Welcome to TwoWalworths.com
This web page will be used to store highlights of retirement activities and travels by us and our dog, GRACIE. To view pictures click on the words in blue lettering.
LINKS:
Matt & Jill's Website
Adam and Nicole's website:
Family Websites:
http://www.jeremyanddarcy.com/
CHURCH:
ACTIVITIES:
THANKSGIVING: Every two years my brothers and I get our families together for a Family reunion. This year it was in Jekyll Island, Georgia where we stayed at "Villas by the Sea". Each of us boys rented a villa for our families. Three of us had 3-bedroom villas and the other two had one bedroom suites. We were joined by my Billy's niece and her family. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Villas' restaurant. Breakfast, lunch, and some dinners were in one of the larger villas. We ate, drink, shopped, hiked, watched the GA Tech - U. GA game (2 brothers are Tech graduates). The ladies exercised our credit cards on Black Friday. We had homemade beer and wine complements of Matt, Jeremy, and myself.
Nancy and I left on Monday before Thanksgiving. We met Jimmy and Sue in Savannah on Tuesday were we did the "Midnight in the Garden Of Good and Evil" Tour and did some sightseeing. The next morning Adam, Jill, Matt, & Nicole arrived at our hotel around 5 am. We spent more time in Savannah then drove to Jekyll Island. The resort had a happy hour that evening (5-7) with free beer and wine which we attended. After a wonderful weekend we headed back to Maryland with stops in St Simon's Island and Tybee Island. We could spend a week there just visiting the Georgia coastal islands.
November 9, 2006. Nancy moved to a crew installing floors today. I continued my drywalling. We are working with two Americorp young people. Kenny is from Maryland and Jessie is from Connecticut. Both are outstanding workers. Tonight we went back to Bethel Lutheran Church to visit (this is the church we worked with in January). It was nice seeing them again. Below is some pictures of the activities and people we are working with.
Volunteers representing our church
Walking dogs and painting at humane society
Laying floor tiles at the Johnson house
Installing dry wall at the Walker house
November 8, 2006. Nancy and I both were drywalling. I am on the installation crew. She was spackling and sanding. In the evening some of us went to one of the casino's.
November 7, 2006. Some of the crews continue working on jobs assigned yesterday. Some worked around the church cleaning, food shopping, and preparation. The meals were great.
November 6, 2006, Monday. Today is our first work day. We had a variety of jobs -- drywalling, working at the Humane Society, flooring, setting up computers and software, general maintenance, transportation, and cleaning area. My job was installing drywall. Our leaders were experienced drywallers who took the time to explain each step in detail to all us helpers. They were fun to work with and we learned new skills. The homeowner's son came by and talked with us. He and his cousin plans to work with us tomorrow. Nancy helped clean the area and went to the Humane Society where they cared for animals and worked win a thrift shop. At our round table discussion tonight it sounds as our group had a productive day.
November 5, 2006, Sunday -- Today's plans are Breakfast, Church, go to New Orleans. After we met for breakfast we drove around Biloxi before Church. After Church we drove the coastline highway (US Route 90) from Gulfport West to Pass Christian, Mississippi. These tours was to show the new people how bad the Coast was damaged by the hurricanes. Also Nancy and I could see how much work has been accomplished since January. The accomplishment is great but the existing damage overshadows the accomplishments. The bridges along US 90 have not been replaced the the hurricanes. At Pass Christian we had to move to the Interstate to continue to New Orleans. We walked around New Orleans had Beignets At the Cafe Du Monde (beignets are the only food served). We had a great dinner at Muriels. Then returned here to get ready for our work week. New Orleans pics
November 4, 2006 -- This morning we took Gracie to Barb's house for the week. (Barb & Gracie pic) Afterwards we flew to New Orleans on our way to Gulfport, Mississippi. We landed in New Orleans around 1pm. We took a detour to the local zoo were a food fest was being held. We enjoyed some local cuisine walked around the zoo then headed to Gulfport. We passed many areas destroyed by the hurricanes. We arrived here around 7pm then went to dinner at Applebee's.
--- This update is October 17-29 ----------------
OCTOBER 29 -- KELLER/VETTER APPLEBUTTER MAKING Roger and Dot Keller (Jill's husband's parents) make apple butter the 4th Saturday of October (my understanding is that this is a 30 year tradition). The invited us to join them this years. I purchase a half-bushel of apples in Vermont and ground them into applesauce. On Saturday I went to Manassas and joined them, their family, and friends. They start cooking the apple sauce before daylight and finish somewhere around 3pm. I believe we had close to 30 gallons of apple sauce to cook. We ate good Southern cooking and had a great time socializing. We had a storyteller and a banjo player entertaining the kids (all ages kids from toddlers to hobblers -- above 60 years). After the cooking process was complete, the butter was divided and bottled. They have developed and perfected a device which they pour the butter into then fill the jars. I had a great time and thank the Kellers and Vetters for letting me join them. APPLE BUTTER PICTURES
OCTOBER 19 -- After 18 holes we prepped the motorhome for the trip to Alabama. Adam upgraded the stereo with an MP3 player. Adam, Nicole, Nancy, Gracie, and I left for Jill and Matt's around 7pm. Within an hour before be arrived at their house the "service engine" light came on. We were supposed to be in Alabama within 24 hours. I decided to drive it until it quit running, have it towed and rent a Van for the remainder of the trip. We drove all night with no problems. We rotated drivers and others slept in Beds. Sometime after we entered Alabama the "service engine" light went off. We arrived at my family home around 11am on Friday. My niece's wedding was at 2pm on Saturday and the rehearsal dinner was at 7pm that night. We had a great time. After the wedding we went to my bother's house. I carried a case of homemade beer and one nephew bought soem homemade honey meade. We had a great time and hit the road at 5:30 am the next morning. The trip home was almost uneventful. Fortunately we only had light rains -- the windshield wiper got tired and worked when they wanted to and at speeds of their choosing. After arriving home I winterized the motorhome and put it in storage for the winter. The windshield wiper problem will be corrected next spring.
