Week 5 - Fayettechilly

I got to collide with the “coulda shoulda woulda beens” of Fayetteville, Arkansas on our first voyage west of the Mississippi. We all had to drop things to live out our bus adventure. My sacrifice was the pursuit of a master’s degree at the University of Arkansas in Crop, Soil and Environmental Science. I fell in love with the area and town after a biking trip this past year, so when we embarked, I requested to make a stop in the Northwest corner of the often-forgotten state of Arkansas. Luckily, nobody is too picky about our destinations.

Nice visit to my would of been building on University of Arkansas’ Campus

Leaving from Georgia on Sunday the 6th we had ourselves an 11 hour drive a head of us. You’d think we could crank that out in a day. However, as sleek as our bus may be, SHE is not speedy in the slightest. On our best downhills, you feel a rush of adrenaline when the speedometer tetters slightly above 65 mph. Then the uphills, although always passable just sometimes it’s at a comfortable 25 mph with an extended line of patient patrons behind us. Along with the occasional pull off when an unexpected, and still unresolved, alarm starts blaring from the dash. To summarize...it took us two and half days to drive from Georgia to Arkansas. But not without some lovely hellos along the way.

A sweet visit with Georgia (Cain’s sister) over some hotcakes!

Very calmly filling up our CNG tanks for the first time!

This is Linden, we got to meet him in Caruthersville, MO. We got to spend some time skating with him and invited him into the bus to share dinner!

Our destination in Fayetteville, Arkansas was the Cooper family residence. Kris Cooper, friend of John Haddad (Josh’s dad), is employed by the group we spent our time volunteering with this week, Potter’s House. The organization functions in multiple ways to “strengthen and connect communities across socioeconomic and cultural lines” in Fayetteville. While here we spent time in their pre-school, which is offered for FREE to families in need in their area. This wing of their operation was developed in response to the observation that some kids were having to play catch up in public school, solely because they grew up in less fortunate circumstances. The preschoolers were endearing and, I promise, there was nothing cuter than watching Josh with the “Zebra” classroom he spent the morning assisting.

Maybe Josh has a future as a preschool teacher?

They also operate three thrift stores in Northwest Arkansas, which help finance their operations and provide the community with access to affordable clothing and goods, along with providing job opportunities in their community. These stores were booming with business. We had the opportunity to work on their donations receiving dock. The pure volume of drop offs they had each day made it obvious that Potter’s House is a central part of this community.

Processing of all the donated goods to Potter’s House

If you can’t find a book how are you supposed to read it? Cain took care of that

We had the opportunity to sit down with the founder and president, Sean Schwartzman, for lunch. Their origin story reflects the true heart and vision of Potter’s House - to establish loving relationships with neighbors to build “a true community that lives together” - leaving no one looked over or forgotten. In the beginning, Sean and his wife got to know a girl in their neighborhood who lacked some of the things we might consider basic. The Schwartzman’s helped her and her family by providing clothes, help with school, and a web of community connections. They saw the need wasn’t limited to this one family. Neighbor by neighbor, soon enough, they were helping the whole neighborhood. This grew into what they call the Potter House Family where lines of wealth and color are broken down. Their objective is to love people like you would any neighbor. To learn more of their story I urge you to visit their website, here.

Clothes can’t hang themselves!

Now, back to Kris and Diane Cooper, who were so kind to host us this week. They gave us space in their driveway to park accompanied with endless firewood for our stove (which was very appreciated as temps dropped into the 20’s overnight and the bus experienced its first snow!) Their home is a loving place with constant guests dropping in, but the best gift they gave us was endless time with their son, Caleb.

The Cooper Family

We drove the Cooper’s grandchildren to Dairy Queen for their routine Mickey and Minnie on a full moon night!

They trusted us to bring him with us practically anywhere we needed to be, whether that was volunteering or the Arkansas football game. Caleb’s joy was contagious, and his personality was one of kind. He was constantly sharing with us the best restaurants in town or demanding us to turn up the music if “his song” came one (which is every song it turns out). This week’s goodbye was especially hard for us. Caleb almost felt like our perfect fourth. The way he showed love for others was genuine and unique. He was so unapologetically, authentically himself. You can’t help but feel more confident in being yourself when around him.

Caleb the stunner in his Sunday’s best

This week had a huge impact on us. Getting to see love being shared across social barriers …. feeling endlessly welcomed by a family who sought to fill our every need… spending time with Caleb... we leave feeling a fullness of life that is hard to come by. As we debrief at the end of the week, we realize more how special this experience of riding on The Lost Bus is. As fun as living with your best friends is, working and learning together carries the real value. Fayetteville, my almost town, has some amazing things happening in it. We were lucky enough to witness it ourselves this week. Now, we point the bus south to Louisiana seeking warmer nights and possibly a true Cajun experience.