#22:  First a bit of housekeeping:  I recently moved this mailing list into Outlook and noticed that for many email addresses I do not have a name or contact information.  If you wish, I would appreciate it if you would send me such information, as sometimes it is difficult to correlate a name with the email address.  If anybody is interested in this blog, please send me your email address so you can be notified of future postings.  Also, if you have any topics you would like discussed here, please let me know.

I have just moved from Ladson to Joanna, South Carolina, which is about fifty miles southeast of Greeneville, South Carolina.  I plan to visit friends in Laurens and possibly explore Greeneville, as I understand it has been revitalized and is an interesting city.  Next I will head northward, but instead of going directly to my summertime parking space in southwestern New York State I will stop in Columbus, Ohio to meet with a study group there.  I hope I am not going northward too early, my brother has been in the New York State campground for a couple of weeks and he says it has rained nearly every day and the temperature barely gets over 60 degrees.  But before going into all that I had better account for the five weeks spent in Coastal South Carolina.

“Men all too often forget that God is the greatest experience in human existence. Other experiences are limited in their nature and content, but the experience of God has no limits save those of the creature’s comprehension capacity, and this very experience is in itself capacity enlarging. When men search for God, they are searching for everything. When they find God, they have found everything.”  The Urantia Book (1289.2) (117:6.9)

While I was parked in Ladson our group met nearly every Sunday evening.  We read Paper 130 “On the Way to Rome” and started the following paper on “The World’s Religions.”  The first of these is one of my favorites as it has much inspiring teaching as well as describing the way Jesus interacted with those around him.  Our group goes out to dinner before our meeting, once we went to a nearby seafood restaurant.  While we were waiting for our table we started talking with another customer who is a third generation Chinese American and was in town (Charleston, Fort Sumter, etc.) from the west coast for the Civil War anniversary events.  He appeared interested as we talked about the Urantia Book, hopefully he will seek more information about it.

Most of the time I was parked in Ladson I did little exploring, but I took one day to visit the “Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge.”  This is the third NWR I have visited on my northward journey this year. 

The offices for the NWR are located in a plantation house that was built in 1828 and is only one of three antebellum mansions in the area that survived the Civil War.  I did take photographs of the front but I thought the above view looked more mysterious.  I got a kick out of the old slave cabin, it appears they treated their slaves well; there is even a satellite dish right next to it!

The walk through the NWR was most enjoyable, I saw only a few birds but the air was filled with the sound of singing birds; at times it sounded as if I were deep in the jungle.  At one point the trail went along the top of a levee between old rice fields, when the trail ended at the river the levee continued along the river but the trail was not maintained any farther, making it truly a ‘road less traveled.’  The top of the levee was covered with dry cracked dirt and a few old dried weeds; there was no trace of previous travellers whatsoever.  Feeling somewhat adventurous I continued along the cracked levee.  There were ducks in the river, Fiddler Crabs in the tidal mud and alligators in the ditches along the old rice fields.  I had visions of stumbling over a root or tripping on a deep crack in the hard surface of the levee, then sliding downward into the waiting jaws of those alligators.  Cheery thought. 

On my way out I found this lily and couldn’t resist it.

"Let not the discussions of the humanity or the divinity of the Christ obscure the saving truth that Jesus of Nazareth was a religious man who, by faith, achieved the knowing and the doing of the will of God; he was the most truly religious man who has ever lived on Urantia."  The Urantia Book (2090.2) (196:1.1)

#21: Since my last posting I have moved from Highlands, Texas back to Livingston, Louisiana and on to Jacksonville, Florida.  While in Louisiana I visited the Bayou and did a bit more exploring.  I am now in Ladson, South Carolina, which is west of Charleston, just off I-26.  I expect to stay here until the end of this month when I will continue northward; I am in no great rush to go farther north just now, it was 43 degrees here last night.  Last time I told about visiting a study group at the home of Ralph and Linda in Texas and the magnificent dining room table they have; Ralph was kind enough to send me a photograph of the table (thank you), in the background is the ‘throne’ I was seated on.  That is certainly a Texas sized table!  Next year I hope to spend more time in that fine state.