OCTOBER 17 -- The "service engine soon" light came on during the last trip. I took it back to the dealer to charge the A/C and look at the "service engine light". The engine has almost 75K miles on it. The dealer though that may be the reason for the light. He charged the A/C and sent me on my way. We were having one of our worst rain falls for the year. About half way home the engine started mis-firing and losing power. (During the time my motorhome was being serviced another customer told me about a Ford Dealer near me who services motorhomes). After I got home my wife suggested I call that Dealer to see if I could get an appointment for the next day. We were supposed to drive it to Alabama in two days. Luckily the dealer had an opening. The engine needed a tune-up, an exhaust oxygen censor and an air filter. During the heavy rains, the engine had sucked water into the air filter and was having problems breathing through the wet filter. Many truck engines have a tube from the ai filter to the grill to pull fresh air into the engine. Under the right conditions water can be sucked into the filter.
--------------This update is from July 20th through Oct 14th. -------------
October 9, 2006. We drove to Harvard Ma. to visit Sue (Nancy's little sister). We had a great cookout with Sue, niece Kate and her friend Nat. Check them out at www.katieandnat.com. The next day we drove to the Boston Museum. We visited a butterfly exhibit and more sightseeing. It was great to see Sue and her darling home and her sweet kitty, Bailey. October 8, I had an opportunity to meet with my former aerobics teacher, Patty Waltner, and participated in her current class and the three of us had a delicious lunch. It was great seeing her again! mass sep 06
October 6, 2006. We drove to Vermont to see our friends Ron & Anne Kelley. Great weekend. The foliage was just past its peak but beautiful. We did some sightseeing, hike through the woods, canoe, and kayaked. Went to dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Montpelier. It was wonderful to have a chance see them again and have a nice visit. They've just moved into a beautiful new home. Before leaving Vermont we toured the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury Vt. Vermont Oct. 06
September 30, 2006. To celebrate Jan's 50th birthday, George put on an October Fest. We celebrated with Brindza's German Cuisine. There was plenty of German beer and wine. George had all the bottles saved for me to use for my brewing. I contributed some German Wheat-Raspberry beer and some Oktoberfest which I had made. We inducted Jan into the Elders. Karen is the only one left......... Jan's 50th
September 26, 2006. We are in Manheim PA at the Pinch Pond RV Campground. Nothing is close by, at least not on roads big enough for me to drive the Motorhome. Nancy is reading and I am doing some fishing (I did not say catching fish). pinch pond sep 06
September 9, 2006. We moved Adam's furniture into his Baltimore apartment. Real nice apartment looking over the city. Afterwards we picked up Jimmy and Sue from the Airport. The next day the four of us went to Cape May NJ for four days. None of us had been there, so this was a great experience. We did lots of sightseeing and ate some great food. capemay-sep-06.htm
Labor Day weekend we went to see Jill and Matt to celebrate Jill's birthday. We went to and wine and jazz festival in northern Virginia. Got a little rain but had a great time. It's wonderful to see the two of them together-they are sooo happy! VA. wine fest sep 06.htm
In August Adam got a job in Baltimore. We moved everything from his Frostburg apartment to our house. Jill sold her house and we helped her move furniture. I started a new hobby -- making my own beer. I use Mr. Beer kits. If you follow the directions all works well. So for the beer has been good.
July 20, 2006. We took a three day trip to Lake Gaston, North Carolina to see Betty & Dallas Pearson's new vacation home. We arrived on Thursday afternoon. We went for a ride on their platoon boat and that night went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant. On Friday morning we went on a sightseeing tour of the lake. Around lunch time Dan & Donna Michaels and Bob & Rita Quarles arrived. We spent the afternoon on the lake, docking at and island and swimming. Saturday morning we departed NC and returned to Maryland to a great wedding. Lake Gaston sep 06
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July 13, 2006 Early this morning we took one last drive into the National Park hoping to see some wildlife before we returned the car. We saw one deer. Today was our wind down day. After the drive we relaxed then took a trolley into Gatlinburg. Gatlinburg is much like the boardwalks along the beaches, in other words, a real tourist trap. We had a great lunch and returned to the motorhome. Shortly after we returned the rains came. We spent the afternoon reading and appreciating the cool dry motorhome. The outside temps are in the 90s with high humidity. After the rain the steam from the roads looked like fog.
July 12, 2006 We drove across the Park to Cherokee, North Carolina to the Oconaluftee River Trail. It is a nice 1.5 mile hike. Afterwards we went to Cades Cove where we had a picnic lunch and then drove the driving loop which took about two hours. We saw several herds of deer during this drive. Those two destinations plus many sightseeing stops along the way was a long day. There are many overlooks with great views of the landscape and waterfalls.
