I drove next to Georgetown, Kentucky to pay a visit to Georgetown College. It’s a small, beautiful campus, established in the early 1800s.
As soon as I found a spot to park, a few people came out to talk to me. At first I didn’t know what to expect, but I immediately saw they were coming out to say “Hi” and roll out the welcome mat. I could tell this was a group of really great people. One of the fellows that I met was Ken Holden, the Executive Director of the Marshall Center for Campus Ministry. I was soon presented with a care package with coffee, dinner at a local restaurant, mints, etc., and tickets to the Georgetown College basketball game that night.
I met a dad who was talking his daughter out for the weekend. We talked about the Kindness project for over a half an hour and it turns out that he is the superintendent of the county and very enthused about the entire effort. He would even support a movement to add it to the school’s curriculum, realizing I’d have to go through the state board of education to get it done.
This is a great place with terrific people. Georgetown won the game 115-47.
I guess it’s worth noting that on the way to Kentucky State University, I had a somewhat memorable event. I normally stay off the interstate highway, since my trusty bus, a 1990 model, seems to have to work too hard to stay up with traffic. Not being totally familiar with the area, I mistakenly turned onto I-64, a turn that I soon regretted. I can’t take the bus much past 60 miles per hour, and with the speed limit at 70, I was the slowpoke on the road. It wasn’t too bad when the road was 3 lanes wide, but when it narrowed down to 2 lanes I became a problem. In just a few minutes, an 18 wheeler pulled up to within 2 inches of my back bumper and stayed there….and stayed there…..Bogart started whimpering. Finally the guy decided to pass me, but couldn’t have been going more than 1 mile an hour faster, so it took him what seemed like forever to make the pass. In the meantime, the rush hour bumper to bumper traffic was backing up fast. When the guy finally made it by me, and pulled back in, the stream of traffic flew by. As one driver went by, he held his arm out the window and gave me the all too familiar “one fingered salute.” I know the guy was totally sincere because he held the salute out there as long as I could see him as he sailed into the traffic’s horizon. What dedication, I was impressed.
I’m definitely staying off the interstates from now on.
