Dear Friends
How do you spell “Road Trip”? A
road trip can mean different things to different people. For me, it includes state and national parks and monuments, finding the Episcopal church, the
city park and the local newspaper in every town we pass through (the smaller
the better) and, of course, local landmarks and food. Even some obvious “tourist
traps” can be fun.
The two week road trip to Oregon which Kathleen and I just returned from also included delightful meetings with people, including
some
we had never met. We knew we would be seeing Kathleen’s niece in a
community theater production of “Dracula”, set in the fields of a vineyard. We
knew we would end our trip with the dear folk of St. Dunstan’s, Carmel Valley, people we were just getting to know in person before the pandemic hit.
But we did not know we
would meet a ranger at Crater Lake who loved the story my dad heard
and shared about a ranger telling a couple who jumped out of their car at an
overlook of the lake and, after a quick look, saying “Is there anything else
to see?” We had quite a nice visit and I promised to send her my dad’s Crater
Lake poem, one of many he wrote about the parks.
However the biggest surprise
was arriving at St. Alban’s Episcopal church on our first Sunday on the road
and finding an old house on a mostly vacant lot. Just as we were about to take
a picture of "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You" sign and drive on, (there were no cars around) a deacon who had walked to the church emerged
from the front door and invited us to stay for the Morning Prayer service being held later in
the living room.
We hit it off well
and invited her to dinner a few nights later at the resort we were staying,
finding so much in common. We will be staying in touch. To top it off, just 30
seconds after Kathleen posted a picture of the 12 person congregation on
Facebook, a seminary friend messaged that one of the parishioners in the picture
was her sister-in-law!
Road trips can take us many places and bring us many experiences,
including meeting new people we will not forget.
John
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