left to get that done.

Thursday, April 27

Today was the most different of all for us, because they sent us in different directions. Mary stayed in camp to help with a ladies luncheon that was attended by about 18 women from the community. They had lunch and did a craft project.

I spent the day with Roger and John installing carpet. That was fun, and I felt that for the first time I was doing the real hurricane relief work that I had intended when I came here. I had never really done anything like this and I really enjoyed learning new things. It was Roger's birthday today so we bugged him about getting old.

Tonight Nola made gumbo, with sausage and whole legs of chicken. The food gets better every day!

Tomorrow I am supposed to go with Nick to hang some drywall. Mary is anxious for me to learn all this stuff. I wonder why?

Prayer requests

Mary and I continue to get lots of bug bites, and they are growing into large welts all over our arms, legs, necks, and even chests. Someone told Mary today that it looks like she is having an allergic reaction to the bug bites. We think there may be bugs right here in the trailer where we are sleeping, biting us at night. They did give us some Benadryl, which stops the itching for a little while, but also makes us sleepy. I did OK today as long as I was working hard, but as soon as I stopped to rest I would start to fall asleep. Mary was able to take a nap in the afternoon, lucky her.

There is always extra stress in a situation like this because you are thrown together to work with people you don't know. Most of the guys I have worked with are really cool and mellow. But there are a few people here who are just really hard to read. I tend to be insecure by nature anyway, and sometimes some of the people give me the impression that I'm not wanted here, that I'm doing the wrong things, or that we're rubbing some people the wrong way. Mary has felt the same thing too. Mary and I have talked about it and we both have similar impressions. I think maybe this is a device of the enemy to discourage us and make us think of leaving early. I know God has a special purpose for us here beyond just the "normal" aid we are lending. God has us here to bless some special someone is a specific way and it hasn't happened yet. We don't want to miss that opportunity when it comes.

We continue to pray for all of our friends and family back home, everyone here, Calvary Chapel San Jose, the upcoming Harvest Crusade in October at the Shark Tank, and other things as we are impressed to pray. We also pray for everyone here that God will keep them healthy and effective.

Weekend

Saturday, April 22

Today we had the distribution center open 11-3. Spent a couple hours before that stocking the shelves. Mary did registration, and I hung out there to keep an eye on her when it was real busy at the very beginning. We had two wonderful volunteers, Tammy and her teenage son Billy, Tammy's energetic 4-year old Anna kept us on our toes all day long.

Shirley came over to visit us today. It was really nice seeing her again. She is promising to cook us a special dinner this week.

We saw a few familiar faces from when we were here late last year. They remembered us too. Even those who didn't know us yet were very friendly to us.

Mary and I put up a screen canopy over the picnic table today, so we can serve up dinner outside the tent but keep the flies away.

Tonight we got our trailer hooked up to some real power so we can recharge the computer and the phones. Until now, we've had only battery power for the lights, but not AC for the outlets.

In the early evening we tried to go out to Sonic for ice cream, but they had run out of ice cream. We tried BK but they had just closed. We ran to a nearby town to DQ but they had also just closed. We ended up at a gas station mom-n-pop where we bought pints of Ben & Jerry's on sale ... one for each of us, no sharing, except Mary got an ice cream sandwich. Most of mine is still in the freezer, but it was a fun adventure after a very warm day.

Sunday, April 23

Today Mary and I went to church at The Vineyard in Slidell with Ralph and Pete. They had loud worship and a good message, but I have not been sleeping well in the heat, so I almost fell asleep. Still, it felt good to be in church, praise the Lord, shake some hands, and take a drive in the fresh air.

In the afternoon we just read a little bit and I took a nap. For dinner eight of us went to Picayune (a real town pronounced pick-a-yoon) and ate at Ryan's ... all you can eat. One of the guys ate six steaks! Mary and I have been able to eat gluten and all the things we can't have at home ... we had biscuits, boston cream pie, etc. Mary even had salad dressing and other stuff with vinegar, and she has not had any reaction. Even last time we were here she would not press it that far. They say Ryan's was the first restaurant open anywhere along the gulf coast after the storm, and in October when they opened, the wait could be over an hour just to get in the door. The service was great, too.

We got an email from Matt today, and he gave us a mailing address. We'll be sending that information out to all the family soon.

Funny story today ... when we went to church, I could not find my wallet. I was really worried because we are thousands of miles from home and my wallet has credit cards, health insurance, etc. We went to church and hoped we'd find it when we got back to camp. While Ralph and Pete stopped for coffee, Mary and I prayed for help finding my wallet. But I was still worried. Engineers are trained to consider the worst case, and I'm real good at that by nature anyway. So we went into church, and Mary opened her backpack to get her pen, and she handed me my wallet. How it got in there is beyond both of us. Neither of us remembers putting it in there, and it's not really something we are in the habit of doing. We figured God just picked it up from wherever I dropped it, and He put it in the backpack so we'd find it. I feel so foolish worrying after something like this happens.

General

We are getting eaten alive by bugs! It has been real bad for me since we got here, but for Mary it really just started today. Actually, she woke up earlier this morning and she was shaking the whole trailer with her scratching. (I had been through the same thing around 4 am.) I'm scratching right now as I sit at the computer.

