Wayside Wisdom Heard Along the Way

"In the Rio Grande Valley, we don’t tolerate bad government. We demand it!"
Quoted from The Monitor, daily newspaper of the Valley, in its New Year’s review of the top news stories of 2009.

"Contemplation [upon the goodness of God] breaks us open to ourselves. The fruit of contemplation is self-knowledge, not self-justification. ‘The nearer we draw to God,’ Abba Mateos said, ‘the more we see ourselves as sinners.’ We see ourselves as we really are, and knowing ourselves we cannot condemn the other. We remember with a blush the public sin that made us mortal. We recognize with dismay the private sin that curls within us in fear of exposure. Then the whole world changes when we know ourselves. We gentle it. The fruit of self-knowledge is kindness. Broken ourselves, we bind tenderly the wounds of the other."

Santa Claus is coming to town. Please don’t hit him!
Don’t drink and Drive!"
(Billboard, McAllen TX, Dec., 2009)

Cos Way
The name of a fishing pier along the causeway south of Corpus Christi, Texas

When God hates all the same people that you hate, you can be confident that you have created God in your own image.
--Anne Lamott

Sorry for nothing; pray about everything.
(church signboard, Greeneville TN)

Burn headlights when raining
(Highway instructions at the North Carolina state line.
In some states you are supposed to "turn on" the headlights.)

Antiques Boiled Peanuts
(advertising sign near Blue Ridge Parkway. (I wonder how old those peanuts were, anyway?

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk."
Doug Larson

Fishing: a jerk on one end of a line waiting for a jerk on the other.
Sugar Creek Campground, Crawfordville, IN

It’s nice to have friends in high places!
Church sign south of Xenia, Ohio

Don’t marry for money; you can borrow it cheaper
(sign on loan agency, Elkhart IN)

Our hot sauce got too hot!
(sign on burned out Mexican restaurant; Elkhart IN)

Computer Problems? Call 911-NERDS
(business sign on telephone pole, Connelsville PA)

Barn Again
(farm building converted to a drive-in restaurant; Waurika OK)
8 May, 2009

Busted Knuckle Road
(name on a street sign at entrance to a private driveway near Burnet, TX)

"Prices subject to change according to customer’s attitude."
Wall poster in restaurant. (Port Mansfield TX)
7 April 2009

Petite Mall
(Name of a little shopping mall, McAllen TX).
Perhaps only health care training would help you recognize this as a pun on the name of a form of epilepsy called "petit mal"
6 April 2009

Deputy to sheriff, "Two residents escaped from the nursing home!"
"How could that happen?" the sheriff asked.
"They were at dance class, and they just line-danced right out the door!"

Abraham Lincoln to critics who accused him of being ‘two-faced’: "If I had two faces, do you think I would wear this one?"

"Whatever you are, be a good one."
Harlingen, Texas, School announcement board
Feb 2009

Malaise Law Firm
Harlingen Texas
Feb 2009
(Honest! we don't make up this stuff!!!)

Boggus Ford
Name of a Ford Dealer in McAllen Texas.
(Yes, they pronounce it just like the word bogus!!!)

"Historic Greune: Gently resisting change since 1872."
(Sign at entrance to a small town just south of Austin TX)
September, 2008

"Train Wreck Bar and Grill,"
located next door to a company selling cemetery headstones, Temple, TX
[How convenient!]

"Ponder, Texas"
(Small town in the Ft. Worth TX area)
[We wondered what they think about?]

"WANTED! GOOD WOMAN.
Must be able to clean, cook, sew, plant and harvest crops. Must have
John Deere tractor and barn. Please send picture of tractor and barn."
(Wall sign, Cedar Valley RV and Golf Park, Guthrie, Oklahoma.)

