A Long But Nearly Perfect Day

I woke up just before 2:30 AM Central this morning (20 minutes before the alarm I had set). I was scheduled for a 6:30 AM flight out of Oklahoma City, which is about an hour and a half away. I traveled to Portland, Oregon for my best friend Bill's wedding. This is round 2 for him. I was best man the first time around and I'm best man this time, too.

We left the house around 3:30 AM. We stopped at Wal-Mart so I could get some luggage tags (I haven't flown in over 5 years and a couple of my bags had changed), we stopped at the gas station for a Coca Cola for the wife and were on our way.

We arrived at the airport a little after 5:00 AM and got into the terminal a few minutes later. There was a LONG line at the ticketing counter and they were making "final calls" for the 6:00 AM flights. I had checked in via the airline web site and pre-paid for my checked bag so all I really had to do was hand them my bag and head for the gate but I took my place in line.

In order to expedite, a gate agent came out and asked if there was anyone who had checked in and just needed to handle baggage. I stepped forward. As I was waiting for the agent to get my airport tag printed, a lady walked up to the counter and asked another agent about a 5:50 AM flight. The response was, "I'm sorry, ma'am, you have to be checked in at least 30 minutes prior to your flight [I didn't know that!]. You've missed it. Take a spot in line and we'll get you taken care of." D'oh!

The agent helping me finished up with my bag and I headed for security. There are two security 'portals' at Will Rogers airport. I had heard the other agent tell someone to go to the area at the opposite end of the terminal from where my gate was because the line was shorter because nobody was really heading that way. I stepped that direction, kissed my wife good-bye and went to stand in line.

I was through security in probably ten minutes. I cleared the metal detector without incident, nobody asked me any questions, and nobody asked to inspect my bags. I found an empty chair, put my shoes on, and walked to the other end of the terminal to my gate (it's not a huge terminal. the walk took me about 3 minutes). I stopped to grab a protein bar (hadn't eaten yet) and took the few extra steps to the actual gate.

When I arrived, people were standing around as if they were waiting their turn to board. I asked someone and, sure enough, they were already boarding and were on group 2. My boarding pass said group 1 so I basically walked straight onto the plane.

The flight was uneventful except for some noise at takeoff that made our jet sound like it had propellers. Not sure what it was all about but the pilot sitting next to me on the second leg (there were at least 3 in the cabin) didn't seemed concerned so I wasn't either.

We had a stop in Denver but I didn't have to change planes so I stayed put. After everyone else got off, I realized I was the only one from Oklahoma City that was continuing to Portland. Except for the crew, I had the plane all to myself for about 20 minutes. Kinda cool.

When we arrived in Portland, I got off the plane and headed to baggage claim and answered the call of nature at a nearby restroom. I came out of the restroom just in time to see my bag coming out of the hole in the wall. I walked right up, grabbed it, and went to the car rental counter.

The rental experience didn't go quite as planned. The agent was extremely friendly and efficient and the transaction was very smooth. It was all of the extras that got me.

First, I paid an extra $7 per day to go from a Nissan Versa to a Toyota Corolla. I wouldn't have minded the Versa (the wife drives one) but she sold me on cruise control. The wedding is at a vineyard about an hour out and I likes my cruise control.

The next extra was basic insurance. I explained that my auto insurance covered me for a rental and initially declined. The agent explained that Oregon is a loss-of-use state. What that means is that, should I be in an accident, I am responsible for the daily rental rate of the car until it is put back into service. If it takes 2 weeks to fix it, I'm on the hook for 2 weeks of rental. The basic insurance absolves me of that responsibility. I begrudgingly took it for a nominal charge of $19 per day.


Then there was the pre-paid fuel. I jumped on this straight away. It means I don't have to fill up the car before I return it (meaning I don't have to find a gas station before I return it). I can bring it in on fumes and just hand them the keys. I sorta planned on doing this anyway. It was something like $40. Yeah, they make money off of it but it saves me some hassle.


In the end, our $90 rental car for the entire four days got "rounded up" to $234. Then, because I used a debit card, they tack on a $200 deposit that is refunded within 24 hours of returning the car. Yeah, my debit card took a hit for $434 and I hadn't left the airport yet. C'est la vie.


I called Bill and arranged to meet him at a coffee shop not far from his house (about 30 minutes from the airport). He gave me the address and I gave the address to Alan, my GPS. When Alan told me I had reached my destination I thought he had steered me wrong. I called Bill and the conversation went something like this:

Me: I don't think I'm in the right place.
Bill: Where are you?
Me: I'm in an industrial park.
Bill: You're in the right place.