“Material evolution has provided you a life machine, your body; the Father himself has endowed you with the purest spirit reality known in the universe, your Thought Adjuster. But into your hands, subject to your own decisions, has been given mind, and it is by mind that you live or die. It is within this mind and with this mind that you make those moral decisions which enable you to achieve Adjusterlikeness, and that is Godlikeness.”  The Urantia Book (1216.5) (111:1.4)

A brief explanation is in order for those who are not readers of The Urantia Book.  The Adjuster, or Thought Adjuster, is a part of God that resides within each normal minded human being.  It is the interaction between the Adjuster and the human mind, based on our free will choices, that brings into being our potentially eternal soul.  

The only incident I had returning to Louisiana from Texas was when I attempted to fill the fuel tank on the Monster (Ford F350) and the credit card was denied.  After calling the card company (twice, with waiting each time) the problem was that I had used it the day before in Texas, I guess it is OK to go from Louisiana to Texas but not to return to Louisiana.  I had to give them a list of all the states I might be visiting this year, but how would I know?

Once the credit card allowed me to continue I made it back to Livingston, Louisiana where I stayed a few days.  I visited Anthony on the Bayou for the day.  We had hoped to get out on the water but his outboard motor did not cooperate.  To search for outboard motor assistance we drove eight miles along Four-mile Swamp to a group of buildings nestled alongside the waterway that included a snack bar, picnic tables, loud music, a gas pump for the boats and marine repair facilities.  The boat mechanic took time out from fixing burgers and French fries for his customers to listen to Anthony’s description of the motor’s difficulties and instantly rendered the verdict “fuel injector problems.”  That being settled we spent the afternoon at Brian’s house, located directly on the waterway.  Brian had prepared Jambalaya and I, being no connoisseur of such things, thought it excellent.  Anthony however, thought it a bit too ‘something or other.’

The only other exploring I did was a short trip to Lake Martin, it was interesting to see Great White Egrets with breeding plumage filling the Cypress trees but it was a bit far, 160 miles round trip!

Before I left Louisiana, the Baton Rouge group came to the Wyoming (the fifth wheel I live in) in the campground for their meeting.  This time the web camera and software worked perfectly and Charles was able to broadcast the meeting.  Before starting to read Virginia told viewers they were meeting in my 'house.'  They meet every other Wednesday and web cast their meetings, send me an email if you want information.  This time we read Paper 122, Birth and Infancy of Jesus.  Peter brought another King Cake, which we enjoyed.  The next day I started on my journey toward Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville group used to meet in Paula’s apartment but she has moved, they now meet in the Library, which has small meeting rooms for the purpose.  During the meeting we read the first half of Paper 110, Relation of Adjusters to Individual Mortals.  Again, I enjoy just talking with fellow readers about the revelation.  After the meeting I got my camera equipment and set up to take the photograph.  The library was quite full, with the Internet computers being especially busy; I set up the tripod and camera without asking permission and nobody said a word.

Next time South Carolina!

“Be not discouraged; human evolution is still in progress, and the revelation of God to the world, in and through Jesus, shall not fail.” The Urantia Book (2097.1) (196:3.33)

#20:  Since the last posting I have explored a tiny bit of Texas, attended two study groups in Texas and returned to Livingston Louisiana.  I did not really get the true feel of being in Texas until I attended the study group in Conroe Texas, which was my last stop in the Lone Star State. In between the two study groups I explored Anahuac National Wildlife Reserve, which is directly east of Houston across Galveston Bay.  There I saw Brown Ibis, Egrets, American Coots (grey ducks with distinctive white bills) and Snow Geese.  I enjoyed Texas and intend to go back there next year.  I heard from my neighbor here in Louisiana that there is a good RV park east of Huntsville Texas where I could park and visit that area of the state; the park is located in Livingston Texas and is called Riverside RV Park, curiously I am now in Livingston Louisiana in an RV park called Lakeside RV Park.


“The more complex civilization becomes, the more difficult will become the art of living. The more rapid the changes in social usage, the more complicated will become the task of character development. Every ten generations mankind must learn anew the art of living if progress is to continue. And if man becomes so ingenious that he more rapidly adds to the complexities of society, the art of living will need to be remastered in less time, perhaps every single generation. If the evolution of the art of living fails to keep pace with the technique of existence, humanity will quickly revert to the simple urge of living — the attainment of the satisfaction of present desires. Thus will humanity remain immature; society will fail in growing up to full maturity.”  The Urantia Book (1772.4) (160:1.3)

Driving to David’s house in south Houston was uneventful but I worried about the return journey.  I took the path Google Maps suggested (more on them later) which took me onto the Sam Houston Parkway south.  It was OK except that there were three toll booths along the way with tolls totaling about four dollars.  Some of the booths would not be manned after 7:30 PM; you needed some electronic card to escape the Tollway after hours.  Since I had no card I was afraid that on the way back I would be trapped like Charley on the MTA (if you are not an old fogey you may need to look up the Kingston Trio Song about Charley). 

