Bykered & Co.

We pulled out about eleven and had a very uneventful trip to Sturgis, Kentucky. A Food Giant supermarket gave us permission to stay in a corner of their lot. We napped and read this afternoon.
E&R arrived about 4:30 quite tired from the worst of hills. Yesterday they needed to use their Granny (lowest) gear for the first time. Today it was worse, they needed to walk. But the worst was yet to come.
When Ed opened the big back door to stash things away he discovered that the wet role of outdoor carpet had leaked water over everything. Unfortunately their important papers bag had been placed back there and everything was soaked. We now have papers lying all over the front of the cab seats, etc. to dry. If only I had double bagged that carpet. What a mess. We draped the carpet over a lamp post and the water RAN, not dripped, out of the corner.
After supper we chatted about where to meet tomorrow. Also a spoke broke on the rear wheel making it a bit out of line. Ed released the brake a bit so that they now only have brakes on the front. He says it is not a serious problem as it is flat land tomorrow.
This afternoon they had what could be called a miracle. They stopped at a Texaco station to gas-up the bike – well, no not exactly, it was to ask directions to the bike shop. The clerk said oh it is at least five miles on the other side of town. Someone else in the station said that is a great shop. A woman customer overheard and said he is my brother and I’ll give him a call. She promptly announced that her brother the owner will be right over. He was there in 10 minutes and loaded up the bike. He said I’ll take you to my house which is near here because he also has equipment at the house. At the house he repaired the broken spoke and trued the both front and back wheels. He also checked the tires, shifting and brakes. He loves working at bikes. He worked three years in a factory making bike wheels. And then he said there is no charge but Ed gave him thirty dollars which he did not refuse. Then he said he would take them part way out of town past the traffic but just kept going. Ed asked what he was doing. He said he was just going to take them right to their camp. What a blessing he was. We estimated that he was not much older than 25. What an angel.
Today several times we passed under or over what looked a bit like a conveyor belt which ran for miles across the beautiful fields. When I got to what appeared to be a farm supply store I pulled in. When I walked in the man at the door queried, “You want Propane?” I had parked beside the propane tank. When I said no the half dozen other guys laughed and kidded the first man. I asked how big a bet they had. They joked some more. I told them I was a former farmer and curious about what the were growing in this community. They said primarily corn and soybeans with some tobacco. Then I asked about the conveyor like thing snaking across the country. One man said it is a coal tipple bringing coal from the fields quite some distance and taking it to the barges on the Ohio River. Another said no, it is taking it from the barges to the power plant. At least I learned it is moving coal to one place or another and truly a conveyor.
Some interesting comments along the way; In Mobile a man told Ed, I have a good psychiatrist you should see for riding that far. At a McDonalds there were a number of older guys one of whom bikes a bit who said about the trip, “You have more d… nerve than sense.”
So here we are relaxing this evening at Diamond Lake Resort [camp]. We plan to take two nights here so the bikers can have a day off. When we arrived I soon got on the computer with their good WiFi service, down and uploading email and adding more to the Blog.
They did about 70 miles today. The total miles finished to date are about 850 with about 1200 to go.
There was a restaurant here at this campground and we decided to enjoy their fish buffet this evening. It was very good with tilapia, shrimp, catfish and frog legs and a lot of other goodies.
Back at the mh we played several games of Rummikub. Ed and Miriam are quite competitive and Rhoda and I enjoy laughing at them. We finally called it a day at ten and hit the sack.

Saturday 28. When we could have laid in we all got up at our usual time of six. This is a day off for the bikers and we kept the breakfast to good cold cereal and hot coffee.
Ed went to the main office to download and respond to his enormous backlog of email. He was there several hours. Miriam and I listened to Cartalk and then walked around this rather large campground. There are quite a number of little lakes with many campers fishing. They are charged a fee. The owner told us he dumped 500 pound of fish in it last night. Laughing, he said he hoped each fisher caught one to keep them interested but no more.
Rhoda did her laundry and hung it out next door then vacuumed the MH. Miriam and Rhoda have been making a crock-pot of bean and ham soup. It is a day of clear blue skies and we were out enjoying it. This afternoon Ed washed the MH and Miriam and I did our needle work while chatting with the Longeneckers. What a beautiful day. By evening it began to get rather cool. Ed reminded us that it will likely be this way the entire trip as we move along with spring moving north. We noticed that the tulips are about finished here. It is a continuous change of vegetation.
