The good, the bad and the ugly.

Ives Run COE,  Tioga, PA

No, this has nothing to do with Clint Eastwood.  (Gotta say - I do love him). 

The Good:   We arrived at our NOMADS annual meeting one day early - on Sunday.   The meeting went well.  There were 97 rigs in attendance.  It was down about 50 from last year but with the cost of fuel and most NOMADS being retired and on a fixed income, I can understand.  

For those who do know what NOMADS are,  check out www.nomadsumc.org    We are people who travel in our RV's and do volunteer work for various Methodist agencies such as camps, churches and retreat centers.   Once a year they have a meeting and conference. This year it was in Hamburg, NY right outside Buffalo. 

NOMADS are supported mostly by the membership (about 1,100 of us) with help from many of our local churches and members.   We pay dues of $40. a year that supports our administrative costs which includes one paid administrator, the web site and associated costs.  

Even though we work for free, many of the agencies we work at do not have the funds for materials.   Last years NOMADS awarded over $75,000 in grants to these agencies.   

Our biggest fund raiser is a silent auction and a live auction held during the annual meeting.   This year the auction brought in over $41,000!    These people really gave considering there were about 185 people in attendance.     

They have a tradition of challenging couples to donate $10. for each year of marriage.  We accepted the challenge, 23 years.    Another is auctioning $2.00 bills for $100.00.  We now have a crisp new $2.00 bill.    They were close of hitting the goal of $40,000 so decided to auction off four left-over T shirts with the NOMADS logo and meeting location on it.  We had bought one for each of us at a cost of $12.00 each.  We now have a third one (my size) that cost us $225.00.  I feel quite elegant now - I've never had a T shift worth that kind of money!  Funny though, it looks just like the one I paid $12.00 for.

Working with NOMADS has enriched our lives.    We have learned that God always provides if we trust Him.

We left this morning and settled into our camp site at one the our favorite parks - Ives Run on Hammond Lake here in Tioga.  Now for

The Bad:     We were here for about an hour when Len noticed water at the bottom of our steps leading down from the bedroom.   I wiped up the puddle but it continued to flow from under the step.     We emptied the basement but could not determine where the water was coming from.   He even had to disconnect our surge protector that was hard wired in.  

The Ugly:   After doing all that, we think the leak was coming from the shower.   But not really sure.  We have caulked the shower and will do more tomorrow.  We have no idea how much damage, if any, has been done.   Quite possibly this unit will be in the shop once we hit NJ in about 4 weeks.    In the meantime, we will keep a close eye on the situation.   We know that once water gets into these rigs, damage happens quickly.