Day 4
8:00AM, I awake to a glorious morning in Cedar City, UT. My first task was to find a repair shop that can handle a foreign car. I called one place that had very little description. It turns out it was a Chevy dealer…shudder. I asked for a bailout or perhaps if they wanted these old shares of GM common stock I had with me as payment to fix the car. He declined cooley, however, he gave me a recommendation for a shop called Superior Auto. I called the shop and he agreed to take the car and see what he could do. We pack up the stuff and get ready to go but we have made a very strategic error. We have passed 9:00am. NO WAFFLES for us. Not even some pre-packaged pecan rolls or dried bagels or Raisin Bran from the little dispenser. This is perhaps the most disappointing aspect to the day.
9:15AM, We start the Volvo fogger to first head to the Cedar City Municipal Airport. It is 2 miles away. You cannot imagine the smoke this car put out. We’re talking about every acceleration or downshift putting out a cloud you could not see through. Cars were backing up and moving into the shoulder because I blocked all visibility. I had read an article after my Motortrend back in Billings about the limitations of doing war in Afghanistan with all the restrictive policies put on soldiers to avoid collateral damage and civilian casualties. In one such instance the soldiers required a smoke screen so they could relocate under cover of the smoke safely. The people responsible for launching the smoke screen shell fired it too far away to be of any use because they were afraid the canister that falls from the sky after it explodes might hit child or mother who mysteriously are out playing or working in the middle of firefights in the street. I’m not saying the Obama administration is incompetent in fighting wars (Yes, I am) but more importantly I see a DoD contract for about 18 million dollars coming my way for the “War Volvo” where we can provide a smoke screen and comfortable transport for five…including 200 stations of satellite radio to calm the soldiers while relocating to safer positions. It includes a bike rack and I believe has an add-on connector for a Golf 240 or an M50 which can be easily operated through the moon roof.
10:00AM, We have secured a vehicle from Enterprise Rent-A-Car. There are 3 rental companies at the Cedar City Municipal Airport. Hertz had no one at the desk. Avis had no cars to rent but had someone at the desk. It caused me to wonder if Avis was run by the government. Enterprise had one car to rent. A nice 2010 dual cab Silverado. What would it take to find a Tundra? Is this all a conspiracy by GM? What kind of place is Cedar City, UT that when someone want a Hyundai Sonata or Elantra all they can provide is 4000 pound monstrosity. I was pining for the quality and gas mileage of a Hyundai as expressed in Motortrend from my days back in Billings. However we find that there was plenty of room to stretch out and a simple phone call to Ike in the backseat was sufficient for interseat communication.
There is another question as to why there is a such a nice new comfortable airport terminal that only has two flights a day from Salt Lake City. Everything seemed a bit of overkill for an airport that serves barely 80 people a day. Maybe thats why there are no Hyundai's and only Silverados to rent. Everything in Cedar City is bigger.
10:30AM, We drop off the car at Superior Auto. I get the picture now as his lot is filled with Corvettes and Chevy trucks and all types of GM cars that he is restoring for shows and such that clearly I have stumbled into a GM town. However segregated in a small part of the lot are a number of foreign cars. Much like an internment camp I imagine. I give him until Friday to make the Volvo better and vow to return.
10:45AM, Las Vegas here we come. We have until 11:00pm to arrive in San Diego to pick up Kt’s friend at the airport and only a 7 hour drive to get there. With that extra 5 hours of time we knew we could afford a little time in Las Vegas. We were blending like western natives now in our Silverado. I might note that going 85 in a Silverado seems much slower than it is. I constantly was looking down and noticing I was going 95-97. I think this is indicative of GM overstating their recovery and repayment of Government loans using a pile of other bailout money. There was some beautiful terrain in the 29 mile Arizona section of I-15. Beautiful canyons and such. Other than that though I felt frozen in one spot with just endless flat desert and some mountains in the distance on each side of us.
11:30AM, The endless desert terrain prompted me to think about all the good times with my friend Bob from Billings. I wondered why he stopped hunting in his youth and what was the exact specifications because it just could not have been a 6 cylinder for the Hyundai that got 40 miles per gallon even many years later. I wondered if he ever did sell his Honda accord with the faded paint with 220,000 miles on it for $2000. See he didn’t care what the blue book said. He was waiting for the person who wanted a car that ran perfectly to be willing to pay that much because he didn’t care. It was his 5th car after all. I could sympathize. It’s these moments you have to yourself where you can ponder the relationships of life and I was going to miss Bob.
I also pondered my good friend Hamid Patel the owner of the Sleep Inn in Billings. He was only about 32 so I think he maybe needed to experience a little more life so as to not second guess his trusty Night clerk at the hotel. Because basically I only paid $19 more to stay at the Crowne Plaza with a stunning 9th floor view of the oil refinery. His clerk might be right to give those discounts because a Sleep Inn does not compare to a Crowne Plaza. On the other hand…there were no waffles at the Crowne Plaza.
12:00PM, We come over a rise and there before us lies Las Vegas. The sign says its 18 miles away but that seems unlikely as you could see it so well.
12:15PM, What do you know…It was 18 miles away. God how depressing to be able to see something for so long yet be so far away. We park in the hotel parking garage for Harrah’s. We decide to walk up and down the strip and take in the sights and take pictures. I got myself a large soda for $4. I asked my kids if they needed anything as we had not any food or drinks really for the day. They said, “No” We strolled about looking at the sheer decadence of such huge casinos and expensive stores. There were lots of nice offers from people for tours and show tickets. How nice that they conveniently seek you out on the street so you don’t have to try and track them down. About the time we got to Ceasar’s Palace a certain female member of our group got woozy and passed out. I looked like father of the year when I dropped her on the stairs of Serendipty’s to take the picture of 3 cute coeds by the Gumball machine. After the picture they looked somewhat horrified at this clearly woozy, perhaps severely inebriated girl that was falling out of the chair I tried to place her in as I tried to find a place to get a bottle of water. I moved Kt to another table and found a nice outdoor area where Serendipity’s generously sold me a big water bottle for $6. Large sodas were also $6. So after $18 all 3 of us could restock on liquids. I however already had enough foresight to plan my hydration/dehydration cycles when I got my first $4 soda. Additionally we bought a few more waters from the nice gentleman on every street corner selling water from coolers for only a $1.
2:00PM, We head out of Las Vegas to our final destination of San Diego. Gaaaack more desert. Shortly after our entry into the California, the People's Republic of CA has a station to determine if you are carrying any Fruits or Nuts into the country. I told them that I had neither Adam Lambert nor any Democrats in the truck and they let me continue on my way.
7:00PM, We arrive in Encinitas, CA at the Howard Johnson’s. We check in to our room which was nice but did not have the nice beds of the Sleep Inn nor did it have my waffles for breakfast. Ike and I head straight to the hot tub and pool.
9:00PM, Thoroughly pruned we get out of the hot tub and pool because we need to eat something and then head down to San Diego Airport to pick up Bonnie, Kt’s friend from JCP in Milwaukee.
11:00PM Bonnie arrives safely seated safely with Marine Recruits who were flying in for Boot Camp. Fine memories of Zach’s arrival there nearly 2 years ago.
11:45PM, I scan the channels in a last ditch attempt to catch a Back to the Future but there are no more left on TV. Bonnie pulls out a Macbook. GAAAWWWWD!!! the numbers of these things springing up around me is ever increasing. I figure if you can't create scripts and documents in VI or navigate with DOS...you deserve a Macbook.
