off to IRONTON gig (the whole 15 miles)

10/6/09

So like the last blog said, I got going in the morning....actually I didn't really leave until the afternoon because only then did the weather dry out.  Come to think of it, I should really unpack my tent....anyway, I had brunch at the sports bar where this lady wasn't anywhere near as nice as the guys the previous night, but that happens.  The weather was cool and it looked as if rain could be in the near future again, but I wasn't too concerned as I only had 15 miles to bike until Ironton.  I know I know big day right, but it was supposed to be my rest day.

As I neared town I saw some confederate flags flying in peoples yards, which wasn't much of a surprise as I had seen a number of them in MO here.  I arrived at St Pauls Lutheran and I tried to call the pastor but no luck.  So I sat and waited.  this man with bumper stickers plastered all over his truck gabbed on and on at me about how the 60's was the last great time where the people  influenced the government and yadayadayada.   he was a little annoying as I was trying to work on my computer, but he was a good guy.  previously we were walking about how he was fixing up the youth building since he didn't have a job as he lost his a number of weeks ago.  Which I thought was pretty cool.  Eventually he left and I was able to call and connect with the pastor so he was coming in 20 min.  Then this guy came back because he had lost his 10 TV dinners and he seemed quite distressed about his TV dinners.  People have been pretty generous with me along this ride and though I don't have lots of money I gave him 20 bucks so he could go get some good food.  I just thought he was a real good guy for fixing up this youth ministry building.  He was building a stage and it sounded like it was volunteer work.  He said " you're a sweet guy" and I replied "well, your doing a very good thing."

Pastor came and so we went to his house.  We had some BLT's before the gig, which we hadn't talked about too much so I was glad to hear there was going to me one.  We got to the church and I was greeted very warmly by these two older ladies.  One was about 4'10'' but had a heart that made up for any lack of height and the other was just as warm and excited to see me.  There were about 7 people that came and the pastor figured this wasn't too bad considering they usually get 30 for church.  They really enjoyed the stories and music that I played.  I play the smaller ones just like the larger ones, just maybe a bit more intimately with not as much energy up front.  It seems less like you need to capture their attention, unlike when you have 20 middle schoolers.