Mark's Notebook

All Articles - May 2006

Sixteen Tons

Sunday, May 28

This morning we went to church at Calvary Chapel Beckley in Beckley, West Virginia. I counted only about 14 people in the church including us. I didn't see any kids, but they may have been off in another room. We met the pastor, Ed, his assistant, Gary, and several ladies, including Cindy, who gave us lots of advice about things to see in the area.

After lunch, we visited Tamarack, a gift shop, conference center, restaurant, and theater that showcases handmade West Virginia art. We saw lots of wood, glass, quilts, paintings, and photographs. We didn't buy anything. We were glad we'd eaten elsewhere, because although the food looked wonderful, all of it violated our food allergies.

The highlight of our visit to Tamarack was a live big band concert. The Smoot Theater House Band from Parkersburg was holding a free concert in Tamarack's auditorium. The band consisted of about five each saxes, trombones, and trumpets, plus a small rhythm section. They ranged in age from under 30 to old enough to have played with the Glenn Miller orchestra! They were mostly band instructors and other music teachers from the local school systems. I don't have the flier with me right now, but they played an hour's worth of standards including When I Fall In Love, In The Mood, The Nearness Of You, and One Note Samba. They also played a couple of more modern swing pieces written by big band arrangers. They ended with a "patriotic" medley (which, to our consternation, included both Dixie and Yankee Doodle) and a sing-along of America the Beautiful.

Later in the afternoon, we visited the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. This is a real mine that was in use until about 100 years ago, and you can ride a real mine car into it. They talk about what kind of light the miners used, and they demonstrate different kinds of candle and fire light. They also talk about how the mining is actually done, and various tools that have been used over the years, from quite primitive ones to more modern ones that look like large chainsaws. In addition to the mine, the site includes real houses, shanties, churches, and other buildings moved here from mining camps around the state.

Early in the evening, we tried to find our way to the New River Gorge, billed as the "grand canyon of the east." We found the New River and a bridge over it, but I think we missed the best of it somehow. We had been advised to visit a place called Grandview, but that was the wrong direction so we tried to see the gorge from a different place. Oh, well. We were very tired and we turned in early at the little town of Burnsville in a very worn-down and overpriced motel. It was a bad night because the A/C did not work and neither of us could sleep.

Memorial Day, Monday, May 29

Happy memorial day to you!

We took off today not knowing where we would end up, but aiming toward the Amish country of Pennsylvania. Once we got going, it appeared that would be quite a long trip, so we detoured to Pittsburgh instead. We visited the National Aviary on the north shore side of town. Pittsburgh also has a zoo and aquarium combination, but we have had our fill of those for a while. We may visit another aquarium in Baltimore later.

Tomorrow we hope to visit the Carnegie Science Center, which includes a WWII submarine, 300 hands-on exhibits, and an IMAX presentation. It is supposedly an all-day affair to visit there. We hope to leave in time to head our towards Lancaster or some other Amish kind of destination in southern Pennsylvania, as we make our way toward Washington DC.

For those keeping track, Mary says Pennsylvania is the 20th state we have visited.

(I expect we will hit 21 more states plus DC by the time we are done, unless Mary twists my arm to skirt a few more.)

The lizard family

Here are the photos of the lizard family that I promised to post.

The whole family	Close up
Pahrump Pupfish	Pahrump close up
Lizbeth Louise	Lizbeth close up
Smoky the Singing Salamander	Smoky close up

Out of Tennessee

Friday, May 25

Today we found a new Bible for Mary at the Bible Factory Outlet at the outlets in Pigeon Forge. We also visited the Christian Book Warehouse in Sevierville. Before we left town, we ended up at the Smoky Mountain Knife Works, billed as the world's largest knife store. We went there because my swiss army knife had a broken spring on the scissors. I didn't know it, but they sell the spring separately (30 cents, no less) and you can install it yourself if you are brave. They also sell the tweezers and toothpicks separately. We also bought a can of Bollitroll (sp?), a cleaner and lubricant made for guns, but which works well for knives.

We had lunch at Fat Mo's again. It was just as good the second time around.

We are finally on the way out of Tennessee. I wanted to go through Bristol because of this song by David Massengill:

Number One In America - David Massengill - From "The Great American Bootleg Tape" and "Coming Up For Air"

In nineteen hundred and sixty-three
In my hometown, Bristol, Tennessee
I was sitting on my mother's knee
Watching Amos & Andy on T.V.

Amos was Santa Claus on Christmas Eve
A little girl was tugging at his sleeve
Saying, "Can I have a doll my own color, please?"
He said, "Honey, you can make believe"

Just then came a call on the telephone
It was the Mayor, asked if my daddy was home
This was for his ears alone
Mom and me listened on the second phone

Mayor said, "The Freedom Riders are on their way
They'll be here by Christmas Day
Our laws they vow to disobey
'Cause our school's as white as the Milky Way"

The Ku Klux Klan is still around
With a permit to march in my home town
But only on Virginia's ground
The Tennessee side turned them down

Sheriff stood there with his deputies
Ostensibly to keep the peace
But he made us this guarantee
"By God, they'll not march into Tennessee"

The network cameras were triple-tiered
We laughed and cried, we hooted and jeered
But mostly we stood there unfeared
'Til the Ku Klux Klan disappeared

We got to drive down State Street, with Tennesse on our right and Virginia on our left. We took a photo of a big sign ... "Bristol VA TN, a great place to live." Doesn't sound so much like that. I'll post the photo when we get a chance.

Saturday, May 27

Today we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway from the North Carolina Border to about Roanoke. Then we got bored and hopped on the freeway. We've ended up in Buckley, West Virginia, where we hope to visit the local Calvary Chapel. After that, we will visit a coal mine museum, which is what passes for culture in these parts. We'll let you know later how that went.

Shopper's Paradise

"Is that where they make cast iron pigeons or something?"
- A conversation I had once with Rob French.

Thursday, May 25

Today we spent a lot of time in the Pigeon Forge and Sevierville area. It's a tourist trap near Gatlinburg, but they really do have the largest set of outlets we have ever seen. This is really a shopper's paradise. Our truck bed is getting so full that we're considering shipping some stuff home. But that doesn't stop us from looking.

We started our day at the Little Blessings quilt shop in Crossvile. The gals there were very friendly and joked with us a lot about their accents (and ours). They suggested we try another store called the Cherry Pit, in Sevierville. We got to that store just before they closed, but I don't think we bought anything there. Mary did find some special free-motion foot in the first store. I think it is transparent and lets you see the needle while you're sewing.

At the outlets, Mary found a pair of Birkenstocks. She has been looking for months. We also found a store with interesting kinds of socks. If you're on our Christmas gift list, you might find a pair ... in your stocking ... this year. Mary also found a Scrapbooking outlet where she bought some doodads. And we found a VF store with the exact kind of pants I will need for the remainder of our trip and for the Europe trip also. Mary got a few things there too.

We ate dinner at a burger place called Fat Mo's. The name reminded me of the old Fat Jack's restaurant in Fresno (now moved to Clovis). The advertisement for the 27-ounce burger was eye-catching. We had only the 8-ounce model. Mine came with the bun, which I didn't order. I took that as a sign and ate it anyway. Yummy! They put a little pepper on the meat that gives it extra flavor. It can be ordered with bacon, grilled onions, bbq sauce, and jalapenos.

In case I hadn't mentioned it before, we are trying to east some of the 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die, as compiled by GQ magazine. So far, we have eaten only at the Bobcat Bite, in Santa Fe. But we would also rank Fat Mo's burger very highly. Look here for more burger reports as we hit New York, Chicago, and Detroit.

Rugrats

Wednesday, May 24

Today we went through the Cataloochie section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This section along the eastern edge of the park is mostly accessible via unpaved roads. I did not know that when we started out, but it was still a fun day. There were several more areas with many butterflies, including one swarm in the campground near the restrooms. They swarm together on the ground, and the best we can figure is that they are gathering around scat. But we can't figure out why they would do that.

We entered the Cataloochie section at its southern end, near Maggie Valley, and we emerged at its northern end, where I-40 crosses from North Carolina into Tennessee. Then we headed back into Tennessee for the upteenth time in hopes of visiting a friend who lives near Knoxville.

This evening we visited Dave and Randi Elliot and their munchkins Ethan, and twins Matthew and Avery. Dave and Randi used to work at Aspect with Mary before they moved out to Florida. They moved to Tennessee less than two weeks ago. It was fun hearing about all the changes they've been through in the several years since we've last seen them. (Ethan was an infant then, and he is five years old now.) It was also fun seeing the children and playing with them. Randi took incriminating photos of Mary and me holding the twins. I think Mary is trying to get me ready for grandfatherhood some day, but she's going to have to kick her own kids in the pants first in order to make that happen.

