Update #2 - last of vacation before mission work

Hello all,

Sunday (15^th of January), we arrived in Cape Canaveral and met up with our friends, Gregg & Betsy (from Girard).  We met up with Charlie and Joyce – Charlie and I go waaaay back to the 70’s when we worked at King’s College and have been friends ever since.  They are really enjoying the South since retiring from King’s College.  Joyce volunteers part-time a couple of days a week at an exercise/gym and Charlie volunteers at a hospital and does meals on wheels. 

Julie, Charlie & Ken

We did a lot of walking, eating in local “family” establishments and sightseeing.  Our sightseeing included going to Port Canaveral to see the cruise ships and the flea market, in fact, we went to two flea markets (there are a lot of them around here), Melbourne and the botanical gardens and planetarium, visited and reminisced with Charlie and Joyce and then before we knew it our week was over.  And the BEST thing we saw was the military missle launch from the Cape!  We watched it from the beach, which was only a block and half from the condo.  Thank you, Janet, for letting us use your condo!

Ken, Gregg & Betsy taking a rest in Botanical Gardens

Ken & Julie hiking in Botanical Gardens

We heard about the recent tornado devastation near Tuscaloosa, AL where we are heading to do our mission work.  We will be contacting them to see if we will be doing ‘first responder’ work instead of ‘disaster recovery’.  This would be a new area for us.  Fortunately, we have our UMCOR and UMVIM badges as FEMA will only let those people in, but it is a whole different way of ‘recovery’.

Our next trip was to visit my best friend, Linda and Tom, in The Villages.  As you have heard me say in my blog, Linda and I have been best friends since the late 60’s.  We did a lot of reminiscing and met some of their neighbors and topped the evening off with dinner at their Country Club and watched the sun set – what a beautiful sight.

Julie & Linda

Sunset at The Villages

We travelled to S.C. and met Ellen at our usual place - Carrabbas (can you tell it is one of our favorite restaurants?). Again we caught up on all that has happened in her life and ours over the last year.  Ellen and I worked as a team doing event and party planning together for Fluor Daniel and had a great time doing it – we complimented each other and we had fun doing it.

Julie, Ken & Ellen

We then had our last visit before beginning our work with our daughter, Karen.  Ken and Karen went for bike rides during the day, played with the dog and picked up limbs from the yard for the coolness of the evening (got down to 27 degrees two nights in a row).  We went out on Saturday evening to the Boathouse with Karen’s friends, Janice & David, and then to the Ailey Ballet.  What a marvelous way to put Christian Spiritual songs to the ballet.  The first part of it was left to the imagination as to what they were dancing about, but after the intermission it came to life and the Bible stories (Daniel, Abraham Parting of the Seas, and others based on the Revelations) were brought to life so beautifully. On Friday after hard rains Wed and Thu, there was a rock slide that closed one of the few roads up Signal Mountain to Karen’s home.  Karen and Ken hiked down the road to view the damage.

Julie, Karen & Ken at the Boat House for dinner before the ballet

Switchbacks on the "W"

Ken standing in front of the rock slide on the "W"

Julie & Karen pausing in front a waterfall

Ken & Karen pausing in front of a waterfall while on a hike

Karen and our 'grandpuppy' "Goose"

It is hard to believe all the miles we have already put on the RV and our bodies since we left less than a month ago…Girard to IL to Bradenton to Naples to Cape Canaveral to The Villages to Greenville, SC to Chattanooga, TN and now to our real reason for coming down – Tuscaloosa, AL

Keep posted for updates on our mission work.

Blessings,
julie & ken