# 16: Well, I am on the road again! After leaving the Hidden Valley campground near Jamestown NY, I parked two weeks in Bath NY. The first weekend I went to the UA NY – PENN 8th Annual Fall Conference in Waverly NY which is directly on the Pennsylvania state line. While parked in Bath I also went to Letchworth State Park which is a magnificent sight. From there I went east to I-81 south, stopped in Maryland one night and am now in a campground in Lexington Virginia. Maryland is the sixteenth state (plus Ontario) I have visited this year. I plan to leave here next week and will be in Ladson South Carolina next Thursday or so and expect to stay there for about five weeks.

The first meeting in Waverly was a social gathering Friday evening. I was driving down a narrow dark street in the Monster (Ford F350) looking for the street to turn onto, but was having trouble seeing the street signs which were covered by tree branches (they were even difficult to see in the daytime). I knew I was well past the turn and was looking for a place to get directions when I saw what appeared to be a woman and two small children walking along the dark street dragging suitcases. I wondered if they had been evicted from their home. I passed them by, but later I realized that I should have stopped and asked them for directions and offer to help them, that is the way Jesus would have handled the situation.

“The beauty and sublimity, the humanity and divinity, the simplicity and uniqueness, of Jesus’ life on earth present such a striking and appealing picture of man-saving and God-revealing that the theologians and philosophers of all time should be effectively restrained from daring to form creeds or create theological systems of spiritual bondage out of such a transcendental bestowal of God in the form of man. In Jesus the universe produced a mortal man in whom the spirit of love triumphed over the material handicaps of time and overcame the fact of physical origin.”  Urantia Book (2084.2) (195:10.2)

The Waverly conference was held at the lovely home of Ralph and Betty Zehr overlooking the beautiful New York state countryside.  As with all such conferences, it was attended by a wide variety of Urantians.  It is always a joy to meet and be with such people.  There were people from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York State and Canada.  Gaetan Charland, president of UAI gave an interesting talk about his work assisting Urantia Book study groups all over the world.  There were also three workshop sessions.  Planning for and hosting a small conference such as this gives something for a study group to concentrate on besides just reading the book all the time.  These mini conferences are an excellent idea.

I spent one cloudy day exploring Letchworth State Park; I hoped to do more exploring there but the weather was wet and rainy most of the time I was in the area.  The park straddles a gorge formed by the Genesee River south of Rochester, in places the cliffs are nearly 600 feet high.  The leaves were starting to turn colors but they did not show up well because of the poor lighting.

One rainy day while I was still in Bath NY, a Pileated Woodpecker was looking for lunch on a tree next to my parking space. I tried to use my long lens to get a picture, but the light was too dim. In one photo it looked as if the bird had two heads because he was working the tree much faster than my shutter speed. Yesterday as I was returning from a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway here in Virginia, a Pileated flew in front of my windshield while I was waiting for the traffic light to change.

Monday I will drive to Lynchburg and visit Dick Bain and possibly some of his study group. I need to get better at timing my stopovers to coincide with meeting nights.

#15:  I want to finish describing my summertime travels before I set out next week. I plan to park the Wyoming (my ‘house,’ a fifth wheel) at Bath NY for a couple of weeks so I can attend a meeting in Waverly NY and also visit Letchworth State Park. From there I plan to get on I-81 south and make a quick stop near Williamsport MD before going on to Lynchburg VA. I would be glad to meet readers in the Maryland area so let me know as soon as possible if you want to meet, otherwise I will wander onward.

There is such a wealth of teaching in the Urantia Book, how does one choose a quote to include in a blog such as this? I don’t choose, so far the quote to include just becomes obvious.

"It is our sincere belief that the gospel of Jesus’ teaching, founded as it is on the father-child relationship, can hardly enjoy a world-wide acceptance until such a time as the home life of the modern civilized peoples embraces more of love and more of wisdom. Notwithstanding that parents of the twentieth century possess great knowledge and increased truth for improving the home and ennobling the home life, it remains a fact that very few modern homes are such good places in which to nurture boys and girls as Jesus’ home in Galilee and John Mark’s home in Judea... The love life of a wise home and the loyal devotion of true religion exert a profound reciprocal influence upon each other. Such a home life enhances religion, and genuine religion always glorifies the home.

