Last Saturday the 17th, 17 volunteers and I converged on the Royal Arch Park in Maple Valley, WA to assist local homeowners in their flood recuperation efforts. This all started on Sunday the 11th when five members of Real Missions Disaster Response drove through the lower Cedar River Valley to assess flood damage and potential areas of response with our teams.

After visiting a couple of communities which seemed to be self sustaining we drove further up river and pulled over to the side of the road. We were on Maple Valley Highway SE around SE 207th St. As we got out of the vehicles we were amazed to see two homes completely surrounded by water as if they were a rock outcropping on a large waterfall. The access road to the homes was 3-4 feet deep and rafts and boats were used to get to cars. At this time a member of the community walked up the shoulder to greet us and introduced himself as the manager of the Royal Arch Park-a few hundred feet further south. We were able to get a thorough understanding of the seen and unseen effects of the flooding on his property and his neighbors’ properties as well.

The five of us knew this was “our” opportunity to help. On the week of the 11th we awaited the waters receding and word that our volunteers would be accepted. On Friday the 16th our good news came…we could bring a team in on Saturday the 17th.

At 9am on Saturday the 17th we had an inauspicious beginning with 5 volunteers. It never ceases to amaze me how every time one of these efforts are begun it seems the resources available do not measure up to the task. However, if one strides out anyway, more resources appear and enough!

Our initial involvement was with two separate families both of whom lived on the banks of the river. The first family lost half of their yard to the Cedar River. They had significant log and sand wash into their yard and their bank was now heavily exposed to erosion. Our first group started clearing the yard of treefall and debris which had washed in. Next they limbed a fallen maple tree and brought it back over to the bank. This was to become the initial phase of our temporary retaining wall for the bank of their yard.

Meanwhile, we had another group helping a man out whom because of his position on the river and in relation to the road/levee had his yard filled with thousands of pounds of river flotsam and debris. His property experienced severe washout, yet thankfully his house was mostly okay. The efforts here were firewood retrieval (nearly a cord had washed into a swamp), trash haulout, and hot tub removal. This gentleman and his neighbor both heat their homes with wood only. They both lost 90% of their cured wood supply. A typical winter is a 5 cord winter so the flood was a big setback. Ultimately, our team was able to save a cord of wood which unfortunately now has to season and cure because of water content. We were also able to salvage 4 railroad ties and 4 tires which were washed into his yard. These we log skidded to the first property as the main elements of our retaining wall project.

We also had another team retrieving 4,000 pounds of wood and fencing from brambles along the fenceline of another home. This was stacked and sorted for the owner so that they could determine the best use going forward.

Western Washington experienced heavy flooding up and down the state from the Nooksack in the North to the Lewis River in the South. Unfortunately, the majority of the Cedar River flooding was manmade from an Army Corps of Engineers release of 8′ of water from Mud Mountain Dam in Enumclaw. Our team of volunteers was highly effective in their help and they hope to make a difference in the future.

This was an opportunity to “travel” to somewhere close and be fully involved in the culture of the people we were helping and visiting with. When we travel we should desire to do the same things whether in our own land or afar off. So if you can’t afford the “afar off” option try travelling down Highway 169 (Maple Valley Highway) from Renton, WA to Enumclaw, WA. You will see a beautiful trees, rural settings and a pretty river named Cedar. As you view that river remember its beauty, the devastation which it temporarily caused, and the 18 volunteers who came together to help restore some folks who chose to live amongst this riparian setting.

Though S 144th St in Tukwila is not the road Robert Frost was referencing in his memorable poem “The Road Not Taken,” it happened to be the road that made “all” the difference for an unnamed gentleman on Friday, August 1st.

Let’s rewind to July 4th of this year.  My wife and I decided to go to Fort Dent in Tukwila for their 4th of July fireworks with some long time friends.  They live on S 144th St and we followed them all the way to the park on this one road.  It is a road that I had not traveled on for years and due to its length and where it ends up at its eastern terminus (Interurban Ave S), I was happy to become reacquainted.  Weeks later I was working with another friend and knowing that we needed to get to the valley and we were also up against some afternoon traffic, I offered to show off this fine little street; he agreed.

Fast forward to Friday, August 1st and in the Seattle-Tacoma area torrents of rain were falling in the early morning.  A Yellow Cab driver lost control in the Duwamish Curves, hit the Jersey barrier, and spun into a tanker truck upending the empty trailer.  All lanes were blocked for almost 4 hours.   My friend Greg was travelling on Interurban when he assessed the I-5 traffic situation and decided, “Hey, I’ll take that new road I went on,” and so up the hill heading west he went.

At the top of the hill he passed Foster High School and was approaching the intersection where the Foster Library is and he saw a Crown Victoria crashed into a tree.  There was no one around and no skid marks on the road.  My friend got out of his truck walked over to the car and saw that the driver was unconcious.  My friend called 911 and waited for Fire and Police to arrive.  When they arrived the man had no pulse.  Five minutes later they were giving him oxygen and loading him into the ambulance.

This evening I called my friends whom we shared the 4th of July with and I thanked them for the route we took to the fireworks.  I give credit to the Lord for these seemingly unrelated yet fortuitous events.

If you ever travel in South King County and you have occasion try S 144th St in Tukwila, WA.  Watch out for Crown Victoria’s and just possibly angels.

For those of you who love poetry and may or may not be familiar with Robert Frost here is poem, “The Road Not Taken” in its entirety:

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Websters defines serendipity as, the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for or an instance of this. 

