November 25 – December 6, 2021

November 25, 2021

Thanksgiving!

We all got up early, as usual, and headed for the center of Plymouth for the annual Thanksgiving Day Pilgrim Progress. We got there in plenty of time, since each of us already had Pilgrim costumes from the parade. Here they are squeezed in the back seat of the car!

Annalou, Cara, and Abby went in to help others dress as Pilgrims. Their singer was sick, so I was asked to lead the singing, as I have done for many, many years.

There was a film crew there who filmed us leaders as we spoke before the Progress.

It was one of the most peaceful Pilgrim Progress events that I can remember. Too many police escorts to count. They were on foot, in vehicles, and on bicycles. For those of you not familiar, we do this every Thanksgiving, and every Friday in August to re-enact the Pilgrim’s first trip from their meager houses up to the Fort on the hill after that long, hard winter where they lost half their number to sickness. History records that they were lead by the beat of a drum, came out of their houses and walked in small groups. Some of the men carried arms, not because it was a military march, but because they still did not know what wild animals were out there, and because they had not even met the natives there. The place was desolate, because unknown to them, the natives that had lived there before had died off from a plague a while ago. We walked up to the fort, and re-enacted that church service. They had no song books, so their singer would sing a line, and they would repeat it. I lead an opening hymn that way, one that we know they sang. My brother Paul acted as William Brewster, and gave the sermon much the way history records it. I then lead another hymn, and he closed in a prayer, and I sang one last song as a solo. We then walked behind the drummer back to the Mayflower Society House where we started from. When we arrived back, that film crew decided to interview Cara, so pulled her aside.

They had no way of knowing, but that was a good choice on their part,, because our family has done that for nearly 30 years – as long as we lived in Plymouth. So Cara started walking in this procession when she was very young. She has heard the history many times, so knows exactly what we are doing, and why!

After the death of the drummer who had done it for nearly 30 years, I took over that role as well as the singing for the last 15 years or so before we went on the road. We took a few pictures before we hung the costumes up.

We went right from there over to my brother’s house.. it was a great gathering, just as we have done for so many years while the children were growing up. We missed Shauna, however, who was still too sick to attend.

What a wonderful time I had. And the appetizers that Seth and I made was a real hit!

The appetizers i made was definitely not as big of a hit, but because we are all Jehles, several were eaten!

The thing I miss the most as I travel the country is my wife and family. I will be so happy when this chapter in my life is over!

Friday, November 26, 2021

With almost 100,000 miles on my new van, it was time to have some parts replaced before they go bad on me out on the road. It is far, far less expensive to replace them early, rather than be caught with a dead van, which forces a stop along the route (which is technically illegal), a quick replacement for me while the load waits. Whuch throws the schedule off, and once my van is repaired, the load is miles ahead of me with my replacement, and I am forced to drive hundreds or even thousands of miles to find the next load that needs my help, which could be days or weeks later. It has happened before, and the income I lost was always much, much greater than the cost of the repair. So I ordered and scheduled the replacement of my alternator and fan/AC belts.

That evening we visited the community that owns and runs the Yellow Deli in town. They have them all over the world, and in each case, they are run completely by those that live in the community. We wanted to see what makes them tick! Seth and i discussed it several times,, and each had a list of questions to ask. They started off with dances, singing about Old Testament events and Jewish themes.

Then we all sat down at round tables, and those from the community sprinkled in with us. There were lots of guests like us, and I was thrilled when it was one of their leaders and his wife that came and sat at our table. We spent the entire time telling them our community stories, and talking doctrine. They call themselves the Twelve Tribes and seem to be knid of stuck in the Old Covenant. They recognize Jesus, but I don’t believe He is their Lord. I’d love to go back some time and discuss it more. LOL Seth found a friend there as well. He is a bit older than Seth, but they sat together with us, and talked a lot during supper.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Abby and I went shopping for materials we need for the front posts and railings for her dollhouse porch. We also need railings for the stairs. Since I did not know in advance that I was coming, we had to search locally. Check out this place called Flip My Dollhouse! There were lots and lots of used dollhouses in fix-up condition. Just look at them all

They had no materials we needed, and based on the prices marked on those dollhouses, those materials would be about 10 times what we would pay online, anyway. So we decided that we would order them instead. Sorry I can’t work some on her dollhouse this visit, but I did order what we need, and will have it the next time I come.

Sunday, November 28, 2021

We all went to TNT church, and heard a great message from my brother on the Festivaal of Lights, as this was the first Sunday. Cara and Scott both graduated from the Christian School here, so had friends to visit with after the service.

We all then went to the Yellow Deli for lunch, and met a lot of our new friends there!