12:00AM I go to sleep with feelings of relief in that we actually made it to San Diego. I also have a strange sense of accomplishment that I parked a Silverado in a space marked for compact cars only because HoJo's only had like 3 spots that weren't for compact cars. Take that land of Priuses.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The 3rd Day of My Summer Vacation
Day 3
6:15AM, I arise early on a glorious Billings morning. The sun is shining brightly off the oil refinery. There is a starbucks in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza in a rare showing of civilization. I walk to the Volvo dealership to make sure I am the first one in line to get my car looked at and repaired. There still is no traffic pouring into Billings. Even the hobos are not on the street.
6:45AM, The service manager is opening the garage door and I successfully get my car booked in right away. I wish I had known the mechanic didn't show up until 8:00am but I'm content to drink my coffee, read Motortrend and listen to Fox News in the background. Apparently there's been an oil spill somewhere in the gulf...at least that's how the news seems to convey it.
8:00AM, I have completed reading a fine comparison of 2010 8 cylinder muscle cars. Apparently Mustangs have edged out the Camaro and Challenger to win most categories in the 8 cylinder rankings. I assume Mustangs perform better because they have less weight due to the lack of bailout packages and bankrupcy proceedings.
8:30AM, Bob the car salesman comes in for a stint at the desk. I'm sure car buying customers will be streaming in soon. We strike up a conversation in the mean time. We talked about a lot of different subjects for the next two hours. First of all Bob went out to his car and got an atlas to show me the best route to get to I-15 as we were now modifying our journey to head straight to San Diego and skip Portland, OR. It was good advice and he did not even have Google Maps on his phone. We then talked about Hyundai's and their vast improvement in the last 25 years. I discussed the Motor trend article I had just read comparing the American 6 cylinder versions of the muscle cars and the new Hyundai Genesis Coupe was thrown in. Well I'll be schnuckered but the Hyundai beat out all those American muscle cars. There it was sitting on the showroom floor too. We then discussed the exploding deer. He told me how prevalent it was and to be careful on the rest of my journey as the deer are everywhere. I was just relieved to know they were not exploded hobos. I learned that Billings has 125,000 people and has grown significantly in the last 10-15 years. Wells Fargo has a large communications center employing a lot of people. Also GE I think he said had a new group there. Before this recent influx of companies most people were ranchers or worked at the oil refinery. One woman about 65 years old came into the showroom as well while her 2004 Hyundai Tuscon was being repaired. She was looking at the 2010 model in the showroom perhaps contemplating a new purchase. I let Bob handle this one despite my research in Motortrend. However I think I did assist Bob when she sat down finally by the magazines and I showed her the articles about Hyundai's and their exceptional reviews. I'm pretty sure I'll get a partial comission on that sale the next time I see Bob. Bob lives approximately 12 minutes away and has two kids. One lives in Butte and the other in Idaho Falls, ID. Actually those were his 2nd wife's kids. Bob had an appointment at the new Honda store on the west side of town at 10:00. I knew where this was because we had exited the highway twice at that location. I was getting very familiar with Billings at this point. I told Bob the next time I came through Billings we'd get together and have lunch. Maybe grill out some Elk or Deer venison. Yummm.
10:00AM, The car is complete. It seems to be starting snappy and I'm very pleased. My children have already packed up the room and we load up and go. The trip of the year resumes.
12:00PM, Did the car just stutter a bit? No that must just have been the road.
3:00PM, Ok the car is stuttering and misfiring. This is not cool. We are approaching Idaho Falls. Kt could you please start finding all the Volvo dealerships in Idaho Falls?
4:00PM, All the Volvo dealerships have been located. There is Boise, ID 150 miles the wrong direction. There is Salt Lake City 200 miles ahead. There is Las Vegas which is 500 miles ahead. We will try to get to Salt lake city before 7:00 and hopefully it will be open.
6:55PM, We reach Salt Lake city. Nice looking city by the way. There are more temples in SLC than Walgreens for sure. Car is losing power on hills more and more and is misfiring more. Dealership closed at 6:00pm. Okay car take us to Las Vegas. We're going to roll the dice and get lucky.
9:00PM We are approximately 200 miles from Las Vegas. The car is now barely getting over the hils at 25 miles per hour. It is straining in low gears to make it. The turbo is stressed and we are losing speed. We are approaching Cedar City, UT and it looks like we have to make a decision. We stop for gas in Parowan about 18 miles from Cedar City and notice a new symptom. We are belching white smoke like a western wild fire. Our fate is sealed. We drag the car to Cedar city and find a Super 8 Motel. Kt has located an Enterprise Rent-a-car where we will just have to find a shop to work on the car and we will rent a car to finish up the trip. Since we have to return this way anyways that gives this theoretical shop 4 days to locate parts and fix this oddity known as a Volvo. A vehicle as yet unkown to those in the west.
10:00PM, I notice the continental breakfast has the same waffle mix as the Sleep Inn in Billings. I am excited.
11:00PM, I scan the channels for any Back to the Future episodes. Finding none I retire for the evening. Kt has been relaxed and stress free this entire time. Ike was unusually chipper and smiley the whole ride. HAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding. I assure them that many of their friends will be very jealous that they were in Cedar City, UT and to just go to sleep and dream of waffles.
6:15AM, I arise early on a glorious Billings morning. The sun is shining brightly off the oil refinery. There is a starbucks in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza in a rare showing of civilization. I walk to the Volvo dealership to make sure I am the first one in line to get my car looked at and repaired. There still is no traffic pouring into Billings. Even the hobos are not on the street.
6:45AM, The service manager is opening the garage door and I successfully get my car booked in right away. I wish I had known the mechanic didn't show up until 8:00am but I'm content to drink my coffee, read Motortrend and listen to Fox News in the background. Apparently there's been an oil spill somewhere in the gulf...at least that's how the news seems to convey it.
8:00AM, I have completed reading a fine comparison of 2010 8 cylinder muscle cars. Apparently Mustangs have edged out the Camaro and Challenger to win most categories in the 8 cylinder rankings. I assume Mustangs perform better because they have less weight due to the lack of bailout packages and bankrupcy proceedings.
8:30AM, Bob the car salesman comes in for a stint at the desk. I'm sure car buying customers will be streaming in soon. We strike up a conversation in the mean time. We talked about a lot of different subjects for the next two hours. First of all Bob went out to his car and got an atlas to show me the best route to get to I-15 as we were now modifying our journey to head straight to San Diego and skip Portland, OR. It was good advice and he did not even have Google Maps on his phone. We then talked about Hyundai's and their vast improvement in the last 25 years. I discussed the Motor trend article I had just read comparing the American 6 cylinder versions of the muscle cars and the new Hyundai Genesis Coupe was thrown in. Well I'll be schnuckered but the Hyundai beat out all those American muscle cars. There it was sitting on the showroom floor too. We then discussed the exploding deer. He told me how prevalent it was and to be careful on the rest of my journey as the deer are everywhere. I was just relieved to know they were not exploded hobos. I learned that Billings has 125,000 people and has grown significantly in the last 10-15 years. Wells Fargo has a large communications center employing a lot of people. Also GE I think he said had a new group there. Before this recent influx of companies most people were ranchers or worked at the oil refinery. One woman about 65 years old came into the showroom as well while her 2004 Hyundai Tuscon was being repaired. She was looking at the 2010 model in the showroom perhaps contemplating a new purchase. I let Bob handle this one despite my research in Motortrend. However I think I did assist Bob when she sat down finally by the magazines and I showed her the articles about Hyundai's and their exceptional reviews. I'm pretty sure I'll get a partial comission on that sale the next time I see Bob. Bob lives approximately 12 minutes away and has two kids. One lives in Butte and the other in Idaho Falls, ID. Actually those were his 2nd wife's kids. Bob had an appointment at the new Honda store on the west side of town at 10:00. I knew where this was because we had exited the highway twice at that location. I was getting very familiar with Billings at this point. I told Bob the next time I came through Billings we'd get together and have lunch. Maybe grill out some Elk or Deer venison. Yummm.
