On the road in Tillie & heading to PEI

We're off again! In Tillie once again you'll be pleased to know. This time it's to Prince Edward Island in Canada to work on a Habitat Build (a real hardship post I'm sure).

As we're staying the first night with our friends in New Hampshire, we and Tillie have been this route before. I thought at first I'd write about Troy, the home of Uncle Same, since it's so close to the 4th, but then we came to Bennington, Vermont. They have all these wonderful "people" sculptures on the street doing ordinary things. The sculpture in this photo is the window washer, not the biker. My favorite sculpture is a man dropping trash in a trash can but it was on the other side of the road and impossible to get a photo of as we zipped along. You will just have to visit Bennington and see for yourselves.

Then is was on to the Molly Stark Trail/highway to travel through Vermont. Since we'd just had our VISTA reunion where we collectively could not remember the year we had had the reunion in North Carolina, I did not feel shy about asking John to refresh my memory as to who exactly, Molly Stark was. His reply... "that person who did something in the war". Now we're all enlightened.

A VISTA Reunion

40 years ago our government recruited young folks, mostly from college campuses among graduates not sure what they wanted to do in life, to address the problem of poverty in this country. It was also the time of the Vietnam War, so the fact that many draft boards gave a deferment for VISTA also helped with recruitment. Our friend, Karol, now refers to our efforts as "Johnson's failed war on poverty". The group John & I worked with was assigned to rural North Carolina.

Some things have not changed since then. Unfortunately, poverty still exists. However, those we worked with have remained life long friends. And we all still like to eat. This past weekend we hosted, along with our fellow VISTA, Judi & her husband Scott, our 40th reunion. (Let me tell you it did NOT seem like 40 years to any of us, probably since we all seem to have forgotten a lot that's gone on in those 40 years!)

In the photo, John & Karen & breakfast at the "pig pit". There's something about a little smoke and fresh air that makes breakfast taste just that much better.

Then came the pig - North Carolina was, and still is, BIG on "chopped hog" BBQ. There were not enough of us to warrant a "full hog" but after all was said and done we found the pork shoulders just as good, all be it the "production" element was not as dramatic.

And then the "group portrait" (my apologies to Ken who hadn't arrived yet when the photo was taken). Howie took the award for having come the farthest (Oregon) in the US; Zelda (London) for our transcontinental traveler; and Steve (Boise) for the longest time to get here (airline delays seem to be with us). When Steve's GPS unit on his rental car directed him up our seasonal road through the corn field at 2:30 a.m. he REALLY began to get nervous - as John told him when he called in a panic, "just think Steven King and keep driving". A good time was had by all!!!!