"Gaso-lean"
(Automobile sales ad on a billboard in Kansas City, Kansas; 9/15/2008)

No scholarly argument is capable of convincing someone that God is important. Even the most technical medieval arguments for the existence of God took place within communities of believers. Philosophers play with proofs for the existence of God, some of which even attain logical elegance, but faith in God is not an intellectual exercise. Faith is a relationship, and both parties have to be present. Without faith in God, without a conviction that God is important, the Bible can exert little normative weight, however entertaining or historically intriguing it may be. --Sally Purvis, Interpretation

Quoted in the Sunday bulletin of The Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, Kansas, September 14, 2008

"Change Your Mind. Often."
(Billboard advertising the variety of food available at a local Mexican restaurant, Kansas City, Missouri; 9/13/08)

Making Hay in Missouri
Missouri highway median strips adorned with large, round bales of hay made from its most recent grass mowing!
(Near Macon, MO; Sept. 9, 2008)

World War I Flying Ace in his Sopwith Camel
On a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon, we were passed by a flashy red convertible with its top down. All of its occupants were obviously enjoying the ride; a man and woman in the front seat and a poodle in the back seat, ears flapping in the breeze and eyes carefully protected by goggles!
(Peoria, IL; Sept. 7, 2008)

"Peace starts with a smile."
church sign near Crawfordsville, Indiana. (August, 2008)

"If you woke up tired and hungry, you didn’t stay with us!"
billboard advertising a motel, seen along Route 74 in western Indiana. (August, 2008)

Squinting is not eye exercise.
Sign on eye doctor’s office, Richmond VA (July, 2008)

"Promised Land Road" and "Noisy Goose Lane"
-- secondary roads north of Cairo, Illinois (5/3/08)

"As you can see, this lake is not easy to navigate. There are lots of islands and peninsulas and the water depth can go from 165 feet to 19 feet in just a short distance.

"One night about 10 pm, we got a distress call from a boater. He said he had run aground and was marooned 40 feet above water level. So, our rescue crew went looking for him. It took awhile in the absolute darkness, but we finally found him and his passenger! They were still sitting upright in their boat, way up among the trees on one of the islands!

"We asked him what happened, and he said, ‘I just bought this brand new boat, and I wanted to try it out. My friend agreed to come with me here to DeGray Lake. Neither of us had ever been here before, and it was after dark when we arrived. We got the boat into the water and started off. I’d never driven it before but I wanted to see how fast it would go. And, boy, does it have power! But the next thing we knew, we heard this awful scraping and crashing sound as we zoomed up this hill! I don’t know why, but we’d run aground and couldn’t get the boat back down to the water!’

"Well, neither of them had been thrown from the boat in their wild trip up the side of the island so they weren’t hurt ! Their boat was badly damaged but could still float, so, we towed them back to the marina. When we got there, he was so eager to make it safely to shore, that he tried to jump from his boat onto the dock. In doing so, he tipped the boat, fell in the water and dumped his friend in, too!

"It felt to us like some kind of delayed justice for this character. After all, he had never driven his boat before, never navigated this lake before, started out after dark and ran his boat so fast he drove it 40 feet up into the woods without getting hurt! He deserved a dunking!"

Uncertain
A town in the Piney Woods area of Eastern Texas
(A place, not a state of mind!)

"In my mind and heart this disease is not a long good bye. I am a whole person every day of my life.
I may be different from yesterday, but I am still a whole person. Won't you respond to me as if you too believe this to be true?"
Richard Taylor, PhD, Victim of Alzheimers and author of Alzheimer's from the Inside Out (©2007)

"Religion has not tended to create seekers or searchers, has not tended to create honest humble people who trust that God is always beyond them. We aren’t focused on the great mystery. Religion has, rather, tended to create people who think they have God in their pockets, people with quick, easy, glib answers. That’s why so much of the West is understandably abandoning religion. People know the great mystery cannot be that simple and facile. If the great mystery is indeed the Great Mystery, it will lead us into paradox, into darkness, into journeys that never cease.... That is what prayer is about."

	(There is no bite like the bite of a Fire Ant.) Warning sign seen in front on horse blanket weaver's shop. King Ranch, Kingsville, TX 10/6/2007
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"...those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength..."
Isaiah 40:31a (biblical comfort for aching muscles for volunteers rebuilding
homes damaged by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in Chalmette LA; 9/27/2007)

"I go where I’m towed!"
(Bumper sticker on a travel trailer seen in Iowa, Louisiana)

	Did that sign we just passed say what I thought it said? Sign advertising a restaurant and fuel stop at the intersection of Route 31 and Route 28 in Indiana.
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"Ko-Ko-Motel"
(Name of a motel north of Kokomo, Indiana; seen on September 10, 2007)

"Abe Lincoln never slept here but you can"
(billboard in central Kentucky, along Interstate 65, the "Abraham Lincoln Memorial Expressway"; September 12, 2007)

