Everyone in Fleece

Candy: Well, we decided to stay in Eureka. We found a really cute little coffee shop/bakery in historic old town Eureka that offers free wireless and lots of great seating.

So we're sticking with the somewhat nasty KOA for the week. Turns out that they have experienced four severe windstorms in a two-month span that destroyed the entire campground. There are no trees left standing, but tons of stumps everywhere. They seem to be working really hard to get it back in shape.

Tim: The town itself can be described in one word: transient. I guess it's the perfect place for us. We're the only transients that are non-hippies. Some very interesting people here. It's northern California, I guess, and we're near the Oregon coast. There are so, so many people here who appear to be homeless or are hippies. Not trying to be judgmental. Just not something we're used to.

Candy: He's right. The historic part of the town is really cool. Vibrant, lots of cute little shops and restaurants. There are a ton of people who look like the stereotypical Northwest Coast people--wearing lots of fleece, ponytails and rasta everywhere. It's cool how laid-back it is.

Chase has been swimming twice already and loves it. He's having a blast.

On tap for today: hanging out, reading, some more work on my website, more reading, and hanging out some more.

I'll put up some more photos tomorrow.

Mountains Mountains Mountains

Candy: Wow, another four hours of driving through the Shasta-Trinity National Forests yesterday as we trekked from Redding to Eureka.

When we arrived at the KOA we realized that it had been grossly misrepresented both online and in the print directory we have. There are no trees or grass and the free high-speed internet promised in both is nonexistent.

We're heading to Borders in town to see whether they have internet access and then we'll make a decision as to whether to stay here for the week or not.

We'll write More later.

A day when snow was okay

Tim: Today, we headed from the Nevada/California border town of Bishop, California through some of the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range. The original plan was to go through Yosemite, but the road through the park was under 15 feet of snow.

We did get a chance to see Mono Lake, a huge lake that is known for tufas, which are limestone structures that naturally occurred in the lake over the years. This lake is known throughout photographic circles for the incredible sunsets that occur there. Unfortunately for us, we were there a little after mid day, so we did not get great pictures. I guess we'll have to come back on another trip.

The drive today was a winding and incredible four-five hours of driving through snow capped mountains (see picture above). The highest we got on the road was 8,300 feet above sea level, but some of the peaks were in the 10,000-foot range. Chase really seemed to struggle throughout the day today with his ears. When we came out of the mountains, he seemed to just collapse and fall asleep. He was very tired.

Some of the homes in the Inyo Forest were completely covered in snow. It was amazing to see them...literally 15-20 feet of snow over mountain side homes. Some of the vistas we saw were just amazing, including Lake Tahoe from roughly 20+ miles away.

When we got out of the mountains, we drove through Sacramento at rush hour. We headed north toward Redding, CA on I-5 and stopped in Corning, CA tonight. We are staying tonight at the Holiday Inn Express in Room 120. Last night we were in Room 120 at another hotel. If we were superstitious, should we be freaked out?

Today topped an already awe-inspiring four days on the road since Corpus Christi. We are roughly 3-4 hours away from Eureka right now and will head out tomorrow afternoon to try to arrive by early evening. We will be staying at the KOA in Eureka for the next week and are excited to take a break from the road for a little bit.

We feel like we have gained so much from this journey. It really does not feel like we have been on the road for two weeks. It has already been a life-changing experience and it has only just begun.

Thanks for reading our blog and for keeping up with us. We will post again when we arrive in Eureka!

From Hoover Dam to the Inyo Forest

Candy: For the past few days Tim and I have been asking each other what the top 10 things are that we've seen so far since leaving Hiram.

That day's sights have usually made the list.

Today topped the list, no question. We drove over Hoover Dam and stopped to look at the amazing feat of engineering. Talk about a lot of concrete. It was pretty spectacular, though it did make me think about what it has done to the people who live downstream.

Then we headed up the west side of Nevada. Talk about a lot of desert. The road was mostly flat and fairly straight. There was a kind of rugged beauty to it, though, with the various hills and the desert vegetation.

Then we turned onto a road that traveled through a small mountain range and we saw some breathtaking vistas. I think I captured a really great photo of the white-capped mountains we saw as we hit the summit of the small range (above).

We were at about 7,000 feet elevation for the whole time, and there was snow on the ground all around us. While it was cool to see after being in the desert for several days, we certainly don't miss living in snow.

My favorite memories from today will include the stillness of the mountains, the snow-covered peaks, and the vast amount of concrete at Hoover Dam.

On to Mono Lake tomorrow, and Yosemite. Then to Eureka on Tuesday, where we'll stay for a week.

We're staying in a hotel tonight in Bishop, California. It's nice to stay again in a place that has a bathroom and shower attached to the room. :)

The Magical Mystery Tour Continues in the Old West

Tim: We drove another long day today in our quest for Eureka, California. Today was probably the best day we have had on our trip thus far. We started off the day after checking out of our new official lodging provider, KOA Kampgrounds. In addition, we are calling this journey the "Pause on Purpose" Tour (pretty catchy slogan, don't you think?).

We headed out of Benson, Arizona this morning to arguably the most historic site in the wild west- Tombstone, Arizona. It was roughly 20 miles away from Benson and was very interesting. First, we toured Boot Hill Cemetery, the legendary final resting place of many residents of this town as well as the notorious three cowboys who were shot down by the Earps and Doc Holliday at the OK Corral: Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury. Some of the grave markers there were just down right funny and it seemed everyone who was buried there died a violent death. You can find all kinds of mini-essays on wooden grave markers, such as one that marks the grave of an innocent man: “Here lies George Johnson/ Hanged by mistake in 1882/ He was right/ We was wrong/ But we strung him up/ And now he’s gone.” The grave marker for Lester Moore reads: “Here lies Lester Moore/ Four slugs from a .44/ No Les/ No More.” (see picture below)
Next, we headed into town and walked around Fremont Street near the OK Corral. After eating lunch at the OK Cafe (right across from the site of the shooting with a sign above the door saying "Cowboys! Scrape s*** from boots before entering"), we headed into the OK Corral for the 2 p.m. daily reenactment of the famous gun fight. (See picture below)

The actual site of the gun fight was very small, which never seems the case in all of the movies.

After the show, we drove out of town and headed for our next destination: Kingman, Arizona. We drove through two of Arizona's largest cities, Tucson and Phoenix, today. Just outside of Tucson we stopped in Saguaro National Park to view all of the magnificent Saguaro Cacti, the state flower of Arizona. The park was basically a forest of cacti. The largest plants, with more than 5 arms, are estimated to be 200 years old and can be 30 feet tall, like the one I am posting up right here (okay, it is March Madness and I could not resist). Pretty big, aren't they?

Visiting this park was a truly spectacular experience that we both highly recommend if you are ever down here.

As we headed across the state toward Kingman, we saw another incredible sunset. Every sunset has been different and spectacular. At night, the sky is so big and you can see stars everywhere.

We will head out tomorrow for Hoover Dam (about an hour and a half north of here), then onward to Yosemite tomorrow night. We have seen so many things already and expect to see even more in the coming days. We will leave you with a picture of our trusty Honda Element (the "El") in Saguaro National Park. Have a great day tomorrow and we will post up more tomorrow evening.

So Much Sky

Candy: Well, we didn't have internet access last night in Fort Stockton, Texas, where we stayed, so this is a catch-up post to bring you up to speed.

We packed up the tent and the El and left Corpus Christi yesterday afternoon, driving through San Antonio and into the Texas hill country. We saw tons of mountain goats, deer, and (Tim's favorite, and Chase's too) jackrabbits!

"They look like miniature deer," I said to Tim as we pulled into the KOA at Fort Stockton. They were huge. No kidding.

"You know what they say," said Tim. "Everything's bigger in Texas." That's what he's been saying the whole trip.

This state is HUGE! Fort Stockton is about three hours east of El Paso, which is on the very western edge of the state. We drove and drove and drove and we were still in Texas. Good thing the speed limit was 75. That helped.

In our 500+ mile trek yesterday, we were amazed at the difference in the terrain and climate between Corpus Christi and Fort Stockton. It was much cooler and much less windy. All in all, much more to our liking.

This morning when we left the KOA, we headed into historic downtown Fort Stockton, and took some amusing photos of Chase and the city's mascot, a roadrunner. Here's one of them (left).

We drove another nine hours today, crossing into mountain time zone. The sign at El Paso said that half a million people live there. It was like a big city, with the traffic to match.

The scenery was amazing all day. One minute cactus and shrubs, the next minute hardly any vegetation.

One constant today was the mountain ranges that would appear blue and hazy in the distance (bottom), then sandy as we drove past them, and another set appeared.

Tim saw a good photo opp today and this is the outcome (right). In case you can't read the sign, it states "Poisonous snakes and insects inhabit the area."

The sun shone all day, which we love, and the temps were high 50s. Nice and comfortable.

We stopped at two ghost towns in New Mexico, but they were both closed. Go figure. Private property. Funny that a ghost town would be closed.

Chase got to play ball three times today, and he's getting into triathlon shape. Ok, so he won't ever be able to ride a bike (sorry, Martha).

I hope you enjoy some of the photos we managed to capture along the way today. The one at the top of this post is the awesome sunset we saw tonight as we entered Arizona. I used my sunglasses lens over the camera lens to achieve this effect.

Tonight we're staying in another KOA in Benson, Arizona. We intend to drive to Hoover Dam tomorrow, then to Yosemite and Mono Lake in California the next day, then to Eureka, CA, on Tuesday and stay there for a week.

I'm not sure whether we'll have internet access between now and Tuesday, but we'll certainly write whenever we do.

A Good Plan is in the Works

Candy: So, here's what we've decided.

We're planning to leave Corpus Christi tomorrow for northern California (and, of course, parts in between). We are planning to stop in El Paso as well as in New Mexico and Arizona before arriving at Eureka, California, on the 28th.

That means tomorrow will be a day of last-minute laundry, taking down the tent, and repacking the El for the trip.

We have reserved a Kabin for one week at the KOA in Eureka (which, of course, means "I found it!"). I have to say, I for one am really looking forward to sleeping indoors.

Eureka, on the coast in northern California, will give us many good opportunities to visit some beautiful places and should provide excellent fodder for great photographs.

Here's a glimpse of our proposed itinerary through the end of April. Of course, this is tentative and subject to change (our standard disclaimer).

March 23-28: Drive and explore our way to Eureka
March 28-April 4: Explore northern California and coastline
April 4-18: Rent a beach house in Oregon (exact location TBA)
April 18-23: Drive and explore our way to Minnesota
April 23-30: Spend time with our family and speak at the Sport Marketing class at Minnesota-Moorhead

We spent about 5 hours at the bookstore today. It was great--nice to sit in a clean, pleasant environment and think, read, and work on the computer.

I began thinking seriously about my photography website today. Many of you know that I have had a site for several years, and that I haven't updated it in at least two years (disgusting!). I have a plan for it, now, and am on the way to having a better design for it as well.

Tim did some more reading and note-taking in the Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality book by Dr. Henry Cloud. He loves it and has learned a ton from it already.

I wrote a couple of short pieces based on my childhood memories. I thought I'd share one with you tonight.

Here goes. This one's named Jill Drags Clint and is a true story.

I’m eight or nine. It’s summertime and I’m in the haymow of our barn. I’m playing in the loose hay and trying to ignore my brothers. Jim, my older brother, is doing something down in the barn below me and Clint, my younger brother, is riding Jill, one of our mules.

Suddenly, I hear some yelling and crying. I run to the door of the haymow that faces the house and I see Jill running down the driveway between the barn and the house. Clint is yelling for help as he bounces along on his stomach behind Jill. She’s running at a full gallop and he looks like he’s trying to belly ski on gravel.

“He’s not smart enough to let go of the reins,” I think to myself. “I hope he doesn’t get hurt really bad.”

Jim has heard Clint yelling, too, and now we’re both watching him get dragged down the driveway. We scramble out of the barn and run to where Clint is getting up. He’s finally let go of the reins, thank goodness. He’s still crying and it’s getting louder.

Mom has heard the commotion and comes out of the house. Jim and I are trying to see if Clint’s hurt or not, and Mom comes running over.

“What have you two done to him now?” she demands.

“Nothing,” we say. “He fell off Jill and didn’t let go of the reins. We didn’t do anything to him.”

Jill, meanwhile, has run down the driveway to the road and now Jim and I have to go catch her and put her back in the pasture.

“Why does Clint always jump off when the mule starts running?” I think to myself.

Oh well. At least after we catch Jill we’ll have even more ammo to use when we tease Clint.

Well, that's it. Chase is getting ready to hit it and I guess we will, too. Off to see West Texas tomorrow.

PS: No photo tonight because it's not letting me upload it. Sorry.