As it turns out, this place is a coffee roaster with the coffee shop attached. Hence, the industrial park. My problem was that they don't believe in signs around here that shout HERE WE ARE! I found it shortly after that and we had a very good and very pleasant lunch.


It is now 10:30 PM Portland time, which means I'm 2 hours shy of being up for 24 hours. I dozed a bit on the plane and managed to squeeze in a nap this afternoon but I'm still tired. It's off to sleepy-land for me.

Tea For Two

I really enjoy hot tea. It is a flavorful, hot drink that is not weighed down like hot chocolate or a latte. Tea also tastes wonderful when you're sick with sinus pressure and a cough, like I have been for the past two days.

My favorite experience with tea has to be when we were on a cruise. I don't recall if it was our first cruise, a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas, or our second cruise, a seven day to the Caymans, Jamaica and Mexico. Anyway, they were having a "high tea" or a "captains tea" and I decided to take some time to check it out.

I believe the event was held in the library or someplace similar. I recall there being a lot of wood in the room. There weren't a lot of people, maybe 20 or 30, so it was a rather cozy gathering. I'm pretty sure it was designed to be a get-to-know-you event.

I took a seat, not knowing what to expect, and waited for things to start. The part I really remember and the part that, to me, made it special was the presentation of the teas. A steward of some sort came by with a large, flat, wooden box. The lid was hinged and as he came near the table, he stopped and opened the lid. Inside the box was just about every kind of tea Bigelow makes and it was like he was presenting it just to me. I felt "wealthy" for a moment as if the butler were presenting me with a choice of any of the many teas in my stores.

I selected a tea, I believe it was Earl Grey, and the steward moved on. When I had finished, I rejoined my wife having taken a moment for myself to relax and enjoy a hot cup of tea with some "friends."

ROAD TRIP! (The Battery Crisis)

We awoke on the second morning of our journey to the ethereal sound of chirping birds and a light, cool breeze wafting down from the mountains. More accurately, it was the third morning and the only thing we could hear was the air conditioner in our room which, coincidentally, was also providing the breeze. But that sounded good, didn't it?

One of the adventures I forgot to mention from day one was the great charger chase. In her haste to leave, Kristina had not had time to charge her camera battery the night before. I had brought along a power inverter so she plugged in her charger and attached her battery... and the indicator light started blinking in a most peculiar way. She fiddled and cursed and stressed out and thought she had gotten it to start working. In short order, the peculiar blinking pattern again emerged.

This cycle of fiddling and blinking, blinking and fiddling continued for several more rounds after which Kristina reinserted the battery into her camera only to discover that it was not, in fact, charging. Panic began to set in. She was, you see, the official wedding photographer. A dead camera was not an option (although she could have used mine or the bride's). We were approaching Laramie and I calmly informed Kristina that universal battery chargers should be readily available. I had purchased one several years previously at Wal-Mart.

When we got to town, we immediately sought out said superstore and made a bee-line for the electronics department... only to find they didn't sell them. All they had were chargers for standard-size NiMH batteries. Panic returned.

It was fortunate that we had arrived in town at a time that the Staples just up the road was unlocking their doors. We went in and found a charger that seemed appropriate but seemed to have been made exclusively for Kodak camera batteries. Again, there was panic, this time accompanied by hyperventilating if memory serves me correctly.

I knew there had to be a universal charger somewhere so I kept looking. Tucked into a corner, hidden by other product displayed more prominently, I spied another likely candidate. This one, by Energizer I believe, was actually labeled a universal charger but did not specifically state any particular compatibility.

The people at Staples went above and beyond, obviously aware that we were in crisis. They brought the charger up to the customer service counter, opened the package, read the instructions and attached Kristina's battery. Joy of joys, the status light blinked appropriately, indicating that our search had ended, blood pressures could reduce, and we could be on our way.

ROAD TRIP!! (day 1)

Money is tight for everyone that was involved in our recent road trip to Wyoming for Kevin's wedding. Our plan was to leave Friday afternoon, drive straight through, stay in Jackson Saturday night, attend the wedding on Sunday, then head back home. Many of the hotels were booked for a bike race and several other events occurring that weekend. We were lucky enough to find a reasonably priced motel with a vacancy so we booked it on the spot. I was concerned but I needn't have worried. When I pulled up the reviews they were varied as to the opinion of the quality of the rooms but all of them made two points: The rooms are clean and the staff is friendly. Good enough for me for a place to lay my head. After our stay I can unequivocally recommend the 4 Winds Motel.

Thursday rolls around and I get a call from Kristina, the provider of our conveyance, saying she is ready to go now. Now now now. I double-checked with the motel and they were able to add another day onto the beginning of our stay so after finishing work and gathering together our last-minute items, we were on the road around 8:00pm.