	Sign at DJ's Quick Stop on Route 30, one mile east of the main entrance to Raccoon State Park, PA. (Aug. 30, 2007) (Do you suppose that if I buy some FAR WOOD we might build a FAR tonight?)
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"The Best Little Hair House in Maine"
name of a beauty shop in Sanford, Maine; 8/8/2007

"Funerals for Fleas and Ticks"
Sign in front of Veterinary Clinic, Cape Cod, MA, 7-31-2007

Rhode Island and Massachusetts are full of unpronounceable names. Names such as Narragansett, Usquepaug, Pawcatuck, Mattunduc, Annawomscutt, Quidnick, Moosup Valley, Mohegan, Chepachet, Woonsocket, Nonquit, Mattapoisett, Acushnet, Cohasset, Scituate, Seekonk, Pocasset, Sippewisset, Mashpee, Waronoco, and others dot these little states. No doubt they come from the language of the Indians who were native to this area. But it’s no wonder that folks who live in New England have such a strange accent in their speech. It probably comes from trying to wrap their tongues around words like these!
(Personal observation, Cape Cod; July, 2007)

"If you are grouchy, irritable or just plain mean, there will be a $10 surcharge for dealing with you."
(Wall sign in campground, Clarksboro NJ; July, 2007)

Eight year old’s comment on a new playmate: "She sure talks a lot. She chatters, chatters, chatters all the time."
Adult’s response, "Well, you know people are different. Some talk a lot and some don’t talk much at all."
Eight year old’s solution, "Well, maybe God ought to make her over again!"
(Pittsburgh PA; July, 2007)

"I think he said, 'Blessed are the cheesemakers ....'"
(Man in the crowd straining to hear the words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount,
as portrayed in Monty Python’s movie "Life of Bryan."
Quoted by Pastor Nick in his sermon on June 3.)

"This is the truth: The will of God is fulfilled in spite of us ... and even with us sometimes."
(Carlo Caretto in Why, O Lord?)

"Closed minds should be accompanied by closed mouths."
(Bumper sticker seen in Dayton, Ohio, June, 2007.)

" ... we should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence, by continually conversing with Him ....
Our only business [in human life is] to love and delight ourselves in God ..."
(Brother Lawrence in The Practice of the Presence of God.)

"Dam Close Boat Storage"
(an advertising sign three miles from Mississinewa Lake, Peru IN, June 1, 2007)

For you shall go out in joy,
   and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
   shall burst into song,
   and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12 NRSV
(Texas Hill Country adorned with wildflowers, April 18, 2007

"The Dam Pub"
Name of a bar at Buchanan Dam, near Burnet, Texas, April, 2007

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2 NRSV

"Authentic Oldtimer: 'Been there, done that. Now I could use a nap!'"
(T shirt seen in San Antonio, April, 2007)

"I’m retired! This is as dressed up as I get!"
(T-shirt on a Winter Texan, March, 2007)

"If things get better with age, I’m approaching perfection!"
(Winter Texan’s cap, March, 2007)

They dropped in for a few weeks at our RV Park, taking a break from their full-time RV lifestyle. She was a petite and pretty blond. He was a handsome, well-built heart-throb of a man. They looked as if they could pose for the cover of a magazine featuring "The Carefree Joys of the RV Lifestyle." They lived in a big 5^th wheel, pulled by a powerful truck and followed by a tidy trailer hauling their motorcycle.

They enjoyed bicycling, partying, dancing, motorcycling, socializing, and pot-luck meals. But they spoke very little about themselves. It was nearly time for them to go back on the road when we discovered that she had been a cross-country semi-truck driver and he a tugboat captain on the inland waterways around New Orleans. What fascinating stories they might have told us, if we had known! (Rio Grande Valley, Texas; March, 2007)

We were taking Spanish lessons at a church in McAllen early in 2007. One evening the pastor stopped by our class briefly to share a few words of encouragement with us. He emphasized how important it is in our current world to learn to speak Spanish.

"But I know it’s not easy to learn," he said. "I have lots of trouble with the language myself." Then he told a story on himself to illustrate.

"Some time ago," he said, "I was making a home visit to share Christ and to invite the family to our church. I wanted to emphasize that in our church we have two services in Spanish. So I wanted to say, ‘Tenemos dos servicios en espaZol. Son buenos!’ (‘We have two services in Spanish. They are good.’)