We have been able to eat just about anything we want. I still don't know why I got sick a couple of days ago. But it seems likeliest that it was some kind of dehydration. I had been drinking this gatorade-like stuff all day, but perhaps it was too sugary. Mary also thinks I may have used too much bug spray and it got into my system through open bites.

Mary and I are getting in the habit of praying about everything. We pray every night before we go to bed. We also pray whenever a situation arises, like when I lost my wallet earlier today. We also have devotions every morning, so we get to pray a lot.

What else ... it has been warm here. Even when it rained it just cooled off a little. The humidity magnifies the heat. It's probably been in the low 80s. But the trailer is much warmer. We didn't have real electricity in here until last night, so we couldn't run the A/C. Even after connecting, we've been afraid to run it lest we trip a breaker, but we tried it for a few minutes today without a problem. We think we've been getting the bug bites at night while sleeping, so cooling it off in here may help.

Laundry

Friday, April 21

Today Mary and I were assigned to sort some laundry. They provide sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, and sheets to all the volunteers, the they won't have to bring those items from home on the plane. We had a huge pile of bags of all this that came back from the laundry, and we had to sort them into individual sets.

There are two wooden bunkhouses here that were not here before. Each one houses 12 people on mattresses. There are also three large tents, each containing 14 cots. And there are six small tents, each containing three cots. So there were about 80 sets that needed to be put together. Some of the pillows were moldy so we set them out in the sun to dry out and maybe bleach out the mold. But then it started to rain, and we couldn't even transport the sets from the large tent where we'd sorted everything out. It rained so bad we didn't even want to leave the tent for a few seconds to use the bathroom or anything. Eventually it cleared up, and the sun came out, but the whole place was muddy and it was easy to slip. Eventually we got it all sorted out.

We also did some other cleaning errands around here that I can't remember right now. Oh yeah, we cleaned out the four new wooden- enclosed showers. They have a power washer, which is like a little lawn mower that shoots out high pressure warm water. We had a hard time getting it going, but Nola, who in the past has worked on boats, said it probably got wet in the rain and needed a little TLC. She helped us get it going, and then we were able to give the showers a thorough cleaning. Having cleaned them ourselves, we were then comfortable using them. They are in a small wooden building, not like the tent-style showers we used before (they are still here and still being used by other groups), and they are right next to our trailer so even when muddy we only have to walk a few steps.

About the accommodations here: Mary and I are in a 5th wheel we just call "the trailer." It used to be the office and it was located at Powerhouse church. It is still used as an office on rare occasions but we can stay there until someone comes who needs to use it as an office. The two ladies in charge, Di and Bonnie, are staying in another trailer across the street in Shirley's yard. Pete and Ralph are also in a trailer in Shirley's yard. Nola and her husband, who run the distribution center, are in a trailer near ours. Roger and John, handymen who will take on just about any job around here or around town, are staying in the back of a large van. Tony is in a tent, and one other guy whose name I can't remember is in another tent. As far as I know, they are the only two who are in tents.

By comparison, last time almost everyone was in tents, mostly small tents for the couples, but there was one large tent sometimes used by larger groups. A couple of those larger tents are still here, but they are now being used for storage.

There is also a new wooden tool shed here, and a small wooden office. They both look really nice. The two distribution tents are still the same. The third larger tent is still here; it is now the registration area. They also use it to show movies on Friday or Saturday nights, but we didn't do that this week. I hear they also use it for some kind of community dinner once a week. There are tables set up in there with quilted tablecloths. Mary and I like some of the quilts.

Tonight I got sick. Probably some kind of food poisoning. I felt really terrible for several hours. It felt very much like the thing I had in Sedona early last week, headache and nausea. But I couldn't do anything to fix it ... pain killers, emetrol, hydration, all ineffective. Eventually I threw up then slept. Felt much better in the morning. Mary was a wonderful nurse.

Mississippi at last

We stayed in Baton Rouge last night. Today, we just went shopping at Wal-Mart for more shorts and stuff because it's warmer than we expected for April ... definitely shorts weather. We both got some real ugly plaid bermuda-style shorts with elastic waists. They are ugly but comfortable. Then we ate at Shoney's, a chain I don't think I've ever been to before, but we see a lot of them out here. The menu was real thin (one page), but the bacon cheeseburger was good.

We arrived in Bay St Louis just around 5 pm. We are staying in a 5th wheel until someone more important arrives who might kick us out. Then we would move into a tent.

The place is now being run by Pastor Di who is a real blessing. She worked at a homeless-reaching church in Brooklyn before coming down here with no idea what she would be doing. She has a lot of energy and her enthusiasm is contagious.

We have found out about a few things since arriving here. They are apparently still doing distribution on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but there is supposedly not much left to distribute, and contributions are way down. We haven't seen the distribution tents yet so I don't know exactly what the situation looks like. Most of the effort is being conentrated on rebuilding. Most of the "mucking" work is already done, and now they are hanging sheetrock, painting, and installing electrical and plumbing.

Mary and I will supposedly be doing some computer work starting on Monday. There are some web forms that people must fill out in order to get the next wave of FEMA grants for reconstruction. People will come in with paper forms filled out, and Mary and I will help input this information into a web form.

