Our 33 Day, 6731 Mile Road Trip—part 1

 

Early this year we began discussing making a trip to Oregon to visit our youngest son and his family.  We last saw them two years ago when we took the train out to Oregon.  We considered doing that again but Connie suggested that we drive.  As we began to plan the trip we decided that we would make it a little longer, time-wise, and a little longer, distance wise.  Our plan was to travel to Oregon, stay several days, then drive down through California, across Arizona and New Mexico and into Texas.  As I wrote about last fall, we are part of a prison ministry, and we desired to visit some of our brothers there.

To afford to make such a trip we began to plan ways to cut expenses.  There wasn’t much we could do to lessen the fuel costs but food and motels we could do something about.  We began planning to take much of our food with us—much of it being some of our home canned items.  To cut out the expense of motels we (along with help from my son here on the farm) designed a platform bed that would fit into our mini-van once the rear seats were removed.  I cut cardboard to fit the windows so that we could cover them at night.  Our plan was to stop at truck stops, Wal-Mart parking lots and campgrounds.

We embarked upon our journey on April 22, 2012.  Our goal for the day was the Pilot Travel Center in Boonville, MO.  We were up and on our way by 7:00 A.M.  By 4:30 P.M. we had completed the first 509 miles of our trip and had arrived at the Pilot in Boonville.  One of the landmarks we saw on this first day on the road was the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.

 

Below is a pix of our mini-van parked in the auto parking lot at Pilot in
Boonville, MO.



You can see that the cardboard window covers are in place.  The side seen from the outside is covered with a reflective insulation.  Our mattress was the thick futon mattress from the futon in our spare room at home, and it was quite comfortable.

Part 2 will be posted later.

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WHAT KIND OF A DOG IS THIS?

In the late 1990’s we lived in a mobile home park in Bloomington, Illinois.  One of our neighbors in the park was quite an accomplished wood carver.  He offered to teach some of us how to carve.  So, for several weeks a few of us would go down once a week to his garage workshop and work on small carving projects.  One of the projects we did was an old hound dog.  The pattern for this dog was in one of my woodworking magazines.

The photo is rather dark but you can get the idea.  He is about 4-1/2 inches tall.  A few weeks ago we kept the grandchildren who live here on the farm while my son and his wife were away for a week.  Somehow the subject of wood carving came up and the boys were ready to try their hand.  We found some old knives that could be used and then it was to the magazines we turned to find some patterns.  I found my copy of the magazine that contained the plan I had used back in the ‘90’s.  Included was a companion dog to the one I had carved.

So, one of the grandsons and I decided to carve this dog.  I don’t have a pix of the grandson’s finished carving but he did a good job.  Here is a photo of my dog.



He is a bit shorter, only about 2-3/4” tall.  The original dog from the ‘90’s was carved from bass wood.  The 2012 dog is carved from tulip poplar from here on the farm.  Both were finished with water based poster paints.

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LOOKS

The following story, by an unknown author, was sent to me by a friend.  I enjoyed it so much that I thought I would share it with all of you, the readers of this blog.

One Sunday morning the pastor of a fairly large church was about to begin his message when a man dressed in grease riddled jeans and leather jacket walked in and sat down in one of the pews.  The pastor felt rather embarrassed by the burly man’s appearance.  So, after the service was over he asked the man if he would pray and ask God if it was right to dress in such a way when attending his church.  The man said he would.

The following week the pastor was just beginning his message when the man walked in wearing the same greasy jeans and leather jacket and takes a seat in the back of the church.

After the service the pastor was furious and went to the man once again and said,  “I thought I asked you to pray to God and ask Him if He thought it was right to dress in such a way while attending my church.”  The man replied,  “I did.”  The pastor said,  “Well, what did God tell you?”  The man said,  “He told me that He didn’t have a clue as to what to wear in this church because He’s never been there before.”