"But instead, I said ‘Tenemos dos cervezas en espaZol. Son buenos!’ (We have two beers in Spanish. They are good.’) The family laughed and said, ‘¡Caramba! Cervezas en la iglesia! ¡Que bueno!’ (Wow! Beers in church! How great!’)"

My IQ test came back negative.
(T-shirt seen in McAllen, Texas, January, 2007)

"I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as quick as I could."
(San Antonio souvenir)

"Remember the Alamo! And don’t forget my supper!"
(San Antonio souvenir baby's bib)

"The [person] who knows all the answers obviously didn’t understand the questions!"
(Wall plaque)

"Oh, look! The Emu eats chocolate chips."
(Comment by a child visiting the San Antonio zoo who observed piles of small, black pellets on the ground in the emu’s pen.)

"...To live in the world as a stranger and a pilgrim, using all its enjoyments as if we used them not, making all our actions as so many steps toward a better life, is offering a better sacrifice to God than any forms of holy and heavenly prayers..."
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law.

"...O Lord God of hosts, who is a mighty as you, O Lord?...The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it – you have founded them. The north and the south – you created them ... Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you..." Psalm 89:8, 11,14. Reflections as we travel south.

"In most places of the world the problem with growing things is keeping them alive. In Alabama, the problem is to keep them from taking over." Resident of Auburn, Alabama

"The Recent Unpleasantness"
(A term used in the South to refer to the American Civil War)

"I will lift my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth...." (Psalm 121) North Carolina; September, 2006

"What happened?" the police officer asked the elderly driver responsible for a minor rear-end collision.
"Well, officer," she replied, "nothing would have happened if he had just gotten out of my way."
"Didn’t you see him?" asked the officer again.
"Of course I saw him," the ancient driver replied. "I hit him, didn’t I?"
True story recounted by a relative in North Carolina; August, 2006

Child, with nose pressed against viewing wall of aquarium tank admiring a large, leatherback sea turtle swimming by:
"Mommy, that turtle waved at me!"
Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta Georgia, September 10, 2006

All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all." Cecil F. Alexander

"If ya don’t wear a helmet, ya ain’t nothin’ but an organ donor!"
Motorcyclist donning his helmet, to a friend, in Athens, Ohio; August, 2006.

"The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it; for [the Creator] has founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers." (Psalm 24:1-2; our response to the view from 500 feet above the confluence of the Wisconsin and the Mississippi Rivers near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on July 14, 2006)

"My artificial leg don’t work so good. I had both hips and both knees replaced. I wanted ’em to put in grease fittings but the doc wouldn’t do it!" Fellow traveler, stopped at a roadside rest area in Michigan, 6/10/06.

A resident of the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan is known as a Yooper. I wonder: does that make a resident of Lower Michigan a Looper? (Actually, the folks from the U.P. refer to those who live south of the Mackinac Bridge as "Trolls".)

"Not a ‘hand-out’ but a ‘hand-up’." Habitat for Humanity motto and rallying cry, June 19, 2006; Sault Ste. Marie, MI

"[Insect repellant] wouldn’t do us any good. The mosquitoes up here are so tough they’d grab the bottle out of your hand and shoot it back at you!" Overheard on a hiking trail at Tahquamenon Falls State Park near Paradise, MI; July 2, 2006.

"Regulations say we have to go out. They don’t say we have to come back!" Motto of the early Lifesaving Service, established at Whitefish Point on ‘[Lake] Superior’s Shipwreck Coast’ in 1923.

"A Grouchy German is a Sauer Kraut"
Seen on a refrigerator door magnet at a friend's home, April 16, 2006

"Retirement: twice the [spouse], half the money."
Wall poster at USI Campground in Wichita, Kansas; March 25, 2006.

"You may all go to hell. I'm going to Texas." Sam Houston.
T-shirt logo seen at the Buffalo Gap Historic Village store, March 20, 2006

March 16, 2006
Click on photo to enlarge. Click on BACK to return to this page.

"Laredo doesn’t have winter. It just goes from hot to hotter.
How hot does it get in the summer? Oh, about 115 degrees!"
A picnicker at Lake Casa Blanca State Park, life-long resident of Laredo, Texas; March 11, 2006.