July 11, 2006 We are in Gatlinburg, TN, or as I like to call it, Gnatlinburg. Boy these gnats are unbelievable! BJ and I hiked to Clingman's Dome and Laurel Falls today. On our way back to the car after Laurel Falls, a black bear was walking along the path not 100 feet from us. We stayed still (except for my photo finger) and just watched him. He came a little closer, walked down a slope, changed his mind, crossed to the other side of the path and climbed a tree. More shots taken from the tree, but BJ and I, having a strong instinct for survival, headed for the car, before Mr. Bear finished his dinner at the Treetop and climbed down. It sure was exciting!
July 10, 2006. Well, here we are in Asheville, NC. BJ drove the RV and I navigated (?) the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was simply beautiful!! We love to travel, but the good old USA is still our favorite place to visit. God has indeed blessed us with a truly breathtaking country and we are doing our share to see it all!! We hiked to two waterfalls and did some other hiking, camped on the BRP 2 nights and today we spent the day at The Biltmore Estate. It was so awesome and has garnered my respect for the Vanderbilt family. When I get home I will have to do some reading on them. Jill's and Matt's wedding was one of the most wonderful days of my life. It was so glorious that we got to share it with our treasured friends and our fabulous families. Check it out at www.mandjkeller.com After the busy-ness of the wedding BJ and I went to LAS VEGAS for 5 days and 4 nights of pure relaxation. We saw Danny Gans (amazing) and a Tribute to the Rat Pack. Played some slots, swam at the pool (we stayed at the Mirage) and ate some delicious food! We celebrated the Fourth of July like we always do-pool party at Carol's and fireworks on Gordon's boat.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles of narrow winding roads with many tunnels. Fortunately we were on it during a slack season. It is beautiful and I recommend it for fall and spring (Not in a RV). Allow plenty of time. There were many hiking trails we could not do because parking was not available for the motorhome. The speed limit is 45 (I drove 35). We took 3.5 days to drive the entire parkway. We spent two nights in state parks and the last two nights here in Ashville. Tomorrow we move to Gatlinburg where we will stay for three more nights. We have a car reserved there so we can visit the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. I purchased my lifetime Golden Age National Park Pass yesterday.
Nancy is an excellent navigator. When we need to turn around or back into a parking space she takes the two-way radio and directs me into the slot. Many road signs are hard to see. It takes both of us to spot them. It takes both of us to find a parking slot big enough for the RV.
Jill and Matt's wedding was a big success. Everyone I talked with had a great time. Nancy's sisters and brother as well as my four brothers and their families came in for the wedding. Our niece, Lauren, provided some excellent piano music.
May 20, 2006. We toured Ireland April 22-April 29. We left Columbia on the afternoon of April 20 and arrived in Dublin around mid-day on the 21st. We toured the Guinness Brewery that afternoon and walked around Dublin. The next day we joined our tour group. We traveled by bus for nine days visiting 7 cities. We saw lots of countryside, visiting sites along the way. The tour guide and bus driver were great. They gave us much information we would not have received if we were on our own. Some of the highlights of the trip were visiting the Cliffs of Moors, Blarney Castle, Glass blowing at Waterford Glass Factory. A tour like this is great. You don't spend much time in one place but receive much more information than you can comprehend and see lots of different places.
We returned home on April 30th to learn someone had broken into our house. A telephone, some pocket change, jewelry and a special watch were taken.
We are getting our lives back to normal, preparing for Jill and Matt's wedding. We have one more room to paint before the wedding. The remaining rooms will wait. We both have return to our volunteer work and hobbies.
April 13, 2006. We have Sad and Fantastic news.
On March 22, 2006, My Dad passed. He had been hospitalized for three weeks with congestive heart failure and pneumonia. All of my brothers were able to visit him in the hospital. We brought him home on Tuesday, March 21 under hospice care. Approximately 24 hours later he passed peacefully. Our greatest satisfaction is that we honored his wish by letting him die at home. He made it clear four years ago when my Mom died that he wanted to die at home. Dad was a share-cropper until I was 10 years old. He learned to weld and was a pipe welder until he retired in the late 70s. His grand children have written comments about him: http://www.mandjkeller.com/ http://www.adamwalworth.com http://www.jeremyanddarcy.com/
Buddy Walworth was a fine Christian man. He passed the importance of education to his 5 sons. I will miss him dearly, but I know he is in a better place now. He was deeply admired by all who knew him and loved by many.
On April 9, 2006, Adam proposed to Nicole. For the complete story got to Adam's website and click on AdamandNicole.net. We are very happy to have Nicole join the family.
Nancy and I continue with our daily routine. I am playing in a Golf League at Willow Springs Golf Course as well as continuing to work with Habitat For Humanity in Baltimore.
I'm looking forward to our trip to Ireland with Anne Watson, Bobbi Dombrowski, Ron and Elaine Lewis. We've been talking about doing this for almost 3 years and it's wonderful to see dreams coming true.
We presented a PowerPoint display to our church on the trip to Biloxi, Mississippi. Hopefully we can create some interest. We had a pot luck dinner - one of my favorite things about being in a church family - all that great food! YUM!
Mar 13, 2006. We have stayed in town this past month. We are freshening up the house in preparation for Jill & Matt's wedding. Primary we will be repainting the inside of the house and repairing/replacing items that are not working properly.
