For the Fourth of July, this missions church that we go to decided to have some of its staff members take some of us homeless street people for a day at the amusement park.  Well, as you can imagine, we jumped at the chance: ain't very often we get to go anywhere other than begging for food or money, or even panhandling a little (but then people frown on that).

With the high cost of everything, we can't afford hardly nothing.  So we live off the streets.  It ain't a great way to live, but at least it's nice to know that there's some nice people in this world, y'know??

The church bus came by the shelter we were staying at at about 7:30.  We boarded the bus after we'd cleaned ourselves up so we'd look presentable; on the way to the amusement park we ate at McDonald's.  Man, the food was GOOD, I think I done died and gone to Heaven!  :)  We were back on the bus by 8:15/8:30; we got to the park by 9:00.  We were all so excited: we were like a bunch of little kids, especially me; I am a ride fanatic to the extreme!!

At ten, the rides opened, as did the park.  We didn't waste any time in hitting some of the more popular rides (the brand new "WindSeeker", the Magnum XL-200, the Millennium Force, the Raptor, etc.).  I rode with some of the younger members of our group and I had a blast!  I just wish the rides could have lasted a little longer; the rides were great, but the time spent on 'em was way too short for my liking!

Around noonish, we met at one of the food courts, where we feasted on fried or roasted chicken, french fries, cole slaw, and for dessert, ice cream, peach cobbler, or apple pie.  The food was some of the best eatin' I'd had in a long time (or since McDonald's, anyway ... )!

 We fooled around for a few hours after lunch, looking at the displays or souvenir shops; one of the music pastors got me a Cedar Point tee shirt as well as a sweat shirt.  I told him there was no way I could possibly pay him back; he said don't sweat it; consider it to be a gift.  So I got two new shirts!  I also got some post cards and some pens and paper, so I could write to my brother, who was serving in Afghanistan, in the war.

It was then back to more rides.  I tried to ride every ride in the park, but that was next to impsssible, seeing there were so many to choose from, from the wild to the mild.  We did this until it got to near sunset; then we hurried to the area where they were gonna shoot off the fireworks.

And the fireworks, they did not disappoint.  They were AWESOME!!  All through the display we all hooted and hollered and cheered; we were having the best time of our lives!  We didn't want it to end!  We then boarded the bus and went back to the shelter; some of us were so tired we crashed on our beds without taking our clothes off.  I know I didn't wait long before I fell asleep until I got home.  I then woke up the next morning with the world's worst sunburn: I was so red, I was practically GLOWING!!

Just call me "Pinky"!  :)

Well, I'm gonna go; hungry.  Gonna try to feed my face and relive the happy memories we had just a few days ago.  Wish we could do it all over again!!

~No-Socks.

~To be continued.~