David said the number of people attending his study group varies widely and he did have several chairs set up.  We read Paper 160, Rodan of Alexandria but due to our discussions we only read through section 2, The Art of Living.  The above quote is from the portion we read and it seems that our civilization is in danger of becoming “immature,” if it is not already that way.  By the way, Alfonso was waving when the picture was taken, that is why his hand is blurry.  Alfonso also offered to guide me through the complexities of South Houston to a freeway from which I could find my way back, thank you.

I found the Anahuac National Wildlife Reserve by looking at the map and thinking that it looked interesting.  The reserve is a large (34,000 acres) flat marsh with a narrow road going through it.  The Snow Geese were difficult to photograph since everything was flat and there were no elevated platforms from which to look out.  There was one loop in the road alongside a canal where I saw five or six Alligators; the one below was on the same side of the canal as I was and I took the photograph while sitting in the Monster looking straight down on this four foot long gator.  By the way, I did my undergraduate study at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, which has the Alligator as its mascot; perhaps I should take them this one, anybody have a rope?

The journey to Conroe Texas, north of Houston was somewhat adventurous thanks to Google Maps, which suggested I take the Sam Houston (him again) Parkway north to I45.  When I got onto Sam’s Parkway the sign stated that it was a toll road and that cash was not accepted (Charley again).  To spare you a long story, I arrived at the meeting in Conroe forty minutes late.  After they squeezed the cars in the driveway together a bit so I could park the Monster, I was able to join them in their Barbeque dinner. 

It was when I saw the dining room table in Ralph and Linda’s house that I knew I was truly in Texas.  Each chair was about the size of the throne of King Henry VIII and there were seven of these thrones around the table with room to spare.  Ralph said he did not even have all the leaves in the table; I should have taken a picture of the table.  During the meeting we read from Paper 140, The Ordination of the Twelve, starting at section 8, Thursday Afternoon on the Lake.

“The apostles never ceased to be shocked by Jesus’ willingness to talk with women, women of questionable character, even immoral women. It was very difficult for Jesus to teach his apostles that women, even so-called immoral women, have souls which can choose God as their Father, thereby becoming daughters of God and candidates for life everlasting. Even nineteen centuries later many show the same unwillingness to grasp the Master’s teachings. Even the Christian religion has been persistently built up around the fact of the death of Christ instead of around the truth of his life. The world should be more concerned with his happy and God-revealing life than with his tragic and sorrowful death.” The Urantia Book (1614.5) (143:5.11)

#19:  I am now in Highlands Texas, which is a tad east of Houston.  The journey from Dade City to DeFuniak Springs, Florida to Livingston, Louisiana to Highlands has been excellent.  In DeFuniak Springs I had no meetings but in Louisiana I had dinner with Virginia and Charles and watched the movie “Inception” on their big screen TV.  While in Louisiana I did a bit of exploring and went to two Study Group meetings, more on them later.  In the last posting I threatened to include a picture of me with a Sea Gull perched on my head as I walked the beach at Lake Worth Florida with the Bird Lady, well this time I carry out the threat.

“All true love is from God, and man receives the divine affection as he himself bestows this love upon his fellows. Love is dynamic. It can never be captured; it is alive, free, thrilling, and always moving. Man can never take the love of the Father and imprison it within his heart. The Father’s love can become real to mortal man only by passing through that man’s personality as he in turn bestows this love upon his fellows.”  The Urantia Book (1289.3) (117:6.10)

The first Louisiana Study Group I went to met at Vianne’s Tea Shop in Mandeville Louisiana; I met with the group last year at Vianne’s house but since then she has graduated to the Mansion Worlds and her daughter allows the group to meet at the Tea Shop.  As usual I had some difficulty navigating the narrow streets; I spotted the place just as I passed it but I could not see the driveway and the traffic would not allow me to stop.  It was several blocks before I could turn the Monster (Ford F350) around and get back.  When I got there Peter was there and said he heard me coming and waved but I did not see him.  The Tea Shop is a quaint little shop with a few tables and dozens of kinds of tea; Peter was kind enough to make me a pot of Irish Breakfast Tea.  He also brought some King Cake in honor of Mardi Gras; this is a kind of cinnamon bun decorated with Mardi Gras colors.  We read Paper 56, Universal Unity, which is a heavy paper.  After we finished reading Peter, Ed and I sat around talking for at least an hour.