10:00AM, The car is complete. It seems to be starting snappy and I'm very pleased. My children have already packed up the room and we load up and go. The trip of the year resumes.
12:00PM, Did the car just stutter a bit? No that must just have been the road.
3:00PM, Ok the car is stuttering and misfiring. This is not cool. We are approaching Idaho Falls. Kt could you please start finding all the Volvo dealerships in Idaho Falls?
4:00PM, All the Volvo dealerships have been located. There is Boise, ID 150 miles the wrong direction. There is Salt Lake City 200 miles ahead. There is Las Vegas which is 500 miles ahead. We will try to get to Salt lake city before 7:00 and hopefully it will be open.
6:55PM, We reach Salt Lake city. Nice looking city by the way. There are more temples in SLC than Walgreens for sure. Car is losing power on hills more and more and is misfiring more. Dealership closed at 6:00pm. Okay car take us to Las Vegas. We're going to roll the dice and get lucky.
9:00PM We are approximately 200 miles from Las Vegas. The car is now barely getting over the hils at 25 miles per hour. It is straining in low gears to make it. The turbo is stressed and we are losing speed. We are approaching Cedar City, UT and it looks like we have to make a decision. We stop for gas in Parowan about 18 miles from Cedar City and notice a new symptom. We are belching white smoke like a western wild fire. Our fate is sealed. We drag the car to Cedar city and find a Super 8 Motel. Kt has located an Enterprise Rent-a-car where we will just have to find a shop to work on the car and we will rent a car to finish up the trip. Since we have to return this way anyways that gives this theoretical shop 4 days to locate parts and fix this oddity known as a Volvo. A vehicle as yet unkown to those in the west.
10:00PM, I notice the continental breakfast has the same waffle mix as the Sleep Inn in Billings. I am excited.
11:00PM, I scan the channels for any Back to the Future episodes. Finding none I retire for the evening. Kt has been relaxed and stress free this entire time. Ike was unusually chipper and smiley the whole ride. HAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding. I assure them that many of their friends will be very jealous that they were in Cedar City, UT and to just go to sleep and dream of waffles.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The 2nd Day of My Summer Vacation
Day 2
8:00AM, The alarm goes off. Perhaps our long lost mechanic will call us this morning. I headed to my free continental breakfast for a surprisingly good waffle in the waffle maker. I make a mental note to find the same batter for my waffle maker. Apparently my mental note has fallen off the mental fridge because I have now forgotten the brand to buy.
9:00AM, I start watching Back To the Future. It seems to be what we do when stranded in boring states while traveling. On a ski trip a few years ago we were snowed-in from a blizzard in Omaha, NE and sat in the hotel room all day watching all 3 Back to the Futures followed by Big Mama’s House I and II. Good times for sure.
10:00AM, I head over to the car to fetch our cooler for what I was convinced would be a second nights stay in Billings. What could possibly be done to my car on a Sunday? On the off chance the car would start, I gave it a try and voila, it started and behaved perfectly. I drove it across the street to the hotel and rousted my children to pack up we were going to go hit the road. After the car was loaded and we were going to go I turned over the car. Click Click Click. The battery was too low. I used up my remaining power for the first start of the day and did not have enough left to start. I ran across the street to the gas station and bought jumper cables. I then went back into the hotel to find a suitable donor. Sure enough but the owner of the hotel was there and offered to jump start my car. I figured he might have been a journeyman mechanic because he had a Ford F250 pickup and as anyone knows the ability to fix cars corresponds directly to the size of your pickup. My car did start from the jump and we hit the highway. Not before giving the night clerk a nice endorsement for customer service, however my capitalist friend did not look amused.
10:25AM, We return after two miles of travels we had to deviate back into Billings to a NAPA auto parts store as the same conditions had returned. Repression and ignoring work so much better on humans than cars apparently. The NAPA sent us to the only shop open on a Sunday with mechanics in downtown billings. We head to Expert Tire.
11:00AM, The man at Expert tire says he’ll look at it but feels certain there will be little he can do because he is not a Volvo dealership. However he waited a bit to tell us this just as we were getting to the end of Back To the Future Part II. We now know we are doomed to stay in Billings another night. We scouted out the only Volvo dealership in Montana which thankfully was 6 blocks away and then found a room at the Crowne Plaza which was also 6 blocks away.
12:00PM, We check in to the Crowne Plaza and head back to Expert Tire to get our stuff from the car. We figure it will be a nice looking hobo parade hauling our stuff 6 blocks down but the nice man at Expert Tire just told us to haul our stuff down to the hotel in the shop pickup. This really is not like other places. The keys were of course on the dash and it was truly an elegant brown Chevy shop truck that looked grand pulling up to the Crowne Plaza.
12:30PM, I finish up Back to the Future Part II of course. It certainly is a good distraction to contemplate the complexities and paradoxes of time travel.
1:30PM, Back to the Future Part III has started but the kids and I have a mission. We need to move the car from Expert Tire 6 blocks to the Volvo Dealership. When we last left the car at Expert Tire it again was low on power and needed a jump to get started. Also it seems like it was again having a hard time starting. We were confident that we could push the car a flat 6 blocks due to the combined hard core athletic abilities of the 3 of us. I refused to pay $60 to tow it to a place I could almost see from Expert Tire. When we got there, a determined young man was trying to diagnose the car despite telling us they couldn’t do anything about it because no one has Volvo parts. He gave me the codes though and the problem was an Engine Coolant Sensor and the Thermostat. He explained why the car has a proclivity to speed when it doesn’t know the proper temperature. It sounded like Monday morning would be a breeze to just have the Volvo dealership change those out and hit the road. One last jump and remarkably the car started and instead of pushing it to Volvo we drove it there.
2:15PM, We walk back to the Crowne Plaza. One observation about downtown Billings. Besides being dead to the world on Sundays, it has got to be the hobo capital of the state. Perhaps due to the lack of things like cities and such all the Montana hobo’s have to wander downtown Billings. Per Capita it must be a very high homeless rate but it must suck when you options as a homeless person are limited to like 5 cities in the state at best. I pondered whether perhaps those weren’t exploded deer on the highway but just unfortunate hitchhiking hobos. Thankfully we were able to watch the end of Back To the Future Part III and contemplate the settling of the old West and the unlikely ability to make a train version of the flux capacitor.
3:00PM, Started over with Back to the Future Part i
5:00PM, Toy Story 1
7:00PM, Toy Story II
9:00PM, gaaaaack bored. Time for a glass of Schnapps.
10:00PM, took a look at the Billings night scene. It turns out it is not the lights of clubs or Billings night life or casinos but rather the lights of the Oil Refinery. Hmmmm I guess it’s time for bed. Better luck tomorrow.
