The refinery sent me and half of the Rescue team for our annual 40 hour training to Philadelphia, PA. Our hotel and the training were both just south of the airport. It was a great trip.

We left the refinery at 2 AM Saturday morning (April 29). We drove to Houston to catch our flight. There was a front coming through at the exact time we were to take off and so we spent an hour and a half setting on the plane out on the tarmac.

After we arrived in Philly and settled into the hotel, we piled into our two vans and headed for downtown. We walked around to get the feel of the city. The next morning Frank, Debra (Frank’s wife) Ben and I went to 10th Presbyterian Church for morning services. The Rev. Eric Alexander , of Scotland, was the guest pastor and he was finishing up their annual Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. It was a beautiful service, and a very good sermon on the Perseverance of the Saints.

After worship services we walked around for a while before returning to the hotel to pick up Bob. We got Bob on board and we headed back to town for lunch. We ate Philly Cheese Steaks at Geno’s Steaks. The food was good.

We then started looking around. We were able to tour Independence Hall. These was, for me, sacred grown. To know that I was standing where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written was an awesome experience for me.

Monday morning one group of the team headed for New York City and one group headed for Valley Forge and Gettysburg. Of course I was with the latter group. We took our time driving. Valley Forge was a beautiful. After touring it we headed west toward Gettysburg. We took the scenic route through Amish country, which was beautiful country and very picturesque.

At Gettysburg we took a three hour CD guided tour through the park. This too was an awesome experience. The Louisiana memorial in the park is beautiful and very moving. I looked out over the field of Pickett’s Charge. I could see it in my mind’s eye. WOW, so sad.

Tuesday we started our training. It was very good. The folks at S.T.A.R.T. Rescue did a fine job and I thoroughly enjoyed the training, even though we worked hard from Tuesday thru Friday.

Friday after noon I was sick and just hung around the hotel after training. Saturday morning I felt a little better and again our group divided up and one group headed for New York and the other (Frank, Debra, Bob, Ben and me) headed to some local wineries, Brandywine Battlefield and another tour of Amish country.

Sunday we headed for the airport and boarded our flight to Houston. We ate supper at the SaltGrass Steak House. Yummm.

Even though I had had a good time, I was so glad to get home to Lisa and the children.

Kenith