Tonight we also decided definitely that we are not going to Spring Berkshires in Massachusetts this weekend. Tomorrow, we will head east toward the Blue Ridge Parkway, follow it up toward West Virginia, and eventually land in Washington DC, where we hope to spend several days. I hope we can find a motel this weekend. Mary's real worried about that. It finding a motel near Washington doesn't work out, we might try to head toward the more rural areas of Pennsylvania, like the Amish country, or we might even just head to the "middle of nowhere" and camp restfully for a few days.

Holy Smokies

Tuesday, May, 23

Today we visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This park supposedly gets more visitors than any other national park in the system. Perhaps it is close to several populated areas, and perhaps it is because it is free. Can you believe it? Which other national park is free?

The guidebooks indicated that we'd need two days to fully appreciate the park; one day to visit Cades Cove, and one day to go over the divide and see Clingman Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. We hoped to do a little of each and finish it all in one day. This turned out to be a bit of an adventure.

Cades Cove is a beautiful drive that takes you past several small waterfalls very near the roadway. At the end is a scenic loop where you can view houses and churches from the time period 1880-1900. Each of the three churches also has a small cemetery. The cemetery we visited seemed to be in current use, having stones dated as late as 2002. The first church, the Missionary Baptist, had an interesting feature ("graffiti," as one ranger called it) ... you could see handprints in the ceiling. Apparently the ceiling was constructed as one man held up the board while another nailed it into place ... the hands drew out the sap in the wood, and the resulting handprints are still visible today.

We saw lots of birds and butterflies in Cades Cove, but one "wildlife jam" (a long line of stopped cars) made us get out and investigate. It turns out there was a mama bear and three cubs near a tree. Many people circled around, keeping their distance and taking photographs. Whenever people would get too close, mama bear would chase the babies up the tree for their protection. We got a few photographs, and while blurry, you can distinctly make out the mama bear and one cub in several of the photos. We talked to one gentleman who has lived in the area for several years, and visits the park often, and he has never seen a bear here. Mary told me later that she had prayed a bear sighting opportunity and she was very happy with the form of the answer.

Since the wildlife jam slowed us down and the bear view put us way behind schedule, we were rushing to get out of the Cades Cove area and see Clingman Dome before we lost daylight. When we got to the Clingman Dome parking lot, we found 20 minutes of sunlight left, and a 30-minute hike still ahead of us. They have built a tower at the top of the mountain, and it takes you above the treeline for a less obstructed view. The trail is one-half mile long, gains 300 feet of elevation, suggests and walking time of 30 minutes, warns of altitude related problems, and suggests a slow hike. We walked quite quickly up the hill to make it before sunset, and Mary had some athsma by the time we got to the top. However, we were rewarded with a fantastic sunset that lasted almost an hour from start to finish. We got lots of photos, and lots of beautiful memories.

After coming all the way through the park, we stayed in Maggie Valley on the south side of the park (North Carolina).

Not sure if I ever mention that at the St. Louis Zoo we bought a companion for Pahrump, our blue and green lizard. Her name is Lizbeth Louise and she is blue and yellow with some spots. Well, today we found an orange salamander in the GSMNP gift shop. He is pretty realistic looking, and they all get along well together. His name is Smoky the Singing Salamander. His mouth is wide open, and at first I thought we was yelling, or perhaps constantly hungry. But Mary determined that he likes to sing rock and roll, possibly Elvis, and he likes to "serenade" the other lizards. He also like to yell when we go through tunnels.

We also bought a little black bear. I have one at home that I got from my mother. His name is Blackie. We have named the new little one "BJ" for Blackie Jr. He likes to sit in the back seat inside the hood of Mary's jacket, or snuggled up in Mary's blanket. We think he might believe the tiger on Mary's blanket is actually his mama bear.

We learned that the Smoky Mountains are named for the "mists" that rise here in the late afternoon and evening. We first noticed this last night even before we got to the park. I kept asking Mary whether my windows were dirty or whether it was foggy outside. Some brochures say the mists are due to the unusally dense deciduous vegetation here ... the large levels of oxygen given off by the plants. But the amount of "haze" has apparently increased since the park opened, because of automobile traffic and growth of cities nearby.

We learned that the biological diversity of the Smoky Mountains were caused by the most recent ice age, when species from Canada moved south into the higher elevations of this park, which was just south of the ice sheet. We were told that in the 45-minute drive from the lower elevations to the heights of Clingman Dome, we would encounter the same change of plants as we would in a drive from Tennessee to Canada.

We learned that there are more salamanders, by weight, in GSMNP than there are bears. That's a lot of salamanders!

Built on the Moor

Monday, May 22

Today we visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Our chiropractor, Dr. Dean, suggested we visit this last year when we were in NC to greet Matthew as he returned from Iraq. Unfortunately, Camp Lejune and Asheville at at opposite ends of a not-so-small state, so we didn't make it here then.

Billed as the country's largest private residence, the estate was built by George W. Vanderbilt in the 1890's. It was intended to be a working estate that could sustain itself from ranches and farms worked within its gates.

I thought the ticket prices were steep at $45 (including audio tour), but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the product. The audio tour is a definite must; otherwise, you'll be totally lost. I thought the house was pretty cool. The tour included four floors plus the basement. The guest rooms were scrumptious, but it was fascinating to learn how the "other half" lived in the servants quarters and the basement kitchen.

Mary liked the gardens the best. There are several hot houses, a cactus room, areas where you can see plants being potted and prepared, and acres of roses and azaleas. Almost a mile down a path through flowers and forests, you'll find a pond with a small boathouse. There are lots of birds throughout and even though you can hear cars in the parking lots, it's still peaceful.

The estate is spread out over miles, with miles between the populated areas that include the main house, a winery, gardens, and an inn. Each area includes restaurants and gift stores.

Overall, we found the estate worthwhile if not slightly overpriced.

When we were all done in Asheville, we headed a couple hours back up into Tennessee to Gatlinburg, the northern entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Vineyard

Sunday, May 21

Today we went to Marietta Vineyard Church. It is a very friendly church and we met a lot of people. The message was also very good. They are doing a series on the Sermon on the Mount, and the specific passage dealt with adultery and divorce. They also had some powerful worship; unfortunately, we knew only one of the songs they sang. After the service we spoke to several people, but we were particularly impressed with one of the worship leaders, who spoke of having lost her husband earlier this year, yet she still overflowed with the love and joy of the Lord.

We found a health food store next to the church, but it was closed. Next door we found an art studio being run by a native American gentleman, who spoke to us for a while. He describes himself as a "storyteller" and he sure did like to talk! He told us one story of a band of indians who were saved by two of their leaders, who volunteered to be arrested and executed under the condition that the rest of their tribe could be allowed to relocate peaceably.

OK, we found an open health food store across the street. We stocked up on healthful junk food (?!??!) and items we can use to make lunch on the road, so we won't have to stop for fast food.

From Atlanta, we headed northeast to Greenville, South Carolina. We didn't really spend any time there, but just passed through, turning northwest to head for Asheville, North Carolina. We want to visit the Biltmore Estate tomorrow.

Counting the states

One goal of this trip was to try to visit all the states we've never visited before. So far we have been to 15 states; 7 of them we've been to before, and 8 are new for us. Before this trip, I had been to about 33 states, leaving about 17 remaining to visit (don't forget to count DC).

Let's see ... I was raised in California and childhood trips took the family to Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.

A church choir trip took me to Hawaii in 1977. Business trips between 1985 and 1991 took me to DC, Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Texas. Square dancing events have taken me to Michigan, Ohio, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. In 1985 I visited a friend new Des Moines, Iowa, and in 1997 I visited a friend near Boulder, Colorado. in 1995, I visited Sedona, Arizona for the first time to attend a concert.

In 2004, Mary and I visited Nebraska and South Dakota when we went to Mount Rushmore. In 2005, we met Matthew in North Carolina when he returned from Iraq; we went to Disney World in Florida; we drove through New Mexico when we went to URDC in Texas; and we flew to Mississippi to work with CityTeam in November.

So far, on this trip we have been to California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, all of which we'd been to before. Since leaving MS, we've been to Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia. That makes eight new states for both of us. And it leaves only seven states we've never been to.

It looks like we will go through South Carolina, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania before we get to New England. And going through Wisconsin on the way home is a no-brainer.

This all leaves 3 states we won't make it to: Oklahoma, Kansas, and Alaska. It doesn't look like we'll have anywhere near enough time to get to Alaska this trip.

Mary's not sure what all states she has been to, because she was born in Michigan but lived for a time in Virginia before they moved to the west coast. Of the states she's not sure about, the only ones we're not sure we'll get to are Iowa and Colorado.

You can see that we're mostly traveling "around" the country but not getting to the states in the very "middle" of the country.