At six we listened to a great Prairie Home Companion from Columbus, GA.
After supper outside we decided to have our worship by ourselves since we will not be attending worship anywhere tomorrow. We sang a lot of great hymns and often shared what their messages meant to each other – sang until my voice had had it. Then I shared the message I gave in West Bethany on Palm Sunday and we talked about it. This was the one John Kraybill said was the best he ever heard me preach. We sacked out at 10:30; a nice relaxing day, change of pace.

Sunday 29. We had our breakfast and were on the road by 7:30 taking bike and bikers with us the some 10 miles from camp to the east side of Owensboro, KY. We then shopped at a Wal*Mart. It seemed exceptionally large and new. But the Pharmacy was still closed.
On we went following Miss Annie of GPS over some beautiful scenic back roads off and on beside the Great Ohio River. We stopped several places to watch locks and tugboats. What a waterway.
I felt disappointed going past many churches and not having that larger shared worship experience.
This vehicle is a honey to operate. It is a Winnebago model View. It is mounted on a Dodge Sprinter Chassis with a Mercedes Benz diesel engine. It has been getting about 18 MPG. It handles just great.
About 11:30 when we turned a corner I told Miriam that building with those many full size vans looks like an Old Order Mennonite church. A couple miles down the road we became confused about the road and turned right, and right there was a mailbox with “Burkholder” on it. No one was home so I left a little card with my name and where we would be. Then we retraced our steps. When we arrived at the corner again there was a sign with Mennonite Church on it. Some folks were coming out and identified myself to a man and told him I had seen the name Burkholder on the mailbox. I was informed he was there and would be glad to see me. This individual’s name was Gehman and his folks moved to Paraguay from Lancaster County when he was about five. He married a woman of Russian Mennonite origin. I asked if he knew Aquila Reihl. He said he does and he his well and sharp as a tack. He invited us for lunch but we decided we had better head for the campsite. I told this man that it was a joy to see Mennonites here. I further said that even though we may have our differences there is a deep sense in which we feel part of one another. He feebly agreed.
This time we found it. No services. So this will be “boon docking.” For those not in the know, that is when an RV parks at a site where no water, sewer or electric are available and a generator and tanked water are used as needed.
Soon after we parked the Burkholder family arrived. We already had a sandwich lunch. His father moved to Goshen, IN when he was a boy. However, he wanted to know if we knew a John Rudy? Sure, we both go to Forest Hills. He said John’s wife Lucy’s sister was is mother – if I have it straight. He invited us to a hymn sing tonight. Later when Ed called, he said, sure lets do it.
We had the delicious salmon chowder that Miriam makes, sacked out a bit and then hiked a bit in the woods thinking we would soon reach the mighty Ohio River. It turned out to be much farther away than the tug boats sounded.
We tried to dress as appropriately as we knew how for this evening’s service with this conservative Mennonite group. We arrived about 7:15 and they warmly welcomed us in. Inside the door the woman took us in all the ladies were standing and the men on the other side of the room. They soon got caught up in trying to make various kinds of family connections. One man and woman were bother and sister to the man who runs Akron Pretzel Bakery and there were other scattered persons we knew in common with them.
The women all clustered on the one side should have been our cue, but I did not get it until this brother offered to find seats for Ed and I – separate from the women. Haven’t had that experience since Stumptown did it for old time’s sake at their anniversary.
There hymnals were the blue Church Hymnal, The Mennonite Hymnery and Zion’s praises. The second is produced by the Church of Christ Mennonite, known as the Haldemans, a bit like Beachy Amish. The latter is published by and Aaron weaver from Ephrata. The latter two are mostly gospel songs from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The young man opening the service said they would primarily be using Zion’s Praises. He chose and led the first three songs and then another young man who appeared Hispanic led three and another brother led three. Next there was an intermission in which another brother talked about and illustrated how some hymns or parts would go on being sung in heaven and others would no longer be appropriate. Interesting!
After that various it was opened for the congregation to select songs. Usually the selector would say something like, “Will someone please lead number…..” Occasionally the individually would lead it themselves. The songs were led without much zest. Many of these were songs that needed to have some zip added to them. They used the traditional pitch pipe, and mostly looked down at his book with little eye contact with the audience. Rhoda and I were both dying to get up and lead them, but of course we knew that could never work. But it was a joy to sing with them. We even learned a few new ones. Some were old ones we had not heard for perhaps 50 years. However, all were Gospel songs. Not one Wesley, Watts, Luther or john Newton hymns were sung, nor any Mennonite hymns.
