I happened upon this statement today and it resonated with me in a powerful way! I have come to know this to be true. There isn't anywhere I haven't loved for one reason or another. Each and every place we have seen is called "home" by someone. That makes each one special, and beautiful, and incredibly important. Each traveler we have come into contact with along the way has a wonderful story to tell of their own, individually unique journey.
Our journey has landed us in Rhode Island and Connecticut today.
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| Providence RI |
We spent time in Providence and Westerly Rhode Island. As you can see from the pictures, it is a very scenic state.
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| Rhode Island |
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| Rusty in Rhode Island |
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| Rhode Island |
Before visiting our donors, we stopped to see a Rhode Island landmark...THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BUG. It sits atop Big Blue Bug Solutions in Providence. The kids were mesmerized by it.
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| Ryder, Shiloh, and Juliann |
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| Ryder and Shiloh |
They were so kind to give the kids coloring books with Big Blue in them, as well as a couple of photos of the Big Blue Bug dressed up for the holidays.
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| Juliann, Ryder, and Shiloh |
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| Juliann, Ryder, and Shiloh |
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| Big Blue on the 4th of July |
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| Big Blue at Christmas |
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| Shiloh, Juliann, and Ryder |
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| Big Blue - World's Biggest Bug |
From there we headed over to Westerly. Rather than a big, blue, insect, we were looking forward to meeting a group of giving and thoughtful firefighters at Dunn's Corners Fire Department.
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| Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, and Choice |
This is a volunteer department so those from the department who were there made a special trip to welcome us today. They allowed the kids to climb all over their fire trucks while I took a moment to talk with them about the motivation and work that went into the donation they made to bless the GMIHC 19 families.
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| Shiloh, Choice, Juliann, Tate, and Ryder with the Dunn's Corner's Fire Department |
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| Shiloh, Choice, Juliann, Tate, and Ryder with the Dunn's Corners Fire Department |
Their former fire chief, Karl Kenyon, passed away in 2010. At that time, the department decided to hold an annual Smokey Bear parade every third week in July in his honor. In 2013, after tragedy struck our families in Arizona, the members of the department came up with the idea to turn the parade into a fundraiser for the Granite Mountain Hotshot families.
I was thankful to be able to express our gratitude to them today, for all of the support they gave us from the other side of the country. Indeed, the efforts they put in to raising donations, have blessed real people and real lives in Arizona. We are here to attest to that and embrace them for their thoughtfulness.
The kids gave them their cards and pictures of firetrucks they'd drawn for them to remember us by. We also had an opportunity to share our encouragement to BE BETTER, leaving bands and t-shirts for them. We had a great time learning from them today and feeding off their positivity and strength. God bless you Chief Frink and the rest of your department for spreading the better from Westerly RI. Keep impacting the world for the better.
Seeing as Rhode Island is the smallest state in our country, we made it through there in no time. Before we knew it, we were in Connecticut.
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| Connecticut |
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| Rusty, Ryder, and Shiloh |
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| Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Tate and Juliann |
Connecticut is stunning this time of year. It looked as though we were transplanted directly into the middle of a painting. The bus tended to be a bit of an eye sore among the pristine and manicured landscaping.
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
Ms. Sarah wasn't at her lovely Greenwich, CT home when we made our stop by. It was disappointing to miss her and not be able to see her face to face. We were thankful, however, that she will know once she receives our package how much she has blessed the lives of others.
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Tate, and Choice |
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| Shiloh, Ryder, Tate, and Choice |
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Tate, and Choice |
Ms. Sarah's neighborhood was unlike anything I have ever seen before. Speckled with red, orange, and yellow leaves everywhere you looked. All of this beauty alongside creeks and meadows, accompanied by covered bridges. It was a glorious sight to behold.
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| Tate, Choice, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Tate, Choice, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Shiloh, Ryder, Choice, and Tate |
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Juliann |
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| Covered Bridge in Connecticut |
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| Connecticut |
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| Tate, Shiloh, Ryder, and Choice |
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| Tate, Choice, Shiloh, and Ryder |
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| Juliann |
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| Shiloh and Juliann |
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Fall in Connecticut |
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| Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
I felt moved and inspired by the surroundings. I desired to set up shop and spend days just soaking in nature as it presents itself in Greenwich. If only our schedule allowed for such things. Instead of rooting myself in Ms. Sarah's neighborhood, we decided to go visit the home of a man who was also inspired by living in Connecticut. I am speaking of the creator of the beloved Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. No other than the one and only Mark Twain. Of course, in Connecticut they refer to him by his real name, not his pen name. For that reason, we discussed him today as Mr. Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
He lived in Hartford. We parked the bus at a nearby park and walked towards the house he called home for 17 years of his life.