Stuck in Atlanata again

Mary is ill today, so we're staying in Atlanta for third night involuntarily. Mary has been in bed all day. We hope to find a CC here near Marietta before we take off for Greenville, SC tomorrow.

Swimming with the fishes

Today we went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, which is billed as the world's largest aquarium. Mary says it is the only aquarium she's been to that meets up to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and probably exceeds it. It did include two large species, the whale shark and the beluga whale.

The aquarium has five sections: ocean, tropical, cold water (arctic), rivers (fresh water), and "Georgia Explorer." The Georgia section included species indigenous to this state, mostly along the coasts. It included a video about whales who calve here. It also had several hands-on exhibits, where the kids can pet shrimp and stingrays.

The whale shark was found in the ocean section, which featured a tunnel through and under the tank. It was fun watching the small fish shadow the large ones, a defense mechanism they use to keep them away from larger predators.

The beluga whale, an arctic species, was found in the cold water section, which also included penguins that inhabit South Africa. It also included the curious Leafy Sea Dragons from Australia.

The tropical section included two large tanks of colorful fish, three separate tanks of jellyfish with suitably restful accompanying music, and the clownfish of "Nemo" fame.

The river section included a tank of red piranha, who flew into the fabled frenzy at feeding time. The piranha tank (and several others) has a tunnel where youngsters can get a close-up view (if they are short enough to enter the tunnel). For those of us a little taller, the river section included a simulated river over our heads where we could view the fish from below.

We rate the Georgia Aquarium very highly. It took us about 3-1/2 hours to go through every exhibit. We got out just in time to walk around the corner to the CNN building, where we were able to take the last studio tour of the day. We were able to see the a mock-up control room, a mock-up studio, and two real newsrooms. I thought it was mildly interesting how they use color techniques to let a weather person stand in front of blank colored wall that will receive a map background later. It was also fun to watch the anchors speak and see them live on a monitor at the same time. What you see on the TV screen has all kinds of added graphics, logos, etc. and looks very different from the studio setting. Overall, though, we thought the tour was overpriced at $12 per person.

Tomorrow, we had hoped to see the Atlanta Zoo, but it is closing early to prepare for special festivities this weekend, and it won't be worthwhile to go for only half the day. Our other options are to go to a patriotism museum and the large Martin Luther King section of town. I don't think our heart is on either one of those. I'm feeling a lot better today, but Mary thinks she is coming down with something now. We got her medicated right away, so hopefully she'll be over it more quickly than I was.

Our next destination would be Greenville, South Carolina, and from their traveling north if the weather clears up. We hope to go to a Calvary Chapel in Greenville on Sunday.

Ave Maria

Wednesday, May 17

Today we visited the Ave Maria Grotto. Bonnie and Pastor Di from Bay St. Louis had suggested we see this. It is called "Jerusalem in Miniature" and it has scenes from around the world constructed years ago by one of the monks, which died in 1961. It has representations of Jerusalem, Rome, missions including several in California, and many other things. One of the scenes is the grotto itself. Grotto means cave, and there is a small cave roughly 27 feet high, 27 feet wide, and 27 feet deep, with a statue of Mary holding the Christ child, and many angels surrounding her. There must be hundreds of figures in the cave.

We tried to find the Cast Iron store we missed a few days ago. I thought it was in the same town as an Unclaimed Baggage store. The UB store was like a big overpriced Goodwill store, but interesting in its way. There were lots of older digital cameras and Palm pilots. Sunglasses, computers, sports equipment, and lots of clothes. We didn't buy anything. Turns out the cast iron store was still farther up the road and the wrong direction, so we gave up on it.

Headed instead toward Boaz, Billed as the largest outlet shopping paradise in the south. Turns out most of the stores were vacant, and those occupied were stores we'd never heard of. However, we did find a Bible Outlet, not the same chain as we visited in Missouri, but a single family-owned store. The store owner has a son who is about to graduate from high school and go into the service (hasn't decided what branch yet), and Mary was able to encourage him with a lot of what she has learned as a Marine Mom. Mary felt this was a divine appointment and God brought us to this store.

After we left there, we also found a scrapbook store where Mary bought a couple things.

We started heading for our next destination, Atlanta, but I ran out of steam real quick and we stopped in Anniston, Alabama. We had a nice meal at Ruby Tuesday and brought leftovers back to our room, But because the refrigerator was not plugged in, all the leftover spoiled. The wireless didn't work either, so we had no internet access. Remind me not to stay in Travelodge again. Oh, well, there were tracts in the front so maybe he was a Christian. ??

Thursday, May 18

Very slow day today. We took a scenic route into the Talledega National Forest. It was beautiful, very green, and there were wildflowers here and there. The scenery changed several times over the course of 30 miles or so.

We got into Murietta, about 20 miles out of Atlanta, pretty early and took an early dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We don't normally eat there. But the waitress showed us they have a gluten-free menu! Mary was pretty jazzed about that. The GF menu is on their web site. We even had a decadent chocolate thing for dessert.

Our hotel has wired ethernet in the rooms and wireless in the lobby. Since our room is located directly above the lobby, I don't need to plug in. Cool!

Tomorrow we hope to visit the Aquarium here, billed as the largest in the world, having two whales and two sharks. We'd also like to visit the zoo here, which has has Pandas.

Pardon me boy, is that the ...

I haven't been feeling too well this week. I've been very tired, and on Monday I caught a cold. I was pretty messed up on Tuesday, and we bought some medications to stop the coughing and help me sleep. Mary has been doing more than her usual share of the driving, but she's still found plenty of time to read her Bible when I am driving. She is reading about two hours each day, trying to finish her Bible before we return by more than doubling the pace.

Sunday, May 14

Today we went to church at Calvary Chapel Rivergate here in Goodlettsville. It was a much larger church than we were expecting, and we didn't really get to talk to anyone. We were a little disappointed.

We didn't really have a plan today. I told Mary we could just relax or do whatever she wanted because it is Mother's Day. She got to talk to both Matthew and Aaron, which was a real treat for her.

We just drove down to near Chattanooga, then we drove down into Alabama just to see what is there. Basically just a Sunday drive. We saw a sign for a Cast Iron Outlet but we got there just after they closed up for the day. Most everything was closed up on Sunday after 5 pm. We did have a real nice drive, then I got real tired. My intention had been to head east from northern Alabama into northern Georgia, not coming back into Tennessee again. But when I got tired, we decided that we were just a little more than an hour from Chattanooga, and we'd be best to stay there for the night. This was definitely the right decision, as we ended up staying two days in Chattanooga, and it was definitely one of the more interesting places we have stayed on our trip.

After checking into the motel, we wandered across the street to Cracker Barrel to have a late dinner. I said, "Mary, they are playing hymns on the sound system." As we left, I remembered that at Grand Ole Opry they mentioned that CB sponsored a CD of hymns sung by Amy Grant. I asked whether this was the CD they were playing in the restaurant, and we found a copy to buy right there in the store. We haven't listened to it yet. The folks at Cracker Barrel are definitely the friendliest servers we have met so far.

Not sure if I mentioned that at Grand Ole Opry, several of the songs were Christian in nature and several of the musicians were Christians, and several of them made mention of it. I remarked to Mary that we'd never hear comments like those in California.

Monday, May 15

Today we ran a marathon. We started the day by sending a birthday package to Matthew. We bought a bunch of stuff for him at the Cracker Barrel store last night, and today we visited the post office to fill out custom forms and whatnot. Then Mary had to check out a Hobby Lobby store since she has heard of them but never visited one. She did buy a bunch of stuff but did not spend a lot of money. She really liked the selection and the prices. I whiled away the time in a Best Buy store next door. I found a CD of hymns recorded by Johnny Cash, and the Passion CD recorded by David Crowder Band having the song "How Great Is Our God,", which Mary really likes. Then we went on a shopping spree at the local Chattanooga health food store. The selection was very good and one of the stockers there was very helpful, but the guy who checked us out was rude. We found some gluten-free pizza crusts that we hope to heat up later in the toaster over. Mary found pre-shredded cheese and I found a small bottle of pizza sauce.

Our first attraction was the Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain. This rail line rises about 1000 feet over the course of a mile, or an average 18 percent grade. You can view the valley below as you rise. When we bought tickets, we bought a package that also includes a gardens called Rock City and a waterfall called Ruby Falls.

At the top of Lookout Mountain there are two very interesting attractions. One is the Battles For Chattanooga Museum, which includes the "Electric Map." This is sort of a large relief map of the Chattanooga area populated by armies as they would be positioned during the Civil War. The lights dim as in a theater, then the map lights up with all the action that took place during the war. A running commentary tells you everything that is going on. I liked the fact that it was done on a map. Mary liked the fact that it was a "visual" presentation. She still questions why the schools don't present history in interesting ways like was done here.

At the top of Lookout Mountain, there is also a National Park devoted to the Chattanooga battles. The museum there was closed, but the park makes for a nice little walk, and the views are outstanding. There are some Civil War cannons posted around the park, and another couple took our photo, then I took their photo.

