After you’ve begun to pray with fellow pilgrims, registered and paid the fee — with a little help from “alms for palms“, if you need it — it’s time for you to request the shuttle to step-off.
What shuttle? What for? When?
The shuttle service is provided through the charity of the pilgrim-volunteers of the Company of St. René Goupil (CSRG) apostolate.
But every pilgrim must request it, after registering.
Since all pilgrims need to recover their vehicles at the end of the pilgrimage, or to be shuttled to & from public transportation (PT), each pilgrim needs to plan in advance with the organizers.
Submitting the shuttle request facilitates your transportation Thursday, September 24, from Allentown to Mtn. Springs Camping Resort, and again Friday morning — if needed, from motel to check-in.
(Pilgrims camping Thursday night need to request the shuttle but only for the Thursday portion of the service, since Friday morning they are already at the step-off point in the Mtn. Springs Camping Resort.)
Here’s how it works, with options for (a.) those driving solo, or (b.) those with passengers or car-pooling, or (c.) those arriving via public transportation:
a. On Thursday afternoon and early evening, lone-drivers drive solo to the parking lot of (school) “Building 21” at the corner of Martin Luther King (MLK) Blvd and Lehigh St in Allentown.
Pilgrim-drivers leave their vehicles parked there until Sunday.
The CSRG volunteers then shuttle the drivers to the pilgrimage starting point: whether to a local motel or to the Mtn. Springs Camping Resort.
b. For those pilgrims car-pooling or with passengers, drivers must first drop them and their gear off at the step-off location: the starting-point of the pilgrimage in Mtn. Springs Camping Resort: whether at a motel or the campground itself.
Then, the drivers drive solo (as above) to the rendezvous point in the huge vacant lot at the cul de sac of 5th Street (directly behind St. Stephen of Hungary Church) and the intersection of Lehigh St and Martin Luther King Blvd. Pilgrim-organizers then escort or direct drivers to park their vehicles in a nearby parking lot until Sunday.
In this case also, the CSRG volunteers shuttle the drivers from end-point back to the pilgrimage starting-point: whether to a local motel or to the Mtn. Springs Camping Resort.
c. For pilgrims flying into Lehigh Valley Airport (ABE), or arriving by train or bus in Allentown, the shuttle service can be requested to pick-up directly at the terminal.
Are you arriving in the region by PT after 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 24, or departing before 7:00 p.m. Sunday, September 27?
In that case, then you must e-mail or phone the volunteer in charge of shuttling pilgrims prior to finalizing your flight/train/bus reservations to/from the Allentown metro-region. (Find his contact info on this page, in the right margin, under the “Important” notice.)
Veteran pilgrim Dennis Mitchell of Bangor, Pennsylvania, is once again heading the CSRG Transportation-Team. He and fellow-pilgrims of the Company need your cooperation, ASAP. Please help them plan the necessary arrangements for hundreds of pilgrims. Please request the shuttle, without delay.
It only takes three or four minutes, and will save you — and organizers — hours of easily avoidable difficulties.
Only after you request the shuttle will you be able to ask Mr. Mitchell questions not already answered in this blog post or on the website.
When you request the shuttle, Mr. Mitchell will automatically send to you an e-mail confirming your request, and you’ll then have his contact info in case you need to ask him a question.
For more information about the shuttle service, see the FAQs.
To ask other pilgrims for rides, to offer a ride to share travel expenses, or to form car-pools, check the Pilgrimage bulletin board and forum at http://pilgrimage.forumotion.com, or the Facebook group page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/pilgrimage.for.restoration/.
After you have submitted your shuttle request, you will also be able to ask Mr. Mitchell to check if another pilgrim may be driving a route along your way to pilgrimage — in order to car-pool.
Pilgrimage for Restoration
Come to restore. The rest will come.
25th annual — 2020 A.D.
Friday – Sunday
25-27 September
“Now is the acceptable time.”
Your friends staying home this year can make pilgrimage from afar, from home or parish: obtain a plenary indulgence, sponsor a pilgrim (or two), request prayers or offer them — all from this page.
Listen to and learn the Songs of Pilgrimage!
“No one makes pilgrimage alone.”
Oremus pro invicem.
In unione orationum.
Ad majorem Dei gloriam.