The next day I drove back to Mandeville, then went a few miles further on US 190 and explored the Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Reserve where I took the above photograph.  The buildings of New Orleans are in the distance through the haze and that is as close as I cared to get to the city during Mardi Gras, although Peter did offer to take me to a night parade.  I took 255 pictures that day as I explored, I was in such a photographing groove that I even took pictures of a fresh thistle plant!  I found Boy Scout Road; I walked along it through open Pinewoods and towards the marsh for about two miles. At the end of the road was a bench overlooking Bayou Lacombe.  In the waterway there was what appeared to be the upturned root system of a tree that had blown over many years ago.  It had such character that I couldn’t help but take a few dozen photographs of it.  It was a most enjoyable day.

The other Meeting was at the lovely home of Virginia and Charles, but the above photograph cannot do justice to the tranquil space they have created (yes, that is the Monster in the background through the trees).  Charles is a Master Gardener and it shows in the grounds.  The meeting was supposed to be broadcast live on the web but they had software problems that were solved only when we were nearly finished.  We read Paper 167, The Visit to Philadelphia, which was just before the resurrection of Lazarus.  I will visit them again on my way back from Texas, hopefully the software will cooperate and the next meeting will be broadcast.

By the way, after the meeting Koto (I hope I have his name right) even sang for us; in the photograph he is sitting on Charles’s lap.

It is now time to get ready to go to a Study Group meeting in South Houston.

“Is unselfishness — the spirit of self-forgetfulness — desirable?  Then must mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and honor.  Man could not dynamically choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake.  Man could never lay saving hold on righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the good by contrast.”  The Urantia Book (51.12) (3:5.13)

# 18:  I am back in Dade City after spending a glorious week in Lake Worth on the lower east coast of Florida.  I visited with Betty Lou, explored the quaint downtown area of the town, attended the opening of an artist’s exhibition, walked on the beach with the bird lady and explored a bit of the Florida everglades.  On Sunday I was able to attend two study groups; tomorrow I hope to attend a study group in Orlando.  Then next Tuesday I will leave Dade City and start westward, planning to get at least as far as Louisiana so I can visit the wonderful people in Baton Rouge; I may even go on to Texas, stay tuned.

“You humans have begun an endless unfolding of an almost infinite panorama, a limitless expanding of never-ending, ever-widening spheres of opportunity for exhilarating service, matchless adventure, sublime uncertainty, and boundless attainment. When the clouds gather overhead, your faith should accept the fact of the presence of the indwelling Adjuster, and thus you should be able to look beyond the mists of mortal uncertainty into the clear shining of the sun of eternal righteousness on the beckoning heights of the mansion worlds of Satania.”  The Urantia Book (1194.1) (108:6.8)

A brief explanation is in order for those who are not readers of the Urantia Book (hello Casey).  The Adjuster, or Thought Adjuster, is a part of God that resides within each normal minded human being.  It is the interaction between the Adjuster and the human mind, based on our free will choices, that brings into being our potentially eternal soul.  Satania is the name of the local system to which our planet, which is called Urantia in universe records, belongs.  Finally, the mansion worlds are where we are repersonalized or resurrected after we pass on from this world.  

About the only event of note since the last blog was the trip to Lake Worth on the east coast.  I considered pulling the Wyoming (my fifth wheel) but I was unable to get a reservation in any nearby campground so I just drove the Monster (Ford F350).  I hope to plan earlier next year and be able to take my “house” with me.  

There is a fine beach on the ocean, many days I would park there and walk the beach or sit under the trees writing emails to people up north, rubbing it in about the weather as the temperature was in the low eighties and there was a gentle breeze.  One day I accompanied the Bird Lady (aka. Carroll Ann) as she communed with the birds.  I do have one picture of me with at least one pigeon on each hand and a seagull on my head, I might use it next time but I have enough pictures for this posting already.  In Lake Worth there was also a park where I was able to do my power walk around a small lake.  One day I went to a nearby park at the edge of the Everglades.  They were having a small festival about the parks and conservation but I went for the opportunity to explore the area.  The pictures of the Red Shouldered Hawk and White Ibis above were taken on this day.