Back down the mountain and halfway back around we found Rock City. I thought this was just going to be a scenic view from a high overlook. But it was much more than that. It is a natural pile of very large stones that you can walk between like city streets. The owners built a path that goes down through the rocks then comes up to let you walk on bridges over the rocks. They claim that you can view seven states from the overlook, but I don't believe it. It is a very pretty walk and the owners have tried to make it interesting by adding "fairyland" sections and whatnot for the kids.

We still had tickets for Ruby Falls, but no time to use them today, so we decided to stay here one more day. We drove to a downtown area to see the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We did not even know what to expect. Turns out this is an old train station converted into a hotel and conference center. There are some shops and stuff too. We are too late to shop, but we had dinner in the hotel. They were really not prepared to serve any kind of gluten free meal, but we made the best of it.

On the way back to our hotel, we found a Staples store and I bought a refill for my favorite pen. It has been out for weeks, but we haven't seen a Staples until now, and they are the only store that carries refills. (It is the PhD Multi, which also has a PDA stylus.)

Tuesday, May 16

Today we went to Ruby Falls. It is an indoor underground waterfall over 100 feet high. You have to go down in an elevator, then take a guided tour that lasts about an hour. The whole thing is quite over-hyped, but the waterfall is nice. They played obnoxious music at the waterfall (Mary does not agree that the music was obnoxious). They did have the waterfall lit in a nice way. They let us go "underneath" the waterfall which was the best view. Along the way, we had to walk through a cave that had lots of formations identified. Since we had already been to Carlsbad and Mammoth, this cave had nothing new to offer us. But it did allow very close-up view of some interesting formations like drapery.

We went back down the Chattanooga Choo Choo, got some ice cream to soothe my sore throat, then bought choo choo hats in the gift store.

Tomorrow, we want to visit the Ave Maria Grotto in northern Alabama. We head south and with Mary driving we make it to Cullman, Alabama. We settle into the motel and make our homemade pizzas, which don't taste half bad.

Spelunk

Saturday, May 13

Today we went to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. The only tour available today was the Frozen Niagara Tour. Most of the tour is through "dry" caves, that is, caves not currently being eroded and shaped by water. But there is one "wet" area, and that is the Frozen Niagara area. This is an area of "drapery" which is quite a contrast to the "dry" areas where you enter and exit the caves.

We liked it a lot. Mammoth is supposed to be the "longest" cave system in the country, but for beauty, it can't compare with Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Still, we were glad we saw it.

We finished up early, and it was only 1-1/2 hours to Nashville, so we decided to get on into town and maybe take in a show. And what else to do in Nashville but visit the Grand Ole Opry? We had a good time even though country music is not my favorite. There was some good bluegrass, which I like, and a couple of newer, younger, energetic acts. Mary had a great time.

Tomorrow, I had hoped to visit Belmont Church, where Steve Fry was pastor until a couple of months ago. But we are staying on the north side of Nashville in the little town of Goodlettsville, and we found that there is a Calvary Chapel only about two miles from here. I don't believe in coincidence, so I think we will head out to CC tomorrow unless we feel differently after praying.

After church, we plan to head back south, but not very far since Tennessee is such a skinny state from top to bottom, to the northern part of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. That way, we can cross three more states off our list. Also, that will put us in good position to start our way up the Blue Ridge Parkway on Monday. The parkway ends up in the Washington DC area, where we hope to stay for the good part of a week visiting museums.

There is a square dance in western Massachusetts on Memorial Weekend, two weeks from now. We don't know how far we'll be by then, but if we are at least getting near New York by then, then we'll be able to go to that dance.

St. Louis

Thursday, May 11

The weather today is very windy, but there is no rain.

Today we visited the arch. Officially, it is known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. The Gateway Arch celebrates the westward expansion that began with the journeys of Lewis and Clark during the Jefferson presidency. There are four activities at the memorial. There is a film about the journey of Lewis and Clark. It was fascinating and we both learned a lot. There was a film about the construction of the arch. Mary wanted to see this while I was ambivalent. I found it more interesting than I'd anticipated. I recommend it. Then there is the actual tram that goes to the top of the arch. It is built very much like a regular elevator that has several cars tied together. However, the elevator is not strictly vertical; it sort of goes up in vertical sections but it has to "jog" on an angle once in a while. The cars are circular so they can navigate the occasional curves. The tram takes about four minutes to climb nearly to the top of the 630-foot arch. Stairs take you the last 20 feet or so. It takes about four minutes to return. You can stay on the top as long as you like and take pictures.

The fourth piece is the museum, which is the only piece that doesn't cost money. The museum is interesting but overwhelming.

There is also a courthouse building at a separate location, but we didn't see that.

After leaving the arch, we bought Metrorail tickets and headed out to Union Station, where we were told there was a neighborhood with restaurants. It turns out Union Station is a railroad station rehabilitated into a shopping mall. We walked around the mall, and eventually ended up at Landry's Seafood House, where we had wonderful dinners. Mary got to talk to our waitress quite extensively about food allergies and how they might be causing the waitress's migraines.

Friday, May 12

The weather today is very windy, but there is no rain.

Today we went to the zoo. The St. Louis Zoo is rated the #1 zoo in the country. After visiting, we decided that this is not because of the zoo's size, because the San Diego Zoo is definitely larger and more interesting. But it is because the zoo is free, and it is very kid-friendly. The first things we noticed, before we even got into the zoo, were the line of busses in the street and the crowds of children around the entrance. Apparently the schools find this to be the best kind of field trip for the kids. Inside, we noticed that many of the displays are at kid-level. It was sometimes hard for us old folks to bend down that low, but how could we complain?

Our first destination was the Insectarium. This is where we found many displays at a low height so the kids could see inside without being lifted or held. We did see some neat stuff like bright blue cockroaches. The displays emphasize the importance of bugs in things like pollination and clean-up of feces.

The highlight of our day was the butterfly wing of the Insectarium. In this room, you can see about 30 different kinds of butterflies in a natural setting. They fly around and if you are lucky, they will stop to eat long enough for you to take a photograph. A few special people had the butterflies land on them. The butterflies were all very colorful and there was a card you could use to identify them. Mary got lots of photos, and I hope to post some of them.

We also visited the primate building, which was boring. Outside, there were sea lions, turtles, polar bears, grizzly bears, and black bears. The grizzly bears would sit up and beg for food, which was humorous. I think Mary got a photograph. Otherwise, the animals all seemed bored.

There was also a penguinarium, which somehow didn't seem as interesting as tbe one I saw at the Detroit Zoo many years ago.

We left St. Louis and headed toward Louisville, Kentucky. We want to go to Mammoth Cave National Park near Bowling Green. We crossed through southern Illinois and into the southern tip of Indiana. Then we found what looked like a shorter route through Evansville and onto toll highways across Kentucky. I don't really know whether this ended up being shorter because I made a couple of wrong turns and got lost a couple of times. We asked a toll-taker where to stay near Bowling Green, and she suggested I-65 exit 22. Once we got there, we found a Denny's and got one of those magazines with hotel discount coupons. We have been using those a lot on this trip. In the magazine, we found a coupon for a hotel at exit 53, right near the park entrance but 30 more miles up the road. We decided to get in real close, and the motel was nice.

We never encountered any rain today, also when we were passing near Evansville the radio indicated rain there.

Racing the rain

We've settled into a bit of a routine this week. We get up around 10 am and leave the hotel just around check-out time. We usually try to find something to eat, so we don't really get going until noon-ish or later. In the afternoon we visit something. Some time after 5 pm when most of the museums and sights close, we get on the road for at least a couple of hours. We find a hotel and we stay up until around 1 am reading our bibles and checking stuff on the internet. We've had internet access just about every night since we left the gulf coast.

For the first few days this week, there was heavy wind and rain in the late afternoon, and on at least two days, there were tornado warnings withing 30 miles of us. We bought a radio that has weather band but it is useless. Fortunately, when there are tornado warnings, they interrupt the radio stations using the emergency broadcast system. So if we are listening to the radio we do get some indication what is happening near us.

Monday, May 8

Today we were in Natchez, Mississippi. This is a beautiful old town on the Mississippi River. It is also the starting point of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a road that winds through beautiful greenery near the Natchez Trace, an old trail that has been in use for hundreds of years by indians and explorers of the area.

