Saturday, September 26, 2009

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.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

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)