There is an organization in Baltimore called United Churches. This a group of about 12 churches of differing dominations which have joined together with Habitat For Humanity to refurbish row houses in Baltimore. This year the house being refurbished is 1253 West Cross Street. Volunteers work on the house every other week and the licensed contractors work the other weeks. I worked with them March 7-9. The interior walls have been removed. We were patching existing brick exterior walls and replacing missing exterior walls.
March 18 is our 34th wedding anniversary.
Feb 19, 2006 Things have been quiet these past two weeks. We winterized the motorhome and put it in storage. We are helping Jill and Matt with the wedding preparations whenever possible. This weekend Adam came home to celebrate his birthday.
We received and email from Rick Huston (Aiken SC, roofer). He gave us a link to his organizations webpage which contains some pictures of the Mississippi trip. His organization is LATCH, Lutherans Acting To Correct Housing. LATCH was started after hurricane HUGO hit South Carolina. They have roofed over a hundred houses since HUGO.
http://tinyurl.com/9sxwo There are 10 links for Mississippi, date 1/12/2006 through 1/21/2006.
Jan 27, 2006-HOME!!! Is there a nicer sounding word in the English dictionary? Hmmm, maybe chocolate, but at this moment, I'd have to say home! The trip home was uneventful, except for this morning when our antennae wouldn't go down all the way and BJ insisted on climbing on top of the RV (I offered, but I think he was sick of seeing me up high). He climbed on top, just like a pro! BJ conquers his fears!!
This will be a short summary. We downloaded the remaining pictures from our camera. Here is a sampling of the pictures. We went twice to Robert's house. The second time was with the Aiken SC team and the job was completed. Afterwards we went to the Storm house. We could not complete it before the Carolina team left. 'Loggin Joe' from Michigan who was helping us completed it on Saturday. While I was helping the roofers Nancy was painting with the Seminary students. They painted Kathy's house. On the last weekend we did one more drive to remind us of how bad the damage was. If we were staying longer I don't think I would drive into any more of the damaged areas. On Monday and Tuesday we were at Jake & Millie's. We cleaned and sanded. During the last two and half weeks we resided in Volunteer Village. Volunteer Village is called Tent City even though it contains both tents and RVs. There are two sleeping tents, a changing tent, a distribution tent, and a dining tent. The RVs consisted of motorhomes, popup campers, and trailers.
Unlike the news clips you see from New Orleans, the Mississippi residents have a positive attitude. The rental car people expressed their thanks for our work. One resident bought us a round of beer. The following conservation is typical of the attitudes we encountered:
Carolina: "We will be out of your hair tomorrow."
Client: "You will be in our hearts forever."
Jan 26-We left Biloxi yesterday with mixed feelings. Happy to be headed home to our loving family and dear friends, but sad to say goodbye to a hurting city and its citizens. We have done a variety of jobs in our time here and that has been an enjoyable experience rather than doing the same thing every day. Our drive to LaGrange was uneventful-found my book, dinner at Applebee's and awoke this morning to 29 degrees vs. our usual 50. Brrrrrr.
We made many new friends from across the USA. When doing this type work you become close and feel you have known each other long term. This has been a great experience.
Jan 24, 2006. Returned to same house to spackle and sand. Today was a beautiful day and we walked two blocks to the beach and ate lunch. The only thing left at the beach was a strip of the boardwalk about 100ft long.
I spent the day at Volunteer Village in the Distribution Center. Citizens who have a FEMA number can come to the Distribution Center and get food, toilet paper, diapers, formula, books, clothes and hygiene products. We fixed over 80 bags today,
Jan 23, 2006. Today the van was returned to Enterprise. Afterwards I joined Bob, Maria, Michelle, Kyla, and Nancy, we helped prepare a house for a couple who are 92 & 93. Bob and Maria are from Iowa and are full time volunteers here. Michelle and Kyla are college students working for Ameri-Corp. Two big trees fell on the house. Two bathrooms, an utility room and kitchen were not destroyed. The roof, three bedrooms, living and dining rooms had to be replaced and rebuilt. The only thing keeping this neighborhood from being destroyed by flood waters is a Coliseum. The Coliseum blocked and turned the flood waters away from this neighborhood. I cleaned closets and prepped the house for an electrical inspection.
I cleaned both bathrooms. I wish I had taken before and after pictures. The bathtub was completely filled and overflowing with household goods. It took all morning to get it unloaded and sorted. It was a really productive day for me.
Jan 22, 2006-We lost a day! After dinner at Chili's I was hit by a stomach virus that had me up most of the night and Saturday morning. BJ, bless his heart, ran to Wal-Mart for some Imodium AD. I started feeling human again around 1, and then proceeded the hunt for my book club selection "The Mermaid's Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd. We went to the mall-but Walden Books was no longer in business, to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Barnes and Noble (no longer in business), 3 Winn-Dixies, Walgreen's, CVS Pharmacy but no luck. We had dinner at a wonderful restaurant-Mary Mahoney's-I stuck with a simple Broiled Flounder which was delicious. The rolls were out of the world and I polished off 3 of them. Today, we went to church then did a final tour of the area. Home after home, street after street, town after town, complete devastation. It is just unbelievable. So terribly heartbreaking. The good news is that businesses have signs up advertising for help. So, hopefully, the area will again be a viable place to live and work.
