The MISSION POSSIBLE TOUR – Summer of 2010
The WiFi Pedalers BLOG
Day 92 / August 31, 2010
Okay.....so the alarm went at 2:30...we heard it....we rationalized that we could sleep a few more minutes (why do we DO this to ourselves....HA!). Well, after a few tries, we did get up a few
minutes after 3. We both took showers to help us wake up, and I had some good prayer time right here:
Earline thought she heard something....
After packing and stretching and praying, we headed down Highway 39 about 5:10am.....and the traffic was HEAVY! We were very thankful for a 6 foot shoulder. We got to English Turn Road, and
realized.....no more shoulder! So like English Commander Banks did over 300 years ago, we turned around and headed down Highway 39.
We stopped at the corner store and got a Honey Bun for.....ah, energy?
We saw some beautiful clouds in the south that the rising sun sprayed its light on...
....but we couldn't see the sun, because of this cloud bank....
....and I looked a the red lining under the cloud, and I remembered: "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning...." and I thought, oh, oh.
There obviously had been quite a bit of rain here during the night, because the tires were picking up the water and spraying us as we went along.
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Day 91 / August 30, 2010
Because of the excellent speed of the internet in the church hall where we were staying, I stayed up until 6:30am last night (this morning) getting completely caught up with the blog (whoo-whoo!).
(Needless to say, I then slept in a little bit this morning....HA!)
We finally left the Canal Boulevard Deaf Baptist Church around 3:00pm.
We saw these cemeteries along Canal Boulevard, where the tombs are all ABOVE ground.
And then, as we continued down Canal Street.....oh, no, it's raining again.
It didn't rain too hard, and by the time we got to the French Quarter, it was only drizzling a little. We were hungry and looked for a place to eat.
I turned down a side street, and wondered, what is this....it looks like a red light district. It was then that I realized after looking at a street sign that we were on Bourbon Street.
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Day 92 UPDATE 7
Both Earline and I are SO grateful to all of you for your prayers, your financial support, your openness to give of your time and share whatever you had to make this whole 2010 Mission Possible Tour
a success. Even something as simple as access to the internet, or ice and water for our water bottles meant more to us than you realize, and we thank you ALL!
We're staying with "Sistah Eva" in New Orleans, I'll be finishing the final 2 days of the blog tonight, and we'll be headed back to Orlando by Greyhound tomorrow.
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It is important to us that we take the time to share with YOU some of the things we've learned this summer, to give you the opportunity to share in the lessons that God taught us through the
trials, the frustrations, the joys and the circumstances that revealed His mind and His character to us.
It's been humbling, it's been scary, it's been funny, and it's been comforting to know that God truly IS concerned about the intimate details of EACH of our lives. He cares about you, and you,
and YOU!
Give us a week or so to get our thoughts together, as we ourselves go back over the blog to help us remember the events of each day, and we'll blog those lessons that you can benefit from, as
well as some fun things like our favorite eating places (including one we just found YESTERDAY), the scariest of the 42 bridges we went over (oooooooo....you can probably guess this one), our most
inspirational moment, and our favorite memories from the Tour.
THANKS AGAIN, and we'll talk to you soon!
ONLY Through God's Grace,
jon
Day 92 UPDATE 6
We're here! We made it! Mission accomplished!!! Yea!!!!!!
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 92 UPDATE 5
Update 5 and less than FIVE to go! We're in Venice! Whup-whup! TGG, jon
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 92 UPDATE 4
It's 5:38pm...only 6 miles to Venice, only 10 miles to the end of the MRT! Whoo-whoo!
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 92 UPDATE 3
Only 16 miles to Venice! Only 20 miles to "THE SIGN." Pray for us - these strong southerly winds in our faces are testing even our 3-month-tested leg muscles. Ooooofta! (As they say in Minnesota!) Thanks! -jon
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 92 UPDATE 2
We made it across the Pointe al a Hache ferry to the west side of the Mississippi River, and right now are eating lunch at the FAMOUS Ann's Restaurant in Port Sulpher. Only 35 miles to go!
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 92 UPDATE
Good morning!!!..., on this final day of the 2010 Mission Possible Tour down the entire length of the Mississippi River Trail. We left St. Bernard State Park at 5:15 this morning, and we're over halfway to the Pointe al a Hache ferry, where we'll cross over to the west side of the river, and continue to four miles south of Venice, Louisiana. It is there that a sign declares "The southernmost point in the state of Louisiana." Pray us through (some Elijah-running-speed strength for our legs would be good). Thanks! TGG, jon
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 91 UPDATE
Left Canal Boulevard Deaf Baptist Church in New Orleans about 3pm. Accidentally ended up on Bourbon Street, looking for a place to eat. Going thru St. Bernard Parish (county) to the State Park, just a few minutes away. We'll head out around 4am to push through the final 75 miles. Pray us through! TGG, jon
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 90 / August 29, 2010
We were OUT last night, and didn't hear EITHER of our phone alarms. But God DID wake us up around 6:45, which gave us enough time to clean up and pack up our gear to get ready for the Sunday School
class that we were told started at 9:30.