We have already met Ralph, who was here when we were here before. He cooks up a mean barbeque chicken. He has been here more than at home for the last few months. We have not yet seen Shirley or Cee Cee. And I am supposed to look somebody up for the manager of the motel in Webster (Houston). Now what did I do with that name? It must be in my binder here somewhere.

Mary was up late last night looking at stuff on rubber stamping web sites, and I think she's doing the same thing again now. They have several computers here, and I'm using my laptop with the wireless they have set up all around the camp. I guess we need to do it while we have it available.

There are lots of bugs here, and they use a vanilla scent spray to repel them. It's not a bug spray, just a scent you can spray on. They say that when people found out it repels the bugs, Wal-Mart doubled the price of it. Hmmm.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. We had another "close call" today just as we got off the freeway to come into Waveland. Someone would not let us merge and ran us off the road. We really appreciate all your prayers for our safety. It seems someone really does not want us here. But we are safe in the Lord's hands.

The Swamp

Wednesday, April 19

Today we took the Amazing Swamp and River Tour. Mary and I were the only ones who signed up for this tour, although a group of twelve had taken another tour earlier in the day. It cost a little extra, but we got a private tour of the swamp. It included Blue Elbow Swamp, the Sabine River (which separates Texas from Louisiana), and Bienvenu Swamp (sp?) We saw several alligators, more than half a dozen turtles, and lots of birds. The guide's special interest seemed to be the birds. We saw an osprey, which is a kind of eagle. From the top of a telephone pole, he took a dump in our direction as we passed by and made a noise.

We also saw the remains of piers from a mothball fleet that is now gone, and several barges that were used in WWII, now sunk in the river. They still stick out because the barges are about 40 feet high, but the river is not that deep in that spot.

I had been on a similar tour in New Orleans in 1989, but it was neat to watch Mary's reactions, and it was nice to get the more private treatment. We could ask lots of questions.

We had been told that we must eat at Cajun Charlie's in Sulphur, Louisiana. Well, so far Louisiana gets an A+ for both food and service. Mary had red beans and rice; I had an appetizer of jambalaya, then blackened catfish. All were wonderful. Charlie himself also made a special dressing for Mary's salad. This one is worth going out of your way for.

We are now staying in Baton Rouge. Tomorrow we might see the USS Kidd and Veteran's Memorial, a destroyed docked in the Mississippi River here.

Tomorrow, we are due to arrive in Bay St Louis, Mississippi, to work with CityTeam there for two weeks. That is about three hours away from here, and we hope to arrive there in the late afternoon.

We appreciate all your prayers for our safety and for our effectiveness working with CityTeam the next couple of weeks. We had a couple of close calls on the freeway today, and we could feel your prayers and God delivered us from dangerous situations. We are praying for you all too.

Outer Space on $100 a day

Tuesday, April 18

Today we visited Space Center Houston. This is not the same as the Johnson Space Center, but its web site describes it as "the Official Visitors Center of NASA's Johnson Space Center." We discovered that SCH and JSC are not the same thing when we turned into the wrong parking lot, and security guards had to scuttle us away. (Us and a long line of others.)

There is a tram ride that you can take through JSC, and it includes an inside view of the Mission Control room that was used from 1965-1995, a stop at the grove of trees that memorializes the crews of the Challenger and the Columbia, and a stop at Rocket Park, which includes two upright rockets that were designed for the Mercury and Apollo programs, I think. Not quite yet ready for exhibition, but visible through a dirty window, was a large Saturn V rocket that is being restored. This rocket had been scheduled for use on the scuttled Apollo 18 project.

Space Center Houston also includes lots of hands-on activities for the kids, including a neat section with sensors of various types (heat, motion, wind, sound, etc.) that demonstrate how a robot might be given senses. There were also activities like jungle gyms and large helical slides to keep the littlest tykes busy.

We got to see actual Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules, and full-size mockups of the Shuttle bridge and Skylab. There were also capsule stories of each of the missions through Apollo 17.

I bought a patch from the Mercury 9 mission. This was a little before my time, but I never knew that each Mercury mission had the number 7 associated with it, as in "Friendship 7" and so on. I bought this particular patch because it says "Faith 7" on it, and apparently the pilot was a Christian.

After finishing up at the Space Center, we ran around Friendswood trying to find the last open UPS Store so we could send some packages home, but we got lost and the packages will have to wait until Wednesday. Not wanting to get back into the Houston traffic snarl, we headed out to the coast to leave town trhough the La Porte area. When we made a wrong turn there, we found the Runway Grill. We hoped to find the great Texas steak there, but I was a little disappointed. We both ordered the same thing, rib eye medium with baked potato, but while Mary's was a bright pink, mine had no pink at all. Mary really enjoyed hers, but we both agreed this was not something to send someone out of their way for.

On down the I-10 toward Louisiana, we stopped in Orange, which turns out to be the last city before you cross the river away from Texas. Our Ramada was supposed to have WiFi but I only got it to work just once for a few seconds. Sigh.

Crab Shack

Monday, April 17

Did you file your taxes today?

We stayed on the north side of San Antonio last night. We had Marble Slab ice cream and we found a AAA office nearby. This morning we went out to the AAA office to get maps of Texas, Houston, and Louisiana. I figured we knew our way around San Antonio so I wouldn't need one of those. Oops!

