CBF alive and well in Virginia

[JE Pettibone]

Yesterday we CBF church for the first time in a long while. Of course there are a lot more of them in Virginia than at home in Florida.

Starling Avenue Baptist in Martinsville Virginia is housed in a beautiful huge edifice but on this holiday weekend there where less than 60 in attendance at the 11:00 A.M. service. Counting Trudy and I there where eleven in the adult Sunday School class. The otherwise rather traditional service was led by Co-Pastors Ashley and Brian Harrington, with Ashley being the preacher of the day. There was an interpreter for about 12 deaf participants who by their interaction prior to the service seem to be regulars. The Hymnal is Celebrating Grace . We will probably go back Tuesday evening for the community meal to which we where invited.

[Dave Roberts]

Glad you had the chance to worship with them.

[JE Pettibone]

[Dave Roberts]

I don't know how much you have learned about Martinsville, but it has been a tough place for the past few years. It was the center of Virginia's furniture industry and at one time was reputed to have more millionaires than any city of a comparable size in the US. With the exodus of most of the furniture manufacturing, unemployment has run as high as 22%. Churches have of course been hurting because of both the loss of good-paying jobs and the general loss of population. The area has been trying to make a comeback, and it shows some promise. I don't know how it will all turn out. My interest in Martinsville is that my paternal grandfather lived in Martinsville from about 1915 until his death in 1948.

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: To Dave Roberts Thanks very much for the information above re Martinsville, Va., which confirms some of what I had begun to surmise. There are signs that the town once had been very prosperous and that a good bit of that old money is still here. However there is possibly less new construction going on than any place of similar size that we have seen since we started our travels in 2016. And by the end of August we expect to have had the motor home in each of the lower 48 states. and parts of Canada.

We (Trudy and I) have been in all of them but we didn't have an RV until the spring of 2016 and of course we left the N/E in September of that year. We usually do most of our RVing outside of Florida between April and Mid September, but this year So. Fla. has a home football game the first weekend of Sept. We look forward to seeing old friends from both CBF and ABC during the remainder of June and then July and August.

l

[JE Pettibone]

Ed: We finally left Virginia last Wednesday after a few days at a campground west of DC near Haymarket Va. On Wednesday we moved 57 miles north and east to College Park Maryland, the home of the University of Maryland. Cherry Hill RV park and Campground which has a Metro Bus station at the entrance, is highly recommended in RV circles, for those looking to visit DC., it does also have tent camping sites. The bus takes us to a transfer point where we catch a train into DC. On Thursday we went into the city to watch the Salute to America Parade from the corner of 7th st and Constitution Avenue, sitting on a retaining wall in front of the Archives building.

We waited over an hour for the parade to start temperature at 99 and humidity 87%. After the parade we found a great eating place Harriet's in the Harrison hotel which looks sort of shabby on the outside, however the restaurant was clean and neat. Not Bad prices considering the location. I had a great cold corned beef sandwich. The sandwich was so large that I could only eat half of it so I took a take home box although I knew I wasn't going to carry it far, back on Pennsylvania Ave I found a homeless man with a shelter set up, using a park bench as the base, he struck up a conversation w/o asking for any thing, I asked if the "tent" was his home, when he replied affirmatively I asked if he could eat half of a corned beef sandwich he excitedly said "I Shure could " I said here you go and he said "God bless you" and we parted.


Outside of the Trump Hotel as a group identifying themselves only as a Christian Ministry of about 12 or 14 with Pictures of Celebrities, both black and white who have died over the past three decades who they claim where murdered and the murders are still on the street. They said they where there to seek President Trump's attention and to seek his help in bringing those responsible to justice. They where drawing no crowd, one man did persist in challenging their claims The woman who seemed to be their leader called the man by name and told him that he knows he is not welcome it was apparent that they have had previous conflicts. She said "the policeman told you to leave us alone, we have a permit to be here and the man replied "he said you have a right to speak, but he can not give you permission to spread lies and you have no right to lie." The apparent leader and others in the group where trying to shout him down and one of the women was told 'to go get that policeman,' she disappeared around the corner of the building returning a few minutes later saying "he called it in, now you get out of here" I could not hear his reply. As he retreated, this Christian woman gave him a one finger salute with each hand.

On friday we took a series of busses and trains for me to get to the VA Hospital for my quarterly blood check. The facility shows some signs of age and use but seemed clean and bright. Thre is a special bus at the end of the Metro line that runs to the VA Hospital and two other area Hospitals which share a medical complex. To get a quck meal we had to go to the canteen ans purchas what we wanted and take it to the buildings atrium to eat, as the cafeteria is closed for renovation. By the time we got back down town the heat was quite bothersome and it was too late to get into the White House visitors center, so we came back to the RV park.

These last two parks have nice swiming pools but you have to stay in the pool or bake I prefer our own air conditioning while reading or whatching TV. This park also has a nice lounge comparable to many hotels, the also have a good snack bar that they call a cafe. The do make great sandwiches the coffe and Iced tea are only ok.

[JE Pettibone]

Last Thursday we where preparing to depart the DC area. We again visited the stick and bricks home of a couple who winter at Citrus Valley in Clermont, the park we call home. Pam and George live near Jefferson Maryland in a large home over looking miles of rolling hills. for some years they traveled in a 43ft Dual axel class A. I continue to be surprised at the variety of life styles among our friends in the RVing Family. On Tuesday the heat was to much for Trudy and she came back to the coach and amenities of Cherry Hill while I went into the city and visited the National Museum of African American History & Culture. In my way of thinking every American Needs to make a pilgrimage to this institution. I will be back, because I had not allowed enough time for my visit and I was there three and a half hours. I would suggest at least a day and a half, so much to learn. I would like to hear the opinions of any one else who has visited there. The biggest thing I came away with was a new understanding of why 11:00 AM on Sunday is the Most segregated hour of the week.

[JE Pettibone]

Thursday and Friday we added another two states to our map of states where we have had the RV. Delaware and Connecticut, we had already been RVing in New Jersey and New York when we lived in the Northeast. There are 4 states yet to complete the map, RI, Main,
Vermont & New Hampshire .

We are presently near Mystic Ct, at the Seaport RV resort and Campground. I am disappointed that we missed a visit with Phyllis Boozer who is the CBFNE coordinator. We had thought we might attend Church at Wilton Ct. where she is a member, but when we contacted Phyllis as we approached that area on Friday we discovered that she was away and would not be returning until this afternoon. Unfortunately we found no place to camp near Wilton in any of our Camping guides, before we got this far east. It seems most of the Campgrounds in Ct are well north of the coast and I= 95 follows the coat closely.

[Dave Roberts]

Your adventures are fun to follow. Thanks for sharing them.