Team 1 is on the ground

Just over 12 hours after leaving Henderson, the first week's team is at Gateway UMC, our home away from home in North Gulfport, Miss. We drove through driving rain most of the way, but at least we were spared the ice and snow that was forecast for Henderson and Nashville this morning.

We were road warriors, leaving Chapel Hill UMC at 6:05 a.m. with 14 volunteers in four vehicles with two trailers. We didn't stop for breakfast; instead, we ate delicious homemade bread baked by Chapel Hill's Denny Howard and cookies baked by a variety of folks at the churches. Thanks!

We had some challenges getting our sleeping arrangements lined up here, but our inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags are on the floor, and soon (very soon, I hope, because we are all exhausted), we will be, too.

Notes to the next two teams: Get here as quickly as possible to find sleeping quarters at the church. There is wireless Internet service in the fellowship hall.

We originally planned to veer west at Birmingham to drive part of the way through Mississippi, but that would have required driving 55 miles of two-lane road in the rain. Instead, we took I-65 all the way to Mobile, Ala., then caught I-10 to Gulfport. Very satisfactory.