On our way to Minot, ND

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Okay, let's give this a try.  Since I have so enjoyed reading my brother Richard's blogs while he travels in his boat, I decided to do the same with our travels. 



This is our moving condominium

As most of our friends know, Bill and I do a fair amount of traveling while volunteering with the Methodist NOMADS.  For those who do not know much or anything about the NOMADS, we are a group of people organized under the Methodist Church Mission Outreach who work at various Methodist-based places (called "agencies") doing whatever they need to have done.  The agencies normally consist of church campgrounds, Methodist churches, and children's homes.  We also pitch in with long-range disaster rebuilding.  The agencies supply all the materials and we supply the labor.  Each of the projects is three weeks long and while at each location, we stay in our RVs.  Every project is listed on a sign-up web program so as projects are added to the list, we make a decision concerning the type of work and the location of the project before signing up.  We try to go places where we have never been before and this has led us to some very interesting places.

And, of course, we don't always go straight to and from the projects without finding some neat places to stop.  We make so many new friends, have lots of new experiences, and see interesting places.  Where else can you go and not know a single soul, but the moment you pull up to a project, you have instant new friends.  And someone always knows where the best ice cream or pizza can be found!

Right now we are on our way to Minot, N.D. to help with rebuilding houses that were damaged in the floods from two years ago.  Yes, they are still rebuilding from that flood.  Remember how long it took to rebuild from damage caused by Katrina?  At least along the Gulf Coast, people could work year round.  Minot has a very short building season so you work as hard as you can, as fast as you can during the warm part of the year.  We have never been this far north, so we are looking forward to discovering what the area is all about.

And our daughter-in-law Staci's brother and wife, Daniel and Sierra, are living in Minot so we plan on getting up with them.  Always neat to know someone where you go.  They always know all the good eating places and the hidden ice cream places.

More later . . .