Neither Rhoda nor Miriam had any dresses along – anathema. Ed and I would not have appeared too far out of line – I guess. All the men wore white shirts and dark colored pants. I never was in group/congregation where everyone was dressed so identical. Some of the older women wore solid light grey dresses. Others wore a light blue with a small figure. Even the young girls with out coverings wore cape dresses. And each of these had two braids hanging down the back. Back in our more conservative years there were different styles with some pushing clothing patterns to the edge of our regulations. Here, everyone seemed to be in line. Even the Old Order Mennonites and Amish of Lancaster County are not that cookie cutter patterned. Their rules seem to be tightly held to.
Afterwards all of us were surrounded, women on their side and men with Ed and I. We discovered that over half of these people had migrated from Lancaster County to Paraquay in the early sixties. Many of them moved back to this Kentucky area about ten years ago because some of the women told Rhoda and Miriam it was becoming dangerous to live there because of crime. Others have chosen to remain. Some of these people have intermarried with Mennonites of Russian descent.
It did not go long until the Burkholder brother wanted to know if my theology has changed through the years. I said I was not clear what he meant. Do you believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures? That was not difficult to respond to. Then he wanted to know how I felt about homosexuality. I said I did not think that is appropriate behavior. He seemed pleased and I was grateful to be pushed no further. Next he wanted to know my feelings about women in leadership in the church. I told him I believe women should be allowed to do whatever they have gifts to do. He shook his head and looked sad.
Then the Martin brother wanted to know if I knew John Ruth. I told him we were on an Anabaptist tour of Europe with him in 1984. “Then you would call yourself an Anabaptist?” Wow! Very much so I replied. Well how do you deal with not being conformed to the world, he asked? I said it is important to dress simply but I see no need to have that legislated to a certain pattern. He said no more about that but mentioned something about the covering but asked no more about it, thankfully. Next he wanted to know whether I approved of divorce. Well no. But he wasn’t finished. Do you have divorced and remarried persons in your congregation? Yes. Then he pulled up his Bible and wondered how we could do that when Jesus said that is adultery. I was now over my head. I indicated that we need to accept and take people where they are at. It went a few more rounds.
Ed was tested and tried too but not quite as harshly as I. They had learned I was a pastor because of association with Aquila Reihl years ago in NYC whom they knew. So they socked it to me.
The women were not pushed on anything. They just had nice friendly conversations. Obviously women have little if any observable part in the church. Not one woman selected a hymn. However, the men were poor leaders and as soon as they had started it the women seemed to be the ones carrying it along.
As we were leaving on couple came to the MH and expressed appreciation for our presence. Rhoda noted how many songs about heaven were sung. The women quickly noted that those were important to them as they had a ten year daughter in heaven from a freak swing accident two years ago on a visit to PA for a reunion. They both shared their pain. I noted that the figures showed that 80-90% of couples losing young children divorce. They shared tat it was tough on their marriage but hey leaned on the Lord. I told them that the strength of the Mennonite understanding of faith in Christ is that the church is a community who lean on Jesus in each other. They seemed to resonate with that. This was one of the better touches with this group.
On the way home we had a lot of discussion. Even though it was late we decided to have our usual nightly bowl of popcorn – a nice Longenecker tradition – to further process the evening’s events. Wow!
Lord may you deliver me from trying to set people straight as these folks tried to do to us tonight. Certainly if corrections are needed in others lives the Holy Spirit can be depended on to do that with little of my aid. At least meaningful relationships should be established before such correcting. I guess they honestly believe that God is calling them to do this. I’m sure they see us as an embarrassment to the name Mennonite and perhaps I view them similarly. I want our churches to be welcoming communities to all people, even to sinners like me who have so often missed the boat. Let the sinners come in. Jesus can cope with them. He did/does with me.
Well, this experience will provide many more hours of discussion and digesting as we roll along.

Monday 30. It was after six when we got up today and soon after 7:30 when the bikers hit the road. We pulled out about 45 minutes later and soon passed them. We shopped for groceries and Miriam’s prescription at a Wal*Mart, arriving at our campground right in downtown Corydon, Indiana. We are now back on Eastern Time for the remainder of the tour.
It is a hot day and the campground has little shade, so for the first time we are running the AC.