"Drive friendly!"
Highway sign between Laredo and San Antonio, Texas; March 12, 2006.

"We're beginning to get hitch itch...."
E-note from Galen and Karen Ballentine, full-time RV friends preparing to leave their winter quarters to hit the road for summer travels.

"Lots of real estate changed hands today."
Comment of an RV neighbor sweeping a thick layer of Texas drought dust - deposited by the day's 30 mile an hour winds - off his outside carpet!

May green be the grass you walk upon, may blue be the skies o'erhead
May sunshine warm upon your face and the rains fall soft upon your fields.
Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

"Watch for ice on bridge"
Highway sign, Corpus Christi TX area, 1/1/06 in 80 degree temperatures.

"Hi tech menorah for 21^st century Hanukah: eight electric candles of various colors, each one controlled by an ‘on-off’ switch. No oil required!" —Displayed by a friend in San Antonio area, December 25, 2005

Definition of people who live full-time in their RVs: "Moderately-affluent homeless."
Heard in San Antonio, Texas.

IMPROVE TEXAS WITHOUT DELAY
Bumper sticker seen on a car in Houston, Texas, December 19, 2005

"...When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars that You have established; what are human beings that You are mindful of them, mortals that You care for [us]?" –Psalm 8:3-4, reflected in the full moon over Livingston, Texas, December 13, 2005.

"Joey had wanted to play Joseph in the Christmas pageant, but somebody else was chosen. He was assigned, instead, to the role of the inn keeper. On the night of the performance, however, he got his revenge. When Joseph and Mary came knocking at the door of his inn, Joey Inn-Keeper replied, "Sure, come right on in." For just a moment, the Holy Couple hesitated in confusion. Then, Joseph – a resourceful boy – redeemed the traditional story. Stepping forward and looking around, he returned to Mary and said, "Mary, this place is a dump. We'd better sleep in the stable!" – Sermon illustration at First United Methodist Church, Livingston, Texas, December 11, 2005

"It took me a long time to get to this age, so I’m going to make the most of it!"
Park manager, Cass County Park and Campground, Queen City, TX, December 2, 2005.

"How many mothers-in-law does it take to change a light bulb? Only one. She just stands there and waits for the world to revolve around her!"
– TODAY Show (NBC), December 2, 2005.

Two water buffalo were grazing in the field next to the Visitor’s Center. "Their names are Briggs and Stratton," our guide told us. "They illustrate several of the seven M’s animals give to humans: muscle, milk, manure, meat, materials, money, and motivation."
– Heifer International Ranch, Perryville, Arkansas, December 1, 2005.

Clara Barton, tending the wounded of the Battle at Antietam, Maryland (during the Civil War) is reported to have said,
“War is a dreadful thing ... Oh, my God, can’t this civil strife be brought to an end?”

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten: write something worth the reading, do something worth the writing."
Ben Franklin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"Yes, I have native American ancestry. My family comes from the Lenape (Delaware) people – and the Irish. We can trace our family history back to the mid-1500's. But we were lucky. We never had to experience reservation life. And it was just because of my grandmother’s wisdom that we didn’t. My great-great-great grandmother set out to marry an Irishman. Why she chose Irish, I don’t know! I guess she saw what was happening to our people, that they were being pushed off their land onto reservations. So, she married an Irishman knowing that her children and grandchildren would no longer be full-blooded Indians [and thus would avoid being sent to the reservations.] And it worked! I got the Irish look; my sister got the Native American look.

So many of our people are angry about their lives; especially the ones that have had to live on reservations. They’re angry at the government; at the Creator; at each other. I went thru an angry phase, but I decided that’s no way to live! I stopped, and took a look at my life, and realized all the good things I have: health, family, work and a wonderful heritage. I started going to the ‘sweat lodge,’ smoking the ‘spiritual pipe,’ and studying the religious teachings of the elders. I came to realize that I am my own worst enemy, and I gave control of my life over to the Creator. My life has been wonderful ever since that time!

You’ve probably heard of our ‘prayer wheel.’ It has a different color for each of the directions: north is white, for the snow; east is red for the sunrise and new possibilities of each morning; south is yellow for the wisdom of Grandmother Sun; and west is black for night, rest and renewal. In the center is blue, for the Creator, and around the outside is green for the earth, where we live. The four colors of the directions also are the colors of the various peoples of the earth. We’re learning that it is time for all of us to learn to live together because the Creator made us all, and all of us live on the same earth." – Lake Hope Nature Center, Vinton County, Ohio; October, 2005.

"Misery loves company, but joy requires it."
Heard in a sermon, October 9, 2005, Pleasant Hill, Ohio

"The folks who live in our care community wanted to do something to help the hurricane victims in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. So staff helped gather the items needed to put together "Gift from the Heart" health kits [a hand towel, washcloth, comb, nail file, bar of soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, and six band-aids] to send through the Church World Service Center in New Windsor, Maryland. Our goal was to send 500. Residents gathered at a scheduled time to assemble the kits. Even the residents in the health-care center helped out. Staff took items into the rooms of bed-bound residents so they could do their part in helping out. Well, 500 "Gift of the Heart" kits are on their way to New Windsor from Brethren Retirement Community – and we’ll probably have 500 more to send soon!" – Report of the CEO of Brethren Retirement Community, Greenville, Ohio to the Southern Ohio Church of the Brethren District Conference, October, 2005.

"The heavens are telling the glory of God and the firmament shows [God’s] handiwork..."
– Psalm 19:1 illustrated in the night sky over Marshall IL, October, 2005.

"Will work for chocolate"

"My wife says I don’t listen to her (at least I think that’s what she said!)"

"Will not work for anything"

– Enjoyed at New Horizons Owner’s Rally, St. Charles MO, October, 2005.

ZEN parable: "God created Truth in the shape of a beautiful glass orb, and then called Archangel Michael to deliver it to earth. Michael carefully took the delicate Truth-globe from God’s hands and flew off eagerly toward earth. He forgot, however, that the earth was round, uneven, and as he stepped onto it, he slipped and fell. The glass orb of Truth fell and was shattered into millions of pieces. That is why a person can gain only a piece of the truth and never the whole. Everyone can have some of the truth but no one can possess all of it, despite what they may tell you!" – Told by a seminar presenter, Fall Escapade, 2005.

"What a great sensation, not to be owned by our stuff anymore!"
– Testimonial from full-time RV er at Fall Escapade, DuQuoin IL, September, 2005.

"If your rig got stuck coming in, just get comfortable and stay where you are."
– Announcement during opening session of Fall 2005 Escapade, Du Quoin IL after 12 continuous hours of rain, remnants of Hurricane Rita.

"We hope our garage sale goes well. If we sell everything we've collected, maybe we'll make enough money to buy a tank of gas!"
– Richmond, Indiana, when gasoline first reached $3.00 a gallon.

"We’ve got family on the Gulf Coast and we’ve been so worried about them ever since Hurricane Katrina hit. Well, last night our son-in-law was finally able to call us. They had just been allowed to go back to their house. He said it was a real mess. Water everywhere. He said he was going through his desk, and he came to the drawer where he kept his stamp collection. It was full of water and everything was ruined! He said, ‘Just for a moment I felt really sad. But then I reached down and felt my pulse - and realized that I was alive! I just started thanking God for what we have instead of moping over what we’ve lost!’" – Sept. 4, 2005, Richmond, Indiana

"We’ve lived on the road full-time for seventeen years now. But ‘bout five years ago we decided to settle down. Bought a few acres in eastern Tennessee, put a new double-wide on it and moved in. I started cuttin’ trees, draggin’ logs up the hill, buildin’ stuff. Worked so hard I worked myself right into a heart attack! Had to have heart surgery, triple by-pass! I tell you, as soon as I got back on my feet again, we sold the place and went back on the road!" – Sept. 8, 2005, The Darke County Fairgrounds Campground, Greenville, Ohio

While we tanked up with water, we visited with the Volunteer Campground Hosts. Reading my T-shirt, "Woodland Altars, Church of the Brethren," he said "I was baptized in the Church of the Brethren. But that was a long time ago, back when they washed feet." We assured him that the Brethren still do wash feet! "We still depend on the Lord every day in our home, " he shared, but apparently their God no longer wears the Brethren label!