On Sunday Betty Lou and I went to a study group at Carroll Ann and Dave’s shown above.  (By the way, yes that is the top of a Christmas tree in the corner; one year Lamar and I had a tree and we kept it up until Chinese New Year.)  During the meeting we read starting at Paper 112, Personality Survival, but with the discussions we only read a few pages.  Right after that meeting all of us drove to the next meeting that was over an hours drive away.  Kathy and I rode with Betty Lou; we stopped halfway there at Whole Foods to pick up something to contribute to snacks for the meeting, when we got out of the car Carroll Ann, Dave and Jeff (I hope I have his name right) were right ahead of us.  None of us knew the others were stopping at that store.

At Kurt and Sheryl’s we read from Paper 155, Fleeing Through Northern Galilee the section where Jesus discusses true religion.  I think this blog is long enough already so I will close with a short quote from the section we read.

“The religion of the spirit [true religion] means effort, struggle, conflict, faith, determination, love, loyalty, and progress.  The religion of the mind—the theology of authority—requires little or none of these exertions from its formal believers.” The Urantia Book (1729, 6) (155:5.11)

#17:  I know, I have been doing more wandering than blogging; I hope I can get caught up to date in one posting!  When I start lazy habits they become difficult to change.  Briefly, since my last posting so many moons ago I went from Lexington, Virginia to Ladson, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida and on to Dade City, Florida.  As soon as I got to Dade City I managed to catch a rather nasty bug that kept me low for a month or so.  Recently I have attended a couple of Urantia Book meetings and hope to get back into the swing of things.  By way, the picture of the racing scull was taken along the Manatee River prior to the meeting in Parrish, Florida, which is south of Tampa.

“During the psychologically unsettled times of the twentieth century, amid the economic upheavals, the moral crosscurrents, and the sociologic rip tides of the cyclonic transitions of a scientific era, thousands upon thousands of men and women have become humanly dislocated; they are anxious, restless, fearful, uncertain, and unsettled; as never before in the world’s history they need the consolation and stabilization of sound religion. In the face of unprecedented scientific achievement and mechanical development there is spiritual stagnation and philosophic chaos.”  The Urantia Book (1090.2) (99:4.6)


“The religion of Jesus is the most dynamic influence ever to activate the human race. Jesus shattered tradition, destroyed dogma, and called mankind to the achievement of its highest ideals in time and eternity — to be perfect, even as the Father in heaven is perfect.”  The Urantia Book (1091.2) (99:5.3)

In Jacksonville I met with Jim and Paula, having met them on my way north last spring.  By chance (or guidance) I chose to arrive at the Flamingo Lake campground near I-295 on their meeting night and they had two new visitors at the meeting who lived near each other and had been discussing the Urantia Book for some time.  The give and take, the sharing of stories was energizing.

After taking a month or so to recuperate from my arrival in Dade City I attended a study group in Brandon at the lovely home of Share and Bill Beasley where the following picture was taken.  We read Paper 5, “God’s Relation to the Individual” but the discussion was such that we didn’t get to finish the paper.  The variety of viewpoints and the interchange of ideas is what makes these meetings so special.

The Florida Students of the Urantia Book (FSUB) sponsored the meeting south of Tampa; the theme of this conference was “The Spark of the Spirit.”  The location was the Dayspring Episcopal Conference Center that includes a 92-acre campus, 18 buildings, and hiking trails.  I arrived there early on Friday afternoon so I could explore the trails.  When I got to the Manatee Rover there were two eight man racing sculls out for a practice run (one of which is shown above), probably belonging to a nearby college.  The following scene was also photographed along the Manatee River.   

There were only a dozen or so at the meeting, but that allowed a more personal interchange of ideas.  The Urantia Book states that each personality is unique and these meetings are in a way a celebration of that uniqueness; frequently we would linger in the dining room talking until we felt the staff would rather we move on and get out of their way.  Among the speakers at the conference were Donna D’Ingillo, Jack Miller, Robert Borello and Javier Agubelo.  David Albee and Carol Anne Kummer ably hosted the conference.  On Sunday morning the Chapel was the location for a moving worship service, your blogger even rang the bell before the service.

I have not decided if I will go to the Florida panhandle directly or take a detour to south Florida first.  Stay tuned.

"...When you once start out to find God, that is the conclusive proof that God has already found you."  The Urantia Book (2078.2) (195:6.16)

# 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.