"... As long as we teach the child to pray, 'Our Father who is in heaven,' a tremendous responsibility rests upon all earthly fathers so to live and order their homes that the word father becomes worthily enshrined in the minds and hearts of all growing children." Urantia Book (1922.4-1923.1) (177:2.6, 7)

I mentioned in the last blog that I flew to Charleston South Carolina, was met by three members of our Summerville study group and we went to Boone North Carolina for Michael’s birthday party.  They wanted attend the meeting, but also they wanted to see where I spend the summertime and to visit Niagara Falls.  I offered to be their chauffeur, although I suspect it has been nearly a half century since I was last at the falls.  That time we needed no passports, we were simply asked where we were born and waved on our way.

Bev Rogers, Cynthia Rogers, Manning Rogers

The shortest way north from Boone North Carolina was along the Skyline Drive, always an enjoyable journey. We arrived at the Hidden Valley Campground in Southwestern New York State where the Wyoming is parked and spent a couple of nights before venturing further.

We first went to Lockport New York to see a part of the Erie Canal and its locks. We had lunch there in a restaurant overlooking the canal. One of the waitresses had a pretty face and short blond hair, but she was dressed all in black and was so grossly overweight it would take at least three people to reach around her hips. I wondered what emptiness, what longings could drive her to such a state; was something missing in her family life when she was growing up? We see such individuals everywhere these days, a sad commentary on our times.

Another sad commentary came just as we were going through customs. The agent was processing our passports when suddenly he looked into the car and shouted “TURN OFF THAT PHONE AT ONCE!” I was expecting to see machine guns aimed at us at any instant, all because Manning answered his cell phone at the wrong time. What kind of society are we creating?

It was raining our first night at the falls so we did not see them lit up after dark, but outside of that the weather was perfect throughout.  The flowers were springlike and well tended (just for us tourists).

On a sudden impulse we got on the Maid of the Mist boat ride and were able to get a closeup look at the falls. A guide we talked to before boarding suggested I ride on the first deck as it would be less crowded than the top and he gave me pointers on how to keep my camera dry, sort of. It was a fun ride.

We had no set itinerary but we visited Niagara on the Lake and went on to Toronto.  There was some discussion about seeing the sights there, but I am not a big city person and there would be too much walking for Bev.

We drove along Lake Ontario and spent the night outside of Kingston. Not our favorite of motels, I didn’t even want to get on the floor to do my morning exercises there!

The next morning we went into Kingston which is at the end of the lake. We intended to take a boat ride into the Thousand Isles; there was one leaving at eleven which was an hour and a half long. I let the others off to get tickets while I parked the car but when I came back Manning shouted “Hurry!” It seems that the boat leaving at eleven was full but the one leaving at ten thirty had just enough spaces for us, it was a three hour tour and was leaving momentarily. It was fabulous! The shouter ride would miss the prettiest sights and our boat had a two piece band with live music!

In about a week I took nearly six hundred pictures and it was a wonderful excursion, except that we all came down with a bug of some sort afterwards. We all survived, but Bev needed a stay in the hospital. He has fully recovered now and we are all well and ready for another adventure.

By the way, in the last week a flock of about eight wild turkeys has wandered past my house several times; I will miss the wild life in this campground.

#14:  Whew! Last night I counted how many states I have visited or driven through this year, it was fifteen states and one Canadian Province. No wonder I feel a bit drained; it is time to get my batteries recharged because it will soon be time to move my house once again. This has been a fantastic year already and there are more than three months left! I have many pictures and I would be glad to show them whenever.

