Since our scheduled speaker could not attend due to an emergency at one of his facilities, we didn't have a program, but instead, President Ken invited PDG John Kramb to give his "thumbnail sketch" of his recent motorcycle ride across the USA. John gave us some highlights and did a great job of extemporaneous speaking! John confessed that he was about three days into his ride when he decided it would be a good fundraiser for Polio Plus, and so he set up the website and advertised it to many folks. He thanked all of us who gave from this club and reported that he rode about 7,000 miles and raised over $5,000 for Polio Plus, which will be matched 2:1 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He started his trip by going west through Ohio. The highlight there was the largest, sole-proprietor-owned hardware store. I guess some people might just like looking at pipe, screws, lumber and such (?). His plan was to go south near the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico and then over to Texas, but since there were two hurricanes coming for that part of the country, he stayed a bit further north and went through Memphis and then through the north of Texas, where he visited his mother's homeplace. As the trip progressed westward, he stopped in Chandler, AZ and visited his sister. From there he went northward into Death Valley, CA. John, very eloquently explained the name of Death Valley: first it is full of death and also, it is a valley! The temperature there was 113 degrees F. While he was in California, he could easily see the smoke from the wildfires west of him. As John wound his way home, he traveled "The Loneliest Highway" in the USA; U.S. Route 50. The most interesting thing that was seed on that stretch of the trip was a sign which read, "Next Services - 124 Miles". He traveled through Wyoming and then stopped in Fort Collins, CO, to visit his son. He found the trip to be very fulfilling except that, due to the pandemic, the Hobo Museum was closed. President Ken also asked Laura Goss what was new at the Adams County Library System. She reported that all of the libraries within the system are now open to the public (with certain restrictions, such as the requirement of face coverings). East Berlin was finally opened recently. She also took the opportunity to tell us that the Friends of the Library Book Sale will be October 1, 2020. There are currently no meeting rooms available, as these areas are being used to quarantine the books for about five days when they are returned. In response to a question from Brad Lancaster, Eric Gladhill said that we are still looking for host families for one or two inbound Youth Exchange students. Please contact Eric if you know of a family who is interested and would make a good host family. With no more business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. |