St Joe's

March 12, 2008: St Joseph, Missouri- "where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended." Those two bits of history happened on the same date (April 3) in St Joe's, 18 years apart.

Scott and I were lucky enough to stay with the Campbells: Denise & Chad, with kids Zac (17) Sydney (11) and Kennedy (4), along with Sandra from Switzerland & Francois from Namibia. We had a quick and fun four days, playing air hockey and pictionary, and going on walks in the beautiful spring twilight.

We drove straight into spring from Chicago-- our first day in St Joe's hit 70 degrees, which really brightened the general cast mood! There's something so exciting after a cold gloomy winter about packing your winter coat in a box to ship home. Our tour only gets warmer from here.

We had a full schedule in St Joes- our community impact projects were the Stand for Peace program at Sydney's school and one other in town, and some people painted mini "buildings" for a tiny tot town event that the community holds each November. I love projects like that when the cast really gets to use their creativity-- there was a pet store with a colorful jungle mural, a post office with a working mail slot, and from the scraps of other buildings, two guys created a basilica!