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“I Was In Prison, and Ye Came Unto Me”

The past few weeks have been quite eventful for my wife and myself.  Those events have taken place, not on Cedar Ridge, but in the state of Texas.  While on a trip to visit my wife’s sister and brother-in-law we spent several days with the founders of a prison ministry that we came in contact with a few months ago.  My wife had been reading from the 25th chapter of Matthew where the Messiah answers the question “when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?  Or when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in?  or naked, and clothed thee?  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?”  His answer was “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Connie asked me, “How do we visit anyone in prison?”  We didn’t know many prisoners.  There was one young man that Connie had written to off and on over the last several years.  Perhaps writing to him was in effect visiting or coming to one in prison.  However, a short time later we were brought into contact with Broken Vessels Prison Ministry.  We were drawn to this ministry in a way that is hard to explain except to say it was a divine calling.  We began by contributing a bit financially, then by corresponding with a prisoner and later by “adopting” a couple of men who had no financial support whatsoever.  (In the Texas prison system inmates are required to work if they are able but receive absolutely no pay.)  A few dollars a month on their books allows them to obtain personal hygiene items, occasional snacks, stamps, etc.

We felt the need to receive a bit of an education regarding the needs and what we can do to assist in filling them.  The few days spent with Thomas and Raquel was a crash course in prison ministry.

We went down to Huntsville and observed and participated in what is called “first contact.”  Each day, Monday through Friday, quite a number are released from the Huntsville Walls.  Those who do not have family waiting across the street for them to come out of those gates walk down the street about two blocks to the Greyhound Bus station, carrying their meager possessions in an onion bag.  They have in hand the $50.00 check they are issued, a voucher for a bus ticket to their destination in the state of Texas.  Their check will be cashed there for no charge.  The voucher is exchanged for a ticket and soon they are boarded for either Dallas or Houston, the transfer points for most.  They are given a free cell phone (or the phone number to call to get one if phones are not available on that day.)  These are made available to individuals that have no income.

Perhaps the most important thing that is offered by those who were there from  two or three different prison ministries is a smile and a warm welcome back.  We were blessed to be able to join in that morning.  We visited with several men, many who had served many years, such as Robert who had been behind the razor wire for 20 years.  It was hard for him to fully express the emotions he was experiencing;  fear, strangeness of everything, anticipation of meeting family and especially grand children he didn’t know.

After the fellows had all boarded their buses we went to the Texas Prison Museum.  We saw and read about many interesting things but perhaps the most striking was a full-size prison cell.

The following day we were able to meet and spend some time with one of the fellows we had been writing to.  He is now in a half-way house and had a pass for a few hours.  We were able to take him with us to a local park and enjoy some time along with a picnic lunch.

The following morning, before heading on down to Connie’s sister’s home, we went to Navasota, Texas, to the Pack Unit and went behind the razor wire to visit two men we have been in contact with.  When we began planning our trip they had added our names to their “visitor” list.  We went in together and visited Troy for 2 hours.  We had to come back out and go through the security check again to re-enter to visit Wesley for 2 hours.  We certainly enjoyed our visits and found it sad to have to go.  It really was heart rendering to learn that our visit was the first that Wesley had received since 2002!

After leaving Connie’s sister’s home we drove to Beeville, Texas where we spent the night.  The following morning we went out to the McConnell Unit, a maximum security unit, and had a 2 hour visit with Robert.  (A different Robert than referred to above.)  All 3 visits were non-contact visits.  Regular visits are all non-contact if you aren’t family.  At the Pack Unit we could talk through a heavy mesh but at the McConnell Unit it was over a telephone, just seeing Robert through heavy glass.

We stopped by and spent a bit more time with Thomas and Raquel before heading back to Cedar Ridge.  The many hours of discussion, asking questions and being given countless bits of information hopefully has prepared us for greater service to our brothers and sisters behind the razor wire that our Father is dealing with in some amazing ways.