On the way to AAA we found a Christian bookstore, so we backtracked there to shop for the book Mary is looking for. I also bought a bookmark and a gift for a friend back home ... someone's going to get a surprise later this week!

We ate at Karam's mexican restaurant again. We got lost twice trying to find the freeway exit, but eventually I found a street that looked familiar and we got there. We had lunch this time instead of dinner (no margaritas because we have a long drive ahead of us), and it doesn't seem as good as last time. But still good!

The ride from San Antonio to Houston was pretty boring. Not ugly, and there were occasional patches of wildflowers along the freeway, yellow, then blue, and a little orange-red, but the closer you get to Houston, the flatter it gets, and the road is perfectly straight.

I-10 backed up and stopped almost dead on the west side of town, so we got off and tried surface streets. That side of town is pretty with lots of grass and lots of parks. Eventually we found our way to a toll freeway, and the toll takers gave us good directions how to get to the Space Center.

After checking in to a hotel in Webster, we followed the advice of the hotel manager and headed down the road to Kemah, a little town with a boardwalk and lots of seafood. Not quite as far as Galveston, but still we didn't get there in time to see the sunset. Rats. Had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack ("Eat at Joes"). We sat outside because it was warm but not too hot. A little muggy, though. The truck was wet when we returned to it. Anyway, the food was good, but I wouldn't send anyone out of their way to eat there.

Tomorrow we will visit the Johnson Space Center here in a little town just south of Houston. We would also like to visit the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, but it is near downtown and after seeing the traffic today, we're wary of venturing in that far. It might also be too much to visit both in one day, but we could stay here a second night if need be. This hotel is a little expensive, though.

Easter Miracle

Easter Sunday, April 16

Today we attended the Easter service at Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Odessa. The last time we attended a VCF was two years ago in Gillette, Wyoming. That church was small, we met the pastor and several others, and we got lots of good advice about what to see in the area.

We didn't really know what to expect, but we were hoping for a smaller church, where we could meet people. What we got was a miracle!

As soon as we walked in the door, several people introduced themselves. David, Mark, one other I don't remember right now. We were made to feel very welcome. The church was very small. I think there were about 50 chairs set up, only about 25 of them occupied.

Pastor Tim Lien gave what he called an "atypical" Easter message, but it was meaty and well-received. Mary told me later she got a lot out of it, including some "homework" for when we get back home, and she asked the pastor later for the name of a book he mentioned, so we can buy it. At one point, Mary started sniffling with allergies, and someone passed us a box of kleenex.

After the service, we were talking to David, who had introduced himself earlier. We were telling him about our trip to Mississippi, and about the needs there. He offered to pray with us, then yelled for others to come and pray with us also. The pastor's wife, Mary Ann, and another gal, Susan, came to pray with us. In addition to the relief effort with CityTeam, Mary asked for prayer for Matthew, who is with the Marines in Iraq. David and Mary Ann prayed for us mightily, and Susan gave us a prophetic word of encouragement about Matthew's safety, which matched almost word-for-word the way I myself have been praying for Matthew lately.

Not only that, but after we prayed, David gave us some money and Mary Ann wrote us a check from the church, to use for "whatever we need." It's not been very often that I'm offered money, and I didn't really know how to respond, but the givers were very gracious even sensing my discomfort. Unless some pressing need presents itself, like the truck breaking down or something, we intend to turn this money over to CityTeam when we arrive in Bay St Louis. When we left there in November, there was a pressing need for pots and pans for people who had been moved into trailers but had no way to use the kitchens. The needs are probably different now, but we expect they are just as pressing.

David also took the time to tell us a nice way to get to San Antonio on back roads, since I-10 is so ugly through west Texas. The back road goes from Midland to Sterling City on hwy 158, then to San Angelo on hwy 87. In San Angelo, we stopped at a Denny's for Easter dinner. I'd have preferred a good Texas steak, but this was the best meal we've ever eaten in a Denny's (breakfast for Mary, Tilapia for me).

From San Angelo, we continued on hwy 87 to Eden, then hwy 83 to Menard, then hwy 29 to Mason. In Mason, I let Mary take over the driving. Since she prefers the freeway to the backroads, we headed out to I-10 via Fredericksburg and Comfort, bypassing Luchenbach. Darn! (eh?) I slept while Mary navigated I-10 down to the beltway, where we found this nice Howard Johnson with wireless internet.

Tomorrow, we hope to eat again at Karam's mexican restaurant here in San Antonio. (We ate there last summer when we visited here for URDC.) Then it's about 3-4 hours to Houston. On Tuesday, we hope to vist the Kennedy Space Center and other Houston attractions, including some kind of butterfly museum or zoo. Then on through Louisiana to Mississippi. Bay St Louis is just over that border. We are due to check in there on Thursday, April 20.

We've been told not to miss Cajun Charlie's in Sulphur, Louisiana, near Lake Charles. The manager of Denny's says it may have been wiped away by Hurricane Rita last year, but he's like to know if it's still there. Sounds like our kind of adventure.

Holy Batcave!

Saturday, April 15

After a late night driving last night, we slept in. We left Roswell around noon to head for Carlsbad Caverns. We would have visited the UFO Museum if we had seen it. Actually, I don't know how we missed it, having seen a postcard later ... it looks like a "sore thumb" building. As it turned out, it's a good thing we beat feet to Carlsbad when we did ...