We visited an old mansion, the Melrose Estate, which is a part of the National Park system. This mansion was built in the 1820's, and it is an example of greek revival architecture. Here is a small picture of the building. It is a beautiful building, but IMHO the tour was not worth the fee we paid for it. Mary really liked it, though. Even though it is a large building, on the bottom floor it has only the large hallway, a dining room, a drawing room, a living room, and a library. On the upper floor there is the large hallway and four bedrooms. All the rooms are large and they are decorated with the original furniture, which was passed down with each purchase of the property. I guess I just expected more from such a large building. The large central hallway is used to create an air-conditioning draft during the hot summer, but it does not have any furniture so it can't be used for anything else. There are a few interesting features like the ceiling fan in the dining room. It is a large blade that swings back and forth creating a draft, instead of a set of blades arranged in a circle. It has a rope that had to be pulled by a slave in order to operate it.

Then we headed up the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is a two-lane road without much cross traffic, nestled in grass and trees. The scenery doesn't change much, and it's hard to get a grasp on exactly where you are or how far you've driven. It is beautiful and relaxing, though. It was on this road around 6 pm that we first encountered a lightning storm and heard tornado warnings on the radio. The potential for tornadoes was behind us, but coming our direction, and about 20 or 30 miles away. However, the storm was heading roughly southeast and we were headed northeast, so we didn't worry too much but we paid close attention. We figured we were pretty safe after the warnings ended about 8 pm and things dried up around us.

We stayed in Jackson tonight. We have come about 100 miles along the parkway, which winds 300 miles through Mississippi and continues more than 100 miles farther into Alabama and Tennessee, ending in Nashville. We will continue tomorrow until we get bored with it.

Tuesday, May 9

It rained all night last night. We are thinking seriously about just staying in the hotel today. What can we do in all this rain?

I found an advertisement for the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. It is not too far from where we are staying. (Well, Jackson is just not that big.) Anyway, the museum was interesting. It has both an indoor and an outdoor setting. The indoor setting includes dioramas depicting Mississippi wildlife, an aquarium, and a reptile room with live alligators and turtles. There is also a rotating temporary exhibit, and at the time we visited, it was an exhibition of the photography of Mississippi native Stephen Kirkpatrick, who has written several books. The exhibit included not only his photographs of Amazon wildlife, but also tapes that let you hear the jungle in all its cacophony.

The outdoor portion includes walks along several trails through swamps. They promise lots of wildlife, but other than a group of turtles on a log and several lizards on a stairway, all we encountered were more biting bugs.

Then we continued up the Natchez Trace Parkway toward Tupelo. But it started raining again, there were more tornado warnings, and the road, as beautiful as it is, got boring. We decided to get off the parkway and head north toward Memphis. We were disappointed that in Natchez there were no river cruises. We hope to find a riverboat ride in Memphis. Also, the storms seem to be originating in west Mississippi and Louisiana, then moving across Mississippi to the southeaster toward the gulf. So maybe we can escape the rain by heading north.

Late tonight we arrived in the Memphis area. We found a motel in West Memphis, across the Mississippi river in Arkansas.

Wednesday, May 10

It rained again all night. It was intermittently very rainy in the morning, and constantly very windy. Our choices for today include a riverboat ride and Graceland. Both seem to be lousy choices for a rainy day. We're trying to figure out which direction to head to escape the storm. But now we seem to be right in the middle of the storm, which covers several states. Our best chances for escape seem to be toward the west into Oklahoma or Kansas, but neither of those states has sights that interest us. We ran some errands, then ate at a Waffle House near our motel. While sitting at the Waffle House, things appeared to clear up a bit. Mary likes to talk about a "sucker hole" in the clouds but things actually do like very clear on the western horizon, where these storms are coming from. I called the riverboat company and they say they will indeed do their 2 pm cruise unless the wind kicks up or not enough people sign up. The boat includes two outdoor decks and one enclosed deck in case it rains again.

This sounds like a better option than Graceland, which costs more, and part of the Graceland tour would be outside, self-guided, slogging through the wet lawn and mud. Even if the rain let up.

The riverboat cruise ended up two people short, and they were going to cancel, but each of us chipped in enough that as a group we could buy two more tickets and the tour was a go. The cruise itself was not too notable. We did go under a few bridges, some of which were very old. We were informed of a few things like the bluffs on the Mississippi side as opposed to the flat flood plain on the Arkansas side. This means that when the river floods, everyone comes over to the Mississippi side to stay dry. There were also some eddies under one of the bridges, where the river would run backward on the top. Other than that, there was not really much interesting to see.

However, they did discuss the role of Memphis as a stop on the underground railroad, as a center of riverboat traffic of various kinds, and as the birthplace of the blues. Some of these things were interesting, but we could have learned them without taking the cruise. The cruise itself was relaxing and we thought it mostly worthwhile afterward.

We tried driving around downtown Memphis. We found the BB King club, the Gibson guitar factory, and the Museum of Rock & Soul. But they allow no street parking anywhere, and the only parking lot we found was $10 flat rate. So we decided to pack up and find our next destination.

For some reason, we still think we can head north to escape the rain. We decide to head for St. Louis, and see how far we can get. We get as far as Sikeston, where we found some factory outlets. Mary didn't really want to stop, but there was a scrapbooking outlet store and I thought Mary should at least give it a chance. As it turned out, Mary found several things she needed in the scrapbooking store.

There was also a Bible outlet and I found a new Bible there. It is New Living Translation, smaller than my present bible, with a zipper cover built in, and plenty large print for my old eyes. It cost more than I wanted to spend, but I figured it will be a nice smaller bible to take to Europe later this year. Also, I will be finishing my present bible within the next few days, so I will need a new one pretty soon.

We also found a shoe store and a store with socks, where I replaced the tennis shoes and socks that I ruined while working in Mississippi. I had really needed new shoes since before we left, but there was no time when we were home, and no opportunity until just now.

We continued up toward St. Louis, but it started raining again and it got worse as we went along. I figured we could either stop before St. Louis and probably have to unload in the rain twice, or continue as far as possible, and if we can stay two nights in St. Louis, we only have to unpack once. We eventually found a nice place, inexpensive, on the west side of town in an area called Westport.

Let's pray for dry weather tomorrow.

Natchez to Jackson MS to Memphis to St. Louis

A quick summary of the last few days, since I haven't had time to post anything.

Right now we are in St. Louis, Missouri. This is the first time we have stayed two nights in one place (except when we were on the gulf coast with CityTeam).

On Monday we toured an 1830's mansion in Natchez. Then we drove up to Jackson.

On Tuesday we visited a very nice Museum of Natural Science in Jackson. Then we drove up to Memphis.

On Wednesday we did a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi River in Memphis. Then we drove up to St. Louis in intermittent heavy rain.

Today we visited the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, otherwise known as the St. Louis "gateway arch."

Tomorrow we hope to visit the St. Louis Zoo, rated the #1 zoo in the US. One reason we are particularly interested is they have an insectarium. There is also a butterfly zoo somewhere here in town, and botanical gardens too.

Our future plans call for us to head across southern Illinois and Indiana to the Louisville area, then down to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky, hopefully on Saturday. Then maybe we can be in Nashville for church on Sunday.

Cool!

This morning we went to Bayou Talla Fellowship, a church in Kiln, about 12 miles from Bay St Louis. Tom, a volunteer who helped us in the distribution center yesterday, goes to this church and it sounded interested. They are hosting a large group from Samaritan's Purse, which is doing reconstruction work here.

After church we spent a couple hours loading up the truck and saying goodbyes. We got on the road around 2:30 pm. We took back roads through Bogalusa and McComb to get to Natchez around 7:00 pm. We stopped in McComb to eat at a restaurant called Golden Corral. It was terrible. We will never go there again.

We got here in time to see the sunset over the Mississippi River. We got a few nice photographs. There is a bridge over the river and we went over to Vidalia, Louisiana and back. Standing on the banks of the Mississippi, Mary had to put on long sleeves while I enjoyed the cool breeze. It was cool and calm and not at all like the muggy gulf coast.

Tomorrow we have the option to do several things: start up the Natchez Trace right away (ending up in Tennessee), take tours through several 1820's-vintage buildings, or maybe take a cruise on the river. Or maybe all three.

Our general plan from here on out is to take the Natchez trace to Tennessee, then go through the Smoky Mountains to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, ending up in Washington DC. However, we also want to visit the largest caverns in the US in Kentucky, and I'm not sure yet how to fit that in.

The Last Days

Thursday, May 4

Today we have been here two weeks. If we had flown out here, we would be leaving today or tomorrow. Bonnie asked us to stay until Sunday so we can help with distribution tomorrow. It looks like we will be short-handed because Bonnie and Di are going to Tennessee for a couple of days to start planning a relief effort for tornado victims there.

The college kids that were here yesterday never came back today like they had promised. That's OK. I did the clean-up in Shirley's yard that we had planned for them. I finished that all in the morning and then spent the hot afternoon in the trailer. Mary is still sick, but she is starting to sit up for a few minutes at a time and plan some cards she wants to make.

Later in the afternoon, John asked me to help fix the canopy on Bonnie and Di's trailer. We worked on that for a couple of hours.

