#111 Hawthorne Florida: Staying at the UMC church and volunteering to do Nomads construction work

When we were coming down south the first time and we stopped in Hawthorne. I told Dick Curtis that I wouldn't mind taking him up on his offer on the way back and so I called him a few days out and left a message. He said yes come on by and you can have a full hookup and stay as long as you want. We got there and got settled and then the next morning asked him about what time you want to get going maybe you at ten o'clock or so. He said I'll be there at 8 a.m. so I'll just check in with you. I thought so I'd Mosey on up there around 9 or something and sure enough about 8:30 or so he was knocking on my door and wanting to know if I was ready to go to work. I kind of realized that even though they're giving you a free Campground site they can expect you to pitch in.

I guess it's optional but not really so I needed to get off my duff. I wandered up to the food pantry and they were doing some carpentry-type stuff. Not all that much electrical just all kinds of various handyman stuff. I worked with Dick all morning and we got just a lot of stuff done. I took lunch and I came back and you told me how he was nearly 75 near 80 years old and he was supposed to be retired but he's been working harder at retirement than he had expected. Sometimes 8 hour days and that's not what he intended to be doing at this point of his life. It's all for free and he's a great guy, a salt of the earth.

On day two we did some stuff for one of the little old ladies down the road. We did some just more work around the food pantry and certainly enjoyed myself. We stayed there for several days and just really enjoyed helping out. That was my visit to Hawthorne and they wanted me to never leave which was very flattering but I guess it was time to go.