The following quote from the Urantia Book will need a bit of explaining but I chose it because it relates to a thought I had during the meeting near Boone North Carolina which I will discuss below. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Urantia Book, one of its important teachings is that each of us is indwelt by a prepersonal fragment of God called the Thought Adjuster (it is also described by other names such as Mystery Monitor; one name which occurred to me is God’s Promise of Eternity.)

"The Thought Adjuster is engaged in a constant effort so to spiritualize your mind as to evolve your morontia soul; but you yourself are mostly unconscious of this inner ministry. You are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of your own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of your soul and the Adjuster.

"Certain abrupt presentations of thoughts, conclusions, and other pictures of mind are sometimes the direct or indirect work of the Adjuster; but far more often they are the sudden emergence into consciousness of ideas which have been grouping themselves together in the submerged mental levels, natural and everyday occurrences of normal and ordinary psychic function inherent in the circuits of the evolving animal mind. (In contrast with these subconscious emanations, the revelations of the Adjuster appear through the realms of the superconscious.)"  Urantia Book (1207.2,3) (110:4.2,3)

I flew to South Carolina and met three members of our Summerville study group; we then drove to Boone North Carolina. The actual meeting celebrating Michael’s birthday was nearby at Valle Crucis, but the sleeping arrangements there were dormitory style so we stayed in Boone instead. This photograph gives an idea of the beautiful countryside and this building is where we had our meals.
 

The meetings were inspirational and varied: Dick Bain showed some of the Jesus videos he has done, there were musical sessions led by an expert hammer dulcimer performer and a workshop session, more on this below.

 

 
The leader of the group was Steve Law who is at the bottom left in this photograph. As usual, one of the most rewarding parts of the meeting was the time spent talking with other readers of the Urantia Book. There was also a small chapel next to the lodge, one evening there was a moving service using a fine pipe organ (unfortunately I managed to misplace my meeting notes so I cannot give the special name of this service.)
 
One afternoon we split into groups for discussions. I chose the one on outreach efforts since I have started doing something along this line. During the discussion the above quote was read to our little group. At that time I had the inspiration that such thoughts which arise suddenly could be tested as follows. If the thought or proposed action glorifies God then it might perhaps have originated from the Thought Adjuster but if it glorifies me or another person then it is unlikely to have a worthy source. It has happened more than once that the messenger gets glorified while the message becomes secondary.
 

One afternoon I hiked to some nearby falls. This young lady was not part of our group, but she has the proper meditative attitude for such a beautiful place.

There were a group of young students sharing the small facility with us who were singers from the Charlotte school system, frequently we could hear them practicing. On the final night our group gathered on the above porch for a short serenade. The singers filed in quietly and the director gave an introduction. The porch was in total darkness and it would have been better if we could have seen them, but their music, accompanied only by crickets and other night sounds, was heavenly.

After the meeting the four of us drove here to Hidden Valley and then into Canada, but that is the subject of another blog.

#13: My pilgrimage to the Education for Outreach Conference in Boulder Colorado was a thrilling and high energy experience. Friday and Saturday’s meetings started at 9:30 AM and were not over before 10:00 PM. Thursday there were sessions in the afternoon and evening while on Sunday there was a morning session. In addition, on two mornings I got up early (leaving at 4:30 AM!) and went with Don Ware as he watched for birds and I soaked in the wonderful sights and got some great photographs, see below. The presentations at the conference were inspiring, interesting and informative, the discussions were lively but the most inspiring moment was experienced after the conference was over in the motel where most of us stayed.

Today’s quote is the last paragraph in the book.

"And God-consciousness is equivalent to the integration of the self with the universe, and on its highest  levels of spiritual reality. Only the spirit content of any value is imperishable. Even that which is true, beautiful, and good may not perish in human experience….. And all these things are a part of the Universal Father. The Father is living love, and this life of the Father is in his Sons. And the spirit of the Father is in his Sons’ sons — mortal men. When all is said and done, the Father idea is still the highest human concept of God." Urantia Book (2097.3) (196:3.35)

 
The above photograph gives only a small hint of the wildflowers, there can be no photograph of the experience of being out in His wondrous creation at dawn with the birds singing, the newborn day illuminating the hills and the wildflowers like gems in fresh green fields.

