View

V is for View. I really thought long and hard on the "V" post. View seemed like it was a bit weak, but couldn't think of anything else. Let's start with the view from the house I grew up in. For several years we lived in a house just outside of Erie, Colorado. Our house sat on a little rise, and we had a great view of the Front Range. A couple of years ago I visited the old place and took this picture of the view.


VIEW FROM MY CHILDHOOD HOME IN ERIE, COLORADO

When I was a boy, I would spend a week every summer at Glacier View Ranch. I always had a good time at summer camp. A few years ago, I made a return visit to Glacier View. I hadn't been there since I was a boy. I was surprised by how much things looked the same. The view from the parking lot was just as I remembered it.


VIEW FROM GLACIER VIEW RANCH

One of the most beautiful views I have ever seen is the view from my brother-in-law Duane's cabin. It is located above Leadville, Colorado and the surroundings are beautiful. The view from Duane's cabin is as pretty as any view in the area.


VIEW FROM DUANE'S CABIN IN LEADVILLE, COLORADO

One of my favorite views is the view of my backyard. Each season has a special beauty. there are dogwoods and redbuds in the spring. In the summer the trees have so many leaves that you can't tell I live in town. I believe that it is the most beautiful in the fall. Here is a view of my backyard in the fall. Duane built the table and benches out of granite slabs.


VIEW OF MY BACKYARD IN THE FALL

The Talimena Scenic Drive has some of the most beautiful views in Arkansas. We are very blessed to have such beautiful views so close. Here are a couple of views from the Talimena Drive.


VIEW FROM GRAND VIEW VISTA


WINTER VIEW FROM THE TALIMENA SCENIC DRIVE

One of the most amazing views I have seen in Arkansas, is the view from The Lodge At Mount Magazine. Mount Magazine State park is the highest point in Arkansas. The lodge and the grounds surrounding it have breathtaking views. The great room has large windows that look out from the highest point in Arkansas.


VIEW FROM THE LODGE AT MOUNT MAGAZINE

The last few days we have been experiencing the effects of a very destructive ice storm.  Last Thursday freezing rain coated the trees and broke many trees causing many roads to be impassible and widespread electrical outages.  Here in town we were without electricity for about 24 hours, but many Polk County residents are still without power 6 days later.  Here is the view down Polk Road 70.

VIEW DOWN POLK ROAD 70 NEAR MENA, ARKANSAS

You can read the blog post that I wrote shortly after our electricity was restored by clicking here.  Even though the ice storm was so destructive, it created some beautiful scenes.  This photo was taken near my house.

VIEW DOWN SOUTH MENA STREET

After all of this ice and cold weather, I saved my favorite view for last. Gina and I love to visit Belize. Our favorite place is San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. The last two times we have visited San Pedro, we have stayed at the SunBreeze Hotel right on the beach. The view from our room was beautiful. Right now we are having freezing rain and sleet here in Arkansas. I wish I was in Belize with this view.


VIEW FROM THE SUNBREEZE HOTEL IN SAN PEDRO, BELIZE

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Transportation

T is for transportation. There are many different kinds of transportation, so we are going to look at a number of them.


STEAMBOATS

There were two main types of transportation that allowed this country to expand at such a fast pace in the 1800's. The first was steamboats. The first commercial steamboat transportation was Between Albany, New York, and New York City in 1807. Before long there were steamboats on just about every navigable river in the U.S.


BIG AND LITTLE

The need to transport goods to and from places that were not on a waterway brought about the steam locomotive. The first railroad to transport goods in the U.S. was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The first steam powered vehicle in the U.S. was the Tom Thumb locomotive that operated on the Baltimore and Ohio tracks starting in 1830.


1940 BUICK LIMITED

The automobile changed the way Americans traveled, and just about put an end to train travel as a way of getting around. Americans are now very mobile. My Daddy loves to buy and sell old cars. This 1940 Buick gets a lot of attention when he drives it.


TINY VW

Cars come in all sizes as you can see here. I was driving down the street in Valle Hermoso, Mexico when I spotted this tiny VW Beetle. I pulled over to talk to the owner and took a picture of it. He wanted me to get in it for a picture.


MOTORCYCLES IN EUREKA SPRINGS

In the area where I live, Motorcycles are very popular. The Christian Motorcycle Association is headquartered here. Motorcyclist come from hundred and sometimes thousands of miles away to ride the roads and see the beauty of the area.

I love to travel to Belize. San Pedro, Belize is on a densely populated island, so it has its own special transportation needs. Here are some photos of transportation in San Pedro


RIDING TO WORK


SAN PEDRO FERRY


SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION


MIKE'S BOAT


WATER TAXI


GOLF CART


TRAVELING SALESMAN


SAILBOAT

As you can see, San Pedro has many varied forms of transportation. Just about everyone who travels to San Pedro travels by air. Flying is the newest form of transportation. Today, the global airline industry consists of over 2000 airlines operating more than 23,000 aircraft, providing service to over 3700 airports. Last year, the world’s airlines flew almost 28 million scheduled flight departures and carried over 2 billion passengers


FLYING HIGH

What types of transportation do you use?

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Signs

S is for Signs. Whenever I have my camera with me I like to take pictures of unusual signs. This one taken in San Pedro Belize has to be one of my all time favorites. No we didn't eat there.



It seems like the maintenance men at King's Casino in Louisiana would have noticed that some maintenance was needed. It's a sin.