Last night I had a Red Snapper stuffed with shrimp au-gratin along with a side dish of crawfish etouffe -- It was fantastic. Tomorrow we return our rental car. Originally we rented a small sedan, but it was recalled after three days. The gave me a Dodge Grand Caravan for the same price as the small sedan.
Jan 20, 2006 As I finish up my second week here in Biloxi, it has been a full, tiring but rewarding week. Today I primed the inside of Kathy's house. A beautiful 3 bedroom brick home that was damaged by 5 feet of water. I worked alongside 5 students from Wartburg Seminary in Iowa, who were kind enough to "adopt" me as a teammate. This is a WONDERFUL group of people who have just opened their hearts to me. This afternoon we restacked 8 pallets of bottled water at a warehouse here in Biloxi. I hope I don't have to look at another bottle of water or gallon of water for at least another 24 hours!!! Yesterday, the Wartburg students, Katherine and I painted the outside of Mercedes house. The six of us got the whole outside painted a beautiful shade of Pewter Gray. As a reward for our hard work, we treated ourselves to Dairy Queen on the way home. Wednesday, since there were plenty of people to help roof Robert's house, I brought my rubber stamping supplies and cardstock to the Medical Clinic at Bethel Lutheran Church. Kids and adults had a good time stamping and creating cards and bookmarks for themselves and loved ones.
Returned to the Storm house with the three SC roofers, a MI roofer and six seminary students from Gettysburg PA. Rick is a retired professor from the University of South Carolina at Aiken. He has done an excellent job of preparing the seminary students to lead their future congregations on work trips. He takes the time to explain the what's and why's of each step. Also he explains the differences between this roof and the other roofs. Today was rainy and the house was built on red clay fill. We released the students around 5:30 pm and we worked until it was too dark. The roof is about 99% completed. Joe, the MI roofer will complete the job. We returned to the church after the dining tent closed. The three SC roofers, Nancy and I went to Chili's for beer and burgers. We did not realize until after we ordered but all drinks were two for 1. We had an enjoyable evening we three great guys. We were treated to a round of beers by a grateful citizen of Gulfport-what a treat!
Jan 19, 2006. Returned to Robert's house this morning and completed the work. Afterwards we stopped by two other houses. One complete some unfinished work. We delivered some supplies to another job. Another crew was working this house. The roof was so steep that they had boards on the roof to keep them from sliding off. Our final destination was in D'lberville, Mississippi. This little town was hit very hard. The area in which we were working was almost totally cleared. This house is a new structure paid for by private donations and built by the Storm Family from Nebraska. We went to dinner tonight with the Aiken SC team. The 13 members of the team doing roofing, dry walling, and working in the clinic.
Jan 18, 2006. Returned to Robert's house. I took Robert to Lowe's to purchase more roofing supplies. Have really enjoyed getting to know Robert. Today was a slow day. The team leader, Rick, used today as an instructional day for the seminary students.
Jan17, 2006. Today was rainy all morning and half the afternoon. A cold front moved in and the temp dropped to the high fifties - low sixties. Today was roofing with the South Carolina team. In addition we had some seminary students from Iowa and PA. Working with the students is very refreshing. They are hard workers and comical. We waited until after lunch and attempted to return to the house we had worked on last Friday. We had directions and an address, unfortunately a critical street sign had been knocked down. After asking directions and calling the home owner we started driving into the unmarked streets. After about 45 minutes the rain stopped and we found the house. These last two weeks have been very stressful for residents in this area. Last week six college students were killed in a car wreck. The last of them were buried today. This past weekend two high school students were killed in a car accident. On top of surviving two storms these people now have to survive losing eight young lives.
Jan 16, 2006 Today we drove down to Bethel to check our e-mails and take some photos of the prayer shawl that our church donated to Bethel Lutheran Church. Then back to tent city to help unload pallets of food into trailers. I may not be able to throw horseshoes, but I sure can throw Famous Amos Cookies! After lunch I input data into the data base for Lutheran Disaster Relief.
After lunch I joined a roofing team from Aiken, South Carolina. They were working in a depressed area of Gulfport Mississippi. These houses are very small (one or two bedroom cottages). One house is totally collapsed. The owner rode out the storm in the house. As the house fell he moved towards the back. He lay in his bathtub while the house collapsed on him. Luckily he was on high ground and the water did not enter. Another house is gone and the owner is living in a tent. These people who have very little are proud, very thankful for what they have, and really appreciative of the work being done by the volunteers. It is nice working with the people from Aiken, since I was raised about 35 miles from Aiken (Augusta GA.) and was stationed in Aiken for 19 months (Oct 1963 to June 1965) during my Air Force days.
Jan 15, 2006 As you all know, we are in the process of learning all the ins and outs of RV life. Today we learned that you DO NOT go to the Laundromat on Sunday. We thought we had a great day planned with church, lunch, the dirty clothes and then time for sightseeing and shopping. At 3:30 we were finally done with the art of negotiating for a washer and the two-step on the way to a dryer that is finally unloaded after sitting for 15 minutes. We did some more touring because yesterday wasn't depressing enough. Everywhere are signs of utter despair and then a glimpse of hope. Don't you wish you could do this to YOUR dentist? The citizens here are thankful for everything people have done and have given. It is so humbling how grateful they are-I think I would be very bitter. As we drive around the words sung by Lee Greenwood come to mind-"If tomorrow all the things were gone, I've worked for all my life, and I had to start again with just my children and my wife".... for truly that is exactly what tens of thousands of these people will be doing. On out way back to tent city for dinner we were blessed by a beautiful sunset-a simple reminder how truly good God is.