8:00AM, The alarm goes off. Perhaps our long lost mechanic will call us this morning. I headed to my free continental breakfast for a surprisingly good waffle in the waffle maker. I make a mental note to find the same batter for my waffle maker. Apparently my mental note has fallen off the mental fridge because I have now forgotten the brand to buy.
9:00AM, I start watching Back To the Future. It seems to be what we do when stranded in boring states while traveling. On a ski trip a few years ago we were snowed-in from a blizzard in Omaha, NE and sat in the hotel room all day watching all 3 Back to the Futures followed by Big Mama’s House I and II. Good times for sure.
10:00AM, I head over to the car to fetch our cooler for what I was convinced would be a second nights stay in Billings. What could possibly be done to my car on a Sunday? On the off chance the car would start, I gave it a try and voila, it started and behaved perfectly. I drove it across the street to the hotel and rousted my children to pack up we were going to go hit the road. After the car was loaded and we were going to go I turned over the car. Click Click Click. The battery was too low. I used up my remaining power for the first start of the day and did not have enough left to start. I ran across the street to the gas station and bought jumper cables. I then went back into the hotel to find a suitable donor. Sure enough but the owner of the hotel was there and offered to jump start my car. I figured he might have been a journeyman mechanic because he had a Ford F250 pickup and as anyone knows the ability to fix cars corresponds directly to the size of your pickup. My car did start from the jump and we hit the highway. Not before giving the night clerk a nice endorsement for customer service, however my capitalist friend did not look amused.
10:25AM, We return after two miles of travels we had to deviate back into Billings to a NAPA auto parts store as the same conditions had returned. Repression and ignoring work so much better on humans than cars apparently. The NAPA sent us to the only shop open on a Sunday with mechanics in downtown billings. We head to Expert Tire.
11:00AM, The man at Expert tire says he’ll look at it but feels certain there will be little he can do because he is not a Volvo dealership. However he waited a bit to tell us this just as we were getting to the end of Back To the Future Part II. We now know we are doomed to stay in Billings another night. We scouted out the only Volvo dealership in Montana which thankfully was 6 blocks away and then found a room at the Crowne Plaza which was also 6 blocks away.
12:00PM, We check in to the Crowne Plaza and head back to Expert Tire to get our stuff from the car. We figure it will be a nice looking hobo parade hauling our stuff 6 blocks down but the nice man at Expert Tire just told us to haul our stuff down to the hotel in the shop pickup. This really is not like other places. The keys were of course on the dash and it was truly an elegant brown Chevy shop truck that looked grand pulling up to the Crowne Plaza.
12:30PM, I finish up Back to the Future Part II of course. It certainly is a good distraction to contemplate the complexities and paradoxes of time travel.
1:30PM, Back to the Future Part III has started but the kids and I have a mission. We need to move the car from Expert Tire 6 blocks to the Volvo Dealership. When we last left the car at Expert Tire it again was low on power and needed a jump to get started. Also it seems like it was again having a hard time starting. We were confident that we could push the car a flat 6 blocks due to the combined hard core athletic abilities of the 3 of us. I refused to pay $60 to tow it to a place I could almost see from Expert Tire. When we got there, a determined young man was trying to diagnose the car despite telling us they couldn’t do anything about it because no one has Volvo parts. He gave me the codes though and the problem was an Engine Coolant Sensor and the Thermostat. He explained why the car has a proclivity to speed when it doesn’t know the proper temperature. It sounded like Monday morning would be a breeze to just have the Volvo dealership change those out and hit the road. One last jump and remarkably the car started and instead of pushing it to Volvo we drove it there.
2:15PM, We walk back to the Crowne Plaza. One observation about downtown Billings. Besides being dead to the world on Sundays, it has got to be the hobo capital of the state. Perhaps due to the lack of things like cities and such all the Montana hobo’s have to wander downtown Billings. Per Capita it must be a very high homeless rate but it must suck when you options as a homeless person are limited to like 5 cities in the state at best. I pondered whether perhaps those weren’t exploded deer on the highway but just unfortunate hitchhiking hobos. Thankfully we were able to watch the end of Back To the Future Part III and contemplate the settling of the old West and the unlikely ability to make a train version of the flux capacitor.
3:00PM, Started over with Back to the Future Part i
5:00PM, Toy Story 1
7:00PM, Toy Story II
9:00PM, gaaaaack bored. Time for a glass of Schnapps.
10:00PM, took a look at the Billings night scene. It turns out it is not the lights of clubs or Billings night life or casinos but rather the lights of the Oil Refinery. Hmmmm I guess it’s time for bed. Better luck tomorrow.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Day 1 of Summer Vacation
In the following posts, I will chronicle my vacation one day at a time. Not since 2001 have I had such an adventurous vacation. You can read about it here (A Journey Interrupted) if you choose. I will make sure to try and paint a vivid picture of my experiences and observations. I might even through in a few pictures.
I had a decision to make about my vacation this year. I could go with my wife to Fayette, IA for a week long class she was taking on campus at UIU OR I could accompany my daughter on a vast road trip encompassing Portland, OR/Battle Ground, WA and then San Diego and home again. Comparing all the activities in Fayette, population 12, or a 5000 mile road trip with two of my kids, the choice was clear. Plus it would seem prudent to chaperone my 18 year old and 16 year old on a 5000 mile road trip event of the year.
Day 1
1:30 AM, The alarm sounds and it is time to leave. By leaving at 2:00am we were set on a course of a 27 hour marathon drive rotating between 3 drivers and set to arrive in Portland, OR in the morning one day later. Our route has been pre-determined to take a northerly route on I-94 until hitting I-90 in Montana. The Volvo had been prepared the day before with new tires, an oil check, I fixed the trunk latch so it could actually open, and I pre-loaded the vehicle with our luggage and food.
2:00AM, We depart on time and head west. Our satellite radio was faithfully producing tunes, two iPhones and one Windows Mobile phone approriately were navigating via Google Maps and GPS. Laptop was available to be tethered to my cell phone for complete Internet access when needed. The last thing you want to do when heading out into the vastness of God's incredible creation is to not be properly connected to the internet. My children contentedly sleep.
6:30AM, Our first stop for gas and McMuffins in Hudson, WI just before crossing the Mississippi River into MN. We have killed 1,276,429 bugs with our car. Katie takes the wheel and I ramp up for the sights of MN. I fall asleep before the Mall of America and wake up as Kt exits the highway inside of North Dakota.
9:00AM, It's time for a driver change and Ike takes the wheel. We pull onto the highway but I vow to stay awake a bit more this time as theoretically I'm supposed to be monitoring the young'n as he drives. As we pull back onto the highway an ambulence with lights and sirens comes on behind us and we graciously let it pass us as the custom goes. However here's where I made an alarming discovery about emergency health in North Dakota. If you have an emergency, you may very well die. We followed this Ambulence for 40 miles before it even exited the highway into nowhereville. Even worse is that with the more liberal speed limit in North Dakota is that we had to stay back our 500 feet and slow down so as not to pass the ambulence. I have decided that I could perhaps become a premier Emergency services responder in North Dakota by simply applying my feet to the gas pedal. If I were in that ambulence having a heart attack I swear I'd climb up front and jam that accelerator down. We may as well risk it because I'm likely to die anyway on the 130 mile trip to the hospital...and it's likely that hospital is a veternary hospital.