We made really good time to the Wyoming border, getting there right at sunrise (about 7:30am). And so began the photographic odyssey.

Our first stop, of course, was Tree Rock. Tree Rock is in the middle of I-80. It is a small pine tree that seems to be growing out of solid rock. The tree is a somewhat stunted and twisted limber pine. It's age is unknown but limber pines can live as long as 2,000 years.


The latest obsession of my friend, Kristina, is the Oregon Trail. We took I-80 across to Rawlins, then turned North on highway 287. Once we hit Muddy Gap, we took a detour onto highway 220 to visit Independence Rock.

Independence Rock was so named because it was a recognizable landmark that emigrants would reach this part of the trail around July 4. If they didn't make it by that time, they had an increased chance of having to endure heavy snows and harsh temperatures on the road ahead.

Kristina and I went out to the rock itself. She has been here before and has seen the names and dates chiseled into the rock. I did not avail myself of that opportunity since the names are inscribed at the top of Independence Rock and I don't do climbing or heights terribly well. Kristina took the opportunity to climb the rock and take some pictures.

She continued to try to convince me to climb up. "Come on, the names are at the top." There was no way I was going to climb to the top. "They're really cool." I'm sure they are. "The view is fantastic!" Sorry, all I would probably see is my potential doom.

I did climb a little ways up but then immediately climbed back down shortly after checking my progress by looking behind me. That rock is a bit steep. It's not the height that bothers me, really, it's my stability. I can go to the observation platform of a tall building like, say, the Sears tower and be perfectly (mostly) fine. Why? I am enclosed. If I get vertigo (which has happened to me in high, enclosed places), the only thing I am going to hit is the carpet if I do happen to falter. There is also the aspect of being able to look away, step away from the windows and stare at the floor until the feeling goes away.

As I was watching Kristina taking pictures I noticed a bunny that had taken shade under one of the rocks near her. Without yelling, I turned her attention to the critter so she might have an opportunity to photograph it. It took me a few tries but she finally spotted it.

Apparently, the little fellow was used to people (or was very into the shade) because she was able to get quite close and he didn't even flinch. Well, I couldn't let her have all the fun and, believe it or not, a bunny rabbit got me to climb about 1/3 of the way up that rock. And he was nice enough to sit still while we took pictures.

Before we left, I saw an opportunity to take one of those "fun" pictures.

In following the Oregon Trail, we next passed Devil's Gate. The Sweetwater River cuts a narrow 100-meter deep slot through a granite ridge, yet had it flowed less than a kilometer to the south, it could have bypassed the ridge completely. The gorge was cut because the landscape was originally buried by valley fill sediments. The river cut downward and when it hit granite, kept on cutting. It was a matter of pure chance that the river hit the buried ridge where it did. The site, significant in the history of western pioneers, was a major landmark on the Mormon Trail and the Oregon Trail although the actual routes of travel did not pass through the very narrow gorge. (source: Wikipedia)

A bit further up the road, we came across the Mormon Handcart Historical Center at the Sun Ranch. We took some time to listen to the story of the Martin Handcart Company and Mormon Pilgrims and Brigham Young sending out rescue parties. I didn't really understand what the story was about until after we got home. If you're in the area and have an hour or two to kill, stop in. The Mormons are not pushy (but they did wear the little black name tags). At any rate, it made for a good picture of Devil's Gate.

After our history lesson, we decided it was time to stop dawdling and get on down the road to Jackson. The Fit (Kristina's car) was go and we made pretty good time but had to make one more stop. There was an interesting geological formation that I kept trying to get moving pictures of. Suddenly, Kristina yanked the wheel to the left and hammered down on the brakes. Turns out there was a historical/POI marker for Crowheart Butte. It marked the geological formation but also commemorated a battle between the Shoshone and Bannock Indians in the general vicinity - actually, several miles to the North. The Shoshone Chief, Washakie, supposedly displayed a Crow Indian's heart on his lance at the war dance after the battle. What the battle and the butte have to do with each other besides the name, who knows.


The sun was getting low in the sky so after taking a few snapshots, we hit the road again. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be much later before the road hit us back. I'm not exactly sure where we were but as we skirted the edge of Grand Teton National Park, we ran into heavy duty road construction. Actually, it could more accurately be termed road reconstruction.

We entered the construction zone and came to a stop waiting for a pilot vehicle. For those who don't know, a pilot vehicle is used in construction areas when traffic can only flow in one direction at a time. Traffic is stopped at a specified point until the pilot vehicle and opposing traffic clear the one-way zone at which time the pilot vehicle turns around and guides the stopped traffic through the one-way zone. Lather, rinse, repeat.