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| Tate, Shiloh, Choice, and Ryder |
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| Choice, Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, and Juliann |
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| Tate, Choice, Ryder, Shiloh, and Juliann |
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| Tate, Choice, Ryder, Shiloh, and Juliann |
The Clemens home was majestic. It has been maintained just as it was when occupied by their family. Samuel and his wife Olivia, had four children. Their oldest was a son who passed away as a toddler. The other three were girls and they grew up living in this home.
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| Mark Twain's house |
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| Tate |
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| Juliann and Ryder |
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| Tate, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Juliann, Ryder, Shiloh, Tate, and Choice |
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| Ryder, Juliann, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
I was amazed at the furnishings in the home, even the small toys for the girls, as it didn't seem childproof at all. Either times have changed in the harshness of children's play or they didn't mind sacrificing some items in the home during their girls' youth. Watching my kids in the home for an hour was enough to drive my batty. I don't know how they did it.
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| Ryder, Juliann, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Juliann, Choice, Ryder, Shiloh, and Tate with the tour guide |
Thankfully, they provided the older kids with a scavenger hunt to keep them occupied and focused during the house tour. There were 20 items or so for them to locate around the home and check off their list.
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| Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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| Ryder, Tate, and Shiloh listening to the tour guide |
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| Juliann, Choice, Ryder, Tate, Shiloh, and the tour guide |
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| Shiloh, Tate, and Ryder |
To preserve the quality of the home, they do not allow photography inside. It was spectacular. It was decorated by a member of the Tiffany family. (He is actually the son of the well=known jeweler, Tiffany's). I enjoyed seeing the personalized touches the family put into it. A few of my favorites were the office space where Samuel did his writing. It was a billiards room, with a pool table filling up the majority of the room. It left just a small space in the corner for his desk. Priorities, I suppose. The parent's bedroom had a beautiful headboard with angels carved on the top of each bed post. The pillows are against the foot board. The tour guide explained that the bed was so expensive that Sam wanted to be able to stare at the headboard when he laid down in order to get his money worth. Perhaps my favorite story told of the home involved the greenhouse just off of the library (family room). Growing up, his daughters called it the jungle. Just as would be customary in a jungle, they would go on a hunt through the jungle. Sam would get down on all fours as an elephant and his daughters would ride on his back in search of wild game. The families servant would hide among the greenery and act as a lion. He said that often times, the servant would roar so loudly that he would have the girls in tears.
One last story that I found remarkable had to do with the families financial hardships later in life. At one point they found themselves fallen on hard times requiring them to file for bankruptcy. By doing so, the debts are not required to be paid back. The slate is essentially wiped clean, yet Sam and his wife Olivia didn't feel right about that, With no obligation to do so, Sam and Olvia paid back every last debt in full. That marks the character of Mr. Clemens...the man we know as Mark Twain.
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| Tate, Jason, Choice, Ryder, and Shiloh |
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| Ryder, Tate, Choice, and Shiloh |
We walked around the grounds for awhile studying the surroundings that encircled this great American author at the time he wrote his most beloved work.
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| Juliann, Ryder, Shiloh, Choice, and Tate |
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| Choice, Juliann, Shiloh, Ryder, and Tate |
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| Shiloh |
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| Choice |
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| Tate and Choice |
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| Choice |
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| Tate and Choice |
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| Tate and Choice |
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| Choice and Tate |
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| Choice |
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| Tate |
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| Tate |
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| Tate |
Shiloh and Ryder completed their scavenger hunts, locating the final items around the exterior of the home.
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| Ryder and Shiloh |
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| Tate, Ryder, Juliann, Shiloh, and Choice |
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| Tate, Ryder, Shiloh, Shiloh, and Choice |
I purchased a novel at the Mark Twain museum today, titled Following the Equator. He wrote it about his year long travels while completing a lecture tour. The concept really struck a cord with me as I saw many resemblances between that trip he took and the one that I am current pursuing. I in no way can compare with Mr. Clemens but I learned the value in traveling and being inspired by new environments. I may never write a book comparable to Following the Equator, but I am grateful to be able to capture my journey in some small way. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
There's no greater honor than to read history taking place. What you are doing, why you're doing it, and how you're going about it doesn't make you any different than the man you are writing about above. You're a storyteller whose journey and words pierce souls. The pictures & colors are stunning! Carry on, like the great Ralph Waldo Emerson stated:
ReplyDelete"Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing."