Farewell, Hope House

Another amazing sunrise this morning.  In the last several days, we’ve been served up some spectacular sunrises, with just enough clouds to set the entire sky aflame with color.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
      and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
       and night to night reveals knowledge.  Psalm 19:1-2

So true.

Last day of work, a day to tie up loose ends.  And tie up we did.  Steve and I finished the trim in the addition to the N house, and Deb and Sharon finished up some curtains for Donna’s office.  The curtains were made from several towels that Donna had, and Deb and Sharon accepted the challenge of making curtains out of these.

We finished everything we had left and had the tools cleaned up and put away by noon.  Since there were no other projects in the queue, we were told we were free to go.

We had one last lunch in the cafeteria, sharing lunch with several of the staff and nearly all of the kids.  We’ve gotten to know a few of the kids enough to share conversations with them, most of those were from the Sonrise House, where all those with developmental challenges live.  They may have some challenges, but a lot of them are happy to see you and love it that you take the time to chat with them.

Other kids we know their names, or they are familiar because we’ve watched them play volleyball the last three weeks, still others we don’t know at all.  I imagine that would come with time, however there are some here that would be difficult to get to know because of the hurt from a difficult past.  We are thankful that they have “a home to come to”.

Having completed the work, we received our payment: a certificate and a Pay Day Bar.  After all, this is volunteer work.

After lunch we filled the water tank, aired up a couple tires, bade goodbye to our Group Leaders, who so generously took us under their wing these last three weeks, and hit the road.

We avoided the Interstate for as long as we could, instead taking ID-78 south through Bruneau.  We were able to avoid the craziness of Nampa and Boise and the surrounding areas and had a nice drive at the same time.

Then it was I-84 into Utah and we finally stopped for the night just west of Ogden, at a rest area along the freeway.  Not our favorite place to stay, but there was little other choices.  Some Walmarts allow overnight stays, but that is even less desirable than a lot of rest areas.

This rest area seemed rather quiet.  We parked in the nearly empty auto area, away from the three trucks in the truck area.  We were thinking this was going to be pretty all-right when the first train rumbled by.  The tracks are on the other side of the line of trees next to the parking area, so about 30 feet from us.  This was a long train, laboring heavily uphill, long enough to require additional locomotives in the middle.  We could hear each wheel as it rolled by.

Twenty minutes later, another train rumbled by in the other direction.

Another twenty minutes, and another train.  Could be interesting sleeping through all this.

Miles covered: 363