If you have ever experienced this you know it is generally not a good sign. Now imagine it is dark in the middle of nowhere in an unfamiliar area and the road is gone. That's right, for twenty-seven miles they had ripped up the road bed and we drove through potholes, large-bore gravel and various other forms of natural shrapnel. We encountered a total of three pilot vehicle stops and Kristina grimaced the entire way. We eventually made it into Jackson and to the hotel where we enjoyed a decent nights sleep. We firmly decided, before we even left the destruction zone, that we would not be returning via the same route.

Theres A New Bear In Town

Hey, check out my traveling companion's blog http://blog.travelingjackson.com

Note: There appears to be some issue with the DNS for that address. If the above link doesn't work, try http://blog.travelingjackson.info

But How Was The Trip?

So sorry I haven't written about the trip yet. I was busy sleeping Monday night. Then last night I was getting the photos downloaded, doing laundry, replacing the LCD on the laptop, actually FIXING the laptop, and setting up a WordPress blog for my new travel companion that I may or may not keep as a WP blog and may move to Blogger... I dunno. Anyway, details soon, I promise. Maybe I should do like my friend Kristina and bring (gasp) a paper journal with me when I travel so I can remember everything.

And, We're Off!

We were going to head out for Jackson, WY tomorrow afternoon but it appears that everyone has decided that they just don't want to wait and we're leaving tonight - God, help us. It promises to be a fun trip with great scenery, great company and a wedding to boot. I am also looking forward to adding a couple of pins to my black cowboy hat.

I may not get a chance to blog while I'm gone, although I might do some audio blogging depending on cell reception.

Plodding Along

I'm just trying to move through the days at the moment. The school semester is starting to settle in which is evening out my workload but making it no less light (read that as there's plenty of work but fewer crises). I am learning a lot more about how things operate and need to operate than I did in the last year. Moving my desk out into the main area was a good thing even if it did raise my stress level a bit.

I talked to my friend who is getting married and he assures me that he has an officiate lined up. The ULC idea is still in the back of my head as a "just in case" but it's more likely that I won't do it now than I will. Part of the reason I don't is because I don't feel... devoted?... enough to be considered clergy but I am "religious" enough that it's not an empty title to be taken on as a joke or convenience. Yeah, I'm a bit spiritually confused at this stage in my life.

Some day soon I need to get back to telling my stories. I think once I have this trip/wedding out of the way work will also be settled down enough that I can shift my focus to other things.

GeoTerrestrial GeoMail!

The following information was sent directly from my mobile phone using a program called GPSToday.

GeoMail My Location

GeoLocation: 36.1148,-97.1189

Address:
West WalMart
Stillwater,OK

Altitude: 787ft

Time: 11-21-2008 00:07UTC

Message:
GPSToday is so cool.

Desktop Maps:
http://www.geoterrestrial.com/map.php

Mobile Maps:
http://m.geoterrestrial.com/map.php

GPSToday Users:
In the message Menu, tap on "View on GPSToday Map"


// *Do Not Edit Below this line* //

{GPSToday}
36.1148,-97.1189
787ft,0mph,0
West WalMart
Stillwater,OK,
11-21-08,00:07UTC
1,0
GPSToday is so cool.

Mobile post sent by UncleBubby using Utterli. Replies.

Wrongway

Mobile post sent by UncleBubby using Utterz. Replies. mp3

Hey Ron, Is This Better?

This post has nothing to do with the title except that Ron told me I needed to tweak my RSS settings then told me how to do it.

I am getting ready to head up to Kansas City for my niece's wedding. I was originally slated to be the photographer but after some investigation into what that involved, both de-niece and I agreed they should probably hire someone. My ability was not in question. I knew I could pull it off but we discovered that I could either enjoy the event or be the photographer... but not both. Oh, my camera WILL be there and I WILL take many pictures. But if I miss one of those shots the official photographer is expected to capture - no big deal.

The He-Man Woman Haters Club

My friend Kevin and I took one of our road trips down to the First Saturday sale in Dallas this past weekend. We were going to go last month but he chose to spend that weekend with someone much more attractive than me. When we go on these trips, it is mostly about the process but we are usually in search of something. Kevin was looking for a networkable hard drive enclosure and I was looking for a hard drive and possibly a bluetooth headset... but I'm getting ahead of myself a little.

Let me take you back about two years ago. My wife has been hearing me talk about these trips and the good times Kevin and I have when we go. She also knows that we have to pass by the factory outlet shops at Gainesville, TX. The first time we went, she inquired about going along to do some shopping at the outlets but I explained the timetable to her and she elected to not accompany us.