Just because there is a restaurant and a motel on the same premises doesn't mean that they should share the sign. We were hungry, but not that hungry.



Lake Leatherwood, near Eureka Springs, Arkansas, is formed by one of the largest hand-cut native limestone dams in the country. The dam and several structures at the park were built in the early 1940s by the WPA. This sign on the lake appears to have been built in the 40's but I'm not quite sure why it was needed.



Here is a music video made from my pictures of signs. One of my favorite songs from the 70's is "Signs" by "The Five Man Electrical Band". It seemed like an appropriate song for this post. Take a look.




I took all of the sign photos in this post and in the video except this one that I found on the internet this morning.  Since I was posting about signs, I just had to add this one more.

Always make sure and read the fine print!

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The Seventh Day Adventist Church

This article was published in the June 26, 2013 issue of The Polk County Pulse.  The article was written by Michael Reisig.  I sat down for an interview with him last week.

The mission of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Fairgrounds Road in Mena is to make disciples of all the people, communicating the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels' messages of Revelation 14:6-12, leading them to accept Jesus as their personal Savior, discipling them to serve Him, and preparing them for His soon coming.  The Seventh-Day Adventists believe particularly in the soon coming of Jesus Christ and that is essential to their philosophy. The history of the area church goes back over a century, to 1905, when it was first organized by Elder L. W. Feltner.

In 1957, the congregation purchased the old school building in Dallas Valley.  The church met there until 1990 when they moved to the current church building on Fairgrounds Road.  The construction was funded entirely by the congregation and was debt free at its completion.

The church has a pastor that serves several Seventh Day churches in the area, but the Head Elder of the church is Richie Lawry, who has been with the organization for over three decades.  Lawry grew up in Colorado, graduating from high school in 1973 and becoming involved in the auto repair industry.  He met his wife, Regina, in high school and they were married in 1975.

"My dad came to Mena to visit a friend and he liked it so much he ended up buying two houses," Lawry recalled.  "My wife and I visited here and liked it just as well so we moved here in 1981.  Shortly after settling here, I became involved with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and have been with them ever since."

Within a few years Lawry became an elder and went on to become head elder in 2000.  "To me, and to us here, it is the worshiping of Jesus on the 7th day that binds us," Lawry explained.  "Jesus, when he attended the synagogue, went on the Sabbath.  I want to live my life by the 10 Commandments, and one of those is to worship God on the seventh day.  We are also a church that has a passion for missions and helping the community.  We have a soup kitchen each Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and anyone and everyone is welcome to come by for a free meal.  We generally provide meals for over 130 people.

"We have also funded and helped build a church in San Pedro, Belize, and funded the building materials for 29 churches in Africa," Lawry continued.  "We work with a company that offers kits to build open-walled churches that can be framed in if desired.  The kits are delivered in large boxes and can be assembled in a day."

Lawry added that his is an extremely generous congregation, willing to help and to give, and although they are not generally a wealthy people, they always give from their hearts.

"If you'd like to see what the Seventh-Day Adventist philosophy is all about, we'd love to have you come out and visit with us and meet the people of our congregation," Lawry added.  "We meet on Saturday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., which includes a Bible study period and a church service at 11 a.m., and as of July 1 we will be meeting on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. studying books of the Bible.

Judith

JUDITH AND I

I first met Judith in the spring of 2004 when a group from my church traveled to San Pedro Belize to help build a church. Gina and I made friends with her and her family. Gina never lets me forget that I once told her that Judith was the most beautiful woman in San Pedro.


JUDITH IN 2004

Every time we have visited in Belize we make sure that we get to spend some time with Judith and her kids. She has a lovely family.


JUDITH AND HER CHILDREN

On one trip to Belize we were able to bring Judith's son Andrew a nebulizer which he needed for his asthma. The machines are very expensive in Belize, but we were able to get one at wholesale through a friend who was the administrator of a nursing home. Another friend had 144 doses of the medicine that was needed for use in the nebulizer because of a mistaken shipment that the company would not take back. Before we went through customs in Belize we said a prayer and asked that God would help us get through without paying duty. The one suitcase they opened was the one with the nebulizer and medicine. They asked what it was , and Gina told them it was for asthma. They wanted to know how much medicine was there. Gina told them I hope enough. They let us go through.


ANDREW AT SCHOOL

Judith is active in her church. The Belizeans have a tradition that during the church service, two deacons stand at the front of the church just in front of the pulpit on either side. One church service a year is designated as Womens' Service, and the women are in charge. We happened to be visiting that week, and the women in the church asked Gina to speak. Judith was one of the deaconesses that stood in front of the church during the service. Her daughter wanted to stand with her.


DEACONESS JUDITH

Gina and I love to visit in Judith's home and see her kids. We always try to bring some clothes with us that will fit her kids. They love to try on the clothes and have a little fashion show. When Wal-Mart is having end of summer clearance, we buy clothes and save them for our next trip to Belize.


JUDITH AT HOME


GINA IN JUDITH'S STORE

The last time that we were in Belize, Judith and her daughter walked over a mile from her house to our motel to see us off as we were leaving. I am humbled and amazed by the kindness and friendliness of the Belizean people, and am proud that Judith counts me a a friend.


JUDITH VISITING IN OUR MOTEL

One day as I was reading the San Pedro Sun Blog, there in the first picture of the blog was Judith with two of her kids. What a pleasant surprise. It made me want to see her and all of our other friends in Belize.


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