Week 50 - Touch and Go

While training to become a pilot, an individual has to put hours into all aspects of the craft. Most importantly -  if you can get a plane in the air, you better know how to land it. Pilots perform countless touch and go’s to hone this craft and perfect their ability to ground themselves in between their rushes of flying around. This week I feel similarity to this training, we performed our own simple touch and go in Charleston, a simple landing while still out on our rush of an adventure, let me expand.

Months ago, while in Milwaukee, Cain received a phone call from his sister, Jessica Brown (formerly Compton at the time of the call). She asked if we would take the bus to Charleston, the place of our origin before this year, to assist with wedding preparations since the Comptons would be hosting it at their property, Sugah Cain. After careful consideration, we agreed but indicated that we would still be volunteering for a portion of the week before shifting our focus to wedding preparations as the time approached.

Sugah Cain

On many occasions, while traveling and connecting in cities across America, we relied on locals to guide us in identifying community organizations with an impactful presence that could benefit from the assistance of three willing volunteers. However, this time, the task was squarely on our shoulders. Charleston is OUR city, so we embarked on a brainstorming session. Our brainstorming journey led us back to the summer of 2022 when Cain had an encounter with a man named Mark, who oversees Abba Ministries, while attending Saint James Anglican on James Island. Abba Ministries caters to housing needs for individuals in transition, including those recovering from addiction, grappling with homelessness, or reintegrating into society after prison, all within the Charleston area. One of their coordinators we worked with, Tim, exemplified the organization's commitment to restoring and redeeming its residents. In a simple conversation about his living arrangements, we discovered that he moves between houses, driven by the needs of the residents. This alone demonstrates the sacrifices he makes for the residents.

Mark helping one of the residents Gary with his tie

As we managed a to-do list of projects around the houses, including painting the fascia boards around the roofline of one property and refinishing a porch at another, we encountered some lull moments while waiting for paint to dry or ladders to become available. During these idle times, we would inquire about what else we could do in the interim. Tim would consistently advise us that the best use of our time was to spend it with the residents.

Many of these residents would stay at the house for the majority of the day, either to protect themselves while recovering from addictions or as a result of the trauma of living on the streets. Consequently, there were numerous opportunities to get to know these individuals on a personal level. What made this week unique was the realization that, unlike encounters over the past year where we assumed we might never see those we met again, these residents would be in our own backyard when we returned home. We could genuinely build upon these relationships in the future.

One of the residents, James (also known as Slick Rick or Father Time), provided endless entertainment as we worked on the porch that he typically occupied. We asked him how he liked to spend most of his days, and he shared that he simply sat on the porch, observing the neighbors. Admittedly, this might come across as peculiar, but James had his defense ready. When neighbors complained about him watching them, he would retort, "Well, you're watching me watching you, so who's watching who?" Leave him be, as you couldn't win arguments with his strong will.

Another memorable moment occurred while we were working at their house when another resident, George, was sharing details about his past experience working at restaurants. It's unclear what triggered James, but he jumped into the conversation, scolding George with the words, "George, why are you telling this young man all this information about yourself? Don't you ever let your right hand know what your left hand is doing?" It was an intriguing piece of advice, particularly coming from James, considering he was missing his right hand.

Davis and James

Tim's guidance stuck with us, and the memories we created during that week were not centered around painting or fixing but rather around talking and sharing life experiences with the residents.

Expanding our service horizons in Charleston filled us with excitement as we returned to our home city to continue helping others. This year of service has only deepened our belief that dedicating oneself to assisting others leads to genuine relationships and unparalleled life experiences.

Reuniting with many friends who had been absent from our daily lives over the past year was a special joy. Some of them even joined us in our service efforts during this week. Ben Joye, our guest from week 35, and Will Cockman, our guest from week 47, joined us on one of our workdays, and they made a significant contribution to our efforts.

With spare time in the second half of the week, we offered our assistance to the Compton family in preparing for Cain's sister's wedding. Our hearts swelled with warmth as we helped prepare for this significant milestone. Additionally, it served as a reminder of the wonderful company that awaits us when we return home.

The weekend of celebration was truly magical, featuring horse-drawn carriages, long and entertaining speeches, and Sugah Cain (the Compton family property where we built the bus) looking its absolute best. Josh and I consider ourselves fortunate to have been embraced as part of the Compton family, a bond that became even more evident when they graciously forgave us for arriving fashionably late to the ceremony (oops!).

I mean come on

Notably, the Lost Bus had the honor of serving as the getaway vehicle for Osborne and Jessica's wedding exit, marking its first wedding appearance.

Our visit was brief though. We had to take off once again after our short touch down at home, so we could return to our own adventure on the road. Being grounded for this week has us reminded of the ones we have back at home. The end of our travels isn’t over yet, so we take flight once again into our own version of flying around. We are headed back to Florida this week, returning to the first place we stopped nearly a year ago. Last year we were helping clean up after Hurrican Ian and this week we’ll contribute to the rebuild efforts. Leaving Charelston, we were still eager to let the road take us away once again to seek to build more relationships, serve the country, and maximize the little time we have left on the bus.