You see, when we go to First Saturday, Kevin and I leave Oklahoma some time between 7pm and 9pm after work, depending on whether we're leaving from Stillwater or Oklahoma City. We drive straight through to Dallas and arrive at the sale around 1am (the sale starts at 10pm Friday and runs through 3pm Saturday). We will generally shop for a couple of hours (no, it's not really that big or complicated but we like to wander), visit the Wurst Wagon for some Brats and a soda, make our last rounds (this takes about another hour), then hop in the car and head home. Our return journey puts us back in Oklahoma City between 9:30 and 10:30 at which time we stop at The Waffle House at I-35 and 122nd street for breakfast and lots of caffeine for Kevin and lots of sugar for me (I'm caffeine intolerant - yeah, that's a good way to put it). After that, we go home and crash for the rest of our Saturday.

On this particular trip two years ago, my wife convinced us to change our plans. Kevin and I would take her and a friend with us. On our way through Denton, we would drop the girls off at a Fairfield Inn and continue to Dallas. When we were done shopping, we would drive back to Denton, all have breakfast then the girls would go to the outlets while Kevin and I slept at the hotel. When we woke up, we would check out, call the girls, and we would all finish up the day shopping at the outlet mall.

For the most part, the trip went well. Kevin and I got to go to First Saturday, the girls got to shop at the outlet mall, and we all had some damn good vanilla waffles courtesy of the Fairfield. In the end, however, we all agreed that the two ventures should henceforth never be again combined. Neither set of adventurers got out of the experience quite what they normally do.

Fast forward to last weekend. I had everything set. I had a special Road Trip playlist loaded into my Zune and even included a song that played hilariously well into an inside joke regarding road trips. As the day approached, however, I was asked if it was OK if his girlfriend and another mutual friend (also a female) came along for the ride. They were not planning any special side trips so I agreed.

The adventure started out well. The girls are not offended by our crass jokes, bodily noises, or filthy language. Between the three available music players, we enjoyed raucously loud and surprisingly melodic singing with some of our favorite old and contemporary songs all the way to Dallas. It was when we got there that it started to unravel a bit.

First, the sale was a bit sparse. Some of the regulars were not in attendance, some had not shown up, and many of the smaller vendors - from whom you can buy dirt cheap, used parts of questionable reliability - were simply unaccounted for. When talking with one of the organizers, we discovered that vendor attendance generally wanes a bit this time of year.

As we walked to the sale area, it was obvious that the girls were already beginning to tire. They commented about having to walk around all of the booths, what path we would be taking, were we really going to spend three hours here, and that sort of thing. After the second hour, we met at the Wurst Wagon and ate. Kevin and I prepped for our final rounds but the girls had finally had enough and went to the car.

When all was said and done, Kevin had his networkable enclosure, some funky mini keyboard (still not sure why he bought that), and a set of cordless phones. I was walking out with a Motorola H500 bluetooth headset ($25) and no hard drive. I almost had the hard drive. The guys I bought my 250GB drive from finally showed up and had one 500GB SATA drive. I paid them $105.00 and went merrily on my way. As we passed another booth, I saw a stack of SATA cables. Since you never know at these things, I checked the box to make sure there were cables inside as advertised and got a shock. There was a cable alright but it was an IDE ribbon cable. Further investigation revealed that the drive inside was also an IDE drive (although, it WAS 500GB). I returned it and got my money back... they seemed as surprised as I was. In the end it all worked out. While I was in Tulsa on Sunday, I dropped into a Circuit City and found a 500GB SATA drive - NIB with shrink wrap and static bag intact - for... $104.99. Adding in Uncle Sam's cut, the drive cost just under $114.00.

As a side note, I plan to set up a dual boot configuration with Vista and XP. I have located the appropriate instructions on the web and it is possible. But that isn't the story I'm telling...

When Kevin and I returned to the car, the girls were curled up in the back seat asleep. They barely stirred when we got in and stayed put when we stopped for breaks or other side trips. As we approached OKC, the Waffle House took a back seat (pun intended) to the need for sleep. Kevin and I were originally planning to drop them off then continue with tradition but he made the mistake of sitting down and fatigue took over. I grabbed a breakfast burrito at Sonic on my way out of town and headed home for my own date with the destiny that is sleep.

The girls were fun to have along this time around but, like the previous trip, their presence somehow hindered the full release of metaphorical shackles and made the experience not quite right. So, from now on, if you want to got to First Sat with Kevin and I, you had better be a die-hard geek and you had better have the stamina to keep up.