Finally the ambulence departs the highway and we resume a comfortable North Dakotabahn speed of 85ish. I advise Ike to put a bungee cord on the steering wheel and set the cruise and he could probably nap or read for 3 hours and check in later to see if anything changes. I however want to report to you the awesome beauty of North Dakota. I will illustrate everything here:
Did you catch all that. I believe I covered it all. even if I hadn't fallen asleep again I'm pretty sure I covered everything.
12:00PM, I take over driving again finishing up North Dakota and entering Montana.
12:35PM, See exploded deer on the side of the road.
12:49PM, See exploded deer in the middle of the road.
1:24PM, See exploded deer on the side of the road.
etc
etc
etc
3:30PM, We make a stop at the outlook in Theodore Roosevelt National Park just before the Montana Line. We take some awesome pictures and even see a Bison nearby grazing. How exciting that with 20 miles left in North Dakota there was something to see. We return to the car to depart, but alas, the car has difficulty starting. I turned it over many times and I could hear it starting to lose power. This is not good as the thought of a tow from this location was far worse than the thought of North Dakota emergency services. Also, God had rendered our communications devices moot as we were indeed amongst the 3% of Americans not covered by AT&T at that moment. However after some prayer and very thoughtful staring and goatee stroking at the engine bay it finally started. We will overlook this quirk and return to the Dakotabahn. Kt takes the wheel.
5:30PM, After having fallen asleep again, I woke up to a concerned Kt fretting and pulling over. Oh No! Our car! Nope that was not it at all. This was our opportunity to met the entire State Patrol of Montana. We believe Officer Janus of the Montana State Patrol is perhaps the only officer in Montana, thereby ruining the reputation of the Montanabahn. He apparently did not sympathize with Kt's carefree expression of freedom of driving 87 in a 75mph zone on her 18th birthday. However Officer Wet Blanket, did not lack the communications and technology to swipe in a license, check the license, and print off a receipt for the $40 due immediately for the ticket. I'll assume AT&T was not his communications provider. Despite Kt getting a meaningless speeding ticket on a stretch of highway going nowhere where the only obstacle seems to be exploding deer, I was very envious of his mobile communication and in-car printer. This is very convenient for the speeder who just wants to get on their way. I think a 7 minute traffic stop is commendable as WI police just drag it out for 20 minutes. I attribute this to WI heavy reliance on unions.
7:30PM, We arrive at Billings, MT and decide to stop for a nice dinner at Applebee's to celebrate Kt's 18th Birthday as well as her first speeding ticket (Kt was as celebratory as you'd think). However as we exit the highway the car seems to be displaying a love for the Montanabahn and is keeping its RPM's at 4000 and has a desire to speed up to about 60 on the city streets. The brakes were straining a bit at the intersection from hell where there was an accident and it took 5 minutes to get through as the temperature gauge soared to the red zone. We eventually get through the intersection and into the Applebees lot. I open the hood to the radiator overfow...overflowing....just a bit...not an all out overheat. I'll say the car showed restraint in blowing off steam but I was really not inspired by the list of quirks. I would say that dinner was somewhat muted by the last few minutes and hours events and I was only thinking of what might happen when we return to the car.
8:30PM, We head out to the car. Our sad little puddle of radiator fluid on the ground. Will it start? Will the quirkiness go away? Would simply turning the radio louder make it all go away? It did start. But the high RPM's returned and the temperature gauge started being erratic from the red zone to the cold zone with in 3 miles so we veered back into Billings and stopped at a Conoco to see if there was an auto parts store or I could get a tool or two so I could check for vacuum leaks and such. Please be a loose hose or a replaceable sensor! Alas, Conoco only has a small pliers and It proved worthless. The car refused to start again and again the power was draining. It turns out thee was a Sleep Inn across the street. Thwarted we checked into the motel.
9:00PM, Bonus, This sleep Inn was completely remodeled and had the most amazing bed I've ever slept on. We contemplate taking the mattresses with us but figured strapping mattresses to a car that doesn't start did not seem like smart crime. Another bonus, the clerk at the desk knows a mechanic and vowed to have him call me to perhaps look at the car in the morning. She said he would call me after 11:30PM.
10:30PM, I go to get Ice near the lobby and hear the owner of the hotel, who was on a tour of his properties, yelling and berating the nice helpful clerk for giving too many discounts away and speculating loudly how he is contemplating docking her pay, suspending her, or going to fire her. I'm not sure where his logic was going in explaing his tax bill per year of 1 million dollars and how he gets no bailouts and aid but I had such mixed emotions in sympathy for a low margin business and a western conservative and a clerk who was as far as customer service goes went above and beyond...yet did not give me one of those nice discounts.
11:30PM, The phone rings, silence. No one is there. The clerk is not at the front desk to ask for the number of the mechanic who called but never got transferred and never called back again. Oh well. We will sleep and figure things out in the morning.
Good Night Day 1.
I had a decision to make about my vacation this year. I could go with my wife to Fayette, IA for a week long class she was taking on campus at UIU OR I could accompany my daughter on a vast road trip encompassing Portland, OR/Battle Ground, WA and then San Diego and home again. Comparing all the activities in Fayette, population 12, or a 5000 mile road trip with two of my kids, the choice was clear. Plus it would seem prudent to chaperone my 18 year old and 16 year old on a 5000 mile road trip event of the year.
Day 1
1:30 AM, The alarm sounds and it is time to leave. By leaving at 2:00am we were set on a course of a 27 hour marathon drive rotating between 3 drivers and set to arrive in Portland, OR in the morning one day later. Our route has been pre-determined to take a northerly route on I-94 until hitting I-90 in Montana. The Volvo had been prepared the day before with new tires, an oil check, I fixed the trunk latch so it could actually open, and I pre-loaded the vehicle with our luggage and food.
2:00AM, We depart on time and head west. Our satellite radio was faithfully producing tunes, two iPhones and one Windows Mobile phone approriately were navigating via Google Maps and GPS. Laptop was available to be tethered to my cell phone for complete Internet access when needed. The last thing you want to do when heading out into the vastness of God's incredible creation is to not be properly connected to the internet. My children contentedly sleep.
6:30AM, Our first stop for gas and McMuffins in Hudson, WI just before crossing the Mississippi River into MN. We have killed 1,276,429 bugs with our car. Katie takes the wheel and I ramp up for the sights of MN. I fall asleep before the Mall of America and wake up as Kt exits the highway inside of North Dakota.
9:00AM, It's time for a driver change and Ike takes the wheel. We pull onto the highway but I vow to stay awake a bit more this time as theoretically I'm supposed to be monitoring the young'n as he drives. As we pull back onto the highway an ambulence with lights and sirens comes on behind us and we graciously let it pass us as the custom goes. However here's where I made an alarming discovery about emergency health in North Dakota. If you have an emergency, you may very well die. We followed this Ambulence for 40 miles before it even exited the highway into nowhereville. Even worse is that with the more liberal speed limit in North Dakota is that we had to stay back our 500 feet and slow down so as not to pass the ambulence. I have decided that I could perhaps become a premier Emergency services responder in North Dakota by simply applying my feet to the gas pedal. If I were in that ambulence having a heart attack I swear I'd climb up front and jam that accelerator down. We may as well risk it because I'm likely to die anyway on the 130 mile trip to the hospital...and it's likely that hospital is a veternary hospital.
