Caravan 1995

David Broddle

Cindy Rodine

Karen Eliott

Paul Haas

Barry Smith

Claudia Vickery

Karen Carnahan

Bob Carnahan

They traveled 1675 miles. Providing 6 worship services and traveling through 5 states; Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska

Friday Faith-Westwood United Methodist Church, Omaha, Nebraska, Service #1, sleep in homes

We gathered at West Heights United Methodist Church at 8am and were loaded and on the road by 8:37am. Bob checked attendance and continued to every time we got off the bus. Our first stop was Clay Center at 11am for lunch and to play at the park. There was a tank and various other pieces of play equipment. Only three Band-Aids were needed - one for Donnie and two for Becky. Across the street was a Quick Trip which Karen and I went to for paper towels and large trash bags for the water cooler which was leaking. We paused for a rest stop at 2:35, then it was on to Omaha, Nebraska.

This church was still under construction with walls freshly painted and carpet not completely done. We arrived early with 1 1/2 hours before we could get into the sanctuary to set up and practice. We played in the parking lot for a while then went to the choir room and practiced the songs. At 5:30 we began to set up the sanctuary and then went to Fellowship Hall for pizza. The blue shirts were worn. The service went well. We were able to use their ceiling mounted large projector and had fun with their lighting.

Saturday First United Methodist Church, Cedar Falls, Iowa, pool party, no service, sleep in homes

Everyone arrived back at the church, loaded gear and equipment and were on the road again. The kids came up to the microphone and told their stories of their host families. I videotaped each story. We stopped for lunch. McDonalds was a choice for most but there were other places to eat as well. Index cards were passed around and "upnotes" were written, returned to the tote bag and passed out. Some of the girls made friendship bracelets and safety pins had to be found for this purpose. A stop was made at Walmart for several items: yellow marking pen, jean shorts for Becky who had left all hers at home; jeans for Paige who had brought a pair that was way too tight and had a large hole in the knee, tissues, Velcro for the Goliath costume. Barry came in too but he never could remember what he was wanting to get (superglue for his glasses)

We arrived at Cedar Falls, unloaded the equipment into a room and the gear on the sidewalk. The host families came for us with instructions to be at the pool party by 4pm. It was a cool day but the pool was 89 degrees. Karen worked on sewing Velcro on the Goliath costume. The kids had a blast in the pool and even build a tower of four bodies tall with Katy Vickery on top. The kids got out of the pool and we ate BBQ of brats and hot-dogs. Kristen, their youth director organized all the kids by birth months, the groups then created and performed skits. Our host families came and took us back to the church for an hour to set up and run through.

At 8:30 the host families came and took us home. I told Paige to call me and let me know how the jeans fit. Later she called and said she had left them on the bus. In the morning, Paige would go on with my red shirt and borrowed jeans from Ann Sellers with Karen's belt to hold them up, and she looked just fine.

Sunday Morining services #2 & #3, Maquoketa, Iowa, evening service #4, Field of Dreams

Both services went real well with many attending. I had to stand on a chair in order to see above the railing in the balcony. In between the two services we sang songs and played games under Kristen's direction.

Back on the bus again and off to lunch. Several of us ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken or Wendy's others had sub sandwiches or pizza. Our next stop was the Field of Dreams. It was way out in the country and the field's corn was green but short. Our group took over the field for a short game. Paige stuck her arm out from behind the back stop and got hit. She and Karen went up to the house (which was not open to the public) for some ice and had their picture taken.

At 5pm we arrived at Maquoketa, Iowa and quickly set up and ate a wonderful pot luck dinner. The altar area was very small so it took some creative arranging. The people were very friendly and visited with us afterwards.

We changed clothes and walked to a park ten blocks away - lead by young man who knew whose back yards we could cut through. The kids played basketball and some played on the equipment. When it was mostly dark we walked back to the church, got our money and then to McDonalds for drinks and food. When we got back it was time for bed. The sponsors sat outside the doors of the rooms and had a pow wow about the next day's activities in Chicago. When all the kids were getting settled, girls in one room and boys in another, Dave popped in and said for everyone to stay in the room as there were bats in the church. It was our first night together and everyone settled down by midnight.

Monday First United Methodist Church, Evanston, IL, Hard Rock Café, Sears Tower, no service

I woke up at 6am and shot some video of the girls sleeping. Karen thought it was 7am and started to wake them up. When they realized what time it was the girls went back to sleep. I woke them up at 7am after starting the coffee and setting out breakfast.

