YCGL - Day 22 - Sunday, April 21, 2024 - Church, Good Bye and Petit Jean - Final

My original thought was I was going to leave Little Rock fairly early in the morning and get to Petit Jean state park early on. Then I could set up and, most importantly, check the internet signal. I had a zoom meeting with the group traveling to Greece this June and, as it was the first meeting, I didn't want to miss it. If the signal had not been there or if it was too weak, I would have had to drive to the next big town and find a McDonalds or something and I wanted to give myself plenty of time to do that.

But the drive to the park was just over an hour, check-in wasn't until 3:00 and that would still leave me plenty of time to check the signal and take off if I needed to.  

So I stayed.  Instead, I went with Miriam and Phil and their daughter Katie to their church.  It was huge!  I really felt "small town" there, mouth and eyes open.  In one building, there is a large (2000 seat?) auditorium, a smaller, more traditional church, a restaurant open daily for breakfast through dinner, I would guess 2.5 to 3 acres of building.  It was vastly different than any church I've been to, rock band... the governor was there.  

During the service, I kept thinking of the book, "The Varieties of Religious Experience" by a Harvard professor, William James, written in 1902 based on a series of lectures he gave in Scotland.  He stressed the significance of the individual's approach to religion, and the vastly-wide different expressions it may take.  This, frankly, was not my cup of tea, but it certainly deeply touched the 1000+ people there.  And the Bible was preached and communion was served.  And this is one of five campuses of this church around Little Rock.  I'm certainly glad I went, sharing the experience is also important, and more for me to understand.  

I'm reminded of our Luther League group attending a Billy Graham revival at the Astrodome in Houston, probably around 8th or 9th grade, 1964-5.  It was a different experience from any church I had ever been to.  It was interesting.  I learned from it.  I'm certainly glad I went.  But it didn't grab me.  I do remember George Beverly Shea singing "How Great Thou Art".  I also remember one of our group spilling a cup of Sprite (I think) on a person in front of us....Oops.  

Chacun a son gout, everyone to their own taste.  

Afterward, we went to a Greek restaurant that they often go to after church, and that was more to my "taste".  :)

When I got to their house on Friday, I backed into their driveway.  It took all three of us to finally get me into position, as close to the side of their driveway without going into the grass and just enough room between the trailer and my pickup on the other side for Phil to snake his pickup between them.  But in so doing, I realized that I would not be able to pull out of their driveway the other direction.  Luckily, their street did continue on in a long loop and I was able to drive out going the same way that I drove in.  There was one steep section that Phil was concerned about with a12% or so grade, but the truck was still accelerating when I got to the top.  And from there, I had smooth sailing to Petit Jean State Park.  

I checked in at the Visitor's Center, got my site number and drove to it.  It was a pull-through site, so I didn't have to back in.  However, it was off the side of the road on a slope and with trees close to it.  I drove in, got into a convenient spot, and started putting blocks under the trailer tires.  Before I got too far along, I checked the location of the trees on the upslope side of the pavement.  I was about two inches from a tree on the front and right in front of a tree blocking my door.  If I had pulled ahead any further, I would have hit the tree.  So, I unblocked and backed out of the site and drove around the campground again.  This time, I stayed away from the tree, but ended up with the wheels on one side being about five inches lower than on the other side.  

It finally took me about 45 minutes to get leveled and set up.  It was a nice site, other than being a little close to the highway.  

I had been climbing up the closed steps, but remembered my folding step.  It certainly helped getting me in and out more safely.