Saturday (St Alban)

Out the door with Brenda at 6:30am, headed for Toddhall, the retreat center in Columbia (near Belleville). Arrived in time to join the ongoing Cursillo #31, where I gave the scheduled talk on the Sacraments, which took about an hour, after which I fielded questions for about 30 minutes. Then we adjourned to the chapel, where I presided and preached at the Mass for St Alban's Day. After lunch, Brenda gave the next talk, on "Action." It was splendid. We then drove into St Louis, where I delivered her to the Amtrak station, where she caught a 3:05 train northbound back to Springfield. Meanwhile, I headed east on I-64, first getting snarled in construction traffic, opting for surface streets instead, and traversing some of the most devastated areas of East St Louis before reconnecting with I-64 past the construction. Between there and Mt Vernon, I was under a violent thunderstorm, dumping barrels of rain. I got away from it as I turned south on I-57 toward Marion, my destination ahead of tomorrow's visit to Redeemer, Cairo. Had dinner at the renowned 17th Street Bar & Grill, after which I tried to see a movie, but the theater was jammed, so I chilled out back at my room at the Hampton Inn. 

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