Texarkana, AR to Shreveport, LA

July 14

Just like yesterday, we got to ride in three states again today.  This time it was Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana.  The day started on a very shady stretch of country road that ran parallel to a much busier road.  It was beautiful, calm and peaceful.  After a bit, though, we were back to the road with the noisy traffic.  We saw more meadows and trees, and then, to let us know we were nearing Louisiana, we passed larger bodies of water.

I took a picture of a Methodist Church in Oil City.  There was no discernible city, and I couldn’t tell if the church was operational or not.  But I love the UMC and it had these crepe myrtle trees out front that I had not yet gotten a picture of.  They’re beautiful flowering trees and shrubs that come in all different colors.

I loved the sign for the town of Frog Level, which later changed its name to Rodessa.  As soon as I saw the sign I had to stop and get pictures—one to show the frogs and another which was legible to read the story.

We arrived at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church in Shreveport where they have a volunteer center we could stay in.  It had three showers and a washer and dryer—though the washer wasn’t functioning very well.  There were ten bunk beds—not enough for all of us, so some of us stayed in  the fellowship hall.  We learned later in the evening that there are very large cockroaches in the south!

Shreveport, LA is where the Fuller Center really got its start doing building.  And we got to hear lots of their story from the staff.  This is one of the few Fuller Center Covenant partners that actually have paid staff.  I’m not sure of the entire story, but in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, the director of Community Renewal International contacted Millard Fuller about helping build for some of the people who had been displaced from New Orleans.  Mr. Fuller wasn’t moving fast enough, so the man from CRI drove out to Americus, GA to get him and bring him back.  That was the beginning of building for the Fuller Center.  Before that, the Fullers actually intended to simply continue to raise funds for Habitat affiliates even though Millard had been fired from Habitat due to differences in philosophy.  The covenant partner in Shreveport has built 57 houses since 2005—whole neighborhoods.

They welcomed us like we were celebrities!  After getting cleaned up, we went in vans and private vehicles over to the Fuller Center office and surplus store.  Mr. Lee Jeter had made us some delicious gumbo and salad, and we had chocolate cake for dessert.  He gave us a short history of the Fuller Center there in Shreveport.  Monica did a Facebook live segment and Mr. Jeter told everyone that they should also be on the bike adventure.