Mr. Toad's Wild Ride?

We have finally made it to Wisconsin! Actually, we arrived last evening but I have been unable to gain access to a wireless internet network until this morning. There is not much available in the Wild West town of Buffalo, Wyoming or at my folks house in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I am reporting to you today from the La Crosse Public Library. This place is booming! As I mentioned...we made it...but there was some question about that yesterday. We arrived in beautiful Buffalo at 10:15pm MDT on Sunday, after a relatively uneventful day of travel, and then hit the road again by 6:30am Monday. We rose to a steady rain, but undaunted, headed east. Maybe we should have been a little bit more daunted? The rain intensified as we drove eastbound on I-90, and a 25 to 35 mile per hour head wind soon developed. Now one would usually expect that you would have to put up with such stuff for an hour or two, and then you could reasonably think you might break out of it. Not so! I was in a battle with the elements that lasted for 10 hours and about 600 miles! It was like driving in a hurricane. As we pulled into Jackson, Minnesota, in the southwest part of the state...for refueling...I finally gave in and had Kay drive to give my arms, hands and teeth (10 hours worth of grinding) a break. Stop me if you have heard this before. As we entered the interstate for the last leg of the journey the rain almost immediately stopped and the winds died down. The pavement was dry all the way to the Mississippi River! Perhaps I should have had her drive all day. Today is not a travel day, it is a day to rest and recover, and for me to get my homework done for the week.

ONE FINAL NOTE: If you have been wondering where the Kiester of the United States is, and possibly the world, I have found it for you. It is located just a little west of Albert Lea in south central Minnesota!

Hittin' The Road

Today after our church service, at roughly 11am, we will be pointing the car eastward and heading for the homeland of Wisconsin and Minnesota. It will take us a couple of days to get there, and tonight's destination is Buffalo, Wyoming. The reason that undergirds our journey is the retrieval of our Sweet Little Babboo (Beth) from her first year of college. Amazing! She is already through a year of higher education. Amazing! I will only have to pay for 3 or 4 more years.

The weather this morning is bright and sunny, and it appears as if the conditions along our route today will be rather uneventful. The scenery should be beautiful as recent snowstorms in the mountains should have left a wonderful blanket of white over the middle to higher terrain. We should be setting down in La Crosse, Wisconsin sometime late tomorrow evening. Since my parents usually go to be be 3:30 in the afternoon these days, we probably won't see them until Tuesday morning. On Tuesday evening there will be a bar stool with my name on it at Schmitty's, one of the local bar and restaurant establishments that the heartland of our nation is so famous for. On Wednesday we will drive up to St. Paul to load up all of the junk that a college freshman can accumulate over the course of the school year, and haul it all back to my folks house. Then Thursday we make the trip back to the Twin Cities to load up Beth and her friend Kristen for the trip back toward the west. I hope that the family truckster can hold us and all our belongings, and make it safely again through the mountains.

Today is Mother's Day. I will be seeing my mom tomorrow evening...or more likely on Tuesday morning. I want to wish all moms who may be reading this senseless drivel a wonderful day!

St John's 500

The weather cleared today sufficiently for the inaugural running of the St. John's 500...inches that is. Our youth group got together for a burger lunch and some good natured competition with the remote control vehicles. Our official starter and flag man was the very Reverend Virtus Young, while the Race Director and chef was Jim Smith. Good times were had by all, and thank the Lord...no one got hurt. We did go through a lot of batteries though!

Gettin' Ready to Roll

We will be hittin' the road on Sunday to retrieve our Sweet Babboo (Beth) from her first year of college. I have spent most of this week preparing for the adventure. There is the necessary work to be done to the family "Truckster" (oil change and tire rotation), procuring the needed supplies, and...at least in my case...getting ahead on my schoolwork so that I don't fall behind next week. Its a darned good thing that we didn't leave today as a major snowstorm hit south central and southeast Montana along with northeastern Wyoming. Things should be as lot better in terms of the weather by Sunday. I have heard reports of some pretty impressive snow showers around here earlier this morning, but I didn't witness any of that personally.