Last year, we visited Carlsbad but we got there too late to do the "natural entrance" tour, where you walk down into the historic entrance, descending 700 feet over the course of a one mile walk. Last year we were able to visit the "big room" by going down the 70-story elevator. Last year, they stopped admitting people to the natural entrance around 4 pm. The reason is that the cave is populated by bats that come out in the evening. This year, they were closing the natural entrance at 2 pm. Apparently the bats come out at different times in the afternoon depending on the season, and this time of year they come out earlier. Anyway, we got there just in the nick of time. We were with the last group they let in.

We left Carlsbad at 5 pm when the closed up. Tonight, we want to make it to a town that has a Calvary Chapel or a Vineyard. We are heading generally in the direction of Houston. Unless we want to backtrack to El Paso, it looks like our best bet is the Midland/Odessa area or San Angelo. It doesn't help that we lost an hour when we crossed into Texas. We're now on Central Daylight Time, two hours different from our California home. Anyway, San Angelo looks like a very long drive, but Odessa looks very doable. We found a Days Inn there with internet access. After we checked in, we got online and discovered we were only two miles away from Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Odessa. Also, there is a Starbucks nearby. So we know where we're headed in the morning.

Da Bomb

Friday, April 14

We had a wonderful breakfast at an apparent one-off called the Flying Tortilla. We both had corned beef and eggs, and we both had sufficient leftovers for another meal. Santa Fe definitely gets an A+ for food.

Today we went to the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. The Bradbury museum is not named for writer Ray Bradbury, but for another man having the same name. It is a huge alter to the sacrament of the atomic bomb, and other scientific achievements. It did have an "equal time" section for those who argue that the use of the atomic bomb in WWII was not necessary, but even to a peacknik like me their arguments were transparently ridiculous.

The museum also had sections devoted to computing, the human genome project, visualizations, and radiation. There was a hands-on section for children. Overall, we thought it very worthwhile.

We headed back to Santa Fe in time to attend the evening Good Friday service at Calvary Chapel Santa Fe. The church meets in a large building but attendance seemed small. Several people shook our hands but no one told us their names. We hope to find a better church for Easter.

At about 8:30 PM, we headed out on back roads toward the UFO capital of Roswell. We arrived around midnight. The last hour was pretty harrowing, as we found the road haunted by rabbits. We did almost hit one, and we came close to several others who were just sitting still by the side (or the middle) of the road. Mary said, if you hit the Easter Bunny he won't bring you any eggs.

Rosabelle

Thursday, April 13

Today we visited Rosabelle. She is Mary's former mother-in-law. She is in a long-term care facility here in Albuquerque. We had a very pleasant visit with her. We're still not sure whether she recognized us, but she seemed very happy to see us. We called Aaron and let him talk to her on the cell phone, and her eyes lit up with recognition. We left her a photo of Aaron and Sherrellee from their wedding, and an Easter card to open later.

I will let Mary report more on the visit with Rosabelle later.

We found a UPS store where I could finish my paperwork and have it notarized. Then we went up to Sandia Peak but the tram was closed today. Across town, we visited Petroglyph National Monument. It was warm and while partly cloudy, we still got tired quickly and sunburned (which we didn't notice until later).

We left Albuquerque around 4:30 and arrived in Santa Fe around 5:30 pm. We found a motel with internet access so I could post all these blog entries! Then we headed to a local hangout that has become well known across the country ... The Bobcat Bite. They serve a 10-ounce hamburger with your choice of swiss cheese, bacon (Mary's choice), or green chilies (Mark's choice). I also tried the grilled jalapeno and turned bright red after just one small bite. As I told Mary, for just one buck I had to try it. We talked to several other customers who are regulars and they gave us some advice about what to see in and around town.

We found a Cold Stone Creamery near our hotel where I could wash away the effects of the jalapeno.

Tomorrow we hope to find a Calvary Chapel where we can attend a Good Friday service.

Sedona

Wednesday, April 12

Wednesday was our fun day bumbling around Sedona. We stayed in Cottonwood last night, at the pleasant Little Daisy Motel.

The Red Rock Loop definitely gets 5 stars. It winds around a few miles through red rock canyons on a dirt road. There are also some nice homes back there.

As we headed back into Sedona, Mary yelled "quilt shop!" The Sedona Quilt Store had some interesting western patterns but the people were not that friendly. We bought a few patterns. Just a couple blocks further on down Mary yelled again ...

"Gluten free pizza!" What? We turned around and went back. Sure enough, Picazzo's Gourmet Pizza and Salads will serve any of their whole pizzas on a gluten-free crust. They also helped us to find gluten- and vinegar-free toppings and salads. Mary was in heaven! This was definitely a highlight of our trip so far. The waitress told us that people have come out to Sedona all the way from Indiana just to eat this pizza.

Next, we went up the Airport Road to the overlook. You can see all of Sedona from above. Many of the buildings are painted red to match the surrounding red rocks, but there was one cluster of whitish buildings right in the middle of town. I think these may have been some kind of industrial buildings, but Mary thinks maybe they were mobile homes.

Finally, we got our chance to visit the Chapel of the Holy Cross. This is a small Catholic Chapel set high in the red rocks. It is known for its large stone cross built into the windows and the hillside. We've been here before, but never inside. They have a nice gift shop downstairs and we bought some post cards. Then we went inside and prayed for several minutes. We prayed for Matthew and many other things. There were candles to light and all the Catholic stuff we don't understand. This was another highlight of our trip so far.