Finally the ambulence departs the highway and we resume a comfortable North Dakotabahn speed of 85ish. I advise Ike to put a bungee cord on the steering wheel and set the cruise and he could probably nap or read for 3 hours and check in later to see if anything changes. I however want to report to you the awesome beauty of North Dakota. I will illustrate everything here:
Did you catch all that. I believe I covered it all. even if I hadn't fallen asleep again I'm pretty sure I covered everything.
12:00PM, I take over driving again finishing up North Dakota and entering Montana.
12:35PM, See exploded deer on the side of the road.
12:49PM, See exploded deer in the middle of the road.
1:24PM, See exploded deer on the side of the road.
etc
etc
etc
3:30PM, We make a stop at the outlook in Theodore Roosevelt National Park just before the Montana Line. We take some awesome pictures and even see a Bison nearby grazing. How exciting that with 20 miles left in North Dakota there was something to see. We return to the car to depart, but alas, the car has difficulty starting. I turned it over many times and I could hear it starting to lose power. This is not good as the thought of a tow from this location was far worse than the thought of North Dakota emergency services. Also, God had rendered our communications devices moot as we were indeed amongst the 3% of Americans not covered by AT&T at that moment. However after some prayer and very thoughtful staring and goatee stroking at the engine bay it finally started. We will overlook this quirk and return to the Dakotabahn. Kt takes the wheel.
5:30PM, After having fallen asleep again, I woke up to a concerned Kt fretting and pulling over. Oh No! Our car! Nope that was not it at all. This was our opportunity to met the entire State Patrol of Montana. We believe Officer Janus of the Montana State Patrol is perhaps the only officer in Montana, thereby ruining the reputation of the Montanabahn. He apparently did not sympathize with Kt's carefree expression of freedom of driving 87 in a 75mph zone on her 18th birthday. However Officer Wet Blanket, did not lack the communications and technology to swipe in a license, check the license, and print off a receipt for the $40 due immediately for the ticket. I'll assume AT&T was not his communications provider. Despite Kt getting a meaningless speeding ticket on a stretch of highway going nowhere where the only obstacle seems to be exploding deer, I was very envious of his mobile communication and in-car printer. This is very convenient for the speeder who just wants to get on their way. I think a 7 minute traffic stop is commendable as WI police just drag it out for 20 minutes. I attribute this to WI heavy reliance on unions.
7:30PM, We arrive at Billings, MT and decide to stop for a nice dinner at Applebee's to celebrate Kt's 18th Birthday as well as her first speeding ticket (Kt was as celebratory as you'd think). However as we exit the highway the car seems to be displaying a love for the Montanabahn and is keeping its RPM's at 4000 and has a desire to speed up to about 60 on the city streets. The brakes were straining a bit at the intersection from hell where there was an accident and it took 5 minutes to get through as the temperature gauge soared to the red zone. We eventually get through the intersection and into the Applebees lot. I open the hood to the radiator overfow...overflowing....just a bit...not an all out overheat. I'll say the car showed restraint in blowing off steam but I was really not inspired by the list of quirks. I would say that dinner was somewhat muted by the last few minutes and hours events and I was only thinking of what might happen when we return to the car.
8:30PM, We head out to the car. Our sad little puddle of radiator fluid on the ground. Will it start? Will the quirkiness go away? Would simply turning the radio louder make it all go away? It did start. But the high RPM's returned and the temperature gauge started being erratic from the red zone to the cold zone with in 3 miles so we veered back into Billings and stopped at a Conoco to see if there was an auto parts store or I could get a tool or two so I could check for vacuum leaks and such. Please be a loose hose or a replaceable sensor! Alas, Conoco only has a small pliers and It proved worthless. The car refused to start again and again the power was draining. It turns out thee was a Sleep Inn across the street. Thwarted we checked into the motel.
9:00PM, Bonus, This sleep Inn was completely remodeled and had the most amazing bed I've ever slept on. We contemplate taking the mattresses with us but figured strapping mattresses to a car that doesn't start did not seem like smart crime. Another bonus, the clerk at the desk knows a mechanic and vowed to have him call me to perhaps look at the car in the morning. She said he would call me after 11:30PM.
10:30PM, I go to get Ice near the lobby and hear the owner of the hotel, who was on a tour of his properties, yelling and berating the nice helpful clerk for giving too many discounts away and speculating loudly how he is contemplating docking her pay, suspending her, or going to fire her. I'm not sure where his logic was going in explaing his tax bill per year of 1 million dollars and how he gets no bailouts and aid but I had such mixed emotions in sympathy for a low margin business and a western conservative and a clerk who was as far as customer service goes went above and beyond...yet did not give me one of those nice discounts.
11:30PM, The phone rings, silence. No one is there. The clerk is not at the front desk to ask for the number of the mechanic who called but never got transferred and never called back again. Oh well. We will sleep and figure things out in the morning.
Good Night Day 1.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
A Post
Alright here is a post. It'll have to do. I have not been very motivated in the posting department. I have been very busy at work on projects, I have been busy after work coaching and now my own running/biking training. I am getting ready for coaching the HOPE school CC team this fall and we are starting summer running in June. I think getting the CC program at that school restarted will be quite a project.
Katie is graduating this Sunday from Wisconsin Lutheran. That's a big deal. I'm very proud of her academic prowess and dedication to being a great student. Might have wished to spread some of that dedicatoin out a bit amongst all three children but it did seem to get consentrated in Katie. Congratulations Katie.
Katie has some vacations planned this summer. She is looking for jobs in daycare. She is looking at school online at UIU where Karen goes or possibly MATC...or maybe both. She will be staying here though and not moving to California as she is no longer with Phil.
Ike was confirmed at Victory of the Lamb on May 9th and is graduating from 8th grade at St. Marcus this Sunday as well. He will be attending IQ Academy for high school. This is a virtual online high school run out of the Waukesha School District. After some research and contemplating this change, we decided that the online school addressed Ike's learning style in a much better way as well as provides him some flexibility to deal with difficult subjects in a way that removes some of the barriers to classic "brick and mortar" education.
The main things are that he can "rewind" the teacher(online class) whenever he needs to. Multimedia learning is obviously a focus. Assignments and tests are not restricted by time frames...meaning he can take an hour and a half on a math test which is an area where if given enough time he can do well...he just needs twice as much time. The point is to test the knowledge...not whether he can do it in 42 minutes. These kinds of deals and considerations are hard to make at a brick and mortar school...and even harder at Wisco. One more feature is that he has better access to teachers than most students. He can communicate with them with email and the online school portal and ask questions anytime of night or day. The teacher can go online and do demo's and "chalkboard" work from their computer and show him things nearly anytime in the day. Try to track down your teacher in a school to get a question answered. Maybe you can find them in the morning or just before class when the assignment is due. Maybe your study hall hour might allow you to find them. At IQ they are all at his fingertips. No fears of missing the assignment deadline because you couldn't get help. the last big plus is that he has a chance to perhaps catch up a year and graduate a little early. Since he is two years older than most of the kids in his grade this would be nice as socially it is awkward when a 16 year old has peers who just turned 14.
The downside is obviously the time management and staying on top of his work. This will be my job as parental homework gestapo. Thankfully they provide a great portal where I can see all his work as it is submitted as well as get instant feedback on grades. Even though the schools all post grades online it is almost useless because if you want to manage your childs assignments vigorously, you can't, because half the teachers don't enter them regularly nor can I actually see the assignments before and after they were submitted. Now I can. The other downside is that socially doing your high school from home is well...not very social. however the online community of IQ students is very strong. Additionally there is a ski club that ski's every Friday in the skiing season. This was a big plus for Ike. Also Ike spreads his friends around and his good friends go to a variety of schools. So he might adobt Wisco as a place to hang out socially. It wouldn't surprise me if half the people there didn't even know he wasn't a student there.