(Goodness, I thought I quit writing poetry!)

Saturday afternoon the featured speaker was Dr. Lyone Fein who is an Assistant Professor at Denison College in Ohio. She teaches a course on comparative religion, the last segment of which studies the Urantia Book; hers is the only course known to include such a study. In her presentation and later discussions she employed a rigorous scholarly approach which was certainly appreciated. There were also discussions about how to approach local colleges and universities in outreach efforts.

Friday there were presentations by representatives from the Urantia Foundation, the Urantia Fellowship, UAI and others highlighting outreach efforts. The announcement that most interested me is that there are plans to soon open a comprehensive online listing of study groups which will include all sources. That would be helpful to me in finding groups as I Wander.

Friday evening Roger Basset gave a fascinating account of his work with the image on the Shroud of Turin. As an artist he studied this image until he is able to perceive it as a three dimensional image. He has used computer processing to enhance this image and the result is stunning. Copies of the print are available from the artist (contact me for details).

Saturday there was a panel discussion titled “Booths, Multimedia, and Other Bold Maneuvers” which included yours truly. Since I was not a booth or a multimedia I suppose they thought I was a bold maneuver. My presentation was about ten minutes long and was well received, thank you everyone. I may post it on this blog when I figure out how.

Sunday after the conference was over I was sitting in the lobby of the motel with Don waiting for someone to join us for supper. While waiting we asked the young lady working behind the motel counter if she would get a copy of the Urantia Book. We had previously spoken to two of them, who were probably twenty-something, about the revelation. She said they already spoken to the motel owner about getting two copies for the small library at the motel. When we asked her why she replied that our group was the happiest group they ever had and she wanted to read the book and find out why. They recently had another group on spiritual retreat staying with them and some of them were really grumpy. Our group was the happiest group they had ever seen. That story sums up the conference quite well.

 
I delayed going back to Southwestern New York State by one day so I could get a short look at the mountains. I was privileged to accompany Dr. Fein as we took a hike and also drove into the mountains. Even though it rained in the afternoon it was still a great day.

Next week I fly to Charleston South Carolina to meet with our Summerville group so we can go to Boone North Carolina for Michael’s birthday, stay tuned to this station for updates!

#12:   I have just returned from Boulder Colorado where I attended the Education for Outreach Conference which was sponsored by UB the News. It was a thrilling experience to be a part of it, even though I had to give a speech! A further description of the conference will have to wait until next time as the last blog left the canyon tour short of the best part, having just left Bryce Canyon. Starting with this blog I will include a quotation from the Urantia Book in each posting.

"To assume that the universe can be known, that it is intelligible, is to assume that the universe is mind made and personality managed. Man's mind can only perceive the mind phenomena of other minds, be they human or superhuman. If man's personality can experience the universe, there is a divine mind and an actual personality somewhere concealed in that universe." Urantia Book (30, 6) (1:6.7)

I am starting to research a report dealing with the mind based on the Urantia Book, if I can put it all together, it will be quite interesting and address concerns some have about the revelation. Now, back to the tour.

The next stop after Bryce Canyon was at the Glen Canyon Dam, which was OK if you like dams. After we arrived at our motel we had a bumpy ride in a Jeep with hard seats to Antelope Canyon which is a slot canyon, deep and narrow. The light was not good and getting pictures was difficult, but the above picture gives an idea of the textured limestone walls which in many places look like cloth curtains.

The next morning we floated down the Colorado from the base of the dam to Lee’s Ferry which is just above the rapids. This was one of the highlights of the trip. As the photograph shows, this was a magical time on the river. Midway through the peaceful floating excursion we stopped to view some old Anasazi cliff drawings at the base of the canyon walls.
 

