Saturday

Tropical Storm Barry now has 60 MPH winds and is headed much closer to Tampa than previously (mis)forecasted.  By 8AM waves of spiral bands with torrential downpours are hitting.  By 9AM we are seeing the full force of the tropical storm.  Steve and I decide to load the bus to keep the teens dry.  They have a concert scheduled at 10AM at the Methodist Retirement Center about 2 miles away.  We had the bus park in the dead center of a very quiet street to be as high above the water as possible.  The rain was falling so fast, it couldn’t drain.  Steve and I wore swimwear since drenching was inevitable.  After loading, we had Raymond move the bus as close to the raised sidewalk as he could.  The rain was falling slower so the teens were able to load without getting soaked.  By the time we arrived at the retirement home, the rain had nearly stopped but there were big puddles everywhere.

The SonSeekers performed at the Methodist Retirement Home.  This home is an inner-city facility and most of the residents are not very well off.  The crowd was small but seemed very appreciative.  I think the fact that the program coordinator was off on Saturday affected attendance.  Of note, the postman stopped for a while and listened.  He seemed to really enjoy the music.  After the performance, the teens spent a few minutes talking to the residents.  They were very appreciative.  By the time we left, the rain was completely gone.  The wind continued to gust and there was a lot of water and a bit of debris everywhere.

We had lunch at the Westshore Mall then headed to St Petersburg.  The water level in the Tampa Bay was very high.  At times, waves crashed above the concrete barriers leading to the Howard Frankland bridge.  The roadway stayed clear of water, barely.  I heard several of the causeways were closed.  We arrived at The Abbey Rehab Center in St Pete in the early afternoon.  Again the activities director wasn’t there but we still had a number of residents who enjoyed the concert.  At one point during the concert the kids could see a man on the floor in the hall who appeared to have fallen.  I could see something had their attention and once I saw him I rushed to help him.  The staff quickly interrupted me explaining that his just lays down periodically wherever he happens to be.

Next we went to Tyrone Square Mall and had an early supper.  Then we found Oakhurst UMC in Seminole.  Here we met host families who would house us for the night.  Our host family joined with 2 others at the house one of them had on the beach.  The combined group had 8 teens and 2 chaperones, and 3 hosts.  The teens splashed in the pool and had a good time.  Later we split and went to the actual homes.

Sunday

The Son Seekers sang at two services at Oakhurst UMC.  Phil was well known (and well loved) at this church.  After the services, we were fed lunch.  We had a few extra minutes so we rode over to Madeira Beach and walked on the beach.  Since we had a concert to go to, we were dressed to well to do anything but walk.  After a little while, we went to the Seminole Square Retirement Center.  This is a very upscale place.  There were nearly 100 residents at the concert which they seemed to very much enjoy.  After the concert, we headed to St Luke UMC in St Pete. 

It was an exciting moment when we arrived at St Luke UMC and Peter was there to meet us.  He was feeling better and his father had brought him to join us.  St Lukes fed us supper and then we gave a concert in their sanctuary.  The people here also knew and loved Phil.  St Luke also provided host homes for the night.

Pictures:

TS Barry

Loading bus in TS Barry

Methodist Home

SonSeekers at Madeira Beach

Singing at Oakhurst UMC

SonSeekers in front of Oakhurst UMC 

Singing at St Luke UMC

Wednesday PM

Sandra had a final rehearsal before hitting the road.  Everyone got an orange ‘tour shirt’ to have in addition to the usual Son Seekers shirt.  We found out that Raymond will be our driver.  We had Raymond the two previous years also.

Back at home there is a lot of packing and last minute details.

Thursday

There was a final packing and a good bye to all of the pets left at home.  This applied to everyone except Ashley, who carried her pet to the drop-off point at Cokesbury.  Ashley got to say bye to Gizmo, her Chihuahua just before departure.  At the church, the tour bus was here and everyone was excited to be going.  The only down point was Peter was too sick to go.  Everyone has arrived on time including Kathy who arrives at the last minute.  We had a final prayer before leaving. 

