Livin' in the Lone Star State

The International Operations Center of Mercy Ships in Garden Valley, TX where the Gateway Training Program is held. We are studying faith foundations, personal and interpersonal development, cultural competency, working with the poor and will complete Basic Safety Training, including first aid, CPR, firefighting and water survival.

Texas!

September 9, 2009



We reach our destination!









One lone star waving in the wind
A longhorn standing proud behind a rusty barbed wire fence
Cowboy hats and hearts that never bend
I was born and raised a Texan and will be 'til the end

As I travel down that blue bonnet highway
I'm thankful I was born a lucky man
And I know that I will live and die my own way
Somewhere between the Red and Rio Grande

Two old boots, dusty, worn, and stained
By the oilfields and the ranches and the blood that fell like rain
Heroes hearts that fought to change our name
From Tejas to Texas where the Lone Star proudly waves

(Red and Rio Grande, Doug Supernaws)

The City of New Orleans

All the way through the swamps of Louisiana to New Orleans this song from my childhood was on my mind. I was remembering my Dad and how he loved to play this song on the record player.

This one's for you, Dad.

Ridin' on the City of New Orleans

Illinois Central, Monday mornin' rail 15 cars & 15 restless riders
Three conductors, 25 sacks of mail
All along the southbound odyssey the train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms & fields
Passin' graves that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles
Good mornin' America, how are you?
Don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done
Dealin' cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels rumblin' neath the floor
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpets made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
Good mornin' America, how are you?
Say don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.
Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changin' cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home, we'll be there by mornin'
Thru the Mississippi darkness rollin' down to the sea
But all the towns and people seem to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his songs again
The passengers will please refrain:
This train got the disappearin' railroad blues
Good night America, how are you?
Say don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans.
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done.

(City of New Orleans, Arlo Guthrie)

Ginger on Bourbon Street

Becky revels in the fountain

The Sisterhood travels on...

...through the sugar plantations of Louisiana

Children of the Cane

Camping by Lake Cotile in Louisiana

Ruby floating on her back

Born on a Bayou

This land is your land
This land is my land
From California
To the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest
To the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me
(This Land is Your Land, Woody Guthrie)

A strange and surreal night in Biloxi, Mississippi began with fried "shimp" salad on the menu

We camped at the Southern Comfort RV park on the edge of a bayou where we were the only tent on the premises. A roaring locomotive steaming down the tracks right outside our tent would jolt us from sound slumber every few hours.

Dunking our feet in the Gulf of Mexico in the morning

Wishin' I were a fast freight train,
Just a chooglin' on down to New Orleans
(Born on a Bayou, Creedence Clearwater Revival)

Life on the Road

Becky tries driving on the right side of the road

Sharon serves a delicious meal

Ginger and Ruby the Traveling Chicken enjoy the sunset

Catching up on some reading assignments

Sweet Home Alabama

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
(Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd)

We had a tour of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama where Martin Luther King, Jr. was the pastor from 1954-1960.

at the site where Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man on December 1, 1955 which launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott and birthed the Civil Rights movement

Rosa Parks Museum

Montgomery, Alabama

Georgia On My Mind

Georgia, Georgia
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song

Keeps Georgia on my mind

An amazing reunion with Heidi at the local bowling alley in her hometown of Newnan, Georgia!

Could the road trip get any sweeter than this?

I said Georgia, Georgia
A song of you
Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through the pines
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in the peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you

(Georgia on My Mind, Ray Charles)

Doing what we do best together!

Keeps Georgia on my mind.

Happy Birthday Ginger!!!

September 11, 2009

Ginger's birthday begins with a morning birthday brownie in Sharon's kitchen and then we're back on the road heading south, stopping to pick some cotton in a nearby field along the way.

When I was a little baby,
My mama would rock me in the cradle,
In them old, cotton fields back home.

Oh when them cotton balls get rotten,
You can't pick very much cotton,
In them old, cotton fields back home.
It was down in Louisiana,
Just about a mile from Texarkana,
In them old, cotton fields back home.

(Cotton Fields, Huddie Ledbetter)

Good times were had at South of the Border, the land of cheese, complete with a birthday ride to the brim of Pedro's Sombrero.

Ginger rides a rhino on her birthday

Sharon embraces a chicken

Becky in Wonderland

"I like that party hat!"

Birthday Greetings from South of the Border!

Sweet Caroline

Next stop: Clinton, North Carolina to pick up the 4th member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Chicken: Sharon (Snuggs).

Sharon standing outside her house with her sister Melanie who is going to miss her very much.

Pets Galore! Guinea pigs and more!

Becky the Bird Whisperer

Ginger and Thor

Enjoying some quality time with Thor

Where it began
I can't begin to knowin'
but then I know it's growin' strong.
Was in the spring
then spring became the summer.
Who'da believed you'd come along?
Hands, touchin' hands
Reachin' out, touchin' me, touchin' you.

(Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond)