Sunday May 29 marked day number one of the 2011 Call to Serve trip. We all met in North Huntington around 8 a.m., had a short breakfast, meet and greet, then hit the road! It was our first day on the road together and it was certainly an adventure.
Prior to leaving, we took a quick photo!
Two RV's on the open road. Our first malfunction was a can of spaghetti sauce flying out from the above storage and hitting the dining table. Fortunately, the sauce did not spill and all that was needed was relocation. From PA we drove through a small part of West Virginia, almost entirely through Ohio, through Kentucky, and finally, to our destination in Nashville, Tennessee. Along the journey, we shared stories, ideas, and laughs. We also shared a wonderful lunch on the side of a road with a gorgeous field to look out upon. Apparently this spot was a unique picnicking area because two separate police officers stopped to check on us. Before leaving, we all went into the field and took a picture. This impulsive move led to many of us picking ticks off of ourselves and others. After our short picnicking adventure, we hit the hot, sweaty, southern road again. This may have been due to the lack of air conditioning in the black beauty but the windows rolled down provided a nice breeze as we played cards, played games, and slept.
Upon arrival at the camping grounds, we made a nice dinner together. The intended meal did not happen due to an oven ordeal, but nonetheless, we got a meal on our plates and food in our bellies. We had a spaghetti dinner with salad and bread on a red, checkered table cloth accompanied by a citronella candle that was searched for high and low. After we were all content, we headed to the campground pool for a rather intense game of beach volleyball with other campers at the site. Now, it is time to rest easy and prepare for the very first volunteer day on the trip!
Today, Memorial Day, was our first day of volunteering. We woke up early, ate breakfast outside on the picnic tables, loaded into black beauty, and headed over to Lutheran Disaster Services to start day one in Nashville, TN. Before meeting our contractor, we made our lunches for the day with Sandra and chatted for a while before heading to our site. At our site, we met an amazing family that struggled with many trials. Combatting health problems, everyday problems, and the flood faced this family. It was hard to hear all of the tribulations that the family went through in the past year, but the emotional ties we fostered amazed each one of us. Immediately, we began moving items from the basement to the garage. Afterwards, we sanded down the walls and prepared to paint. Once we were all good and dusty from the sanding, we had lunch on a blanket under the tree in the front yard.
Helping load the truck to take to the site.
All pictures courtesy of Ben Petchel
After lunch, Sommer and I were sent outside to power wash the outside of the house. It reminded us of a carnival game that you shot water at to move pieces across or vertical but with a lot more power! At one point, after about an hour and half of power washing in 93 degree weather, the machine began smoking and we needed it to cool down. It was too bad that we did not get that on film. We went inside, to the nice air conditioned basement, to help with painting. I decided to tackle cutting in the closet. After smelling paint fumes for about 45 minutes and spilling paint all the way down my front, we were ready to clean up the worksite and head back to the RV campsite.
In a few minutes, we will prepare dinner and get ready to head into Nashville for some site seeing!
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