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Another Set of Eastern Red Cedar Candle Holders

Due to numerous activities going on I have not posted for quite some time, neither have I been in the woodworking shop doing any projects.  I finally took a bit of time a few days ago to turn a couple of candle holders on my Craftsman Router Crafter.  I used a piece of cedar that had been cut while cutting firewood.  Since it was about the right diameter I pulled it out of the stack of wood.

Here is a photo of the finished candle holders.

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Harvesting Rainwater-Part Five

In the last four posts I have described our move to put in a cistern to hold the rainwater captured from the roof of our house and the means we have put in place to use this water for our household use. This week we have been blessed with some wonderful rain. Tropical storm Lee dumped huge amounts of rain on the Gulf coast which caused major flooding. It created some tornados in some areas and added to the flood woes in the East, but here in South-Central Kentucky we received gentle but substantial rain from the outer bands of this storm. Throughout the week we received over 3 and 1/2 inches of rain, which completely filled my cistern tanks.

In the photo to the left you can see the water is up to the overflow pipe. So, in just a matter of days we went from having two empty 1500 gallon septic/cistern tanks to having over 3000 gallons of water ready for use.

The ball valve on the water line coming into the crawlspace from the public water has been turned off. As of this afternoon, September 9, we are now on cistern water! Everything seems to be working well.

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Harvesting Rainwater-Part Four

(If you would like to check out parts one, two and three here are the links:  Part One, Part Two, Part Three )

I mentioned at the end of Part Three that I had to take care of the overflow once the tanks were full.  My overflow pipe is installed on the opposite end of the tanks from where the water goes into the tanks.

In this photo you can see the 3” PVC pipe that comes out of the tank, runs to the side of the house and runs down to the corner where the roof washer is located.



The pipe turns around the corner and runs along the back side of the house, down to the end of the deck.  There it turns back to the right.




As you can see in this photo the pipe goes over half-way across the end of the deck and then turns again, going under the deck.





The pipe runs under the deck and into one of the two poly tanks that are under the deck.  These have been collecting the limited amount of water previously for use in watering flowers and garden.  I plan to run a pipe from these tanks in under the house and by using ball valves make it possible to draw from them if the main tanks should run empty.  The two poly tanks hold approximately another 950 gallons of water.

Here is pictured the pumping set-up.  It may be a bit unconventional but I have installed a 12 volt DC pump.  It is plugged into a converter that converts 110 volt AC to 12 volt DC.  Electrical usage should be less.  The blue tank is a 20 gallon pressure tank.  Instead of the pump coming on every time a faucet is turned on as is common with most DC pumps used in RV’s or on boats we will have several gallons of pressurized water to use from before the pump kicks on.

Some have been wondering, I’m sure, whether we can survive on what rainwater we can harvest.  Let us look at some figures.  The average rainfall for our county is a bit over 46 inches per year.  One inch of rain yields .6 gallons of water per square foot.  The roof of our house is 32 feet by 47 feet (the “footprint”).  That is 1500+ square feet.  Multiplied by .6 we find that one inch of rain will amount to 900 gallons of water.  At that rate it will take only about 3 and 1/3 inches of rain to completely fill the tanks, or the average rainfall would fill them almost 14 times.

Some figures found on the internet will tell you that the average person uses 60 gallons of water, or more, per day.  I know that figure is much higher than our usage.  Being quite liberal with my figures I  calculate that we use 40 or less gallons per day, each.  And, we will do some things differently knowing our supply will be limited at times.  For example, the reverse osmosis system we have for our drinking water is a water waster.  Depending on the system of course, but from 4 to 10 gallons of water goes down the drain for every gallon of filtered water you obtain.  We plan to quit using the RO system and use the Big Berky fulltime.

We plan to switch over to the cistern soon.  We have been receiving rain the last couple of days.  When I checked mid-day today our tanks were about 60% full and it is still raining.  We will keep you posted.

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