As a parting note so there are no hard feelings, Kris, Jen, I love you both. We'll have to do another road trip sometime.

Home Safe

I'm home. I'm piggybacking on someone's unsecured wireless but I should have internet @ home by the end of next week. See you soon.

Almost Home

I'm in Hays, KS this morning about to hit the road for home. I am very much looking forward to sleeping in my own bedroom tonight. I miss my house.

Like I said before, I'm not sure when we'll get internet @ home so I don't know when I'll be posting again but I WILL be back. Maybe one of my neighbors will have an unsecured wireless I can use?

Smoke On The Water

Yesterday, the wife and I decided to go on a little adventure. We took a drive to McCall, Idaho. To get to McCall from Boise, you take a nice, leisurely 2.5 hour drive up highway 55 which runs along the scenic Payette River. We took our cameras and got some nice shots along the way. We took pictures of the mountains, the river, rafters on the river, and other such natural settings. The drive was nice but the destination was... problematic.

McCall is a beautiful little town that sits on the South end of Payette Lake. What we saw of it was comprised of charming little shops with picture-perfect facades, a small beach with plenty of people recreating, a small marina and several sailboats and powerboats enjoying the warm lake waters.

So, what was so problematic? The smoke.

When we were 40-50 miles out, we could see that something in the atmosphere was obscuring our view of the mountains. By the time we were 20-30 miles out, we were driving through the middle of a haze of smoke. When we arrived in McCall, the entire place smelled like a fireplace. From what I could tell, some part of the Payette National Forest Northwest of Payette Lake
was the source.

We spent about 30 minutes looking in a couple of the local shops, snapped a couple of hazy pictures of the lake, and went up the road for a late lunch. Both of us were having trouble breathing and both of us had headaches. Being inside for lunch provided a bit of relief but we could tell it was getting worse by the time we left. As we walked out to the car, it looked like it had been snowing light flurries that were starting to accumulate ever so slightly (it was ash). I actually ran the wipers to clear some of it off the windshield.

I think once this fire season is over we'll make another trip to McCall someday. For now, I'll leave the smoking to the locals.

Journey Of Faith

A couple of days ago, I posed the question, "What the hell am I doing in Boise, Idaho?" At the beginning of that journey... this journey, really, I prayed to God for clarity and my direction was made clear. But now I wait.

I would hazard a guess that I have prayed to God more in the past month than I have in the past ten years. I ask for his guidance, I ask for his assistance, I ask for his peace. I wait for the answers and I search for clarity. I have become discouraged because I feel Him saying, "Patience. When the time is right, it shall be." I pray for patience but it is lost so easily.

This morning, I decided I needed to go to church. It seems superstitious but the last time I went, I received a call for an interview the following Wednesday. It was for this, and another reason, that I went.

You see, I believe in God. I believe that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead, and only through Him can we be saved - I have accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. What I have trouble with is organized religion. Each and every religion believes they are right, the others are wrong, and "if you don't believe as we do, you will burn in hell."

Without going into a lot of detail, suffice it to say that I have been struggling with this lately and it has been included in my prayers. For me, the answer came as, "I know what is truly in your heart. The place you choose to worship does not matter, only that you set aside time for Me." So I went to church this morning, and I received a message.

The second reading this morning was Hebrews 11:1-19, part of which (versus 8-9) says, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country..." When the Homily came around, the priest talked about these journeys of faith, perhaps, being smaller in scope but just as important. For me, it had literal meaning.

Not being familiar with the reference to Abraham's journey, I did something tonight I have never done before in my life. I got out my bible and went on a search for meaning. I eventually turned to the internet to speed up my search and found Genesis 12.

The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."... So Abram left, as the LORD had told him...He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated..., and they set out for the land of Canaan....

And so it is for me. Through signs of clarity, the Lord said to me, "Leave your state, your people, and your home and go to the land I will show you." Just as Abraham, I left all that I knew for a land I had never seen and I did it all on faith.

Though I may become discouraged from time to time, I now understand that I must allow God to work His plan in His time and as long as I remain faithful, I shall receive the reward He has for me.

Echos From The Road (Day 2)

April 4, 2007 11:16 am (Mountain Time)

I got a little sleep last night. I'm still tired. Hopefully, I'll get some more sleep tonight when we stop in Ogden, UT. Our real adventure begins here in about 70 miles or so when we change from I-70 to highway 15 (or whatever it is). This particular stretch we've driven several times traveling up to Winter Park but once we start heading N/NW out of Denver, the adventure begins - it's uncharted territory for us. Kind-of looking forward to it, kind-of not.

