So, not pictured on Day 30, was Tarah Engelke. But she was an important part of it. I met her at the FC show, and we had previously become Facebook friends via Tommy. However, on June 9th the FC folk moved on and I had the morning free to spend with Tarah and Laura around Portland (they had actually never met before then, tho' I think they both had heard of each other). First stop was Laura's place where we met the super-soft lamb Lambert, who is a member of their household (a roommate inherited a farm or something?). See here, could anything possibly be cuter?
Here are a few pix of Laura's place:
Our time was limited but we made good use of it! We first swept by a nice view of the city,
then went to Tin Shed for brunch,
followed by Barista Portland for a classy coffee experience,
and finally sadly said our goodbyes. :(
(hard to believe they just met that morning, eh? :) )
I must share Tarah's awesome tatt. When you hear the personal story behind it, it's even cooler. No I'm not going to share it. I need to sleep. ;)
So the LAST thing I will share about here is the train ride that was strangely coincidental. I sit down, and my seatmate turns out to be this older man who seems nice and we end up chatting at some point. When he realizes I am a Christian, he says to me, "you've probably read this?" and is holding Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution on his lap. Why yes, yes I have.
We talk more and discover we have a Portland friend in common - Heather Penzel - one of the two Portland friends in common Tommy & I have (tho' she was in MN while we were there). Not only that, but he's lived in the 'Joshua House', a discipleship house of a ministry my sis Nicole and I are very close with in Minnesota. It turns out, he's one of these crazy faith travelers like me, only on a whole different level. In fact, he is in his 50s and has been on the move for 30 years, and w/the exception of one or two 'long stays' - 6 years somewhere while in college, and I think he said 4 years in the military - he's usually not anywhere for longer than 8 months!
He tends to minister to/connect with 'crusty punks' typically. Yeah, I guess there are folks who self-identify as that, tho' I can't imagine why? They are folks who do a lot of train-hopping & traveling, don't stay in one place too long, and - I'm guessing, as the name implies - probably don't have the chance to shower as much as you or I might.* Anyhow, for someone whose life seems to be in constant motion/transition, I can't imagine him having seemed more at peace. Really a gentle spirit just shone in him, and those things they call the 'fruit of the spirit' in the Bible: love, joy, peace, patience etc. He'd been on a long trip and had been returning to Wisconsin he thought, but a problem with the trains had made his train unavailable and so he'd decided to come back a ways to spend some time in Sacramento.
His job is painting, so he can pretty much do it anywhere. One place he'd gone recently was to 'Salvation Mountain' where they are looking for docents to take over the work of Leonard Knight whose health is not that great anymore, and spent nine days with Leonard. He had a dvd from there that he let me play on my computer while he was off & about for dinner or somesuch. It was pretty interesting!
All in all, it was a rather extraordinary incident meeting Keith York. Part of me hopes it isn't a sign that my moves will become more frequent, and part doesn't care if it is! So, thank you to those who have been praying for my journey - I guess my longest travel stretch was well-provided with a trustworthy overnight seat-friend, who was also inspiring in his own way. :)
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.
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