Sunday in Ashville

This morning, after checking out of the motel, we drove to a nearby church, The New Bridge Baptist Church. We enjoyed worship and fellowship with other Christians for Sunday School and church. They are a welcoming (and growing) congregation. The pastor is an excellent preacher.

After church we went to a Cracker Barrel restaurant and enjoyed their chicken pot pie dinner.

After lunch we drove to the Ridgecrest Convention Center where we will be this coming week. We settled into a large room with 2 bunk beds and a queen. Don't think we'll be sharing the room - we'll see!! lol

Travel day Saturday - tornado

We left Warrenton, MO, in the morning and traveled all day, arriving in Asheville, NC, in the evening. The trip took us through MO, IL, IN, KY, TN, and NC. We spent the night in a Day's Inn.

Along the way, as we passed by Corbin, Kentucky, we saw some of the aftermath of a tornado that had occurred earlier that day. Cars were lined along the side of I-40 and we didn't know what they were looking at. Then we saw the devastation - houses smashed in and wood pieces all over - including the median of the road and the other side of the highway. The fierce wind had blown the debris off the highway pavement to along the edges.

The wind was very strong most of the day and made for some wavy driving. You could even see truck drivers having difficulty keeping their rigs in their lane. We were so grateful to not have the R.V. - not sure it could have survived, since keeping a small car on the road was a full time job.

 

Thursday - still busy

We finished installing the luggage barriers on the four rental vans. (Heather was released from food services to help with this. She even "ran" the chop saw!) It was hard for us two old folks handling and cutting 4×8 plywood sheets and 2×4's. Fortunately there is wonderful wood shop. The design we were given will not damage the van's interior.

Oh! We finished a 500 piece Mt. Rushmore puzzle. It took about 5 hours, which is unusual for a small puzzle. But it was more difficult than most. (Our evenings are usually free, as workers go home.)

I took photos of the beautiful CEF campus the other day.

Their campus is nearly a square mile with woods and wildlife.

Wednesday tasks

Today was a very busy day here at CEF as we are loading trucks and getting vans ready to transport people to the international conference in North Carolina this weekend. There will be a lot of airport runs to pick up folks coming here from all over the world. There are "pre-conference" meetings here before driving to NC.

Heather continues to work in the kitchen and help out in Guest Services. Roger started constructing "luggage barriers" in the back of four rental 15-pasenger vans. The idea is to somewhat isolate the rear baggage from the back seats in the event of a hard stop.

Monday & Tuesday at CEF HQ

We've both been kept busy so far. Heather has been working in the kitchen. Up to this point they've only prepared lunch for the staff. Tomorrow they'll add breakfast, and Thursday they will add supper. This is because a lot of new guests will be c arriving from all over the world. So she'll be busier.

Roger has been pressure-washing places around campus. Picnic tables, patios. sidewalks, etc.

We have time each evening to relax in the RV. We've done a jigsaw puzzle each evening. We got these at the train museum we visited. See previous post.

Florence, SC, to Warrenton, MO road conditions

We purposely avoided route #40 that sustained so much damage during the recent hurricanes. (See previous blog postings.) So, taking the southern route, #20, #75, #24, we drove through SC, GA & TN on very good roads. Traffic was light. 

KY roads were not as smooth and in IL route #57 was terrible! For about 50 miles, we were in one lane or speed limited to 55 for construction sites. However, since it was Saturday, there was no construction, but considerable delay in travel. Keeping the R.V. on the road when it's very rough is another trick!

Routes #64 and #70 were o.k. We were glad to arrive at Warrenton, MO!

It took 2 hours to get through/past Atlanta - even though in some places there were 8 lanes for traffic going in one direction! The other slow city was Nashville, although that only took about 1 hour!

Now at CEF HQs for a week

Today we drove from Paducah, KY, to Warrenton, MO, to volunteer at the Child Evangelism Fellowship headquarters.

Last night we parked at a Love's Fuel stop outside of Paducah. A quiet night considering that it's a gas station/truck stop. Today we did some shopping for supplies for the upcoming week at CEF. We stopped in for lunch at a Chick-fil-A.

We visited a railroad museum in Paducah since we were in town. It always interesting to see a little bit of America's history. The railroads had a major impact.