Sam - Humane Borders - Blog Post 1

The drive to Tucson for Humane Borders was no short journey, so we split the drive into two days. We left bright and early right around seven a.m. on Saturday, January 11 to our halfway housing in New Mexico, packing seven people and our luggage into a rental Dodge minivan. After a twelve-hour drive through four states with a couple short breaks for gas fill-ups, restrooms, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we finally arrived at Albuquerque’s Grace Church. We unpacked our things, went grocery shopping, and cooked our first meal of spaghetti, salad, and bread before heading to bed somewhat early knowing we would be leaving the next morning. 

Fortunately, our halfway housing was much closer to two-thirds-way housing because it was a “short” six-hour trek from Albuquerque to Saint Mark’s Church in Tucson. Driving through Arizona, we saw plenty of cactus plants and, after much deliberation, decided on our own plural of the word—cactasses. Anyway, the church campus is phenomenal: it has a very open/outdoor layout as well as a meditation garden full of “cactasses” and other native plants. In the middle of the garden is a memorial to those who have passed and a grapefruit tree—one of several from which we were allowed to take fruit. Once again, we went grocery shopping (after a quick stop at an In ‘N’ Out burger place) for meals to cover the next couple days and then sat around for the next couple hours talking, playing games, and watching Brave.

Having two days and nearly twenty hours of travel was a blessing, albeit cramped and painful at times. Because of the extra time we had, we were able to get to really know each other and bond over things like our KU experiences and Step Brothers references. Tomorrow, we head off to Humane Borders for our first day of service and I can’t wait to experience it with the other six amazing people on this Alternative Break.