We have decided that Mary probably OD'd on products that have gluten, rather than just eating enough to get by. Eating too much gluten makes her more prone to get migraine headaches.

Friday, May 5

Mary felt better enough today to help me do more clean-up around the camp. We had to throw away some clothes that got wet and moldy in the last rainstorm. That took the bulk of our day.

Saturday, May 6

Today we did distribution. Mary and I were really not needed from the standpoint of being short-handed. We had several community volunteers, plus three new volunteers from San Jose arrived last night (Pat, Debbie, and Rukiya). But we were able to train Pat and Debbie, who have never been here before.

After distribution, Mary and I cleaned up the trailer because new occupants will arrive on Tuesday. Ordinarily it wouldn't matter, but with all the storms we had while we were here, we tracked lots of mud onto the carpet. Mary let me clean it all up because she said I tracked it all in, even though we have identical boots. Go figure.

Late Saturday night, Bonnie and Di returned from Tennessee. Mary gave them a bundle of cards she made for them to use after we are gone.

A First Communion dream in doubt

The Boston Globe

By Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff

As Victoria Coyne, 7, prepares for her first Holy Communion, there has been a major snag: As a child suffering from both celiac disease and diabetes, she can neither eat the wheat wafer that represents the body of Christ nor drink the wine that signifies his blood.

"I already got the stuff ready," said Victoria, who hopes to make her First Communion in June at St. Marguerite D'Youville Church in Dracut. "My mom is trying to talk to the priest, and so is my dad."

Her parents thought they found a solution in a rice Communion wafer -- free of gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains that makes her ill -- but official church policy forbids its use. The ritual of Communion is tied to the Last Supper, when Jesus is believed to have eaten wheat bread and drunk grape wine with his disciples. Canon law requires that both wheat and grapes be part of the Communion service. Worshippers who receive Communion consume at least one: Children usually eat only the wafer, and adult Catholics sometimes receive both wafer and wine.

Church officials have grappled repeatedly in recent years with the collision between longstanding church teachings and modern medicine. In his previous job leading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the issue of worshippers suffering from celiac disease and alcoholism, allowing for the substitution of low-gluten wafers and a slightly fermented grape juice.

About 1 out of 133 people suffers from celiac disease, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. For those with the disease, which is genetic, ingesting gluten damages the small intestine, impairing the ability to absorb nutrients from food. If the disease goes untreated, it can cause other conditions, including anemia and osteoporosis.

Some of the conflicts have been bruising. In 2001, the Boston Archdiocese told the family of a 5-year-old girl with celiac disease that when she took her First Communion, she could not substitute rice wafers for traditional communion wafers. Her family left the church and began practicing as Methodists.

In New Jersey, a bishop declared invalid the First Communion of a girl with celiac disease who took rice wafers instead of those containing gluten. Her mother unsuccessfully petitioned the Vatican to reverse the decision.

Victoria's multiple health issues complicate her case. Her body cannot tolerate even the low-gluten wafers, her mother said. The solution for Victoria may lie in a low-alcohol grape juice, often offered to priests who are alcoholics; her parents are investigating whether it is safe for their daughter.

Although the Coynes are grateful for the support of their priest, the Rev. Paul Clifford, they are discouraged by the church's rules on Communion, which they believe are overly rigid.

"Right now we're frustrated, because it just doesn't seem right that she would be expected to ingest something that would be harmful to her body in order to make her First Communion," said Stephanie Coyne, Victoria's mother. "She's sad. She's been at Sunday school for two years, practicing what she needs to do to make her First Communion."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/12/a_first_communion_dream_in_
doubt/

Da Vinci Code of Gnosticism

The Australian

by Jill Rowbotham

One of the Church of England's heaviest hitters, the Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, has plenty to say about the Da Vinci Code and the Gospel of Judas.

Wright has been dealing with da Vinci-style phenomena for years and is matter-of-fact about the anti-theology in Brown's book, which is, he says, a variation on the gnostic heresy that flourished in the early centuries after Jesus lived.

Gnosticism was a rival version of Christianity that was suppressed in the early church by what became the orthodox view. The recently published Gospel of Judas, translated from Coptic, for example, is a gnostic text that claims history's great betrayer was acting on the orders of Jesus.

"The really interesting thing about The Da Vinci Code is why, granted it's such manifest rubbish, do people want to take it seriously?" Wright asks. "Why has it been such a runaway bestseller? It's not because it's a page-turner, because there are millions of page-turners out there."

He theorises that it says what modern Westerners want to hear.

"The mythology about Christian origins that so many people in the Western world want today is a form of gnosticism in which self-discovery, particularly discovery of gender-based aspects of 'myself', whether it's the sacred feminine or whatever, is hugely important.

"Learning that in fact the heart and centre of genuine spirituality is not about my insides but about God coming in love and grace to do something fresh for me is not what people want to hear.

(emphasis mine - Mark)

"In other words, people don't want what Christianity authentically offers: they want this substitute called gnosticism in one of its many forms; and The Da Vinci Code plays right in," Wright says.

"Jesus was going around 'doing the kingdom', healing the sick, cleansing lepers, feeding the hungry, he was celebrating at a party with all the wrong people, transforming people's lives and saying cryptic things such as: 'Let me tell you what the kingdom of God is like'," Wright says.

"The church has it the other way around. It has tended to say: 'We must say it, say it, say it as clearly as possible and if there is any energy left over, we'll do a bit of it as well."'

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,18798068-28737,00.html

Church a way of life in Dixie

Washington Times

By Jennifer Harper

Southern folks seem to have a monopoly on that good old time religion.

The South contains eight of the top 10 states with the most frequent churchgoers in the nation, according to a Gallup Poll analysis of more than 68,000 interviews conducted in the past two years.

With 58 percent saying they attend religious services once a week or almost every week, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina residents are tied in first place -- followed by Mississippi at 57 percent, Arkansas and Utah tied at 55 percent, North Carolina and Nebraska tied at 53 percent and Tennessee and Georgia tied at 52 percent.

The national average is 42 percent. There is a wide range between the highest and lowest numbers, however -- a difference of 34 percentage points between the top three and bottom two states.

Of the Southern states, Virginia has the second lowest reported church attendance rate (44 percent), which is still above the national average, according to Gallup analyst Frank Newport.

"Sunday mornings are for going to church, not mowing the lawn, going shopping (the stores won't be open anyway), or buying liquor or beer ... If someone in the grocery line finds out you're new in town and asks you to his/her church, go ahead and say yes, and enjoy the experience. Southern hospitality surely shows itself best in the willingness of the people to share what is most important to them: their faith," the site notes.

"At the other end of the spectrum, the data makes it clear that reported church attendance is lowest in New England states -- New Hampshire (24 percent), Vermont (24 percent), Rhode Island (28 percent), Massachusetts (31 percent) and Maine (31 percent.) The only slight exception is the New England state of Connecticut (37 percent)," Mr. Newport added.

Nebraska led the Midwestern states in weekly or almost weekly church attendance (53 percent). Among the most populous states, Texas led at 49 percent, followed by Illinois (42 percent), Florida (39 percent), New York (33 percent) and California (32 percent).

The District of Columbia stood at 33 percent.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060428-120137-9526r.htm

Heavy Metal Church

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Salvation Army monthly concert gives kids a safe outlet to rock

It's an "At the Loaf" Friday night, the monthly transformation of the Salvation Army center in Lawrenceville into a hard-core rock venue. The 250 or so young people who came Friday night knew in advance there would be no drinking, no drugs, no profanity. Aside from that, they knew they could dress as they please, jump with reckless abandon, and crank up the volume beyond all industrial safety standards.

For their part, the adults agree: (1) Not to proselytize and (2) Not to complain about the music.

The kids are cool with that.

The young people who come are typically not the ones trying out for cheerleading, the football team, or much of anything at school, she said.

"To a lot of people, we're the heathens," Jessica said.

However, the "heathens" find a Christian welcome and a judgment-free place to enjoy their generation's music. "These people are my friends and family; this is where I belong," Jessica said.

So, does heavy metal fit the mission of the Salvation Army? It's not so much of a stretch, said Ken Chapman, Salvation Army community liaison for the Lawrenceville Center.

"This is what the Salvation Army does, it takes in the people that society casts out," Chapman said.

Each month, four or five rock bands perform. About 100 people attended the first shows, but recent crowds have reached about 400, Salvation Army officials said. For the May 19 show, a popular band called Cool Hand Luke will play. A capacity crowd of 700 is expected.