We said goodbye and off we went.  The first stop was a rest area at the 191 mile marker on I-10.  The thrill is still in the air.  We were then back on the road.  We didn’t stop for lunch until 12:30 (there aren’t many places to feed 31 people between Tallahassee and Gainesville).  We stopped at the Oaks Mall in Gainesville.

After lunch, were back on the road toward Tampa.  We arrived in Tampa about 17:00.  We crossed town in rush hour then found Hyde Park UMC.  We unloaded the bus and went to the International Mall in the Westshore area.  It is a very upscale mall with the fancy named stores as tenants (Tiffany, et cetera).

We returned to Hyde Park UMC for devotion time.  Kaitlin W read scripture and talked about purpose.  There was quite a bit of discussion.  We were watching a tropical depression that wasn’t expected to do much.

Friday

Today was our first play day.  We had breakfast at McDonalds and headed to Busch Gardens.  Busch Gardens is probably the best one day theme park there is.  There are rides of several intensities, many animals, and a good variety of shows.  By late afternoon, there was a steady shower and we headed out.  Supper was at a nearby Sonny’s Barbeque.  Tonight’s devotion was by Ashley.  The tropical depression now has 39 MPH winds making it Tropical Storm Barry.  It is headed north of the Tampa Bay area and not expected to strengthen any more.

Pictures:

The Prayer Circle

At the rest area

Animals at Busch Gardens (2)

A roller coaster at Busch Gardens

Wow, All of the sudden I lost touch.  A few friends who actually read my Apprentice blogs noticed that I fell off the face of the earth after Week 8.  Actually I didn't completely fall off the face of the earth but a lot did happen.  First my laptop died.  I was in Chicago and using the internet in the demo room at my conference.  The demo room was the only place with free wireless internet.  It started doing a Java update that I didn't ask for.  Anyway, it was time to go so I closed up the laptop and left.  After checking in at Ohare, I opened the laptop to the blue screen of death.  I rebooted x 6 to no avail.  I called Dell and was on the phone with them for an hour including boarding my flight.  Eventually the flight attendent said to turn off electronic devices, so I did.  The next day, from home I called Dell back.  The long and short of it was I had to reinitialize the laptop and lost my documents on the computer.  The good news was that everything essential was also on my desktop.  The bad news is that I lost 2 weeks of Apprentice thoughts and I never caught up.

 

The Apprentice ended with Stefani winning over James.  Stefani played the game well.  She worked hard in the shadows and was always praised by her fellow candidates.  James was sharp but a bit too full of himself.  I was happy for Stefani to win.

 

The next thing for me is that from the last week of April to June 10th, I am out of town more than I am in.  I had a business trip to Chicago; Dallas; Anderson, SC; and Dallas (again).  I chaporoned the fifth grade patrol trip (with Kid3) to Valdosta, GA and the Cokesbury United Methodist Church Son Seekers all over Florida.  Also, we are totally remodeling a bathroom at home in our spare time.

 

One of the trips was also quite an adventure.  The second Dallas trip was supposed to have me leave Dallas at 4:45PM and arrive in Pensacola at 6:30PM.  I was then supposed to run to Gulf Breeze for the 2007 Peru Mission Trip meeting.  Well the weather in Dallas was bad and my flight was cancelled.  Due to the Memorial Day Holiday weekend, I couldn't be rebooked for 3-4 days.  So I ended up renting a car and 2 coworkers and I drove the 600 miles to Pensacola.  We left Dallas at about 5PM in rush hour and bad weather.  It was 100 miles later in Tyler where we outran the bad weather.  We arrove in Pensacola at 5 something the next morning.  It was a couple of days later when I caught up on sleep.

 

I am now on the choir tour facing limited internet availability.  Starting tomorrow, I will reflect on the choir tour.

 

Attached pictures:  Bathroom #3 stripped to the studs