Ike is pretty excited about the school. We'll see how it goes.
Karen took the test for her FALU designation. The last test of 4 is very tough and only 25% of the people who take it pass it. That held true at NM as of the 5 people who took it, only Karen passed it this year. I'm very proud of her getting through all the FLMI, FALU, PCS, ARA coursework. This is the equivalent to approximately 50 credits of courses at various levels of college work. On top of it she has been attending college. She is now signed up for two classes. One of them she will be taking at UIU in Layfayette, IA for a week in June. The other she is doing in her normal correspondence mode. She has 8 classes left until she graduates. Again I'm very proud.
Zach is still in Jacksonville, NC at the New River base. He came for a surprise visit this Memorial day weekend which was very pleasant. Chrissy is planning their wedding and quite smartly keeping Zach out of it. Their wedding will be in February...yes February in WI. No matter...I love a good party and weddings are good fun. Zach is planning on coming back in July for a week or so over the 4th of July holiday.
So there a post.
Katie is graduating this Sunday from Wisconsin Lutheran. That's a big deal. I'm very proud of her academic prowess and dedication to being a great student. Might have wished to spread some of that dedicatoin out a bit amongst all three children but it did seem to get consentrated in Katie. Congratulations Katie.
Katie has some vacations planned this summer. She is looking for jobs in daycare. She is looking at school online at UIU where Karen goes or possibly MATC...or maybe both. She will be staying here though and not moving to California as she is no longer with Phil.
Ike was confirmed at Victory of the Lamb on May 9th and is graduating from 8th grade at St. Marcus this Sunday as well. He will be attending IQ Academy for high school. This is a virtual online high school run out of the Waukesha School District. After some research and contemplating this change, we decided that the online school addressed Ike's learning style in a much better way as well as provides him some flexibility to deal with difficult subjects in a way that removes some of the barriers to classic "brick and mortar" education.
The main things are that he can "rewind" the teacher(online class) whenever he needs to. Multimedia learning is obviously a focus. Assignments and tests are not restricted by time frames...meaning he can take an hour and a half on a math test which is an area where if given enough time he can do well...he just needs twice as much time. The point is to test the knowledge...not whether he can do it in 42 minutes. These kinds of deals and considerations are hard to make at a brick and mortar school...and even harder at Wisco. One more feature is that he has better access to teachers than most students. He can communicate with them with email and the online school portal and ask questions anytime of night or day. The teacher can go online and do demo's and "chalkboard" work from their computer and show him things nearly anytime in the day. Try to track down your teacher in a school to get a question answered. Maybe you can find them in the morning or just before class when the assignment is due. Maybe your study hall hour might allow you to find them. At IQ they are all at his fingertips. No fears of missing the assignment deadline because you couldn't get help. the last big plus is that he has a chance to perhaps catch up a year and graduate a little early. Since he is two years older than most of the kids in his grade this would be nice as socially it is awkward when a 16 year old has peers who just turned 14.
The downside is obviously the time management and staying on top of his work. This will be my job as parental homework gestapo. Thankfully they provide a great portal where I can see all his work as it is submitted as well as get instant feedback on grades. Even though the schools all post grades online it is almost useless because if you want to manage your childs assignments vigorously, you can't, because half the teachers don't enter them regularly nor can I actually see the assignments before and after they were submitted. Now I can. The other downside is that socially doing your high school from home is well...not very social. however the online community of IQ students is very strong. Additionally there is a ski club that ski's every Friday in the skiing season. This was a big plus for Ike. Also Ike spreads his friends around and his good friends go to a variety of schools. So he might adobt Wisco as a place to hang out socially. It wouldn't surprise me if half the people there didn't even know he wasn't a student there.
Ike is pretty excited about the school. We'll see how it goes.
Karen took the test for her FALU designation. The last test of 4 is very tough and only 25% of the people who take it pass it. That held true at NM as of the 5 people who took it, only Karen passed it this year. I'm very proud of her getting through all the FLMI, FALU, PCS, ARA coursework. This is the equivalent to approximately 50 credits of courses at various levels of college work. On top of it she has been attending college. She is now signed up for two classes. One of them she will be taking at UIU in Layfayette, IA for a week in June. The other she is doing in her normal correspondence mode. She has 8 classes left until she graduates. Again I'm very proud.
Zach is still in Jacksonville, NC at the New River base. He came for a surprise visit this Memorial day weekend which was very pleasant. Chrissy is planning their wedding and quite smartly keeping Zach out of it. Their wedding will be in February...yes February in WI. No matter...I love a good party and weddings are good fun. Zach is planning on coming back in July for a week or so over the 4th of July holiday.
So there a post.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Victory Update
Things at Victory continue to grow and expand. We had an average attendance in April of a 170 people per week. Membership is 157 with 103 communicants. There are 20 people in various stages of Adult Bible Instruction. We have just sent off our call to the Seminary for “Call Day” on May 20th to call a second “Tent Minister”. This will be a part-time pastor that will focus on Church In-reach while Pastor Ben continues his focus on Outreach and Evangelism. This new pastor will focus on member visitation, Bible study, Confirmation, youth ministry oversight and things that help develop the members of the congregation. Since Victory is nearly half made up of new Christians or were non-attending members of other churches, we need to have the ability to strengthen new Christians with Bible study and growing in faith. This will allow each pastor to focus on their strengths.
Additionally since we have been self-supporting for awhile now and have a surplus in our budget and a decent amount of money in the Land fund we have commissioned a group to start following the Franklin Zoning project that is reclassifying the city. They will be looking for potential properties and identifying the hurdles there may be in getting land. This is great but it is not a high priority. Right now we have a space to worship that can accommodate a large number of people. We have found that not having a building has actually been a blessing to us. Also it has been shown that often congregations build too early, with not enough money, and too small of a building and they end up shooting themselves in the foot. We will only build when being in temporary spaces becomes a hindrance to spreading the Gospel.
Victory has got some neat new things going on. The first thing is that our Children’s Ministry Director, Cassie, has revamped the Kids Ministry for ages 10 and under to be super-charged. We now have nearly 40 kids per week for Bible Quest. Not bad considering we started with two kids two years ago. After having been Sunday School superintendent and Sunday school teacher I would have to say that anything I have seen synod-wide pales in comparison. Cassie has really created something to note here. We call the program Bible Quest and I am in the process of developing a separate website for it to highlight all the activities and teaching that is going on. I volunteered for BQ last week and wow! I was impressed with just how energetic and comprehensive it is. The engagement level of the kids is sooo much higher. I was exhausted by the end but it was very rewarding.
The next thing Victory has started is a teen group. Our teens have been steadily growing in number so that we have about 10 of them. We now have some leaders that will be doing the teen group and getting them organized and get the Teen activities and bible study going. They are still working on voting for a name.
Lastly, Ike will be confirmed this Sunday. He represents the first teen confirmation at Victory in terms of the traditional notion of confirmation. There will be several others starting to occur in the next months/year. Victory has been working in two ways with confirmation. Either they can take it at one of the neighboring congregations with the “public school” kids in whatever way those congregations run that, or we have been currently having parents catechize their own children with pastoral oversight (soon to be the role of the new pastor). This has been a great thing I believe. I think it helps parents and children learn about their confession of faith and the Lutheran doctrines. So Confirmations with the little white robes that happen every May are probably a thing of the past here. I think it will be very age independent and depend on the timing and thoroughness of the training of each teenager involved.