About 9:40 or so, I asked when does Sunday School start, and they said that their teacher was out of town at a funeral. And Earline asked if they needed a Sunday School teacher....she said SHE'D
teach....and she did! AND it was an excellent lesson!
Thank-you, God.
We headed next door to the sanctuary. "Sistah" Eva was already there, and it was good to see her!
The Deaf church service started out with hip-hop singing from the Pastor Lovas' wife, Barbara. (Lisa McClung, you would love this service!)
Pastor Lovas was the object of somebody's height-challenged joke!
Earline and I did the entire Sermon on the Mount, as well as the Jesus found in every book of the Bible segment. Pastor got up and talked about the 5-year anniversary of Hurrricane Katrina, and
how the sanctuary we were sitting in had almost 4 feet of water in it.
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Day 89 / August 28, 2010
Hmmm!
Well.....it turns out that this Mission Possible Tour, Summer of 2010 is the adventure that just keeps on giving!
I get up around 5:45am, but before we can get out tent torn down we experience this:
With all the rain that we've run into this summer, one thing we HAVEN'T had to do is tear down in the rain.....until now. The rain has run under the tent [not good], and both sleeping backs have
gotten wet. We have to pack a wet top-tarp, and a wet tent, and just wait until tonight to see if we can get dried out at that point.
Earline does one final check to see if the Advocate picked up our story for today's paper. Nope.....zip, zilch, nada....hmmmm. (Hey, Honey, what's the weather forecast??)
Apparently the forecast is for a 10 to 20% chance....
....of sunshine.
Oh, oh.
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Day 88 / August 27, 2010
I was able to get quite a bit of work done on the blog, while Earline and Ana had a chance to spend some quality time together. We're headed out today for New Orleans!....getting closer to the finish
line!
Philip's folks stopped by for lunch:
We finally said our goodbyes.....
.....headed toward the entrance of Philip and Ana's housing development....and got rained on!! We put on our side-bag bags, and our raincoats....
.....and continued on our way. No rainy day activities for the wifi pedalers! (in other words, no special "dry" activities in case it rains....we do the same thing - ride, baby, ride - whether
it rains or not!!)
Rained pretty hard, too.....ack.....
It finally let up a little, and Earline had to make a pit stop (her prostrate is acting up again.....huh?? HA!).
Stopped at the Honeywell security station, and Jason had sympathy on Earline, and gave us some helpful advice about which route to take toward New Orleans. Thanks! (from BOTH of us!)
At this point we are seeing LOTS of huge cooling units, chemical plants, grain elevators, refineries.....the industry that has arisen on the banks of the Mississippi River is pretty amazing. The
river has permitted tremendous amounts of business growth and development.
We make it down to the River Road, and we see......well, not much of the River, but of the levee.
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Day 87 / August 26, 2010
Working again feverishly to get this blog caught up.
That really has been one of the more challenging aspects of the entire Mission Possible Tour.....with all the riding, and talking to people, and making ourselves available to serve them, and yet
still plan ahead for the next day, and still try and get some rest, and still find a couple hours each day to select and edit photos, and put down these thoughts, and try to be encouraging to
YOU.....I just pray whatever priorities and fine-tuning that I have learned this summer might be something that I can pass on to you as clearly and effectively as possible.
Part of all of our daily routines MUST be some kind of spiritual and physical exercise each day. Now back in Jesus' day, of course they were doing a lot of walking, and getting physical
exercise....but even Jesus had to get alone many times to pray and spend time with God the Father. So I pray that Psalm 119:147 be a rallying cry for ALL of us...."I rise early, before the sun is up;
I cry out for help, and I put my hope in your words." We ALL need DAILY spiritual nourishment. Let's commit to that even stronger! Amen!
We got packed up from our stay at First Baptist Deaf Church of Baton Rouge, and found a route that would take us to Geismar, Louisiana, on the east side of the Mississippi River.
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Day 86 / August 25, 2010
After struggling to crawl out of our air mattress hole (see yesterday's blog!), we got some more e-mailing, letter writing, and blogging caught up. Walker invited us out to lunch at Mike Andrews
Seafood, just a few blocks away.