Rices make a "run for the border"

Tim: No, we didn't go to Taco Bell. We actually drove down to the Mexican border today to walk across the bridge over the Rio Grande into Reynosa, Mexico. The trip from Corpus Christi was about two hours and we needed to have more to mark on our big wall travel calendar when we actually get a home somewhere. We parked at the border crossing for three bucks. It was interesting...it is a quarter to cross the bridge to Mexico and 3o cents to come back. We did both in less than half an hour. Needless to say, Reynosa was not very charming and the Rio Grande is quite muddy. People were swimming in it, though, so I guess they did not have a problem with it.

I drove the first half of the trip today. I had a chance to listen to music and check out all of the cactus plants and birds flying around in what seems to be the always strong winds that blow down here. I am always amazed at how out in the middle of a desert-like area I can be totally amazed by nature. It made me think about how hawks and other birds were made to fly...that it is their purpose for being. It may seem simple to some, but that is what Candy and I are searching for right now...what our purpose is. We are searching for even more than what our purpose is...we are also searching for where that purpose will take us next. It has been good for both of us to think more about these things lately.

The picture above was taken by Candy tonight here in Corpus Christi at sundown. Isn't she amazing? She had been waiting for the perfect moment to take this picture. Looks like she found it!

By the way, for those of you wondering how Chase, our wonder dog, is doing, I have asked him to type up his thoughts. Here goes:

ufdefvmspvjgn[sodhvf[sdmvsdjnvsodvspdkpso

Yeah, I had a tough time reading it at first, too. I will decipher it for everyone:

"I am enjoying myself thoroughly! Lots of running around, swimming, chasing tennis balls, riding in the car...yeah, good times. I am a little miffed about not going into Mexico with my peeps, but I will get to go to "New" Mexico shortly and I think it will be nicer. Man, I am tired. I think I will crash now."

I do not know who raised that dog, but he is pretty doggone smart...he recently aced his PSAT's (puppy scholastic aptitude test). He should get into the finest schools in the country. I think "Aunt" Martha Schettler should be commended for her work with Chase during the always awesome "Camp Martha".

As I type this post, I have just finished listening to some of Candy's recent writing. I laughed so hard I almost got sick.

Now, onto to the last of the serious stuff. We have not decided where we are heading next from here. We have looked at vacation rentals for the Pacific Northwest and may make our choice tomorrow. Stay tuned on that one...

Until we post again, have a great day and do what we have started to do...

Laugh a little!

The Blue Ghost

Candy: Today was a great day!

We spent several hours touring the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, aka the Blue Ghost. This plane is one of about 10 that sit on her flight deck. We got to visit the bridge, eat at the Mess Deck cafe, and wander through the ship's hangars and other parts.

We also spent some more time at Barnes & Noble, reading and discussing various profundities. Tim spent more time with the book I referred to in yesterday's post, while I read most of a fascinating book entitled The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One by Margaret Lobenstine.

Talk about right up my alley! It was encouraging to read about so many others who, like me, have been interested in too many things to settle on just one (in terms of a career). I've read a bunch of "find the right career for you" books in my lifetime, and for the first time I actually read something that applied to me.

The essence of the book was that focus is the key to making multiple passions work. The analogy used by the author was that of a wonderful ice cream shop, with hundreds of flavors of ice cream, gelato, frozen yogurt, and custard. For a Renaissance Soul (Lobenstine's phrase for someone who is multi-talented and passionate about many things, based on the Renaissance Man idea), being asked to "choose just one thing and stick with it" is like being told by the ice cream shop owner to pick one flavor and have only it forever.

The opposite aspect of her analogy is that without focus, the gazillion interests that a Renaissance Soul has are like being told by the shop owner to taste a little bit of each and every flavor in the store...overwhelming because you don't know where to begin.

The balance in the analogy is to try a four-flavor sampler that can be modified each time we visit the store. I found it really helpful to think about which activities I'd like to pursue next in those terms. The key is just to begin. Find a focus, put your sampler together (four activities) and begin pursuing them. Then modify or replace those activities with other passions as time goes by. That way it's not "one thing" nor is it too overwhelming because it's everything at once.

We then ate some great Mexican food and headed back into downtown Corpus Christi once darkness set in so that I could take some nighttime photos. It was a beautiful night, cool, and of course windy. Every day is windy here. :)

Thinking that we'll drive to the Rio Grande border towns tomorrow for the day. Hoping to find some great photo opportunities as well as some interesting artifacts.