We loaded up the bus and took off again. We stopped for gas in Clinton, IA. We arrived at Evanston, IL and found the church. It was very large and very old, parts of it were built in 1844. It used to be in an affluent part of town but now it is run down and poor. Karen and Bob got the keys to the church and met the resident "person", Ellsbeth was a homeless "woman" who lived on the third floor. She had multiple personalities, one being a man, so we were not to address her by her gender.

We stayed on the bus and moved on for a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. We sat in groups of seven at various tables around the restaurant. Even though it was 3:00pm it was still busy. After a very good meal with quick service we bought souvenir T-shirts, boxer shorts and sweatshirts. RK was waiting for us, we loaded up and went on to the Sears Tower. It was a very fast elevator ride and our whole group fit into one. The view was wonderful and there was a recording telling us what we were seeing. There were phones and several of the kids phoned home or to their parents at work. I got a message from Anita Chartier that Mary Kissling was wanting to talk to me. A few minutes later I got a message from Kris Wheatley that Mary Kissling was looking for me. I couldn't think of what I would be needed for while on Caravan. At the bottom of the Sears tower Bob tried to call Anita Chartier but her line was busy.

We got back on the bus and drove around a bit. We ended up at Wriggly Field. While Barry went to see if we could get Cub tickets (he was told to try again tomorrow), Bob and I again tried calling Anita Chartier. (We called her because we didn't know Mary's phone number.) The connection was bad but I could hear enough to find out that there would be an auction of dishes, tables and some equipment from the Holiday Inn and they wanted my proxy, which I gave, to go ahead. It sounded like a good deal and I hoped they would be able to get some of the items. We can't believe that the UMW was able to track me down for church business.

The bus took us back to the church. We ordered carry out pizza from a local shop and it was so filling that we didn't eat it all and had the leftovers cold for breakfast. Since we had only one shower for the 18 women, we had to hurry to get them all in (and we wondered, in such an old church, how much hot water we would have). We were in a large basement room with the kitchen. It had only a cement floor and we locked ourselves in for the night.

Tuesday First United Methodist Church, Evanston, IL , Oriental Institute, Museum of Science and Industry, Wriggly Field - Cubs baseball, no service

We all slept fine. The day began at 6:30; breakfast was cold cereal and juice. We packed our gear and loaded it on the bus even though we are planning on spending tonight there again because it wasn't safe to leave it. RK drove us to Wriggly field where we waited until the ticket window opened. They were able to get tickets in the bleachers for tonight's game against San Francisco. Our first sightseeing trip was to the Oriental Institute. It has artifacts from the Middle East and a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls from a book of psalms not in the Bible.

McDonalds was lunch; some ate inside and others ate across the street at the park. There were a couple of interesting characters in the park, one wearing a raincoat; and the other was doing some sort of meditating. He seemed to want the attention. Later we saw him pretending to play basketball. Next we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was a wonderful and a very large place. We let the kids go in groups of three or more. I caught up with and videotaped the various groups. We walked and walked and were dead tired at the end of our time there. Dinner was at the ball park, at McDonalds across the street, Taco Bell or Subway.

The Cubs game was fun to watch from this historic ball field. We were right next to the glass booth where the announcer and organ player were. The Cubs lost 8-4 but we saw some good action. As we are going down the ramp on the way out we saw Harry Carey. Barry walked next to him and tried to talk to him, but he was in a hurry. Back to the bus, and a stop at a grocery store for tomorrow's lunch fixins. It was late and everyone was tired, we had no problem going to sleep.

Wednesday St. Andrews United Methodist Church, Homewood, IL, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, service #4

In the morning Dave brought coffee in again for us. Several took showers. We ate breakfast of cold cereal and cold pizza, then each made their own sandwiches for lunch. The Shedd Aquarium was the first stop. There were many interesting tanks of brightly colored fish from all areas of the world. Some went on the Oceanarium, which cost an additional $4.00. It was new and those who went said it was well worth it.

We walked across the street and got the coolers out of the bus and ate our sack lunch on the sidewalk between the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. The sandwiches, fruit, pretzels and canned pop went over well with everyone including the ants. We had until 3:30pm to explore the Field Museum. The Egyptian exhibit was very interesting, there was also an Indian exhibit, a history of Blacks in the United States, and displays of precious stones.