We were in downtown Biloxi this afternoon. The damage done to the downtown area is horrible. The Casinos were boats this size of a small Cruise Ship. Two of these boats were lifted and move a couple hundred feet onto shore and deposited. Buildings three or more floors have the first two floors destroyed by high water and the upper floors damaged by rain and wind. Ranchers and bungalows were totally destroyed. Sometimes the roof survived but no supporting framing survived. Today we met a 75 year old Security guard who had lost her mobile home. FEMA had given her $5000 towards a replacement mobile home. (She lived 80 miles north of Biloxi.) She had to finance the remaining $20000. She will be close to 90 by the time it is paid. Most of her belonging were in the back of her car. We ask her if she had ask for help from the Disaster Relief Organizations, Her reply "I have a job, I do not want to take away from those who have less than me." We urged her to go to Bethel and talk with the counselors. This is a proud lady, I hope she will follow our advice.
Jan 14, 2006. Today our friends from PA, MICHIGAN, & WI returned home. We have enjoyed socializing and working with them. On a this type of trip you get to know complete strangers real well; by the end the week you feel as you have know them forever. This morning we got a rental car, 2006 Chrysler Sebring with 28 miles on it. We put over 200 miles on it today. We drove through the devastated areas in the surrounding towns between Biloxi and New Orleans (GULFPORT, PASS CHRISTIAN, BAY ST LOUIS ). Words and pictures cannot give you an accurate measure of the damage. From town to town you see the same rubble and overturned cars. Our first stop was the hardest for me. As I walked up to the site I saw hand tools, plates, cups, and saucers. These people lost many family treasures that cannot be replaced. Any house with the blue tarp on the roof has major water damage inside. We made our way to NEW ORLEANS. The damage was terrible. We didn't go into the neighborhoods. We went downtown to the Riverwalk and French Quarter. We had no problem finding a parking space. There were many cars but very few people walking. The French Quarter reminds me of Baltimore Street (THE BLOCK) in the late 60s and early 70s, except the streets are much narrower.
Friday, Jan 13, 2006 We had another day on the roof of Robert's house. We had a bit of delay due to rain. Then, we had just started working when some strong winds came up and blew about half of our black felt off and at least 30 shingles that hadn't been nailed down yet. Despite those setbacks we got almost 3/4 of the roof shingled. A second crew showed up around 3, so then we had 4 nail guns going. It was sad to say good-bye to friends who we worked with for the past three days. Vic, Gail, Eddie, Terri, Bron, Rich and Judy (thanks for the gloves). As well as the others: Andy (go 'Skins), Roger, Pastor Dave, Joe, Will, Joanne, Shirley and Kel. BJ and I are talking about doing a road trip up to Nazareth, PA some weekend so we can say hi to our new friends. They are all very special people.
In addition to the rain the temperature dropped to 62 and we had to put on our sweatshirts. The temps have been nice, in the mid 70s during the day and upper 50s at night. We have not been using the furnace. Since I don't do well on roofs my job has been to keep the yard clean and the workers supplied with water and tools. We piled the old roofing on a tarp in front of the house. Today three men came by with a end loader and two trailers collecting the trash.
Jan 12, 2006. This day was spent preparing another house for a new roof. Our start was delayed a couple hours due to a gas leak. Two guys on the roof smelled gas coming from inside the house. We vacated the premises and notified the neighbors of a possible gas leak. Our crew removed the old roof so another crew can install a new one tomorrow. The pictures show only the outside. The roof was blown away and a storage shed overturned. We did not take pictures of the interior of the house. After we leave the owner has to repair water damage. This will require replacing ceiling, carpet, and some walls. The clothing will need to be cleaned. No pictures were taken of the interior since that would be an invasion of the owners privacy. On the way back to the church Nancy noticed a McDonalds sign which no longer had arches. The arches were smashed but the sign was standing.
Jan 11, 2006. Today we were assigned to a crew preparing a house for roofing. The owner is a gardener with many fruits and vegetables growing all over his yard. He has a motorhome and was in Alaska when the storm hit. His old roofing had to be removed without destroying his gardens. There was a service tonight at Bethel in which Nancy presented the church with a prayer shawl for their prayer room.
Jan 10, 2006. We were asked this morning to work in the new dining hall. Most of my day was spent washing pots & pans (in the Air Force this was called K.P.). This afternoon I went and asked to be put in the field. Based on previous experiences if we don't say something now we never will get to the field. We are waiting for an assignment. I also spent some time in the distribution tent. Talking to volunteers and survivors getting goods. Most of the survivors have this kind of dazed look about them. They just seem to be shell shocked. I did 2 loads of laundry this morning. The Laundromat had 48 washing machines-3 were in working order!
Jan 9, 2006 BJ & I worked in the storeroom all morning and got it organized and stocked up. When people come into the church for the medical clinic they will ask if they have any needs. Sometimes it's food and sometimes it's clothes and sometimes it's goods to get started building a home again. The storeroom is where those needs are met. Today we fixed food bags for about 8 people. This afternoon after lunch we took a tour with friends Ellen from Wisconsin and Shirley from Pennsylvania. Everyone wears names tags with their first name and state they are from. The devastation along the beach is just surreal. Floating casinos washed ashore. A pirate ship casino that is just a skeleton. A Waffle House sign, but that is all. Two flights of stairs in an empty lot.
