Before we left, Matt passed the "Rock on a Rope" back to Mark. I don't really understand the story, but you have to admit, it's funny to look at.

Rock on a Rope

Somebody set up us the bomb!

Light-Headed

Mark, Cory, and Matt

As we said our last goodbyes to the Rouches this morning, the rumbling began and the sky was turning dark grey. It started pouring rain by the time we stopped for fuel. As I was getting back into the car from taking a picture of the rain, a bolt came down right in the middle of town. It was so incredibly loud you could feel it in your chest. As we drove off we noticed that all the traffic signals had stopped working. Mark said they'd lost power for four hours afterward.

The car is running just fine. Though, to conserve fuel a little, Matt adjusted the idle before we headed off. Apart from that, it's been holding together.

Pouring	"That one truck keeps trying to jump over that other truck..."	Pennsylvania Hills	Duct tape fixes anything
KH Near Noah's Ark	Foggy	Crossing the bridge	Maryland's Accurate Signage
A good place to go if you need to stop

It rained most of the way into Maryland, and when it wasn't raining, there was heavy fog. We have plans of meeting up with Erin and Shannon, some friends Matt and the gang met when they came out to help work the territory. Well, besides Shannon, Matt's been trying to get back in touch with Rick for several years now, but they lost each other's numbers or something. As chance may have it, Rick called Matt's cellphone completely out of the blue while we're less than a mile from his house! Rick says, "You've been on my mind for so long... when I saw your number on my phone there, I figured I try to reach you one more time." And there we were around the corner, so we popped in for a visit.

We took the opportunity to fill Rick in on the last two years' developments - Matt's trips to Australia, his engagement, and our current road trip. Naturally, the topic of the wheel falling off came up, so Rick tells us an even better story: During the winter he works for the state, plowing the local roads of snow and ice, using one of those heavy-duty trucks with double sets of wheels on the rear axle. Well, coming back from one job, on the way back to his house, he feels something like a flat tire. Trying to keeep it safe, he starts pulling over to the side to check it out. Before he has a chance to stop, both outside wheels break off the truck, and one of them passes him, shoots across the median, bounces over the guard rail, and sails through the air. He could do nothing but watch in complete shock as it crashes straight through the middle of a huge stained glass window of a church! If anyone had been inside, they would almost certainly have been hurt or killed. There was a big investigation, he said, to see if he had somehow sabotaged his truck to cause the damage. Can you believe it?

Rick

Rick's Dad

Blending in

Rick has his doubts about the car

Shannon recently snapped a tendon in his leg playing football, so he's been doing nothing but sitting on the couch playing video games and watching movies. We felt terrible for him, because he can't do anything he used to enjoy doing until he heals. Despite his condition, they were super nice to us, fed us an incredible meal, and let us stay over with them. One of the few things Shannon gets out for is the meetings, and tonight was their book study. Shannon was substitute conductor, so there was no missing it anyway. So we followed them to the house where the group meets, but instead of parking in their nice paved driveway, we continued to follow them across the freshly mowed lawn, past the trapoline, and around into their backyard! We had no idea, just figuring thats just how they do things around here. But, when we saw them open up the back doors for him, and Shannon hobble out of his car on crutches, we realized they were just dropping him off where there weren't any steps! Embarassed, we backed up across their front lawn again, and apologized profusely. They just laughed at us...

It was their dessert night at their book study, but instead of the ususal cake and cookies, they mix it up now and then. Tonight was "fruit night" so everyone brought fruit: mellons, peaches, grapes, blueberries, etc - it was very colorful. Not wanting to dissappoint, we brought in a few of the delicious brownies that Tamara had made for us. They were a big hit, Tam!

"Drive Gently"

Shannon

After the book study