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Published: November 10th 2009
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We left New Life Ranch without me even mentioning it to you, but there was a lot going on at the time. Norm & Darlene left a day early (our project ended on Tuesday, so it was one of those fast-turnovers) because they’re leaders at the next project; everyone was going to the next project except Frank & Marilynn (who are headed home) and Glenn & Joyce who are going to RVICS Village in Smithville (which is also our headquarters). As Jon & Jane were headed out, Jane tripped on something and fell, hitting their Jeep, and breaking her arm in two places. They’re still going on to the next project, where a doctor will replace the soft cast with a hard cast after the swelling subsides. We all took off, in very somber moods, headed for Wilderness Ridge, southeast of Austin, Texas.
The work we accomplished at NLR: women~~two people spent the entire project inputting data, the others did assorting and mailing 2000 letters, assembling booklets, cleaning floor, windows and blinds, in the chapel and one of the lodges, laundered & organized all the costumes & props, cleaned & inventoried the Canteen. The men remodeled the second floor
This cabin is the original cabin
on the site. New Life Ranch began in this cabin. of a cottage to turn it into two pastoral retreats, removed a small deck, installed six windows and a new wall, installed a bead-board ceiling, a cement board floor in the bathroom, a wrap-around deck with a ramp on one end, and stairs on the other (they didn’t finish the stairs) and sided the outside.
We spent Wednesday night in Dallas, where we had dinner with one of Bob’s classmates that he reconnected with at their class reunion; we had a wonderful time. On Thursday we had the electrical system checked out on the bus, peace of mind, mostly. It's fine.
But first I need to tell you about our trip down; we drove through the hometown of Carrie Underwood (oh, don’t pretend like you don’t know who she is), we found out there are many many ways to spell barbeque, and we drove on the worst road ever, bar none… highway 69 going through Oklahoma. It is so full of holes and cracks and pieces of pavement missing~~sometimes we’d see signs saying “Road Improvements Ahead”, but what they really meant was “there are no improvements", only a few men here and there tossing small shovelfuls of asphalt
I didn't know an evergreen lost its
needles (aka leaves). The white pine does~~by the end of the project, these yellow needles were on the ground, and it smelled like Christmas when we would walk under it. (The needles are soft, and wouldn't hold Christmas ornaments!) toward the hole in the road. Even the workers looked like they thought it was pointless. We’re traveling down this nightmare highway and I’m listening to my house shake to pieces, and we’re passing signs telling us to have a good day…I wanted to scream…at someone (and you can believe Bob wasn’t listening any more!) If you have a stiff neck or back, travel Highway 69 through Oklahoma and it’ll shake your bones loose~~also your fillings. Arggg…. We could have traveled south on a different highway (divided for one thing), but it would have added about 200 extra miles to our trip. Knowing what we know now, I’d add twice that many. Ok, now that you have a vague idea of what that Highway 69 through Oklahoma is like, I’ll move on!
Thursday we found out our Wilderness Ridge project had been cancelled, and we were being diverted to Camp Tejas, about 40 miles from our original destination. To be honest, we don’t care where we’re going, as long as God is directing us, so we continued on to Smithville where we’d planned to spend Thursday night, before pulling into camp on Friday. We’ve never been to RVICS Village,
but have heard such great praise of it, and found it to be way more than we’d heard! It’s not only the headquarters for our organization, it’s a place to call home between projects, or when age or health issues make it difficult to serve on a regular basis. Any member who has served three or more projects may purchase a Village membership, and be assigned a lot with full utility hook-ups parking their RV or placing a more permanent home. It’s situated between Houston, Austin & Dallas, and hundreds (ok, lots!) of little towns, so it has nearly everything you could want, plus it’s filled with RVICS couples! We had a chance to visit with couples we’d worked with, as well as couples we’d never met, as well as those in the office that are so efficient and kind about handling our requests and complaints and general comments. The visit was so fun!. We’re only 25 miles from Smithville, so we’ll be going back to spend some time getting to know the town~~you’ll hear more about Smithville. (For instance: the movie Hope Floats was filmed there…another one too, but I can’t think of it right now.)
Ok, now
some random pictures….
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