From A Traveling Expert

So I do a lot of traveling these days. Most of it is for work, but not all of it is. Until I began BVS I hadn't done very much traveling by plane or train, it had mostly been by car. Now flying has become almost like second nature. I am also extremely fond of taking the train whenever I can, it's by far one of my favorite ways to travel and I go by train whenever I can!

The other week I had a new experience with traveling. I used the Greyhound Bus service when I was in Oregon. It was one of the only ways to get where I needed to go and even then I wasn't quite there yet! Let me just tell you that whenever I travel I am always meeting and observing the people around me. There are some interesting characters around there. I'm sure other people think the same thing when they see me!

I've been thinking of two particular stories lately that I want to share. The first one comes from when I was traveling to Camp Myrtlewood in the southwestern corner of Oregon. I flew into the town of Eugene and then needed to get to the Greyhound station downtown to go south. I hadn't really thought about how I was going to get from the airport to the bus station but I figured that there would possibly be some kind of public transportation available. On board the plane I began talking to the gentleman sitting next to me, his name is Bob, and I came to find out that he's lived in Eugene for almost 40 years or so. I thought to myself, well maybe he'll know how I can get to where I need to go. So I asked him. Bob paused and thought about it for a little bit and then said that he wasn't sure, but he thought there might be a bus downtown or something like that. Then after another pause he said that he was getting picked up but he thought that they would be able to drop me off. After getting off the plane Bob was there waiting for me and together we walked to the baggage claim. He left me at the information desk while he went to get in a smoke outside. The woman at the information desk said that there was no public transportation to the bus station but that I could rent a car if I needed to and that there were shuttles available to the hotels nearby. Neither of which were helpful. I don't think she quite understood what I was asking for. So I went and found Bob outside and said that if he thought his friend could give me a lift, I'd gladly accept. Keep in mind that I don't typically do this!! So Bob and I sat and talked while we waited. He works for a saw mill and I shared with him about BVS and what it is and what it's like to be a volunteer. Mike came rollin up in his black Nissan truck and Bob went up and asked if they could drop me off at the bus station. Mike peered over Bob's shoulder at me and said sure. So I threw my stuff into the back and Bob sqeezed himself into the back seat somehow and off we went. I made it safely to the Greyhound station thanks to these two guys!

This experience reminded me of the time three years ago when I was headed down to Pensacola Florida for several weeks of disaster response. I was flying down there through the Atlanta airport. We left Atlanta and ended up circling around Pensacola unable to land so we were sent back to Atlanta. Once we were there we were given new tickets for the following morning and vouchers for hotels in the area. These vouchers were for hotel rooms at a discounted price. I wasn't really in the mood to pay the full amount and as I walked away from the kiosk I saw a woman that I had been talking to in line. I thought for a minute and then went up to her and asked if she was willing to split the cost of a room for the night. I told her that this wasn't something that I typically did, asking strangers to do something like this. I wasn't really up for spending $50 on a room, but I was more okay with $25. So Faith and I decided to split the cost of the hotel room. We talked about how this wasn't something that either of us had ever really done. But you know, it worked out really well. And it was nice to not have to spend New Years Eve in the Atlanta airport.

It's amazing to me how many stories come out of traveling. Some good ones like these and other not so good experiences. But I like to remember these because they tell of all the good people that are out there in the world and how our lives are so inter connected.