We left town via Schebly Hill Road. This is a rough dirt road that climbs to several stunning vistas of red rocks. We definitely needed my high-clearance truck to do it. We were told that sunset is the favorite time to travel it, but we started around 3 pm. It took us right out to the freeway to Flagstaff, so off we went. Goodbye Sedona, we'll be back again!

We decided to make it as far towards Albuquerque as possible. We want to visit Rosabelle tomorrow. Mary took a little nap while I drove as far as Gallup, where we had to get gas. Then Mary took over while I rested. We arrived in downtown Albuquerque around 10:30 pm by our watches. But unknown to us, when crossing into New Mexico, we lost an hour due to entering Mountain Daylight Time (Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time all year). So it was actually 11:30 pm. I slept better that night.

The Day From Hell

Tuesday, April 11

Highlights: The Pitch, The Chiropractor, Emetrol

I woke up with a headache after not having slept well again. Why I can't sleep in an expensive resort is beyond me, but we'll find out before the end of the day.

We have a noon appointment for "the pitch" where they will try to sell us a time share in this resort. We both agree that we are really not interested. But it really does sound appealing. After discussing it with them for two hours (it was supposed to be a 90 minute pitch), they let us take a lunch break to think it over. The problem is that you must sign up today in order to get all these other extra benefits. It's really the additional benefits that are most appealing, because they include big discounts that might help us on our present trip. I really hate being railroaded into making a quick decision.

I can't even eat my lunch. It has nothing to do with the time share pitch ... I am just physically ill, and I don't know why. My headache is getting worse. During lunch, I got another phone call ... the missing paperwork, which I sent off the day after Disneyland last week, was filled out incorrectly. I'm not sure exactly how to fix it, but I have to fill it all out again, have it notarzied, and send it in again. And they won't tell me how to fix it ... I have to supply some numbers, it's a security feature. I understand the necessity of it. But, what a bother!

It takes another hour before we got them to sign us out without a commitment. Meanwhile, the concierge found a chiropractor so I can get some treatment for a neck that won't move, a headache, and persistent nausea. David Hart at Hart Family Chiropractic in Sedona, 928-282-8493, was a real life saver. In addition to fixing my neck, he diagnosed that my headache and nausea were caused by low blood sugar and dehydration. Sedona is at 4500 feet and the effects of the sun here are more pronounced than they would be at our sea level home. Dr. Hart also suggested some short-term remedies and some longer term strategies for dealing with low blood sugar. Short term, eat some raw nuts and drink some pure juice. This will get some protein and good sugar into my system. Longer term, the same as we've heard all along from our doctor at home ... balance the carbs with protein, eat smaller meals more often, and stay hydrated at the higher elevations.

After some pain killers and some Emetrol (an anti-nausea remedy) we found at Walgreens, I started to feel better. We also found a health food store that carried some good juice; we also stocked up on gluten-free products.

I regained my appetite about four hours later, around 10 pm. Dr. Hart actually called me on my cell phone to see how I was doing. Since we had wasted a day with time share pitches and illness, we decided to stay around Sedona one more day. This proved to be a great decision, as Wednesday was much more pleasant than Tuesday was unpleasant.

Indian Ruins

Monday, April 10

Highlights: Jerome and Jerome State Park, Tuzigoot National Monument, Montezuma's Castle NM

We aim to get into Sedona the back way, through Prescott and Cottonwood. I've never been this way before, but it must be better than the freeway. We found gas in Chino Valley for 2.59. The Chino Valley and Prescott areas seem to be nothing but trailers, but I don't assume we saw the whole thing.

Between Prescott and Cottonwood we pass through the hillside tourist trap of Jerome. We had to stop here because we have a brother in law named Jerome. We had to send him a post card and have it postmarked here. We also went to Jerome State Park, which surveys the mining history of this town.

Near Cottonwood we found the Tuzigoot National Monument, a set of indian ruins. It is really interesting because you can see entire rooms from below, at eye level, and from above. There are also two rooms you can actually walk into, one with a roof and one without.

Also nearby we found Montezuma's Castle National Monument. It is another indian dwelling build high on the side of a cliff. You see it from a couple hundred feet below, and you can't go into it, but it is still fascinating. The park includes a small-scale model of the innards and a video showing what life might have been like. Those displays help fill in the gaps.

In Sedona, we found our first internet access since the Kinko's in West Covina several days ago. I downloaded our email by sitting in the parking lot of the Comfort Inn. Someone clogged up my spool with a 6 megabyte cue sheet file. Please don't do that to me while I'm on vacation! Someone else sent me a large video file. You know who you are! Please don't do that ... even "high speed wireless" is not very high speed, especially when you have only 1/2 bar of signal from some parking lot.

We got here too late to see the church on the hill while it's open ... again. So we'll stay here in town tonight if possible, and see the church tomorrow. But there are no available rooms in town. We finally find a great deal on a resort room ... if we will spend 90 minutes listening to the time-share pitch tomorrow afternoon. We're not interested in the time share, but 69 dollars for a suite and free steak dinner is too good to pass up. I have not been sleeping well for several nights, and this promises to make for a sound sleep.