Though these young people might look edgy, he said, the atmosphere "At the Loaf" is wholesome. "Parents can trust that they can drop their kids off here, and when they come to pick them up, they'll be here and be safe," Jay said.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/0504metpunk.html

Answer to prayer

The electical for these RV's is still something that makes no sense to me. But hunting around did provide an answer to prayer a few minutes ago ...

an alarm in the trailer started beeping. It sounds like a smoke alarm chirping when the battery needs to be replaced. Based on past experience I knew this meant the batteries were running low ... and this meant the charger had lost AC power. I eventually found that someone had borrowed the charger to fix his car, and he had not replaced it. We replaced it and got rid of that problem. But that led to more questions about our AC power and our air conditioning, which has not worked the whole time we've been here except for a few minutes at the beginnning ... and we could not find the breaker box.

Someone else overheard our conversation and helped us find the breaker box, and the air conditioning breaker was tripped ... now unless other problems come up, we'll have functioning air conditioning for the rest of our stay here. Most immediately, this weill help Mary with her headache.

Thank you, Lord!

More from Mary in Mississippi

More from Mary's recent emails. - Mark

Bay St Louis, Sunday, April 23

Regarding SU, while we're in MS working, we have daily network access. I'm keeping up with SCS & SU for the moment.

SU is Stampin' Up, and SCS is Split Coast Stampers. - Mark

I've been introduced to an entirely new 'weather' while here in MS... the hot humid stuff that goes way beyond what I've ever experienced at home, or in Hawaii or other tropics... but I think when I've been traveling before, it was for vacation & play and we were usually IN the water to it was extremely tolerable. Working in this stuff is another story... just drink TONS of water and no hurrying. Both Mark and I must be especially "sweet"... we're simply FULL of bug bites... and some in places I don't know HOW they got to!!! On the up side, for now Mark and I are housed in the "hilton"... a 5th wheel trailer usually reserved for on-site directors... but the current director is in another trailer so she put us up in here... no air conditioning and can't use the trailer's bathroom, but having a 'watertight' shelter that gives us full shade from the sun and cloudbursts is like being at the 'hilton' when contrasted to the tents... this is good.

--

We've been in MS since last Thursday. The humidity with heat and bugs is something different to us and we're 'adjusting'. Turns out the distribution center was cut back to 2 days a week. So yesterday we were helping in there. Today, Sunday, we rest. This coming week Mark & I are tasked with helping folks file electronic applications for some grants... that's supposed to start tomorrow and we still don't have the computers for that yet... but that's the way things seem to go around here... so we just go with the flow.

Bay St Louis, Tuesday, April 25

It's Tuesday afternoon now. Out 'work' days are long when it's hot & humid... have to really take things at a much slower pace in order to have any stamina.

The other day's rain was the first rain they had had in a long time and they are way behind on their water levels. When it's raining it feels soOOooo good, but if the sun comes back out then it gets like a really hot steamy sauna. I think I'll keep my CA residence, thank you.

Yesterday I worked the entire day in the the distribution center's tent while it was closed to the public. I was pulling all the winter clothing and bagging it up to be sent elsewhere.

Today Mark & I went to a couple's home to help in the yard with clearing... bamboo. The owner took the rest of the day off and pulled out his chain saw... so he cut what wasn't already broken away and we pulled all of it into a huge heap. We were ALMOST finished with the last of it when lightning was getting close so we had to stop. We went to Rite Aid to get me a new toothbrush (lost mine) and a Hershey bar... and it's been POURING and Thundering & Lightening like crazy since... camp is pretty flooded. I'll have to put on my hiking boots during the night to get to the bathrooms (where my flip flops or birkenstocks have been just fine for that middle of the night hike). Oh well. I do wish the thunder & lightening would stop... can't use an umbrella... so get really wet... seems like I look like a drowned rat whether it's raining or it's super humid & hot.

We had to drive our truck out to the home we were working on today (because we were the only ones going there and we're not insured as drivers of City Team vehicles)... Mark's keyring fell off his pants while we were working out there... looking at the area we had been working you would expect we would never be able to find it... but we DID. I have my spare set of keys in my bag at camp, but not with us at the time, but NO keys to the truck bed's cover). Wheh!

The home on the property we were working on was over 130 years old. They showed us pictures of the outside before K. It was beautiful. Actually, this particular home suffered very very little damage to the house and NO water entered. It is on a 'high' spot... you could see the waterline on the concrete thingys under the house... about 18" of water... and the bamboo on the gulf-side of the house caught & held incoming debris so that only water ran by. The house on the end of the street was about 180 years old... the entire gulf side of the yard & street were washed away and that side of the house has collapsed. It has to be demolished. They showed us photos of that house pre-K (katrina) from a coffee-table style book.

The biggest challenge for us has been the heat & humidity. I'm so used to working 'nose to the grind stone' pace, but you can't do that here. We're so tired by the end of each day that we're sleeping really well, despite the heat & humidity. Late this afternoon there was quite a rain storm complete with thunder and lightning, unlike what we're used to at home.

Bay St Louis, Thursday, April 27

Sadly, I didn't get around to bringing ANY stamping supplies... space, didn't think I would find time on vacation, and we simply HAD TO GET going. In lieu, I pulled a bunch of BD & thank you cards and 2 generics without any salutation. I SHOULD have brought some stamping supplies! I've gone thru my generics already and will need to buy a get well for a friend at church.

I'm toying with trying to expedite order from SU to deliver here some very minimal things for cards... maybe the pre-cut-folded card & envy sets, a set of petal points (for some color choices), black classic, adhesive glue stick, and an image set... rats, would have to order scissors to to cut & mount the stamps... I'm tempted but it's not the smartest way to spend $$$... I may simply resort to store bought cards to fill in for what I didn't bring... ack!!!

Shirley is the lady across the street. She fixed us all some Alfredo fettucine with shrimp and 'BBQ' jumbo shrimp the other day... tonight Nola made us Gumbo... everything is so yummy.

Yesterday we had that nasty storm. Today's weather has been like 'home'... comfy and no humidity with gently breezes. I wish everyday was like this. Mark & I are both have allergic reactions to the bug bites... they're all 'welting'. I started taking Benadryl this morning... leaves me spacey but I'll take that over the insanely intense itching that goes beyond poison oak's itch... thankfully I don't have to do any driving.

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Another question you asked in first mail... something about how the folks are doing compared to our previous visit? They're coming along very slowly. Things seem harder now for them. I think the shock of things has worn off. Everything is a roller coaster ride... things appear going well for a bit then the bottom falls out... over and over for so many of them. Today I met a woman of 50, her house, property, & car were all paid off so she didn't carry insurance... did you know if you didn't carry any insurance you could not qualify for any of the gov't's grant monies and numerous other assistance? This woman was having a particularly bad day today... not over losses from K, but it's been 2 or 4 years (I can't remember which) since her youngest son was killed in an automobile accident (he was 22 at the time). So many homes await volunteers or others to come in and work... the amount to be done is mind boggling still... but the only way you can eat an elephant is one bite at a time. With summer heat approaching, there will be less and less volunteers available to assist. Personally, if we didn't have the weather & fierce bugs to contend with, I would want to stay longer.

Bay St Louis, Friday, April 28

regarding rubber stamping and cards - Mark

I gave up last night figuring I would just go buy some as needed... but you've given me hope again! It's Wal-Mart that they have here...'express'... which means they don't have what you're looking for... lol. They don't have a craft section. But MAYBE Sunday on our down day I can get Mark to take me to Michael's in a near town... one of the directors got stuff for yesterday's lady's lunch & craft event. I think I may just do color blocks, inspired by me bestest friend ;-)...

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5:00 Friday afternoon. I'm finished for the day... can't wait to jump in the shower. Today I cleaned out and hosed out (the insides!) of 4 huge vans and then had to disassemble a tent that tore during the storm a few days ago. All in slow motion, of course. Yesterday Mark learned to lay carpet over concrete and also using carpet strips. Today he's learning to put up dry-wall. Tomorrow the distribution center's open ... so that's what we'll be up to the entire day.

I was flipping thru the SU catty and realized they have KITS! So I ordered 2 so I could make both masculine & feminine cards. I put up a thread on SCS demo forum asking if there's any demo's in the area here as I would love to meet some local demos... (I'm thinking of donating the 2 stamp sets at the end of our vacation). I ordered overnight shipping so should receive it Tue or Wed here in MS. Itch itch... time for another Benadryl. It was hard to place a 'minimal' order and not keep adding all sorts of little things (but I did 'upsize' the kits).

Bay St Louis, Tuesday, May 2

We have 2 more days here. After last Tuesday the weather cooled down for nearly 5 days... what a blessing that had been. During that we also had a pretty good storm that damaged all but 1 of the camp's nylon tents... Mark spent the better part of 2 days taking those down and apart... trashing the torn and splintered stuff. They still have the bunk houses and a few trailers in camp so all is well. City Teams is considering moving camp to higher grounds for the 2006 hurricane season... and we expect that means they will get out of the tents, too.

Yesterday the weather got hot again, and today was also hot. I have succumbed to the heat... today I spent the day in bed from a migraine ... I'm feeling much better now. Tomorrow the distribution center will be open and I will be doing registration, something I can manage even if I'm not quite 100%.

