Grandma & Grandpa 'Superman' on the Road

Altho my stated aim is not to entertain but to communicate, perhaps with this short story, I will succeed in doing both.

This morning, I was just getting myself together for our Saturday sortie with the Word of God, and I went into our living room where Anastasía was apparently talking to someone in the room, a guest, it sounded like. There I saw a tall elderly woman with a slight stoop being handed the telephone directory by my wife, and it looked like she was a passer-by who, maybe, needed to use a phone. I thought nothing of it, and went back to my office to clean up the mess on my desk, and vacuum the floor.

A moment later, Anastasía found me and, with a "Honey, do" look on her face, explained that there was a stranded elderly couple that we needed to help. They were just dumped off by a taxi cab with all their luggage on the doorstep of the Seventh Day Adventist church across the street. They were on a trip, and their train connexion wasn't till 4 p.m. Since it was only 8:30 a.m., they had some time to kill, and so they found the closest SDA church to the train station, and had a cab bring them over, so they could attend Sabbath services. Well, that seemed reasonable and easy…

But the church was locked, and no sign of life… except for a sign on the door that said, "Services at the SDA campground in Gladstone today". Anastasía was out doing some chores and noticed the couple standing with all their luggage in the warm morning sunlight, hanging on to a railing. Her natural sympathies were aroused and she called out (across the street), "Are you okay? Do you need any help?" The answer was too inaudible, so Anastasía crossed 60th and talked to them, learning of their predicament.

It was about 9:00 by the time we rounded up Leo and Leona Reeves, an elderly (70-ish) farm couple from a 250 acre farm in "Idaho, just across the river from Ontario, Oregon." They had quite a bit of gear… you could tell they'd been 'on the road' for a while. We tossed everything into the hatchback of the van, and I helped Leona into one back seat, and Leo (through the other side sliding door) into the other, and off we went. (Luckily the campground was on a straight south trajectory from my house, just 11 miles down I-205.)

Leo and Leona Reeves (they chuckled when I called them "the lion and lioness") had saved for a very long time for this trip. You could tell it was their "trip of a life time." Their little farm was "growin' nothin' but hay right now," but they used to raise potatoes, sugar beets, and all sorts of vegetables, and wheat. One of their 'boys' was minding the farm while they are away. They used to have a small dairy herd, but years ago, when the government started homogenizing the dairy farmers, they got out of it, because they didn't want to change their ways. We talked awhile, sharing mutual reminiscences of our lives "on the farm" with them.

As we cruised down the highway to their destination, Leona and Leo told us about their trip.

Starting from their farm, they drove to Pasco, Washington, where they hopped a train, first destination being Maine, where the Reeves family was having a reunion ("only about 40 of us left, now"). Was the family from there? "No, but we all just decided to have the reunion in a place we hadn't been before." So they traveled by train across the northern tier of states… Idaho, Montana, one of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, down to Chicago, around the corner and straight to Maine.

After the reunion, they rented a car and took it across the waters by ferry to Nova Scotia and, from there, crossed the new bridge to Prince Edward Island ("at 40 bucks per car" one way). Then, they got back to the mainland and hopped another train bound for British Columbia! Hmm, considering where they'd been thus far, I began to admire how few pieces of luggage they were toting. Here, I expected the journey to end, with them returning to their farm in Idaho. I had underestimated them. "After visiting some friends in B.C., we decided to go to Florida. The girl at the ticket counter asked me, what town? I said (this is Leona talking), I don't know anything about Florida. Can you pick us a nice destination?"

At this point I asked, "How did you get to Florida from B.C.? Did you fly?" Leona replied, "Oh no, we took the train!" Leo added, "We bought the 30-day rail pass." So Grandma and Grandpa 'Superman', whom I was beginning to suspect were related either to George Reeves (the Superman of my youth) or to Christopher Reeve (the later Superman), had a nice stay in Florida, and then headed back north to New York. There, the trip hit an obstacle. The severe flooding in the Northeast had put some of the train bridges out of service, so they had to take an 8½ hour bus ride to Niagara Falls. At this point in my narrative, I am beginning to get dizzy… Where did Leo and Leona go next? Hmm, I'm trying to remember…

I know what happened! We arrived at the SDA campground, and the conversation turned once more to the matters at hand—getting them safely connected to the brethren. I don't think we ever heard the rest of their pilgrimage. Somehow, they trained it back to Portland, anyway. (I think I remember some mention of California, but I'm not sure.) I parked the van next to some people hanging around in the campground, and Anastasía and Leona got out to find out what was happening, and to make sure someone could return them to the train station by 4:00. When they returned, I helped them unload their luggage, Anastasía gave Leona about 3 pounds of ripe Bing cherries (from our tree) in a large bag, Leona gave Anastasía a "thank you" hug, Leo and I shook hands, and the Reeves joined their new friends, as we drove off, waving them farewell.

As we returned home, I commented, "Weren't they a young-spirited couple? Just like many of the elders at Holy Trinity." We agreed that we just had the privilege of meeting two more saints of God, "yielding their fruit in season, their leaves never fading" (Psalm 1:3).

Glory to God!