Las Vegas

Sunday, April 9

Highlights: Calvary Chapel Spring Valley, In-n-Out

Calvary Chapel Spring Valley is a large church on the western edge of Las Vegas. They had good rock and roll worship. The message was out of Daniel 9 and how it relates to Palm Sunday. Mary found the message interesting, but she did not like the impersonal nature of attending a large church as strangers. We've had better experiences attending small churches while on the road.

This was our last chance to eat at In-n-Out and we did so. Then we headed out to Kingman over Hoover Dam. I forgot about the traffic delays at Hoover Dam. It's not disagreeable when you want to see the dam, but when you just want to get from here to there it's annoying. My covered truck got picked out for a short inspection.

We went to the Powerhouse building in Kingman, home of the Route 66 Museum. We looked at all the displays that were free, but peeking into the actual museum room, it didn't look worth the four dollar entrance fee, even though recommended by Lonely Planet.

We ended up in Ash Fork, halfway between Kingman and Flagstaff. The Ash Fork Inn advertised 25 dollar rooms, but it ended up at 31 dollars for two people plus tax. Not a bad room, either, but the towels were pretty skimpy.

Death Valley

Saturday, April 8

Highlights: Death Valley, Pahrump, Las Vegas

We got up at 5:45 in order to get into Death Valley early, I've heard that sunrise is the best time to see it. This is way early for us. We both slept OK, but not nearly long enough. Because I made a wrong turn, we had to go at least 10 miles out of our way on the freeway before I found a place to make an illegal u-turn in the median. This put us almost half an hour behind schedule.

We entered Death Valley from the south entrance, near Shoshone. Wish we'd known better. There really is not much to see between the south entrance and Badwater, which is almost to the middle of the park.

The weather is cool at the higher elevations, but rises as you descend into the valley in the main part of the park. We never found it either cool enough or warm enough to be uncomfortable. The bright sunlight does tire our eyes, though.

Badwater is 282 feet below sea level. The ground is white and salty. There is a huge mountain next to it, and you can look up the mountain to a spot 282 feet up labeled "sea level." There is a boardwalk where you can walk out a little ways. There actually is a little pool of water there, the pool named "Badwater" because the water has too many minerals to be drinkable, although it is not toxic.

There is a gas station, store, lodge, and visitor center in Furnace Creek. In the visitor center, we get good advise about what to see in a short time. We don't really want to be here tomorrow because we want to go to church, preferably a Calvary Chapel like our church at home.

Gas is about 3.79 in Death Valley!

We decide to go as far as Stovepipe Wells, but not as far as Scotty's Castle. Probably the highlight there is the Salt Creek, where you can see pupfish mating. Pupfish are only about one inch long and they are very cute. They seem to be playing tag like children. On closer observation, it becomes apparent the males are chasing the females. They mate by sidling up next to each other, pausing a moment, and exchanging eggs or bodily fluids or whatever they do. It's fascinating to watch.

In the store at Stovepipe Wells, we bought bologna, jerky, ice cream, and Pahrump. Pahrump is a city in Nevada, but it is also the name we gave to our trip mascot, a little green and blue stuffed lizard we bought. He likes riding on the dashboard and soaking up the rays. He's very easy going and doesn't care much what you do, what you say, or even what you call him ... Pahrump, Pupfish, "the lizard," "hey you," or whatever. He's as low strung as we are high strung. God brought him into our lives to teach us how to relax and not sweat the small things.

We got into Las Vegas but we could not find a place to stay. We are looking for something really cheap, but it's Saturday night and spring break and everything is full. I got quotes for 149, 129, and 89 before crying. We prayed. Seriously. At one hotel they gave us the card for a hotline you can call. The gal on the other end called me "honey" about a dozen times during the three minutes we talked. She told me the cheapest hotel in town would be about 189, and even the chains were all full. She told me to call the 89 dollar motel back and snap it up. I called back, and the rate had gone down to 74! God does answer prayer. We had a room at the Klondike Casino.

But the hotel was disgusting. (The Klondike.) We waited an hour in line for them to process about 8 people ahead of us. Everyone around us was gambling, smoking, or drinking, even doing all three while waiting in line near us. Then we waited another half an hour for passable but cheap prime rib. The room was a smoking room but guaranteed aired out every day. Been there, done that. But the room wasn't bad from the odor standpoint. Our clothes smelled more from smoke just due to waiting in line at check-in. But the sink was so rusty that Mary refused to even brush her teeth. We had to keep reminding ourselves that we had prayed for a place to stay, and this is what God had provided.

But ... we will be able to go to church tomorrow at our choice of any of several Calvary Chapels. Which makes it worth it. We pray for the people at this very dark hotel. I refused to even have a drink with dinner. I refused to complain about the long wait. I refused to complain about the smoke. In this very dark place, we need to be the brightest lights we possibly can.

Running around

Friday, April 7

Highlights: none

We found a Kinko's and a notary in West Covina. We could not make my Powerbook work with the network at Kinko's. So I had to use their PC. Kinko's now charges 25 cents a minute to use their computers! Just a couple years ago it was 10 cents for a PC, and 20 cents for a Mac. We need some numbers to fill out the paperwork. I call the attorney but he leaves early on Fridays. I call the CPA and get the numbers.