Monday, November 29, 2021

Annalou and I had an appointment at the Chiropractor, put some things back in storage, got some other things out, and met Paul and Charlene for lunch. It’s always great to catch up on things. Paul is so much like me, but each in our own way. The common thread, though, is that we have every minute of every day scheduled, and could use another 10 hours each day to get it all in. So it’s nice to just sit and talk!

I spent the afternoon putting up shelves in Seth’s room, and planning things with Abby for my next visit.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Annalou and I had breakfast with Chuck and Jean Lindberg. They are long time friends of ours. In fact, we knew them before they had any children, and now they have 7 and the youngest is a teenager! They talked with us about our plans to buy land and build. They told us that they had just purchased a 73  acre farm in western Tennessee, and their whole family will be moving out there with them – even the married ones. Their vision is to homestead, and be an outreach to the community in terms of descipleship. Not a church. We agree with their overall vision, so decided it was worth a look. We plan to go out there to visit and scout out the area sometime.

We raced back to Cara’s house, and Seth and I left right away to drive to Boston to meet my friend Brandt at his video studio there. We spent the afternoon talking shop – editing programs, lighting, coming events, B roll shots to take, and a little bit about audio.

On the way back, Seth and I stopped at our favorite go-kart race track. When the crew there looked up our previous race times, they shut down racing to the public, and gave us the track by ourselves for our five races!! They wanted to give us the chance to beat our times without slow traffic holding us up. Due to the track condition, and tires near replacement time, we drifted a lot on the corners, and were having a hard time making it happen. So Seth asked one of the track guys to run in front of us, so we could see the race line he took. He did, and we both increased our times by over one second! By the last race, we were within a 1/2 second behind the employees! (who get to race every day after work!) So we were very satisfied, and celebrated with a Brazilian buffet down the street! LOL We have so much fun together!

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

I was up and left early, drove 2 hours to pick up my parts, and was at my favorite service garage by 9:30. He knows I make a living driving my van, so always fits me in when I need it. It does take longer, though, because he has to keep his regular schedule going. So I didn’t get out of there until 3 PM.  With the two hour drive back, I was just in time for supper.

Thursday I went over to TNT church and repaired the portable wooden podium I made almost 20 years ago. I had noticed Sunday that it was loose and wobbled a little. I didn’t want it to get worse, so took it apart and put it back as solid as the day I made it! Annalou then went to pick up our new glasses. Well, we were suppose to, anyway. Hers didn’t make it, and only one of mine did. So I got those fitted, and we arranged for them to send Annalou’s to NC and to call me to know where to send my second pair.

I spent the evening going over new video editing software tutorials with Seth..

Friday, December 3, 2021

Annalou and I said goodbye for now to Cara and her family.

We stopped by the glasses place, because mine just did not seem right. Sure enough, they had not put the right prescription in, so we left them there, and they will now send me both pairs somewhere out on the road – sometime!

We drove in both our cars to Lancaster, PA. We had supper at the Good and Plenty Restaurant, which was a favorite of our family every time we came here over the years. We have seen almost all of the shows put on here at the Sight and Sound Theater. We first heard about the theater when we saw a brochure on the Brandes coffee table when we visited one time. The story of Noah as a play on a stage almost 120′ wide, 40′ tall, with two side stages. Live animals on stage and walking down the isles, and an incredible sound system. They do only Biblical stories, and we have seen Noah three times, Jesus several times with walking on the water, Lazarus, and many others, the Christmas story, John, Jonah, Daniel, and several others. The one we will see tomorrow is Queen Easter.

We checked into a hotel free with our accumulated points.

Saturday, December 4, 2021

It was a wonderful day together, exploring the area again. We have seen it all, and done just about everything in this town, so slept in, and went to an Amish restaurant for lunch. We drove around a little, before arriving at the theater

and watched our show. As always, it exceeded our expectations. What a wonderful story! What about us? What about you? Why were you put here on this earth at the end of the age, for such a time as this? Life is not about survival, it’s about ministry! Who and what will we change under the Lord’s direction? The Christian life is such an exciting adventure!

Sunday, December 5, 2021

We slept in, but left to continue our journey together in both vehicles. We made our way to Stafford, VA, to the house of our good friends Scott and Annette Risley. We had supper there, although Scott was working late. We visited together, and I stayed up to meet Scott when he came home at 10:30.

Monday we visited with Scott as Annette left for work.

I showed him my van for the first time, and of course, we had to get the drone in the air! I got some pictures of his neighborhood and property before he had to leave for work. We really do have some of the best of friends!

Annalou and I left when Scott did, and drove to Ruther Glen VA. We had supper together, and got a hotel room. In the morning, Annalou will drive back to our RV in NC, and I will meet a truck down the street, and take him to Cumming IA. That will put me back on the road again for who knows how long!