In addition to working in the storeroom we helped serve the dinner meal. We are up to 180 volunteers. We had to serve the dinner meal in two shifts. The kitchen facility at Good Shepard was given permission to serve meals starting tomorrow morning. Since we are staying at Good Shepard we will eat our breakfast and dinner in the new facility. The new facility is a tent with a trailer backed against it. The tent is the dining room and the trailer is the kitchen. Tonight we helped prepare lunches (approximately120 sandwiches) for the workers who go into the neighborhoods to rebuild houses. No pictures were taken of the devastation today because I carried the wrong spare battery for the camera. We are about a mile from the beach and our area looks as a strong wind hit it. Please remember what we are seeing is after four months of extremely hard work. It is hard for me to imagine what this place looked like in September. Almost every empty space has some type RV (motorhome and/or trailer) occupying it especially in the hardest hit areas.
Jan 8, 2006 Sunday service at Bethel Lutheran were great-it has been a long time since we have attended a Lutheran church service. After lunch, we couldn't find a ride back to "Munchkin Park", so we walked. BJ did fine, but I had heels on and let me tell you my dogs were barkin'!!! When we got to the RV, there were people from Michigan that had just pulled in, also to help with the Hurricane Relief.
About two hours afterwards another group from Michigan arrived (some were returnees form November). Tonight at dinner more people arrived. Two of the groups were from Iowa. We had over 100 people tonight and more is expected. Nancy and I start working in the store room tomorrow. Most of the jobs require independent transportation.
Jan 7, 2006, 9:30 PM. Arrived in Biloxi around 4 pm. We were introduced to workers at the church. Another group from PA arrived about the same time. We received a briefing then moved the motorhome to its parking space. They have set up a RV Park with full hookups. About 10 students from California help unload the donations. We reported to Bethel Lutheran Church Lutheran Church. Bethel is the headquarters for all activities. Meals, meetings, and work assignments are done at Bethel. Bethel is in partnership with Good Shepard Lutheran Church. The property around Good Shepard has been converted to a Tent City and RV park. A distribution center for the donated goods has been setup at Good Shepard. We are parked near the distribution center. Some California college students are staying in the tents. We are riding to and from Bethel with them. Tonight we had dinner with all the volunteers. Afterwards we helped cleanup and worked with college students from Illinois. Sundays are down time. We need it to get organized. That's about all the news-dinner tonight was chili, salad and cake for dessert. Steve F-BJ kept all his chili in his bowl this time!!
A large group from Burke VA arrived around dinner (some were returnees who were here in October).
Jan 7, 2006 8:15 AM Arrived in LaGrange GA yesterday about 4. Hooked up and walked the dog around-this campground even has a "Pet Walk"! It also has a restaurant right on grounds that features monthly concerts. Since it's near Calloway Gardens, GA BJ and I are already talking about coming back in time for a concert and a weekend in Calloway Gardens. Travel was uneventful, except for heavy traffic in Atlanta (where's Matt & Jill when you need them :-)???? We have no TV reception, so after dinner we contented ourselves reading til 9, then watching a tape of ABC's 50th anniversary. Today we will finish up in Biloxi and hopefully be in time for dinner-you know how we are-first things first!! After we unload our donations.
So for we have not had any inclement weather. It rained during the night at Greensboro. Last night the temp went down to 25. We left a water stream running to keep the water hose from freezing. Our furnace works well. We were nice and warm.
Jan. 5, 2006 Well, here we are in Greensboro, NC on our way to Biloxi. We got about half an hour underway, when we realized we forgot the AAA trip tik and our campsite reservation info, so we had to turn around and go back and get it. Not so bad, we had no traffic in DC and got into our campsite around 7. After hooking up (I know you young people will get a kick out of that) and walking the dog, we walked up to a shopping center and had dinner. I'm in my PJ's watching CSI and updating the site. We don't have internet, so we will post it as soon as we can.
We have lots of people to thank. Matt was a life-saver. He had a meeting in Columbia this morning. He came up from VA last night and spent the night with us. This morning he worked for his room and board. He and I spent an hour loading the donations into the motorhome. We had to measure and repack to get everything in the storage areas. Thanks to the following people for donations:
Christ Memorial Presbyterian Church
Cornerstone Community Church
Malmburg Family
Lucille Nicholson
Pearson Family
Boyce Family
Quarles Family
Cheek Family
Michaels Family
Williams Family
Jane Wade
McDonough Family
Cole Family
Thistle Family
Keller Family
Jill Walworth
Anderson Family
I hope I got everyone-if not, please forgive me.
FUTURE TRAVELS:
January 5-January 28 2006: We will travel to Biloxi Mississippi to do hurricane relief work for Bethel Lutheran Church. The church can use gift cards (Wal-Mart, Winn Dixie, Sears, Home Depot, Lowes) and Visa money cards if anyone wants to contribute. The address is
BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH
2521 PASS ROAD
BILOXI, MS, 39531
PH 228-239-8882
PH 228-388-1226
April 21 - May 1: We will be touring Ireland with Ron & Elaine Lewis, Anne Watson, & Bobbi Dombrowski.
