March 15th, 2013
I can
hardly believe I’m actually here in Nashville, ready for another bicycle
adventure with The Fuller Center. The plane trip over was nice and smooth. I
have to hand it to South West Airlines, they have excellent customer service. I
arrived nice and early at 2:00pm and realized that I had to change the time on
my watch to match the time zone.
I was given
a warm greeting by the trip founder Ryan Iafigliola at the airport. I was able
to meet Sarah Cook, one of Sarah Doren’s friends, who told me about me the Parthenon
in Nashville. And yes you read correctly there is actually a scale replica of
the Parthenon in Nashville. It’s the only replica in the world actually
There was also a memorial out there dedicated to the Founder
of Nashville. Guess what Nashville was founded by a Virginian!!!! That’s right
it’s like I’ve always said Virginians are taking over the world.
Upon my return to the church, oh did I mention that we were
staying at the Vine Street Church; well yep that’s where we are staying. It’s a
nice big church facility with very friendly people. So back at the church I ran
into Tom Webber and some of his family. Fun stuff and another surprise Allen
Slabaugh came to visit us for the weekend. I couldn’t have asked for a better
surprise.
We ate out with Allen and Tom and Miranda who rode in the
east coast ride last summer. Alex also showed up Friday to say hi to everyone.
Alex also participated in the summer ride last year. We all ate a nice meal at
a restaurant and then Miranda and Alex wanted to go see the night life, but
since neither one of them knew anything about Nashville they just decided to
drive and have us follow behind in the Webber’s car, or as I like to call it –
the Webber mobile.
Sure enough Miranda found something random for us to do. I
kid you not, she told us that there was a really famous Men’s bathroom in the Hermitage
Hotel and a friend of hers told her that if we were ever in Nashville we had to
see it. Unfortunately we lost Miranda and Alex in traffic so finding the place
was a pill.
However I must admit the bathroom was truly unique. For
starters it’s the only men’s restroom I’ve ever entered with a sign out front
that says women may enter at any time. Strangely enough it’s a full functioning
bathroom. A couple of guys were using the facilities while we were there.
Secondly it was painted black with green highlighted lines across the sides.
There was even a phone and a shoe sign station. We got our pictures taken there
and I’m even including a video link here so you can see the strangeness that we
all witnessed.
Jonas Winn and Sarah Doren arrived later that evening; it
was like the 2011 ride all over again. So many friends reunited. It was
wonderful. Jonas even assembled my bike and fixed it up for me when he first
arrived. I was surprised he remembered my bike, but then I guess I shouldn’t be
surprised since bikes have been such a huge part of his life for so long.
Also, before the bell tolled and we all had to settle in for
the night, we watched a documentary filmed by Faith Fuller, Millard Fuller’s
daughter, called “Briars in the Cotton Patch.” If you have not seen this
documentary, I highly recommend it! There is so much more to the story that
came before the founding of Habitat for Humanity. It’s truly an amazing story,
and sadly, I do not have time to elaborate this eve. Just go see it!
It’s so awesome to be reunited with such wonderful friends
and serving such a wonderful cause and being able to explore a new state in this
wonderful country that we live in.
Well that's all for now folks. Good Night!
No comments:
Post a Comment