In my first post I mentioned how flight delays and other travel maladies can actually be part of the fun memories we have from a trip.  Here’s an example of one such serendipity.

In the summer of 1999 I was running a bookstore full time for my church and I was also flying out on the weekends part time to make some extra money.  I had an acquaintance who was a Nikken distributor and he was also a motivational tool distributor at various Nikken functions.  Though I wasn’t in Nikken, I could “speak” the language due to past network marketing involvement.

On Friday evening I would meet my friend in a parking lot somewhere, pick up the product and my ticket, and head to the airport.  On this particular weekend, I had an engagement in Fort Washington, PA which is about 30 miles north of Philly.  I was flying TWA and was scheduled to make a connecting flight in St. Louis.  Well, as you probably have experienced, flying through the Midwest in the summer can be tricky because there are a lot of storms.

I arrived late in St. Louis and found out my connection to Philadelphia was cancelled due to bad weather.  The bulk of the business for this convention was due to occur on Saturday so if I couldn’t get routed to the east coast, the trip was a waste.  My friend purchased his tickets on Cheaptickets so he would’ve been out of the ticket as well.  As I was meeting with the ticket agent I asked her to book me on a flight back to Seattle.  She did and so went my opportunity to go to Philadelphia.

As I was turning away from the counter and the next disgruntled former passenger was heading to the counter, I looked back and asked, “do you have any other flights going out to the east coast tonight?”  I had momentarily thought that even if I don’t make the convention, I could make this an adventure.  At this point, I was pushing her buttons a little bit because the ticket counters were trying to shut down as the rest of the planeless were hunkering down in the chairs for the long wait until morning and their next flight.

She sighed and in a slightly but still cordial tone said, “yes, I have a flight leaving for Newark in an hour.”  It was about 12:30am.  I said, “I’ll take it.”  Looking back I am amazed that my bags arrived with me because they had their baggage tags changed twice.  So very weary, but kind of enthusiastic I waited for the plane to board and started planning a rental car and figuring out how to get from Newark to Fort Washington.

For those of you that know, I love to drive so I was looking forward to actually getting to drive more!  Many of you have been to New York City and some of you actually had the good fortune to dine at the Windows on the World restaurant in One World Trade.  Others of you had the good fortune of seeing One and Two World Trade in person.  Well as the plane was beginning to make its final approach into Newark the sun was beginning to rise in a radiant burst of orange, yellow, and pink right over Manhattan.  This was my first view of New York City in person and it was breathtaking!  The angle of the plane on its approach compared with the sun’s angle made it appear as the sun was rising right between the World Trade Center towers.  I was dismayed for a moment knowing that I couldn’t go to Manhattan on this trip; I had to figure out to get from Jersey to Philly.  Was I even going to survive Jersey?!

On the way to baggage claim another serendipity occured.  Once while living in Tigard, OR I had the ironic opportunity to pull over in my beater Ford Escort to assist a man in his disabled Ferrari.  Apparently, the Ferrari had a blown fuse and help was on the way.  Ask my wife, and you would know I couldn’t have helped this guy mechanically-I just wanted to see his Ferrari up close.  While I was there I introduced myself and I asked him his name and what he did.  His name was Laran Ghiglieri and he was an artist.  He went to describe his father Lorenzo who is a world famous bronze sculpter and painter.  I went on my way shortly and thought, “how interesting.”

After baggage claim I was headed to the rental car area and what do I see, but a bronze sculpture by none other than Lorenzo Ghiglieri.  I was so dumbfounded by the coincidence that I don’t even remember what the sculpture depicted!  So if you have been there and know, please tell me.  (I just got off the phone with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and none of the people at Newark airport know!)  Years later I actually met Lorenzo at a wildlife art show at the Tacoma Dome and related the story.  If you would like to admire his work it can be found at www.art-lorenzo.com

After picking my rental car, I nearly made it to Manhattan as I got on the wrong direction of the New Jersey Turnpike.  I knew I was in trouble when I saw the Holland Tunnel exit.  Well I made it to Fort Washington after a fun drive down the New Jersey and then Pennsylvania turnpike.  The conference went well and it was off to the Philadelphia airport.  There were more serendipities to be had.

I had a flight cancellation and a re-route so instead of Philly-St. Louis-Seattle, it became Philly-Las Vegas-Seattle on two different carriers.  Some day I’ll relate the experience I had on the Alaska Airlines flight from Vegas to Seattle.

So you may be wondering if I ever got back to New York to see and experience the Twin Towers?  I did.  From November 30-December 6th 2001 I particpated in a volunteer team to help the citizens of New York recover from 9/11.  Thank God I got to see that sunrise and that my flight to Philadelphia was cancelled back in the summer of 1999.

Be blessed and have an excellent day!  By the way, when was the last time you said to yourself, “It’s my turn to travel!”

When was the last time you travelled?  I don’t care if it was from San Antonio to South Padre Island or from Hoboken to Orange.  It could have been from London to Harare or from Accra to Bamboi or somewhere in between.

A conversation about travel is stimulating and fun.  It is like an endorphin in that when you recall an experience you have had that was positive or negative, immediately the memories, smells and the people come alive to your senses once again.  I can remember plane delays and power outages in airports and I still look back with gratitude at these “frustrating” experiences because I had the opportunity to experience them in the first place. 

There aren’t many travel delays or reroutes when I am headed outside to mow the lawn and that is unfortunate.

When was the last time you said to yourself, “It’s my turn to travel?!”  Hopefully it wasn’t too long ago!

Have a blessed day!