Our next stop was in Homewood, IL. It took us about an hour to get there and traffic was very heavy. We set up for the service and then had lasagna in their fellowship hall. They had invited youth groups from all over and were hoping for a crowd. One youth group came on a bus. The service was funny in places and one of the boys was named Jason and his friends teased him about Ann Chartier's skit. The red shirts were worn and Lisa used mine as hers was in the "lost and found" on the bus. No showers tonight. The kids from this church really hit it off with our group and found that they even had some Kansas connections. Several of their kids planned on spending the night. We let them party until 11pm and then we got mattresses and settled in the Narthex. During the winter this church houses homeless people and there were plastic covered mattresses piled in one of the class rooms for this purpose.

Thursday Grace United Methodist Church, Springfield, IL, nature preserve, service #5

We got up and said good bye to Dave. He left for the airport around 8am to fly to Kansas City for a wedding. The church served us breakfast of doughnuts, orange drink and cereal. The kitchen sinks were used for hair washing by many.

We loaded up the bus again and got back on the road. We stopped for lunch. The adults ate at Steak & Shake. We arrived at Grace United Methodist Church and the minister Rev. Robert Freeman directed us to a nature preserve for an outing. Karen and a couple others stayed in the gift shop while others went on the nature trail. The kids were very noisy on the bus today. We went back to the church at 5:30 after their day care had let out. They had BBQ hamburgers for us. After eating we set up. All our gear was crammed in a small classroom but we managed. By 7pm only a couple people had showed up so we waited and a few more showed up. It may have been a small crowd but they were very enthusiastic. Lindsey Wheatley's uncle and cousin came as did Bob's sister and sister in law. Rev. Bob tried to rent Field of Dreams for us but all the stores were out. He came back and visited with the kids and kept them entertained the rest of the evening telling them what they would be when they grew up. We slept on pews in the sanctuary and some on the floor. There was quite a bit of coughing so we handed out throat lozenges. Lights out at 11pm and all was quiet.

Friday First United Methodist Church, Hannibal, MO 63401, Mark Twain Cave, Mark Twain memorial light house, service #6

We had to be up early and out by 7:30 when the day care people would arrive. We ate our cereal and were off again. It was a short ride, just an hour.

We found the church and called but no one was home. We went to the locks and watched a barge moving through lock #22 on the Mississippi River. It was quite interesting. We had lunch at Long John Silver's and other places. Next we went to the Mark Twain Cave. It was narrow and very cold (which felt good since it was one of our hottest days). At one point the lights went out and that made the tour guide nervous but we all thought it was part of the tour. With so many twists and turns and long passageways going off the side, I can see why it would be easy to get lost. We bought a shirt for Karen at the gift shop as a going away present from the caravaners and planned on signing it.

We then went back to town and walked up 184 steps to the Mark Twain memorial light house. It was a major climb and most made it. You could get a certificate at the gift shop below that said you made it! I called Anita Chartier from a phone there and found out that they had gotten 500 dinner plates, dessert plates, cups, glasses, forks, knives, spoons at the auction for $1900. RK then dropped us closer to downtown. We went in groups again, some walked around, some browsed through the shops and some took the horse & carriage ride.

Karen tried calling the church from everywhere we were with no answer. We headed back to the church at 5pm hoping someone would be there. There was a note on the door with a phone number to call if we arrived before 5pm. Just as we got there a lady drove up. We unloaded our gear and equipment one more time. The people of the church started arriving with pot luck dishes and we had a wonderful meal with very nice people. There was a reasonably good size crowd and we had fun with our last service on the road.

After the equipment was gathered up we moved our gear to Fellowship Hall downstairs. The kids set up a microphone for their skits. The boys were in one group and the girls in another. They worked for an hour to create their skits. I set up the video camera and sat on a table to catch all the action. The girls did a spoof of "We will, we will rock you" with a verse for each boy. The boys did various action skits that sure had us laughing. The lights were turned down and they danced until 2am and by 2:30 everyone was asleep.

We got the kids up at 7:30. They gathered up everything and loaded it all back on the bus for the last time. It was on to McDonalds for breakfast. Yesterday Paul ate lunch at McDonalds and received a survey, that if filled out would get him a free breakfast sandwich. He asked if he could have 28 more and they gave them to him! We allowed everyone a coupon for a free breakfast and $2.50 over that out of caravan funds.

We drove towards home and stopped at 1pm for lunch at Subway. Our next stop was at Matfield Green where Paul called Brenda to tell her we would be in around 7pm. Our last stop before we arrived home was at Harvest Park in Wichita where we had an ending prayer and the friendship circle where we were able to say a few words to each one.

We arrived at West Heights and parents were waiting. We unloaded the equipment into the sanctuary and set up for Sunday. Karen & I checked over the bus for lost and missing items. We said goodby to RK and hello to our families