Waddapauk . . . part 2

Continuation of the Kentucky trip......

One thing really did suck on the trip. Adam (son of a .... preacher) found out on the way back that his car got broken in to. And of all days, it happened on his birthday (Wednesday of the trip). But he didn't find out what happened until the following Saturday. His parents decided that it was best that he didn't find out until after the trip was pretty much over with. I agree. If something like that happened to me, I wouldn't want to find out until the week was over. It would ruin the whole mission trip otherwise. I felt really sorry for him though. I went through what he did back on December 22, 1998. I remember it vividly. I was at church of all places and afterwards I arrived at my truck to find that it had lost weight. No cd player, no cd's, no cell phone, no camera.... I felt like crap for a good while. But I did get my cd's back. But that's another story. The thing I hated the most about something like that was not the fact that something got stolen, it is the fact that somebody stole something. You feel so violated and insecure after something like that. So, you better believe that I lock my doors every freakin' place I go now. Especially to church. Anyways, if anybody out there believes in prayer, pray that everything goes well for Adam. I'm sure he's going through a tough time right now.

By the way, if anybody goes with Barry (the FCC pastor) anywhere in the church van, be warned. Let's just say he may or may not have instigated a minor road mishap with another vehicle. Barry was driving the van down this road that has several turns and twists. He looked up into the rearview mirror for just a second and saw the car flying right towards him. He tried as much as he could to move to the right side of the road but the car's eventual path was inevitable by this point. Everybody was just fine. A police officer came out and investigated the incident and talked to Barry. The cop said to him that he could give him a ticket for driving down the middle of the road. Barry replied to the officer, "Sir, it is impossible to NOT drive down the middle of the road here." Meaning that the roads were so narrow that it was impossible to stay on pavement and not drive in the middle of the road. After Barry's remark the cop just laughed. I guess people are used to that kinda thing out there in the hollers.

This isn't the real wreck by the way... just for comedic purposes.

At the youth center that we stayed at, there were four basketball goals and we very much took advantage of those being there. The first day we were there, Pip, Ed, Bryan, and Jacob (another son of a...... preacher ... 12 years old), and I picked up a ball and started playing. It was really fun..... until Pip and I drilled our heads into each other. Got me right above the eye. Injury number 1. The next day a bigger group of us started playing a game. I had the ball and was going up for a lay-up but at a weird angle. I had to cut to my left to get the best shot at it. In doing so, my right foot rolled under itself causing a pretty good sprain. It started swelling soon thereafter. I was done for the day. In fact, I could barely walk for the next few days. I still can't move it all the great right now. I'm going to have to retire from basketball for health reasons. My insurance won't allow me to play anymore. But I was alright to shoot. Heck, I was proud of myself. I hit 9 three-pointers in a row. Move over....... uh...... whoever hits a butt load of three's all the time. I was en fuego.

One more thing....

I mentioned the roads were pretty curvy and sharp turned earlier. That made me think about the runs that we made for the bible school kids. What I mean by that is we took the church vans (more than one van) and went to go pick up the kids in the morning before bible school started. Each one of the workers would take turns to go in the van to go pick up the kids. I chose to go on two different ones. Each one pretty much making me sick. Now, I get pretty light headed for some reason whenever I'm riding in a car. I can handle roller coasters and even driving myself places. That doesn't make me sick. But for some reason I get nautious. Especially during this one trip when we went way the crap at the top of what seemed like mount everest. It took us from when we left the church to pick up the first kid about 30 minutes. And the houses were none too pretty to say the least. I might have mentioned this before but Clay County is the poorest county in all of Kentucky and the 10th poorest in the United States. Some of the worst houses in Ada have nothing on some of the houses these kids were staying in. But, some of the scenery was very breathtaking. Some beautiful rock cliffs and green rolling hills. And the peat... ah the peat. Well, we were right on the border. Anywho......

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reminder: A trip to The Home Depot with the Big 5 is upcoming. So, stay tuned. It's coming... I promise.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Until next time, vaya con Dios.