Additionally since we have been self-supporting for awhile now and have a surplus in our budget and a decent amount of money in the Land fund we have commissioned a group to start following the Franklin Zoning project that is reclassifying the city. They will be looking for potential properties and identifying the hurdles there may be in getting land. This is great but it is not a high priority. Right now we have a space to worship that can accommodate a large number of people. We have found that not having a building has actually been a blessing to us. Also it has been shown that often congregations build too early, with not enough money, and too small of a building and they end up shooting themselves in the foot. We will only build when being in temporary spaces becomes a hindrance to spreading the Gospel.
Victory has got some neat new things going on. The first thing is that our Children’s Ministry Director, Cassie, has revamped the Kids Ministry for ages 10 and under to be super-charged. We now have nearly 40 kids per week for Bible Quest. Not bad considering we started with two kids two years ago. After having been Sunday School superintendent and Sunday school teacher I would have to say that anything I have seen synod-wide pales in comparison. Cassie has really created something to note here. We call the program Bible Quest and I am in the process of developing a separate website for it to highlight all the activities and teaching that is going on. I volunteered for BQ last week and wow! I was impressed with just how energetic and comprehensive it is. The engagement level of the kids is sooo much higher. I was exhausted by the end but it was very rewarding.
The next thing Victory has started is a teen group. Our teens have been steadily growing in number so that we have about 10 of them. We now have some leaders that will be doing the teen group and getting them organized and get the Teen activities and bible study going. They are still working on voting for a name.
Lastly, Ike will be confirmed this Sunday. He represents the first teen confirmation at Victory in terms of the traditional notion of confirmation. There will be several others starting to occur in the next months/year. Victory has been working in two ways with confirmation. Either they can take it at one of the neighboring congregations with the “public school” kids in whatever way those congregations run that, or we have been currently having parents catechize their own children with pastoral oversight (soon to be the role of the new pastor). This has been a great thing I believe. I think it helps parents and children learn about their confession of faith and the Lutheran doctrines. So Confirmations with the little white robes that happen every May are probably a thing of the past here. I think it will be very age independent and depend on the timing and thoroughness of the training of each teenager involved.
Runnin' Around
I currently have been coaching Track at St. Marcus. I run 3 morning running sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6:45am – 7:30am and regular practice Tuesdays and Thursdays. As I have found to be the case after Cross Country season last fall that I start out with a large group and it whittles down to just a smaller more dedicated group of runners. This Thursday is the first meet. Next week there are 2 meets. There is a 4th meet the next week after that. I think this year St. Marcus will have some stand out runners for Track.
Through a connection at St. Marcus, I was recommended to be the Cross Country Coach at Hope High School (part of Hope Christian Schools…an independent WELS Lutheran school system…different in that it serves inner city kids and has no specific federation of churches supporting it. It is mostly supported with fundraising, vouchers, and grants. It originally started as a clone of the St. Marcus system when the principal of St. Marcus left to found the first Hope Christian School)
So this summer we will begin summer running and try to recruit, recruit, recruit. They have only had CC for two years now and the teams have languished from lack of a dedicated program and coaching. So currently I am working on the CC handbook and website. There will be some meetings in May to find out who is interested. I will also go to the two Hope Christian Grade Schools to talk to 8th graders and find some interest. Vouchers and Open Enrollment make things more interesting as that has so much more to do with where kids go to school than anything else. The incoming freshman class next year will be from all over and there may be a lot more late-arrival students showing up than I’d prefer in August. The more runners who work over the summer the better.
In any case, I have found 5 student leaders who are interested in helping make the program “run”. This should be an interesting year. As one student asked “where are we going to run for practice…because it’s pretty Ghetto around here and last year, Alissa (another student present) got beat up?” So there are just a few more things to think about in inner city Cross Country than in your typical school. Running routes free of gunfire and beatings are two of those things. However even though my own ability to run is constantly threatened by fragile tendons and worn out cartilage, the thing that attracts me to these schools for CC is that this sport is so under-represented from the inner city. But holy cow have I found so many students who are naturally great athletes and are born to run. They just need to be shown what they can do. Once they see the talent within themselves I see state level competitors all around me. Diamonds in the rough if you will. I’m pretty excited.
I plan to still coach the St. Marcus CC team because we have morning practices there and they wouldn't conflict much except potentially meets I would need another coach to get the gradeschoolers to the meets. However I was wondering if I could combine the two Hope grade Schools and the SM program to make one inner city CC team for the Lutheran Grade Schools. I call this a real feeder program. Perhaps that’s a pipe dream. I would need another coach and assistant and then to figure out how these three schools could practice as one…or run separate practices and combine as one at meets. Ahhh things to think about and discuss with people. It is clear that I need to buy myself a bus. I want a Partridge Family bus. OMG I would love to see the faces on the suburban Lutheran schools when a Partridge family bus shows up with a team called the Ghetto Runners or something similar.
Through a connection at St. Marcus, I was recommended to be the Cross Country Coach at Hope High School (part of Hope Christian Schools…an independent WELS Lutheran school system…different in that it serves inner city kids and has no specific federation of churches supporting it. It is mostly supported with fundraising, vouchers, and grants. It originally started as a clone of the St. Marcus system when the principal of St. Marcus left to found the first Hope Christian School)
So this summer we will begin summer running and try to recruit, recruit, recruit. They have only had CC for two years now and the teams have languished from lack of a dedicated program and coaching. So currently I am working on the CC handbook and website. There will be some meetings in May to find out who is interested. I will also go to the two Hope Christian Grade Schools to talk to 8th graders and find some interest. Vouchers and Open Enrollment make things more interesting as that has so much more to do with where kids go to school than anything else. The incoming freshman class next year will be from all over and there may be a lot more late-arrival students showing up than I’d prefer in August. The more runners who work over the summer the better.
In any case, I have found 5 student leaders who are interested in helping make the program “run”. This should be an interesting year. As one student asked “where are we going to run for practice…because it’s pretty Ghetto around here and last year, Alissa (another student present) got beat up?” So there are just a few more things to think about in inner city Cross Country than in your typical school. Running routes free of gunfire and beatings are two of those things. However even though my own ability to run is constantly threatened by fragile tendons and worn out cartilage, the thing that attracts me to these schools for CC is that this sport is so under-represented from the inner city. But holy cow have I found so many students who are naturally great athletes and are born to run. They just need to be shown what they can do. Once they see the talent within themselves I see state level competitors all around me. Diamonds in the rough if you will. I’m pretty excited.
I plan to still coach the St. Marcus CC team because we have morning practices there and they wouldn't conflict much except potentially meets I would need another coach to get the gradeschoolers to the meets. However I was wondering if I could combine the two Hope grade Schools and the SM program to make one inner city CC team for the Lutheran Grade Schools. I call this a real feeder program. Perhaps that’s a pipe dream. I would need another coach and assistant and then to figure out how these three schools could practice as one…or run separate practices and combine as one at meets. Ahhh things to think about and discuss with people. It is clear that I need to buy myself a bus. I want a Partridge Family bus. OMG I would love to see the faces on the suburban Lutheran schools when a Partridge family bus shows up with a team called the Ghetto Runners or something similar.
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