"We’ve been camping here [at John Bryan State Park] since 1940. For the past 5 years, we’ve been the volunteer campground hosts 3 days a week in the summer months. I’m 82 and my wife here is in her late 70's. We’ve been married for 59 years. We still live by ourselves in our own home in Kettering. We’ve been there for over 50 years now. But it’s a big house. Got three floors and she’s having more trouble now going down the basement steps to do the laundry. Our sons get all upset and tell us we ought to move into a rest home. But I don’t think we’re quite that bad off yet!"

"We probably should be making some decisions about retirement living," she chimes in, "but how can we leave our home of 50 years? How can we part with our 50 years of collected things? How can we afford ever it? I know that we are really blessed to still have our health at our ages. And I know that someday we’ll have to give up our home and our things – but I’m not ready yet!"

"She’s really married to that house of ours," her husband growled as it came time for us to get back on the road. "And I can’t do anything that will change her mind. Never could, and probably never will!" – John Bryan State Park, Ohio

"I was born and raised in logging camps, way up north in Ontario. My grandfather owned a logging business and my father and uncle worked for him. So we lived in the camps. By the time I was 7, I was helping cook and wash dishes for 150 loggers every day. Grandpa housed and fed his help real good; three square meals a day. That’s lots of food!

"In those days, the logs were pulled out of the woods by teams of horses, BIG horses! I don’t know what kind they were but once in awhile they’d let me sit up on top of one of them. Their backs were so wide my little legs couldn’t reach across. I had to sit side-saddle."

"When Grandpa got too old to run the business anymore, my dad and my uncle bought it from him, in the 1950's, I think. They went out and bought ‘skidder,’ machines that would skid the logs out of the woods to the river instead of using horses. It was called a ‘Blue Ox.’ They paid $20,000 for each skidder - that was a lot of money back then! And they bought three of ‘em. When Grandpa saw ‘em, he said, "Those machines will be the end of the logging business, I tell ya’. And, by the early 1960's, the loggers were gettin’ unionized and Dad and Uncle couldn’t afford to run the business anymore. They had to sell out to [a larger logging company]; 1964, I think it was. So I guess Grandpa was right!" – North Bay, Ontario, Canada

"My mother was an alcoholic, so I was raised by my grandparents, my grandmother and step-grandfather, that is. They lived further north in Ontario and he was a game-warden there for many years. It was an area where many native peoples – or Indians – lived. I loved to go to his office with him. I can remember that, in the fall, lots of natives would come there with their beaver pelts to be measured and bought. They seemed to have a good relationship with my grandfather; trusted him, I think. And he enjoyed working with them." – North Bay, Ontario, Canada

"I sometimes wonder how my parents did it. I can hardly keep up with my one child, and they had a houseful! I was the tenth of eleven children. But I was born and raised in South Africa where they had house servants to help them raise us.

This is my little ‘miracle baby.’ We’d been married for twenty years and had given up hope of ever becoming parents. I have some physical problems [that make pregnancy difficult] and we rejected the idea of in vitro [fertilization] because we’ve heard it can cause problems. One day, out of the blue, my doctor called and said, ‘We’ll not be able to start this [other kind of therapy].’ I was really disappointed, and I said, ‘Why not?’ ‘Because you’re pregnant,’ my doctor replied! I hadn’t even thought it possible! But through the nine months of carrying her and the delivery, I didn’t have any problems at all. She really is our little miracle!" – North Bay, Ontario, Canada

"My work? Well, it’s hard to explain. I write, scientific stuff, I guess you’d say. Magazine articles and papers. Mostly about the environment. I’m not one of those scientists that stays holed up in a laboratory away from the real world. No, I live right out here in the midst of the real world, the environment, trying to help people understand how important it is – and what it needs from us. My wife and I prefer to live with some distance between us. She lives in our home near [the city] and I live out here in the summer. In the winter, I stay in a small cabin at the back of our property. My son helps me get back and forth between here and there." – At a very rustic campground near North Bay, Ontario, Canada

"I vacationed in Cuba once, just shortly after I adopted [my oldest son]. I loved the culture and the food and the music. And especially I enjoyed the mixture of colors and races of the people; black, brown and white all getting along well together. Sometimes I just went out and wandered the streets: a single, white woman carrying my little black baby. I don’t speak any Spanish but people would come up to me and tell me how beautiful he was. They’d ask where I was from and invite me into their homes. It was a wonderful experience." – North Bay, Ontario, Canada

"For Sale: Used Cows"
Sign along the Interstate highway near Bowling Green, Kentucky