 
One last stop before the Grand Canyon was at the Navajo Bridge across the Colorado where California Condors were in flight. They have a wing span of ten feet and are spectacular birds. One of the Wildlife Biologists watching the birds had her thumb in a thick bandage; apparently while handling the birds one decided to take a nip. Not everyone gets bitten by a California Condor while still alive!
 

The north rim of the Grand Canyon is so overpowering that there are no words for it, the picture cannot begin to portray the majesty of the view. One individual person can become swallowed up in the immensity, a vast arena of sculptured walls and canyons.
 

The next morning I started before dawn and walked to Bright Angel Point; I thought I was OK with heights, but this walk was a bit scary, the path was no more than four feet wide and dropped off sharply on both sides. The view of the first rays of the sun on the canyon walls is something to remember for a lifetime. It was almost magical to watch the shadows and colors shift and change as the sun slowly rose higher. While I was watching the light show I overheard two photographers talking nearby. One said he had a good vantage point but then “Those people from South Carolina ETV came by and made a lot of noise.” When I told him I was on that tour he did not seem happy.

From there we went to Sedona Arizona for the last night and on to Phoenix for the flight back to our mundane worlds. I only took about 1200 pictures on the tour, digital pictures are such fun!

Hopefully I will get out another blog soon telling about the Boulder Conference. I think I will be going to North Carolina for Michael’s Birthday and will tell y’all about that also.

# 11:  I have returned after a fantastic tour of the western canyons. Then I washed the monster (Ford F350), washed the Wyoming fifth wheel and also scraped and painted my deck. Hopefully now I will settle down for a while and get caught up on a few things, including visiting readers of the Urantia Book and writing this blog more often.

South Carolina ETV’s “The Grandest of the Canyons Tour” arrived in Las Vegas on Friday June 4. Fortunately I had flown to Atlanta the day before and was on the same plane as the rest of the group as we flew west. The airline was overbooked and five tour members were not able to make the flight; they did not get to the hotel in St. George, Utah until about 1 AM the next morning. This was the only blemish on a truly Grand tour.
 

 
There were fifty on the tour including the ETV naturalist and his wife, a cardiologist, a pediatrician, a lady lawyer, teachers, a librarian and one retired chemist (me). During the tour I gave out several cards identifying myself as the Wandering Urantian and giving my blog address, but I had little success talking about the Urantia Book. After all the purpose of the tour was to enjoy our beautiful country and I didn’t want to be a pest, at least not yet.

At dinner the first night I sat next to the cardiologist and we had some discussions about the new revelation but the next day he did not appear to be interested in any further discussions. I talked to one man who was a retired Biology teacher and who said he was comfortable with teaching evolution, but that evening at dinner with his wife they said they were Southern Baptists and were not interested in further discussions.

Before we left St. George Utah we stopped outside the Mormon Tabernacle which had been the only one in the west for many years before the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City was built. The grounds were immaculate with lush grass and several large trees; this was one of the few green places in the region. In one tree across the road we saw a nest with three baby Cooper’s Hawks. I got a decent picture of them; the mother was in another tree but too far away for a picture.

The first stop on the tour was at Zion Canyon (photograph above). We left our bus at the entrance and rode a shuttle bus into the canyon. There were cottonwood trees along the stream at the bottom of the Canyon and the limestone cliffs rose on each side. The park has several interesting trails; one trail, called the Narrows Walk, left from an area called the Temple of Sinawava and went alongside the North Fork of the Virgin River. At one point there was water seeping out of the canyon walls and blossoming Columbine vines cascaded down the walls. As we left the park there were tunnels which were so narrow our bus had to go down the middle of the road (yes, the traffic coming our way had been stopped just for us).

That night we stayed at Ruby’s Inn which is a tourist town near Bryce Canyon which had several motels and even a small Rodeo. As I walked about after dinner with my camera trying to take pictures of cliffs in the distance, I could hear the announcer at the Rodeo. The next morning I found a small lake behind the motel and took a few pictures, including one of a Yellow Headed Blackbird. I only took about 1600 pictures on the entire trip.