Walker and Betha brought their grandson Christian with them, and a little later on, their daughter Leslie came in. Like many other codas (child of deaf adult), she is an excellent signer, and
uses her skills to help support herself and her son.
After our nice lunch, Betha had the opportunity to try out Earline's ICE Trike.....she looks to be enjoying herself!
For the Wednesday night service / Bible study at First Baptist Deaf Church we decided to do the Sermon on the Mount, along with some special singing, and sharing about our Mission Possible
Tour.
We got to hear their Deaf praise team lead a couple songs. We really enjoyed their ministry, especially the anointed signing of Faye Hayes, the girl in the center of the front row.....here is a
sampling:
We have already talked with them about the possibility of coming and sharing with us in Orlando some time on the future.
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Day 85 / August 24, 2010
After the long trip from Natchez to Baton Rouge, we slept wonderful on the floor of the church Monday night. The air mattress seems to be loosing air a little quicker than normal, however, so by morning we were basically on the floor.
They had a box of Cheerios in the refrigerator, so I got to have a breakfast that I had been craving for several weeks....thank you, God.
Earline and I had a chance to work on some paperwork and the blog during the day, and we also prepared for our talks with the elementary kids and high school kids at the Louisiana School for the Deaf just one block west of the school.
We met Walker at the gate, and he escorted us through campus to the dorms.
We talked first with the elementary kids. They seemed fascinated with the trikes and our story:
Earline taught them about the different parts of the trikes, and how we examine them before we start each day. We used the A-B-C-QuickCheck list from the League of American Bicyclists. Watch and listen to Earline teaching about "C" for chains, and how that can be the same idea in life:
I also had the opportunity to teach the kids how DEEP and WIDE the Mississippi River is, and taught them a song about it!
Deep and Wide (in only 19 seconds!)
Afterwards we gave all the kids an opportunity to sit on the trikes, and many of them paused to check out this web site as well!
Next we went over to the high school dorm, and many youth stopped by to hear our presentation.
Watch as Earline encourages the high-schoolers to pursue their God-given passions, for truly, "With God, ALL things are possible!!!"
Afterwards we talked with a lot of the kids, and answered their questions about our trip.
After making lots of new friends, we headed back to the church. I was able o get some more work done on this blog.
Because of the fast leaking of our air mattress last night, we decided to try putting Betha and Walker's air mattress UNDER ours to keep us off the floor. Problem was, I think theirs leaked a little, too, so that by morning, we were in a deep hole with the air mattresses up all around us!! Ack!! Many laughs were shared!
Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to speak into the lives of the students at the Louisiana School for the Deaf. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your purposes for them!!
TGG,
jon
Day 84 / August 23, 2010
Rose up a little later than the 5:30 I had my alarm set for....about 6:15.....we were sleeping so GOOD!
It was starting to get light outside, so we packed up and said our goodbyes to Al, after meeting his aunt next door who raised him (who wondered what these strange contraptions were sitting in
her carport!).
Headed back to the convenience store where wee were last night, and filled up on ice. Again, we had the opportunity to explain our Mission Tour to the morning patrons.
We continued south on 61....the rain cooled things off little, and it was nice riding early in the morning.
We soon came to the Louisiana state line (again).....(a little easier to see this time!!!):
This, then, will be our final state line crossing.....are we excited??!!!
We stopped at the State Line gas station/restaurant/casino for some breakfast, and met some more people who became friends of God's Hands Agency. THANK YOU ALL!!
FARM EQUIPMENT LAWN ORNAMENT alert!
Not quite sure what this is....a cultivator? Any "more-mature-timers" have any idea what this is? [Aunt Joanita made me say that!]
Oh-oh....as we approached St.
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Day 84 UPDATE
We just crossed the state line into Louisiana - state #10!! Headed to Baton Rouge and the Louisiana State School for the Deaf, as well as Deaf Baptist Church of Baton Rouge. We'll be there tonight thru Wednesday....hope to get the blog all caught up by tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers! -jon
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile.
Day 83 / August 22, 2010
[Hey, it is my sister Jyl's birthday today.....everybody wish her "Happy Birthday!"]
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Day 82 / August 21, 2010
In the morning, we had some fiends stop by: 4-legged and 2-legged!
Our "2-legged friends" I believe had just finished the night shift, but Earline had met them during the night, and they wanted to find out more about learning signing language and the resources
that GHA has.
Packed up, said our good-byes, and headed first to a laundromat to do some desperately-needed clothes-washing.
Even drew the attention of one of Alvin Taylor's friends that we had met the other day, a Mr. LaNell Frazier.
Our trikes drew a lot of attention in this small town, and met several people, including a young man with his family that has a Deaf sister. We tried to encourage him and point them in the
direction of some more resources.
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