Speaking of the weather, it has been pretty lousy all week long, and for that matter, for the past month. The outlook for the next several days is a whole lot better. Tomorrow, Friday, will be mostly sunny with temperatures topping off in the upper 50s. That is still a bit below normal but a lot better than it has been. On Saturday and Sunday we should get into the low to mid 60s so that won't be bad. We are having a huge garage sale at the church tomorrow and Saturday, and with the dry weather we should be able to haul lots of the stuff outside. There is certainly a lot of stuff...as the interior of the horse stable next to the church looks like an antiques mall. It will be interesting to see just how many people show up, and how much is sold. What will probably be more interesting is how much will be left over after the sale is all said and done!

I Survived the Great Hurricane of 2010

Yesterday was a pretty windy day. In fact, it was very windy. Up until this evening I didn't realize that we had all survived a natural disaster the likes of which has not been seen around here since the days of Noah. Thankfully I have been informed of this fact by the constant news updates from the local CBS TV affiliate this evening that I should be amazed that I am still alive! The other stations are very likely trumpeting the same message of doom, but I can only watch one at a time. On Monday there was a wind gust that reached 59 miles per hour as measured at the airport. Oh the humanity...one could not expect either man or beast to be able to endure such a calamity. Granted, there were a few trees that were blown over in the area...which happens every spring...and I must admit that we did lose a significant portion of a lilac bush, although it was due at least in part to a bad case of root rot! While this catastrophe was occurring there were a number of people who said to me; "I bet you are glad that you aren't working at the TV station anymore", and to that I replied, "You're darned right! By this morning that savage storm had abated, and we were left to assess the damage. Oh, I almost forgot, My hibiscus plant that I had placed in the planting bed in front of the porch had blown over as well, and I had to spend a good portion of the day getting it to stand upright again. That took at least 13 seconds.

All seriousness aside, I have to admit that the weather over the course of the past month has been really lousy. It hasn't been warm, and it hasn't been all that sunny either. What it has been, at least according to my friends who are involved in farming, is very beneficial. The soil moisture is in good shape, and the wheat fields across the Palouse to our south are in good shape, so all in all for early May we are doing pretty well...hurricanes not withstanding.

Blow Hard

There was no rain today...that is a first in a long time! We started off sunny, but the clouds took over, and it was another cool one by early May standards. Here in Spokane, today was "Bloomsday", the day when about 50,000 runners and walkers take to the streets to go 7 and a half miles just to prove to themselves and their friends that it can be done. For the first time in 9 years I was not a participant...I was rather busy. In spite of the many regular church members that were involved in the race we still had over 100 people present for this morning's service, so it was another good day.

We are just one week away from heading out in the family truckster...or more appropriately the family import, to pick up our "sweet babboo" from her first year in college. Next Sunday Kay and I will be leaving after our church service to head east to Minnesota and Wisconsin. The trip will cover 1,600 miles each way, but I am looking forward to hitting the open road and experiencing the thrill of Americana once again. Along our route will be the opportunity to visit the silver mines, or whatever else it is that they are digging up in Butte, MT, the Custer National Battlefield Museum, Devil's Tower National Monument, Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills, along with the Badlands. Outside of all of those wonderful attactions the best of the best will be "Spam World" in Austin, MN. If you have never been there you really need to experience the awe and wonder of what Spam has meant to this great nation of ours! Spam...Spam...Spam...Spam...Spam...Spam...Spam...Wonderful Spam...Fabulous Spam!

Once we pick up Beth from school it will be time to reverse course and head back in exactly the opposite direction. Realistically the trip should take three days each way, but we are not realistic people, so we try to do it in two. The reason is most likely related to the fact that we are too cheap to pay for two nights in a motel! Whatever the reason for our insanity we hope to be back in Spokane by the following Saturday night so that I can be back at my post in church the following Sunday morning.

One final note tonight...which most of you will find on Monday morning...I would like to wish a very happy birthday to my buddy John. He is turning a very young 80 years old on this Monday, May the 3rd. John is one of the "posse" that routinely kicks my butt at tennis each Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. I am a much better man for having come to know John in the past year plus...and to that I say "Thank you my good friend!"

Photo Phinish

Men's Breakfast at church started the day, while the rest of it was pretty peaceful...lots to do before tomorrow morning. Here are some shots of how our day ended...enjoy!