Religion and a Restaurant

Waiting for funding for a new cupola

Message from the Presbyterians across the street

Keeping cool in summer and warm in the winter

Hardware and Cafe Entrance

Hunters Cafe and Hardware with a little church thrown in

September 8,2010

Moses Lake, WA

Today we traveled along Lake Roosevelt that was created by the Grand Coulee Dam. It is 129 miles long ,beautifully serene with sagebrush and golden bunchgrass covering the shores. It is designated a retirement/recreation area, and 54% of the population in this area is over 65.

We stopped at Hunters, WA, population 305. We wanted coffee, and saw a sign advertising espresso. I saw a white building that looked like a church with lots of cars parked next to it. I said, “must be a funeral today.” Nope. It was the Catholic church transformed into a hardware store/ restaurant/coffee bar. I heard a new trinity: bean, bolt, bowl of soup. According to the locals the church had been “decommissioned” (I think he meant deconsecrated) in the 1970’s, when the Catholics built the “old stone church” up the hill.

Some part of me did appreciate the bad, cheap remodel, and I laughed at the air conditioner sticking out of the top of the arch in the church window. The espresso machine sat exactly where the altar used to be, and to the left of it was the restaurant’s stove. Puts a new twist on hell’s fire, doesn’t it! Are the wages of sin decaffeinated coffee? The woman who owns the restaurant told us that she is convinced that that place where her espresso machine sits is still holy, and I believe it, too! God works in mysterious ways.

Today’s Route: WA Highway 25 to Miles, then WA Highway 17 to Moses Lake.