RECENT TRAVELS:
Dad's 90th Birthday: On Thursday night at 8:30 pm Nancy, Gracie, and I met Adam and Nicole at the RV storage lot. We loaded the motorhome and started the 930 mile trip to Columbia, Alabama. We stopped in Falls Church, Virginia to pick Jill and Matt. Our stops along the way were for gas, food, and to change drivers. The first driver change was interesting. I pulled off I85 only to find there were no service areas (around 1am). I stopped at an intersection in front of a "mom&Pop" store which was closed. We had to turn the 34ft motorhome around to get back to the interstate. I told Adam to back the RV into and intersection while Matt and I directed him form the outside. Just as Adam started in reverse a North Carolina State Patrol pulled up to the red-light. I told him what we were doing. He laughed at us crazy Marylanders, gave us directions, and drove off. Later in the day we stopped in Alabama for lunch. We parked in a shopping center parking lot. After lunch the girls went dollar store shopping. The guys stretched out in the motorhome and relaxed wishing it was Saturday so we could find a ball game on TV -- WHAT A WAY TO SHOP. We arrived at Dad's around 2pm. The rest of my brothers and their families started arriving later -- Wayne and Randall that evening and night. Billy lives across a field and street from Dad. We had a wonderful supper at Billy's on Friday night. As I entered Dad's drive way a low hanging limb shattered a plastic vent cover on the RV roof. Saturday morning was spent find a replacement cover and making the repair. Jimmy arrived on Saturday. Billy and his wife, Helen, had a reception planned for Dad at 4pm in the church. We had a great time. Saw many family members that I could not remember their names. After the reception we went to Billy's house for a family party. Sunday was church time (18 family members attended the service, there were around 11 congregation members in attendance) then out to Ryan's Steakhouse in Dothan for lunch. Sunday was rainy so we spent the day relaxing. On Monday morning I trimmed the trees so I could get the RV out of the yard. We took Matt to the airport so he could catch a flight to California. Afterwards we loaded the RV and headed back to Maryland. The trip went well. We entered snowy weather south of Richmond Virginia. We arrived at Jill's house around 4:30 Tuesday morning and back to the RV storage lot around 5:45. Adam and Nicole returned to Frostburg and Nancy and went home. The driving was shared by Jill, Adam, Matt, Nicole, and I.
We have a date! Matt and Jill have decided to get married at Christ Memorial Presbyterian Church in Columbia, MD and have the reception at The Great Room in Savage Mill. BJ and I met Dot and Roger Keller on Saturday, November 5. Matt treated the 6 of us to breakfast at the restaurant where he and Jill had their first date. We had a great time! Dot and Roger are terrific people and we are looking forward to building an enriching relationship with them!
Our second RV trip (can you call it camping???) was to Country Waye in Luray, Va. We left Tues, Nov 1, and got settled in our site just in time to see the sunset-it was gorgeous! BJ showed off his RV abilities and backed into a campsite that overlooked the mountains. Wednesday we did the Luray Cavern tour, the Car and Carriage museum and finally the Garden Maze. We had beautiful weather and really enjoyed ourselves. Thursday we did Skyline Drive and saw the glorious world Our Lord has created for us!! I don't think I could ever live any where that didn't have our seasonal changes.
We are going to be in-laws!!! On Saturday morning (October 15), while on their cruise, Matt proposed to Jill! Jill called Tuesday morning (when she finally got a signal) to let us know and we are simply thrilled! We couldn't ask for a finer young man for our precious daughter! BJ and I picked them up at the Port of Baltimore with a sign...
Our first travel (Oct 4-6) was to a RV park in Little Orleans, Maryland. Little Orleans is located in the western Maryland mountains about 35 miles south of Frostburg. This is a "Learn to Use" trip. We learned how many of the instructions we retained from the walk-through. We learned many things that was not told (maybe we forgot them or did not understand the instruction) during the initial instruction. I went back to the manuals for clarification. The Winnebago manuals are very good. I was able to understand them and found answers to many questions.
Little Orleans is a nice remote campground. It is six curvy miles from I68. Many S curves on narrow roads and bridges. There were no lane markers on the roads (at least they were paved). Thank heavens we didn't meet any oncoming traffic! The site is nice and quiet. Many people keep their trailers there year round. Adam came over the day we arrived. The next day he and Nicole worked a half day then joined us.
On September 28th we completed the Red Cross training course. Hopefully we will be able to help with the hurricane relief. We se our availability date as Oct 21, 2005. With the upcoming wedding we have postponed our trip until January. We will be going with a Interdenominational Church group, taking our RV and Gracie to a Lutheran Church in Biloxi (as it stands now).
On September 23, 2005 we purchased a 1999 Winnebago Chieftain motor home from Beckley's Camping Center, Thurmont, Maryland. Our salesman was Jason Lander who honored all promises. The motor home is a 34 foot Class A powered by a Ford V10 gas engine. There are two slide-outs (living area & bedroom). It has a side -by-side refrigerator, two air conditioners, convection oven, TVs, VCR, satellite dish, TV antenna, cable hookup. The accompanying photos were made today. The darker ones are in the bedroom.
During the month of September we re-finished our deck. The deck was built in 1998 and had not had any finishes applied since the initial waterproofing was applied. At the request of a brother here are pictures: