Traveling for a Week with Carol

So after Don talked about his week at Orientation, I thought that it might be fun to give a glimpse into a week with me on the road. During this particular week I am on the road to do some site visits for workcamps that I am leading this summer.

But before you can go on any trip, first you need to pack. Here are some of the things that I take on all my trips with me:

• My large Beach Towel (it can be used as a towel, blanket, pillow, a sweater, a bag, and many other things)
• Small Blanket (I get cold easily)
• either my stuffed lamb or my duck - depending on how much space I have (which are kind of my security blanket).
• My huge book bag (which has a ton of pockets and I can fit everything in)
• Lap Top to write up reports on and check my work email
• Business Cards (I feel cool carrying these around)
• Cell Phone
• A huge atlas (to try and not get lost)
• A good book
• MP3 Player (need some good tunes)
• Playing cards
• Flashlight
• Good walking shoes
• Notebook Paper

**So I hope that this list is helpful the next time you go on a trip :) **

My trip began on Saturday, I flew from O'Hare to BWI. Once I arrived in BWI I met up with a friend, who is actually directing the workcamp with me and we were on our way to Lancaster, PA. Housed in Lancaster is the Alpha and Omega congregation (for the Church of the Brethren), which is our home for the workcamp. This is also going to be where we are working for the week, they have an amazing community center.

On Sunday morning we were able to worship with the congregation. Upon walking in the door we were created by two men that instantly wanted to know us and were excited that we had chosen to worship with them. Other Church of the Brethren congregations can learn a lot from this congregation, it truly was about the people. This was an energetic contagious worship service, like I have never seen before. Yes, the service was entirely in Spanish and yes I only understood about every fifth word but there is something about music that takes away language barriers. During the singing the children of the church were at the front of the church singing, worshiping, and waving flags of various countries. In the background you could see a band full of energy with huge smiles on their faces as they played guitars, keyboard, and various drums. As soon as the singing began or the scripture was read everyone rose to their feet to worship our awesome God. My friend and I were given translation head-sets which helped a lot during the sermon time, so we could understand what was going on. The pastor who has been helping out with the camp then preached about the workcamp theme, which I thought was very cool.

Once the service was over, we headed back to the airport. After dropping off my friend at the airport, I drove to Virginia to spend some time with my cousin who lives there. Upon arriving, my cousin told me that I needed to help take care of the animals, he lives on a farm. Carol, never living on a farm was unsure what to expect but agreed none the less. It was really fun to play with the dog, who is my new best friend, the horses, and seeing the calves that vary in age from 1 day to 3 weeks. They were pretty cute, and I am hoping to take some pictures of them.

Isn't it pretty!

My favorite cousin and his dog.

The next morning I woke up and drove to Broadway, Virginia where we are having another workcamp at the John Kline Homestead. Once in Broadway I was able to meet with the director and get a tour of the homestead and we sat down and discussed the workcamp this summer. This was a great opportunity for me to learn about what the Church of the Brethren did during Civil War and the impact that one man, had in Virginia. This man was John Kline, who cared about ALL people. I am looking forward to teaching the workcampers about their history this summer in the Shenandoah Valley.

While I was so close, I also decided to travel down to Bridgewater and see my Grandma who is living in the retirement home. It was great to see her, since it had been two years since I last saw her, and now she is 91 years old. This was a great opportunity for me to hang out with my aunt, while working. We also stopped at a museum that we were thinking about taking the workcampers to this summer and also stop by the Church of the Brethren camp in the area, which we are also planning on using during the workcamp.

I was also able to schedule myself to have a free day, to spend with my cousin before moving on to my last stop on the trip. This is my favorite cousin on my dad's side of the family, and anytime we get together, we know that it is going to be a fun trip.

Now I should preface the next story by telling you that I have never lived on a farm. Upon arriving in Virginia at my cousin’s house, he thought that it would be a good idea if I went out and helped him with his farm chores; this was also a good way for me to get to hang out with my favorite cousin, due to his busy schedule. These farm chores included feeding and counting the beef cattle, grooming and feeding the horses, feeding the cats, and playing with the dog (that was my favorite part). I do, however, have to admit that it was pretty fun riding a round hay bale out to the field.


I helped out with the farm work every day that I was there. I had an opportunity to walk around his beautiful property that looked out over the mountains. I also had a great opportunity to see the calves; I took some great pictures of these amazing animals.

I was doing pretty well on the farm chores thing until the last day. By this point my feet were not my biggest fans do to the fact that I had been wearing my aunt’s boots that were 2 sizes too small. So by the end I had some pretty nice blisters on my heels. It was on my last day there that I was riding on the tractor and did not fall off but fell down and got some pretty nice bruises on my legs. Oh well, now I have proof that I was working.

Then after a nice drive to Roanoke I was ready for my last stop on the trip. I was reunited with an old friend and we were able to reminisce about a trip that we made together several years ago. I was also able to meet several people that attend her church that are willing to help out with the workcamp this summer, which is always exciting. While working our way through the list of activities that the workcampers will be doing this summer, we ended up at the Cascades. We had a beautiful hike up a mountain on a twisting and rocky two mile hike to a beautiful cascading waterfall. Then we had a two mile hike back to our car on an access trail that was straight down hill.

The Beautiful Cascades!

It had been a really nice trip and I thought that that would be the end, but to my surprise it was only the beginning. Upon arriving at the airport on Saturday I got on my first plane from Roanoke to Charlotte (North Carolina) to which I needed to sprint across the airport to get on a plane from Charlotte to Louisville. It was only then that I could finally get on a plane to Chicago. Well that is at least what I thought would happen to my surprise my flight kept getting delayed and was eventually canceled. This was a fun adventure, after spending 5 hours in the Louisville airport I was finally on a shuttle to a hotel (that the airlines provided).

I then had a good four hours worth of sleep before getting up at 4 am to get to the airport by 6 to fly to Atlanta to finally fly back to Chicago. After an extra 12 hours I finally arrived home.

Please help us Welcome our newest housemate, Jeremy!!

I will let him introduce himself soon.

Well I hope you enjoyed our trip.