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2:50 pm

We decided not to drug the kids today. For the dogs, it didn't really seem to do much except make them feel funny. It didn't really settle them down any. JD didn't seem affected at all. For the cats, it seemed to do more harm than good. This morning, we decided to see how it went sans the medication. As far as my car goes, Teddy is in the back seat asleep, having curled up about five minutes after we got on the road and has pretty much been that way all day, except when we stop. Anabelle is sleeping in the back of the carrier. She wakes up on occasion and makes a few noises as if to say, "Are we there yet?" then goes back to sleep. Shelly says JD is a little more active but he likes traveling. Nikki has been a little noisy but Shelly hasn't complained about it. I think we're going to go drug free from here on out.

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7:25 pm

We're driving through Wyoming in the Adventure part of the trip. We call it that because we've never been this way. Actually, there's not a whole hell of a lot here. We decided that we should find something to eat. We knew we were coming up on a Flying J and figured there would be something there or something near there and there's not. The gas station is in the middle of nowhere and their restaurant was closed due to weather damage. So, unless we wanted bags of beef jerky, we decided to press on... that was three hours ago.

Priceless

Trunk-mount bicycle carrier......$10.00
Cable-style lock.....................$10.00
Bicycle Frame........................$10.00
Replacement Seat..................$16.00
Gel seat cover.......................$ 4.00
Helmet................................$ 4.00
3-in-1 Oil..............................$ 3.00
Replacement tubes.................$ 6.00
Spoke levers..........................$ 1.00
Bicycle pump.........................$ 8.00
Garage Sale Bargain Bike...........$72.00

Owning ground transportation that doesn't cost 50 cents per mile to operate.... Priceless!

Echos From The Road (Day 1)

When we left Stillwater, I made sure my microcassette recorder was in the car with me and I recorded a few thoughts along the way. I had intended to post this long ago but just hadn't gotten around to it. I cleaned out my car and finally took the recorder into the house so I could listen to what I had recorded.
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April 3, 2007 7:22pm CST

We've been on the road about an hour and a half. It was really odd leaving the house and actually watching the mailbox fade into the distance in my rearview mirror - even though I'm going to be back in a couple of weeks to make some attempt to get all of stuff out of there. We left a lot behind. They put a lot on the truck but we left a lot behind. Most of it junk. A lot of older clothes that we just didn't have a chance to get rid of. (note: I had a HUGE garage sale when I returned and donated what was left to the Salvation Army. What was left still took up half the garage.)

I'm really tired. I slept okay last night. I'm tired but not exhausted. We started about six hours later than I really wanted to. Even though we had things semi-gathered together that we wanted to take in the cars, none of it was packed up. It was in 2 or 3 rooms, some items were unpacked and repacked, we added some last-minute items and finally got the cars packed. We had some errands to run and just got on the road late.

The vet gave us some sedatives for the animals. It doesn't seem to have really affected the dogs but they've settled down now that we're on the road doing a constant speed. Teddy is in my back seat and Shelly has JD. We stopped about ten minutes ago because both cats were restless. The sedative (something called ACE) got the mildly doped up. They were calmer than normal but Nikki was still trying to climb out of her carrier and Anabelle has been restless and vocal. We gave them each another 1/4 of a pill and I hope that will take care of it.

My brain is mush - I'm just too tired. The last two weeks being occupied with nothing but packing really exhausted me. We were up a little early this morning. It would have been better had we left closer to our noon estimated departure time but between having to visit the tag agency, going by the bank, feeding ourselves, and having to actually stuff the cars, it just didn't happen.

Being this tired, I had a bit of a freak-out this morning because of everything going on and realizing this was our last day in the house , I sat down and just let go. My mind is bouncing between anxiety attacks, minor breakdowns, excitement, and just wishing that we were somewhere that we could stop already - even though we've got 6 or 7 more hours to go.
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April 3, 2007 8:55 pm

We have not made it nearly as far as I had hoped. We keep having to stop and walk the dogs. I forgot what it's like traveling with animals - and when you have all four of them, it makes it that much worse. To top it off, Anabelle has awakened and turned into Ms. Talky-pants (you can hear it on the tape). Maybe it's the sedative and she's all freaked out because she's not feeling right and she's been confined to a box for more than three hours.

I knew this part was going to be stressful on me but I'm all sorts of paranoid about the critters and how they're handling it.
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April 3, 2007 10:21 pm

I'm listening to the Geek News Central podcast from March 27. Todd is talking about spaceports. Apparently, New Mexico is trying to get voters to pass a tax to help pay for the spaceport. He's also mentioned that there are others being built in Singapore, the UAE, California... and Oklahoma. Really? That's interesting. Anyway, the question he's asking is where all the passengers are going to come from?

