Well, tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will be pulling out in my brother's new work van to head back to good old North Carolina. So, I guess a good time for a travel post.
My travels really took off in October 2008, when the Lord opened doors for me to travel to to Plymouth, MA to work with the Plymouth Rock Foundation (Paul Jehle's ministry). There were a lot of firsts in that trip. It was my first long trip by myself. I had traveled all over the US, but always with someone. This was a 950 mile introduction to driving all alone over long distances. It was the first time I ever drove through the night as well (where I was doing the driving). I left on a Thursday evening around 9:30 PM and stopped at a hotel in Toledo, Ohio for the night. I was having vehicle problems - not a good thing - so the next morning I got up at 6:00 and started looking through the phone book for a local pastor. Finding one near where I was at, I called him up and asked if he could recommend a car shop. Thankfully, there was one close by. My car was fixed by noon but I now had a problem. It was Friday and I was many hours drive away from my destination. I needed to be in Plymouth the next morning for a breakfast meeting of the workers on the Thanksgiving Day parade. I started driving about 12:30 PM. At 9:30 PM, I stopped to sleep for about an hour and a half and then pushed on. I stopped again for another hour and a half at 3:30AM. I arrived safely in Plymouth at 6:30 AM Saturday morning, in plenty of time for the 7:30 AM breakfast meeting.
My apartment was directly above the Protech sign (the two windows). The building housed several businesses - a Dunkin Donuts (which I never utilized even once), a gas station, a car repair shop, and a Harley repair shop.
Another first was living on my own. An apartment was provided to me by one of the men I was working for out there so I did not have to pay rent. Not only that, but it was above a gas station owned by his brother and they gave me free gas! That was really a blessing from the Lord since I ended up putting on over a 1,000 miles a month while working for them. The apartment was interesting. It had no heat - and I was there from October through the end of November. There were so many leaks that the cigarette smoke came up from the Harley shop below. When the wind blew, you could feel a breeze inside as well. It had not been lived in for several years, so the place was a disaster. Definitely a learning experience!
The sign just down the road from my apartment.
My job in Plymouth consisted of building floats mostly. I helped to build a replica of the Jenny Gristmill, the first gristmill in America, which was built in 1636. I built most of the main building, the roof, the water wheel assembly, etc. It was an interesting project.
My gristmill and the rebuilt Jenny.
The actual parade was interesting. They had the US Coast Guard Silent Drill Team perform.
Oscar getting bayoneted.
Statue of Liberty float
I helped with both of the above floats as well.
This house is right on the water front and was the site of the first home built in Plymouth. This particular house was built in the 1700's as I recall. It is owned by Justin Thaine, a homeschool father of 10 in Hawaii. Doug Phillips mentioned this man's daughter in one of his messages.
Well, that is all for now. More to be told on Plymouth - the birthplace of Christian America - in the future.
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