At Bryce Canyon we drove along the top and occasionally stopped at overlooks to view the spectacular scenery spread out below. At one overlook there was a large Raven showing off, he would strut about and pose for pictures. I could almost imagine him doing a song and dance on Vaudeville. It did pay off for the bird when somebody fed him.
 

This entry is long enough for now, so the trip will be continued into the next issue, stay tuned!

#10:  I am now safely parked at my summertime spot in Southwestern New York State at the Hidden Valley Campground outside of Jamestown (stop by and see me!). The journey from Dade City Florida to Louisiana to South Carolina and on to New York State has been fabulous. I am working on a slide show of the trip which I hope to post on the web; how soon I post depends on how fancy I get with it. It has been a great pleasure to meet wonderful people at each stop. In a bit over a week I will leave the Monster and the Wyoming behind and fly out west to participate in South Carolina ETV’s “Grandest of the Canyons Tour.” This includes Brice Canyon, Zion and two nights at the north rim of the Grand Canyon!

Before I talk about the last stage of the journey northward there is more news. At the end of July I will be participating in the “Education for Outreach” conference in Boulder Colorado (for information see Conference Info); I have even been invited to be part of a panel discussion at the conference. To prepare for this I would appreciate it if anybody could send me suggestions for outreach activities. I recently had business cards printed which have my contact information, a picture of the Wyoming fifth wheel, and a picture of me with the caption “The Wandering Urantian.” I was at H & R Block in Summerville South Carolina getting my taxes done and another tax preparer overheard me talking about New York State; on my way out he told me that was his home state as well as his wife’s. I gave him my card and he promptly asked what a Urantian was. After a brief discussion I offered to give him a copy of The Urantia Book which he accepted. My next trip through South Carolina I will call him and ask how he is doing with it. This appears to be a natural way to introduce the topic, it is then up to our Thought Adjusters to motivate the individual to pursue the opportunity.

From South Carolina I went to Hendersonville, North Carolina; the journey was uneventful, though I had to wash out my mouth with soap when I got there. The parking spot at the Jaymar Campground was neat, it was the most perfectly level site I ever had and it is well situated to explore the mountains. About the soap, I have a small glass that I pour mouthwash into which I placed in the bathroom sink along with a soap dispenser while I moved from Ladson South Carolina. The next morning I thought the mouthwash tasted a bit soapy and discovered a large glob of soap in the bottom of the glass.

While in Hendersonville I went to Chimney Rock State Park and also drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway though the Smokey Mountains. I did not receive an answer to my email asking for a list of readers in the area so there were no meetings though I found out later there are readers in nearby Ashville. Possibly I can connect with them on another journey.

The drive on the Parkway was spectacular and the weather was perfect also I was able to take scenic walks. It is difficult to see in this picture, but in several places the hillsides were green at the bottom and brown at the top because the leaves were not yet out at higher elevations.
 

 

 From Hendersonville I went to a campground near Natural Bridge Virginia so I could visit Dick Bain and his group in Lynchburg. The drive to Lynchburg was an enjoyable 30 miles over the mountains. The first day I was there Dick gave me a tour of Lynchburg, including some well restored old houses and the local museum.

Other days I hiked around Natural Bridge and drove the Blue Ridge Parkway, this time in Virginia. The Bridge was an interesting sight, but I most enjoyed the walk in the woods; also the butterflies posed nicely for me, though I suspect this pair is doing more than just posing.

I made one more trip to Lynchburg for their discussion group. They had a meeting the week before so not all members could attend this one. We read paper 113, “Seraphic Guardians of Destiny,” and also discussed my chart of the stability of elements vs. atomic number which I mentioned previously.

Lynchburg May 16, 2010: Janice Bain, Dick Bain, Rhonda Richardson, Wandering Urantian

 
Thanks to Dick Bain for the new photo of me for the Blog, I was getting tired of the kayak.  I may try to get out a short blog while on the Canyon trip, see you then.