Robbie dropped me off and the car rental company said that there was no record of me calling yesterday. They did not have a car ready for me, and they weren't sure who I had spoken to yesterday. After a few phone calls and some walking around the South Bend airport they found the reservation on another computer system. I was given the keys to a Dodge Caravan and I was on my way!
Somewhere in the corner of Kentucky, around 2:00 pm, I decided that I would stop soon for a bathroom/lunch break since I had been driving about six hours by that time. Just then I passed a sign for "The Creation Museum". I had heard of the Creation Museum from my cousins, but I have never been there before. So I decided to stop and add it to the adventure. I ate in Noah's Cafe and bought a ticket into the museum. Tickets are regularly priced at $29.95 which seemed quite pricey to me, and when I mentioned this to the ticket seller he offered me a ticket for $10.95 instead. I'm thankful for that.
The Creation Museum's tag line is "Prepare to Believe". The purpose of the museum is to walk the visitor through world history and using modern scientific knowledge prove that Noah's Flood as represented in the Bible did happen. And if it can be proven that Noah's Flood happened, then the museum exhibits state that the rest of the Bible, in its entirety, is also true to fact. It is a high quality museum, with mannequins and audio tapes and a representation of Noah's Arc. The museum states that it shows visitors the "Seven C's" which are: creation, corruption, catastrophe, Christ, the Cross, and consummation. And, everywhere throughout the museum there are dinosaur statues, replicas, and other dinosaur animated things. Here are some pictures of the museum exhibits.
After spending a few hours in the museum I went back to driving south. Just after dark, near to London, Kentucky, there was a man hitch-hiking down highway 75. So, naturally, I pulled over. His name is Mike. In the end I drove Mike all the way to Blue Ridge, GA, exactly 200 miles.
It was 36 degrees and he was very cold. It was about 6:15 in the evening and he had started hitch-hiking in Northern Ohio at 5:00 this morning. He was trying to reach a town near Atlanta, GA to see his daughter. He is 42 years old and down on his luck. He is white with blond hair (cut in a mullet, business in front, party in back) and piercing blue eyes. He was courteous and glad to get into the car and out of the cold. Mike informed me that he had $5 in his pocket and asked if I could drop him off at or near a homeless shelter in Blue Ridge, GA so he could spend the night somewhere warm.
I called Subman, who I was planning to meet tomorrow to let him know that I had picked up a hitch-hiker and to confirm plans for tomorrow. Then I called Glassman to also let him know that I had picked up a hitch-hiker and to ask him to see if there was a homeless shelter or another resource where Mike could spend the night. As we drove the three of us brainstormed safe places to spend a 30 degree night in a new town: Homeless shelter, hospital, police station, a church. Glassman did a few hours of research while we drove and called back to say that he had called around town and around the county and had spoken with four different people from social service agencies and churches to learn that the homeless shelter in Blue Ridge was closed in the last few months due to lack of funding. The nearest shelter was a 30 minute drive farther past Blue Ridge.
It is an understatement to say that I am grateful to Glassman for spending his evening trying to find a safe place for Mike to stay. In the end I dropped him off at a 24 hour McDonald's in Blue Ridge that was across the parking lot from a 24 hour Waffle House. And then I drove across town and checked myself into a warm and safe hotel. I e-mailed Subman to let him know that I was safely in my hotel, alone. And I called Glassman to thank him for his hours of help and let him know that I was safely checked in, and alone.
You tell me. Where is the justice? How do we have a system that is this broken as to not have a place to sleep for one night that is safe? How did McDonald's come to serve as a homeless shelter? How do I justify spending cash on traveling across the country just for fun when my neighbors are hungry and cold? I don't know.
And a whole separate question: Should I have picked up a male hitch-hiker, after dark, when I was driving alone, in a rented van? Is it worth the risk? I don't know that either.
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