Day 145- Observations

Observations from the road:

Illinois had the friendliest drivers

Nebraska was the loneliest state

Illinois had the jerkiest cops

Missouri was the prettiest state

Colorado was the most majestic state

Generally people were very kind

Missouri had the worst drivers

Easier to get drivers to pick me up in Illinois

Pastors seemed to be the least hospitable people

Quincy, Illinois was the friendliest city so far

Aurora, NE had the friendliest cops

The Mahnken Ranch in Salisbury MO:  I spent the most time in one place

Worst night: Astoria, Illinois. Had to sleep in the gazebo located in the town square. Slept on the cold concrete with the wind howling out of the north making it around 25 degrees. Then a sheriff's deputy kicked me in the ribs around 2am told me I was breaking the law sleeping there

Best all around meal(s): Peg Haerr in Taylor MO. Unbelievable food!

Strangest event: Monica from Quincy pulled over on Rt 24 near Rushville, IL and offered to drive me to the next town and offered me a back massage. Stayed with her for 2 weeks

Most dangerous moment: nearly fell over backwards off bridge over a creek near Quincy, IL when I sat down on the ledge

Day 5 of counting my blessings

Its day 5 the last day to count my blessings on FB. Here they are:

1. Protection from all things bad when traveling through the mile high city especially when walking the streets and trails at night.

2.  My hosts, the Nelsons, Rich, Marge and young Jeremiah for putting up with my idiosyncratic behavior and for their generosity.

3. For those who oppose my views so I am forced to consider the other sides of an argument.

Finished up my Sept 24 column for the Morton Times-News

Finished writing and editing my next column. It's about the Cafe in downtown Denver for the homeless, the SAME Cafe where I volunteer every Tuesday.

I am at day 4 for counting my blessings. Those can be found below:

1.  Reconnecting with old friends from the past;

2.  My daily bread--God's provision;

3.  The Morton Times-News and news editor, Adam Larck.

Volunteered at the SAME Cafe today

Worked the afternoon shift at the SAME Cafe. Spent most of my time peeling beets. The beets would later be roasted.

I then made some tea for tomorrow and closed by sweeping and mopping the dining room.

Met Jen and James Floyd James II--got to love that name, James James!, both of whom regularly volunteer. Regaled both with tales from the road. James seemed particularly interested in my stories of Quincy, IL where Monica the masseuse picked me up on Rt 24 took me to her home and gave me a badly needed back massage. I then stayed with her and her 15 year old son for 2 weeks. James wants to move to Quincy! He cannot believe how friendly people are in Quincy. Told him it's a Midwestern thing.

Jen moved to Denver recently from London. She spent her childhood in Florida. I believe she is a marketing executive who travels internationally.

After work I took the train to Englewood and walked to Fireside and worked on my September 24 column for the Morton Times-News.

Spoke to Audrey the lovely barista and fellow book lover. She and I decided that we will climb Pike's Peak together in 2 weeks assuming weather allows. Pikes Peak is 14,000 some feet the second tallest peak in CO. We both agreed that we love to test ourselves to see what we are actually made of.

This is day 3 of counting my blessings. The 3 things I am thankful for are:

1. The desire to change; to be willing to look at things differently

2.  New friends like Audrey, the Birkys, Jen, Janelle, Cole, Johanna, Cecilia and other staff at the cafe

3. My new FB friend, Professor Mike Foster, perhaps the foremost expert on all things JRR Tolkien. He is the North American Representative of the Tolkien Society. He is, I believe, the first academician allowed to examine Tolkien's handwritten manuscript of The Lord of The Ring

The first pic is Jen. The 2nd pic is Janelle who runs the kitchen. The last pic is Audrey.

Thank God its Monday!

Worked at Heartland Construction today. Howard and I went looking for another company truck.

After work walked to Fireside and settled into my usual alcove to get some more work done on my book.

Audrey made whipped up my usual--a ginger iced tea. Perfectly done as usual.

Checked on whether the paperback book I ordered came in at Fireside. It did not.

Reviewed Marty Wombacher's blog about being back in Peoria. He moved from Peoria to Manhattan in the early 90s then came back to Peoria and is blogging about all the stuff Peoria offers. He is a very prolific blogger to say the least.

Tomorrow working my afternoon shift at the SAME Cafe on Colfax. Will hit the Tattered Cover an independent bookseller across from Union Station earlier in the morning.

Will continue my interview of the Birkys and other employees and volunteers at the Cafe. My Sept 24 column will center around the Cafe and its owners, workers and founding. Its a unique business model and humanitarian/philanthropic concept.I really enjoyed by first day there last week.

Its day 2 of counting my blessings. So here I go:

1.  For now, relatively good health barring eruptions from my hyperparathyroidism;

2. My 3 children: Joshua, Andrew and Allyson. Could not imagine life without them. Want to include my ex-stepdaughter, Clara. She has been my dear stepdaughter since 2002 when she was only 3 years old and always will be my dear daughter.

3. My 2 lovely, talented and awesome former wives. I have learned much from both. I pray for their continued success in life.

Day 141- Sunday night

Spent the day writing, "The Happy Stream" at Fireside in Englewood, CO.

Audrey, the lovely barista here at Fireside wants to start a book club and I agreed to join it and help out. I have joined other book clubs and have enjoyed them immensely.

I was nominated by Julia Moore to count my blessings, 3 a day for the next 5 days. So, here I go:

1. The Lord's day where I could worship Him according to the dictates of my heart and mind;

2.  People who love and watch out for me;

3.  Good books.

The Happy Stream

The hidden blue-iced brook
Uncoils out of St. Mary's Glacier
Cutting across wood-skirted
Meadows
Through boulders
And around the tall golden aspens
Reaching for the Sun.

The Glacier stteam Drops into
The grassy
Sheep pastures, past abandoned
Trapper cabins and,

Crumbling ruins of barns.

Waving goodbye
The sapphire stream
Smirks 
As the beavers' ambitions
Come to
Nought
As she dances
About
Their little sticks
Winking as she bubbles
Under
An
Ancient, oak-covered
Bridge
Through a snoozy village
Around a long forgotten
Weed-choked
Pioneer churchyard.

The happy stream
Now weeps,
Remembering
The country parson
Extolling
The tender love of
The Christ of God
And memories of
Long-ago pilgrims,
Wanderers
Who hewed towns
From an empty
Wilderness
Who now slumber below
Dreaming
Of a Holy City
Coming down.

A kingdom,
Where tears
Goodbyes and
Regrets are forever banished.

The smiling stream,
Now
Flows
Past the Throne
Becoming the
River of Living Water

guarded,

By the Tree of Life,

As the once and forever,
Happy stream,
Empties,
  Into,
        A,
             Glassy,
                  Sea of forgetfulness.

By BR Schoenbein
2014