When I say early, I mean early. I arrived at the campus and my hotspot at 5:32AM and of the 5 spots available, 3 were already taken, and as I pulled in to the parking spot, one student pulled in behind me. Wow, what timing. Bogart and I went to get a cup of coffee and on the way back, the fellow who parked in the first spot came back to his car and left, and I immediately moved the bus to that spot. It was great, so visible, no one could miss it. Bogart was a real hit in his rainbow colored coat which I dubbed his “Diversity Coat.” Every day is diversity day on the Kindness Project.
I went to the same spot as yesterday, and because of the timing of the traffic light, I was able to speak to about 20-30 students at a time. So many walked up to me to get stickers, I was totally impressed. In the 4 hours I was there today, I think I spoke to about 600 students. Sorry to say, I had to leave. I never did find out what could possibly be going on at campus at 5:30 in the morning. I headed off for Maryville College early in the afternoon.
This is a small, old campus, perfectly maintained, and manicured grounds, very impressive indeed. There wasn’t much student traffic, they must all be in class, so I parked near the student center which included a café and coffee shop. I noticed some activity in a nearby building and thought I should check it out. Turns out it was the campus chapel and there was a wedding about to happen. A very official looking woman talked to me about the Project, she thought it sounded great, and I left her some stickers for her to pass out at the student center. All in all, I had conversations with ten or so kids. I thought it was time to head for the road and aim for my next stop, Athens, Tennessee. I drove to gas up the bus at a local station and a very nice local woman insisted on paying for the gas. She says she and her family love to help people and worthy causes, any time they can. I know just by talking to her that this sort of thing is a common occurrence for her.