Personally, I think they're putting the cart before the horse. First, you have to have some sort of vehicle, don't you? They built airplanes before building airports, right? So why are we building spaceports before building space planes (for lack of a better term)? Unless the builders of these spaceports know something we don't. Even though NASA has plans to revamp the space shuttle, it's still in the conceptualization stage. Where do they think the transport vehicles are going to come from? It just doesn't make sense.
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April 3, 2007 10:37 pm

I'm sitting here at the Flying J just East of Salina Kansas off I-70. Anabelle and Teddy seem to be quite stressed out which is increasing my stress. JD seems okay. I've brought him water a couple of times and he laps it right up but Teddy won't drink. I'll offer him some when he gets out of the car in a couple of minutes.

Anabelle has calmed down some but I'm sure the sedatives are making them feel weird. Plus, they're not used to traveling, other than JD. The two I didn't think I'd have to worry about are in my car and are not doing as well as I expected.

It has to be done and we'll press on. Hopefully they'll all unstress when we reach to hotel tonight and tomorrow will be easier.
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April 4, 2007 1:30 am

We are about 175 miles outside of our first stop. It might be 3am or later before we check in. Right now I'm dictating just to keep myself awake and keep my brain occupied. Everything on me is going numb from sleep deprivation and lack of movement, including my ears because listening to music is no longer providing stimuli.

Anabelle has been awake on and off and has complained now and again. I think if I were in a box that small for that long... actually, I wouldn't fit in a box that small... proportionally, if I were in a box that small for that long... wait a minute, I'm driving a car. I think I have been in a box that proportionally small for that long... and it sounds like I'm complaining, too.
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April 4, 2007 2:30 am

You know you're on the road late when you don't even see any more semi's.
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April 4, 2007 ???? am

It's after 4 o'clock in the morning. We've got about 15 miles to go and I'm sure I sound exhausted on this (I do). I'm trying to do anything I can to keep awake and I'm having a conversation with myself.

It's been a really long f-ing day. I hope tomorrow will be an easier day and I also hope Teddy will have something to eat and drink when we get into the hotel. (at this point, I'm rambling, singing made up songs and generally making a fool of myself)
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That's it for the first day. I'll post more of this saga later.

A Little Cooperation, Please

Over the memorial day weekend, the wife and I flew from Boise to Kansas City to watch my nephew graduate. He was graduating from the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing. Through this special program, he completed his last two years of high school and his first two years of college simultaneously. On Saturday, he received his high school diploma and his associates degree simultaneously!

I am extremely proud of my nephew and all of my other nephews and my niece. Each of them is proving him/herself to be much more focused and talented than myself or my two siblings.

But that's not why I'm writing this. I'm writing this because of an injustice and imbalance in regulations when traveling by flight and airport commerce.

There is an old joke that states, "I asked my girlfriend where she wanted to go eat. She said, 'I don't care, as long as it's expensive.' So I took her to the airport." It rings true because airport food vendors know they can make greater-than-normal profits in these venues because, for the most part, they have a captive audience.

Some states (New Jersey is one, I think) have passed laws, ordinances, regulations, what have you, that do not allow the vendors to charge more at the airport than they would outside the airport. For the most part, however, this is not true.

To avoid being taken advantage of, many travelers will bring food items with them. It's a whole lot cheaper to bring a sandwich and a coke with you than it is to grab it on the run at an airport. But regulations have changed recently. The TSA or the DHS or the FAA or the LMNOP has decreed that liquids can no longer be brought into the security area. Any beverages past the security checkpoint must have been purchased within the security area.

In general, I have no problem with this rule. It seems a little arbitrary and unnecessary but, in general, I don't have a problem with it. What I have a problem with is the vendors charging $3.00 for a 1-liter bottle of water. I'm not even talking about premium bottled water such as Evian or Fiji, I'm talking about water that was most likely squirted out of a tap in New Jersey.

Is it too much to ask that, because we are FORCED, if we wish to travel by air, to purchase beverages from these vendors that they be forced to mitigate their prices? I have no problem paying a slightly elevated price, such as the $1.69 I paid for a $1.29 bottle of Dasani from McDonald's at the Boise airport, because I understand that the cost of doing business at the airport is probably higher than outside of the airport. What I do not understand and do not appreciate is being raped by money-hungry corporations just because nobody has told them they cannot or should not do it.

Can we please get a little bit of cooperation between the regulators and the vendors or the airports or the municipalities and have beverages available in the airport at a reasonable price?

Thank you