Last Sunday Mark & I attended the Calvary Chapel that's been set up in this community... originally CC had setup feeding the community over 7500 meals a day. Now they are sending volunteers out to the homes to assist with repairs, much like City Teams is doing (Mark has learned to lay carpet and put up sheet rock). CC holds its Sunday service in the same circus tent they served meals from. They even have a small tank setup and lined with heavy black plastic sheets for doing baptisms. While at church we met a man who's from CC Monterey.

Random impresions from Mary

I took these comments from some of the emails Mary has sent since we've been away from home. - Mark

Santa Fe, Thursday April 14

Today, Thursday, we visited my first mother-in-law. She has fairly advanced Alzheimers. She didn't seem to recall who I was (as I expected)... but showed some recognition when I talked of Aaron... and when I called Aaron and let him talk to her (I went in not knowing whether she would still recall Aaron or not... she & he had a special bond... Aaron cried ALL the time as an infant... Rosabelle was the ONLY person that could get him to stop!). I am so glad we got to see her. ...and no, we won't be spending Easter with her.

Please continue to keep us in prayer for travel mercies. Also, that God would again lift my food allergies (& Mark's too) while we're serving in Mississippi so that we can eat what is served to us without ill-effects.

I always love to hear how God has answered our prayers. We have also continuously been keeping the [Easter] play, all participants, and all who will see it held up in daily prayer. Mark's been on Patrick's emails regarding Joy... and that has been so wonderful seeing/hearing how God's hand has been on both her and Patrick thru all of this trial. I've put this week's prayer requests into my notebook so I can keep up daily with them... our internet access has been far less than Mark anticipated.

Weather for us has been dry & sunny since getting out of the Silicon Valley. Aaron (my son) has said most days have still had rain there. The wet rainy weather is PERFECT, if you're a duck!!! I hope you're all staying dry!

Odessa, TX, Saturday April 15

Today we saw the Carlsbad Caverns... we were able to take the walking entrance and enter thru the natural entrance (where the bats do their massive exit every afternoon/evening). It was pretty awesome and a fair decline... over 70 stories worth of decent to the main cavern-room... and take the elevator back up. Tonight we're in Midland, Texas. We have to report next Thursday to Mississippi.

Yes, the visit with Rosabelle was great. She's still not communicative and you can tell she's 'searching' in her mind... but her physical demeanor etc were a blessing to see... far better than a few years back. I feel bad not writing snail-mail to you... but DO get us an addy as soon as you do know a 'good' one.

Last night we drove from Santa Fe to Roswell, the "UFO Capital". We didn't see any UFOs. While in Santa Fe we visited Los Alamos, where the atomic bombs from WWII were developed. Fascinating. Everyone brought in to work on the project lived in Los Alamos, but it was all secret... 'Los Alamos' didn't exist to the outside world... to receive mail, it went to PO Box 6166 (or something like that), Santa Fe... even the birth certificates for births during that time in Los Alamos say Santa Fe PO Box 6166. Then we drove until nearly 1 AM... Mark nearly ran over the Easter Bunny, too!!! But he was quick and Mark missed... wheh!

We found a quilt store in Sedona & bought 2 patterns... I'll HAVE to take Kathleen's class after we're home so I can learn to how make these. One is the Chapel of the Holy Cross that is built into the red rock... it's a smallish wall one, about 12" most square... the other is about poster sized of a desert scene with sunset colors.

San Antonio, Monday, April 17

This is awesome news regarding the play! ... made me tear up realizing how prayers were answered, but more importantly, that so many received Christ. I'm also glad to hear Joy made it yesterday... we had been praying for her for that also.

Carpet, Church, Clean-up

Saturday, April 29

On Saturday I was finishing up the carpet install with Nick and Roger. Mary stayed at the camp to work registration for the distribution. (Distribution is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but we were closed last Wednesday due to the storm.)

Sunday, April 30

On Sunday, we went to church at Calvary Chapel, here in the tent in Bay St Louis. They used to serve three meals a day seven days a week, but now they do only a couple of meals. They focus mostly on construction work, and they have a Sunday service and a Wednesday service. The church service was nice and all, but I find myself wondering why they don't plug into the local churches here instead. Especially since almost everyone in the congregation (except us) was a Calvary Chapel volunteer.

On Sunday afternoon we just had to get out of Bay St Louis for a couple of hours. We drove up to Gulfport, just 20 miles up the coast from here. Mary went craft shopping at Michaels while I went computer shopping at Office Max next door. We've had occasion to send some sympathy cards and get-well cards to friends, and also an unexpected birthday card for a man, and Mary didn't have anything suitable in the stock she brought with her. So she went shopping for a few things to make more cards. She also got a shipment from Stampin' Up on Monday.

Monday, May 1

We've mostly been hanging around the camp this week. On Monday we unloaded three trucks of donations. It was so much that there was no room in the storage tent. We also moved a trailer so it can get better sewage lines run to it. Then we had to level the trailer but we didn't really know what we were doing, apparently. I think I actually know what needs to be done, but we did something else at the direction of others. Anyway, it was a busy day even though we stayed here at camp. Mary and I took down almost all the tents we had repaired last week. We had another storm, mostly wind, and it just tore up most of the small tents and did some damage to a couple of the larger ones as well. Fortunately all the most-used tents stayed intact. Anyway, there was lots of moldy material in the damaged tents,including one totally soaked twin bed mattress, and mold did it's usual thang on Mary's health ...

Tuesday, May 2

On Tuesday Mary got a sinus headache, and by Tuesday night she had a full-blown migraine and could not get out of bed. She is still now (Wednesday night) quite sick and we hope she is back on her feet tomorrow.

On Tuesday I finished packing up all the downed tents that were still usable. We also made a second attempt at leveling one of the trailers but it's still not right. I also cleaned up around the camp, and I cleaned the showers. Powerwash mania!

Wednesday, May 3

Today I helped at distribution as best I could. Suddenly right around the distribution opened, we got about 60 volunteers from a college in St Louis, Missouri. I had no idea what to do with them, and there were no leaders around here to give direction. Help! I did get some of the guys for fix our two large tents that came down partially in the wind storm. That was a big score. Some helped stock the distribution tent, and some helped rearrange the storage tent so that we were able to move all the pallets into that tent that we'd received on Monday but had no room for.

One of the guys (name withheld to protect the guilty) (no, it wasn't me) got the forklift stuck in the mud behind Shirley's house. We tried to pull it out with my Toyota truck, then with the flatbed truck, and finally with Bonnie's personal huge Dodge truck. We pulled on it with the big truck from three different directions before it finally broke free. That was fun for all of us!

Since work for us began slowing down earlier this week, we've been thinking about leaving on Thursday or Friday. We told Bonnie about this yesterday, and she asked if we can stay until Sunday so we can help with Saturday distribution. If Mary doesn't start feeling better real soon, I'm going to have to take her away from here and lock her up in a hotel with A/C until she's better. But with y'all prayers, she'll be feeling better tomorrow and in that case, I have my plate full. Bonnie is leaving for a few days, and Pete is back home for a few days, so we are without a leader and there's much to be done. Bonnie went over it all with me today. If the Missouri volunteers come again tomorrow as we're expecting, we'll have it done in a couple of hours. If not, it will take me all three days, even working together with John. It's mostly clean-up around here, but lots of it is in Shirley's yard, which she's been kind enough to lend to the cause.

Please pray for us that Mary gets over her headaches, light sensitivity, nausea, and other maladies soon. Also please pray that we can continue to make a contribution here and be a blessing to the people around us.

Bible Reading Plan Progress

I've posted a couple times before about my new plan for reading through the New American Standard Bible in one year.

I'm happy to say that after five months, I have almost finished reading the Bible. I am just over 90 percent done.

Here is a summary of my progress up until now:

I have only 94 chapters left to read. At the average rate I've been reading over five months, I should finish in 13 more days, or around May 13. At the average rate I've been reading more recently, over the last one month, I should finish in 13 more days. At the nominal plan rate of four chapters per day, I should finish in 24 more days, or around May 24. In any case, I should finish before the end of May, which puts me on track to finish the entire Bible in less than six months.

I've already been shopping for a new Bible to read after finishing this one. I'd like to read a more modern translation like the Good News Bible (Today's English Version) or even the New Living Translation, a very recent version. One thing we're keeping in mind (we're both shopping for new Bibles) is that we'll be traveling through Europe later this year and we'd like to take the smallest and lightest Bible possible. Mary is thinking about taking the New Testament only. I'm thinking about taking something on my Palm Tungsten. Don't know about charging it in Europe, though.

Previous posts on this topic:

• March 1, 2006
• Feb. 1, 2006
• Dec. 19, 2005

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Last updated Monday 3 August 2009