Our nephew Paul goes to school at Azusa Pacific College, but we don't have his phone number, and no one else in the family does either. We finally reached his sister Rebecca, only to find out he's not in town anyway ... he's on spring break.

OK! We're headed towards our next destination: Death Valley. If we can't get there by dark, we'll get as close as we can. We end up in Baker at the Bun Boy Motel. I've called all around Death Valley and no other town has motel vacancies.

Disneyland

Thursday April 6

Highlights: Carrizo Plain National Monument, Disneyland, the Phone Call

I get up around 6 am after not having slept much. Mary gets up around 6:30 am. Very early for both of us. We're sorry we didn't have more time to visit with Carol.

We are on the road by 7:30 am. Destination: Disneyland! We have season passes so we can even drop by for just a couple hours at no charge. We got gas at some no-name city along highway 99. I want to see if there are wildflowers in the Carrizo Plain National Monument between Bakersfield and Santa Maria. There are lots, on the northwest end near Soda Lake. But afterward, Mary didn't think it was worth the detour.

While on the 405 approaching Garden Grove, I got a phone call that some of the paperwork I filed a couple of days ago was incomplete. We have to find a Kinko's, print a form from the web, fill it out, have it notarized, and send it in. We'll work on all that tomorrow.

6 pm: We arrive in the Disneyland area after being stuck on the 405 for a couple of hours. We've made several wrong turns, and we are both tired, hungry and grouchy. There are no rooms available in Anaheim. We decided to pay the 10 bucks to park in the lot, go to Disneyland, leave when the park closes at 11 pm, and get out to some other lesser town where we can find an inexpensive room.

In California Adventure, we went on the Tower of Terror, the roller coaster we missed last time and whose name I can never remember, and Soarin' Over California. We discovered that the Taste Pilot's Grill serves a gluten-free hamburger. But we did not eat there because the park closed before we could get to it.

In Disneyland, we ate the gluten-free burger at Club Buzz. Then we went on Space Mountain while the 50th anniversary fireworks were going off. Lots of others had the same idea, and the line for SM was very long. We were told later that we'd missed quite a fireworks show. Hopefully we'll get to see it again later this year. After Space Mountain, we went into the Haunted Mansion, which was closed when we visited in January. I thought we went on one other ride, but Mary says no. We were both really tired and we still didn't have a place to stay. We left around 10:30 pm.

We stayed at the Super 8 in El Monte. We both slept well tonight.

The Countdown

Day -1: Monday April 3

We selected April 4 as our departure date. Originally, my passport was scheduled to arrive on April 4. It arrived earlier than expected, on March 23. But by then we had already made some other plans up until April 4.

But it doesn't look like we will get out of here tomorrow anyway. I am still finishing up some paperwork that needs to be done before we leave, and we have not started packing yet.

Day 0: Tuesday April 4

We decided that in order to leave today, we'd have had to stay up all night packing. So we will take today to pack, and we will leave tomorrow.

Afternoon update: we have not started packing yet.

If we wait until tomorrow, we can go to Bible Study at church tonight. We'll be away from Bible Study for several weeks, and we'll miss it, so since it is late, we decide to wait until the morning. We can pack later tonight or early tomorrow morning, and be out of here by noon.

Day 1: Wednesday April 5

OK, we slept in until almost noon. But we'll still be out of here in a couple of hours.

4 pm update: we are almost done packing. I call my sister in Fresno to see if we can stay at her house tonight. We will be ready to leave in about an hour, and we will arrive in Fresno around 8 pm. Carol will be in her own deaf Bible Study until 8 pm, so it times out just about right. We will be able to visit with her for a couple of hours before her 10 pm bedtime.

7 pm update: we are packed and the truck is loaded, but we have to stop and visit friends on the way out of town. They are looking after our house while we are gone.

8 pm update: we are truly on the road now. We should arrive in Fresno around 11 pm, only one hour after Carol's bedtime.

10 pm update: Carol asks whether she should leave the door open for us so she can go to bed. We are still 45 minutes away.

We finally arrive at Carol's house in Fresno just a little before 11 pm. She gets up around 5:30 am and we want to leave her house before she goes to work.

Where we been?

Starting April 5, we are traveling the country. So far, we have been to Disneyland, Death Valley, Sedona, and Albuquerque. Right now we are in Santa Fe, and we're not sure where we are heading tomorrow. We will be heading either toward Oklahoma City, Amarillo, or Carlsbad Caverns. We do hope to visit the Atomic Museum in Los Alamos and the Space Center in Houston.

Starting April 20, we are due to serve for two weeks with CityTeam in Bay St Louis, Mississippi. We were there last Thanksgiving, helping to run a distribution center. We don't know yet what we will be doing this time.

After we're done in Mississippi, we may head up the Natchez Trace and and the Blue Ridge Parkway to Washington DC, where we hope to spend some time visiting the Smithsonian Museums. After that, we plan to visit Independece Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philadephia, whatever we can see in New York City, including the Statue of Liberty, then head up to Boston and New England.

As we head back, we might visit Ann Arbor (where Mary was born), Chicago (where Mark's dad was born), and venture into Canada. If there is time, we might even go to Alaska.

I will post our experiences this last week as a series of separate articles.

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Last updated Monday 3 August 2009