Tim and Chase are both out cold tonight, and I'm about to join them. Hope you have a great Tuesday.

Turning the Corner

Candy: Well, I think we both turned a corner today.

All day yesterday I felt like junk, dealing with lots of negative emotions carried over from my recent professional experience, and just feeling out of sorts.

This morning, Tim felt similar emotions.

Then, we decided to go to the nearest Barnes & Noble bookstore for some reading time, and an interesting thing happened. We have a habit of frequently visiting bookstores for long periods of time and each time we go to one we split up and find books that interest us, then sit together in the cafe and read.

The interesting thing today was that we both picked up books that addressed the same subject, but from different angles. I began reading a book by Byron Katie called Loving What Is. It addressed the idea that it's really our thoughts about reality, not reality itself, that create problems for us.

Katie said that we should write down on paper what is bothering us about another person or situation, then ask these four questions about each of the thoughts we wrote down:

1. Is that true?
2. Can you know absolutely that that's true?
3. How do you react when you think that thought?
4. Who would you be without that thought?

The essential idea was that if we applied this inquiry process to our negative thoughts and our problems, that we would see what the reality of the situation is and be able to accept it for what it is. Then we could move on to being able to be more free mentally and emotionally from the negative situations and people around us.

Tim's reading addressed many of the same ideas from a businessman's perspective, with the focus on being able to utilize integrity in negative situations to regroup, recover, and succeed after failure.

There were many more ideas that struck both of us today as we shared passages of our books over a diet coke in the cafe, and we both left the bookstore feeling as though we had crossed the first hurdle in this journey, that of finding something of value that mattered to each of us.

It felt really good to know that despite a couple of emotionally rocky days that we were going to be able to break through.

We also discovered several fun things to do in the area and have made plans to experience them in the coming days.

We hope to spend some time touring the USS Lexington, a World War II aircraft carrier permanently docked in the Corpus Christi bay, tomorrow. We also realized that there are several border towns within a two hours' drive and we intend to visit them, walk through the mercados, eat some fabulous Mexican cuisine, and maybe even cross the border if we're able to do so with Chase.

We have been missing our friends and family recently, but know that we need to pursue this quiet time with passion and dedication in order to earn the benefits from doing so.

We'll keep you posted and hope that perhaps despite our rambling entries that you, too, will be encouraged to reassess your circumstances and attitudes.

We are here...now what?

Tim: Candy and I have settled into our new "home away from home" here at the RV park in Corpus Christi. We drove three days to get here, to relax and figure out what we need to do better and what God wants from us for the future. We are so used to being busy in our careers that we have had a difficult time figuring out what to do with so much free time. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to drive around in town to see what is here. It is a town that is similar to Mobile, Alabama...very industrial in nature. It has been very difficult getting used to driving here as well. Every exit has a one way road on it which is also a frontage road. We have done a ton of u-turns here.

We went on a drive today on Padre Island. It is the national seashore that is right off of the coast of Corpus Christi. We had the chance to take Chase swimming again today (as you can tell in the picture, he is one tired puppy dog). As I type this, Chase is napping and dreaming which can be funny to watch. In addition, I am listening to Wittenberg's national title game at Salem on the computer. For those of you who do not know, they are in the same league as Hiram. We faced them twice this year. We have been trying to get used to hanging out at the tent and just reading and surfing the web. Today was a windy day here and not as hot, which was good for us northern folks.

I found out yesterday that I was not being considered any longer for the Gonzaga job. It was tough to accept, but maybe it was a blessing.

Well, not much else is going on here. We will be posting again tomorrow with hopefully more exciting stuff from the Texas Gulf Coast. Have a good one!

Texas: Cowboy Churches, Green Grass, Sunshine, and a Lot of Highway

Tim: We have arrived in Corpus Christi and have set up our new home (a three dome tent) this morning. We arrived last night to the campground at midnight and decided to set up the Element and sleep in it last night. Yesterday was a day full of lots of driving. Texas is huge and we drove from Texarkana all the way here yesterday (roughly 600 miles).

We decided to get off the Mapquest path and take US highways from Texarkana to Corpus Christi. We saw a whole lot of nothing on this journey, but it seemed every little town in Texas has won the state football title at one time for another (at least that is what most of the water towers had painted on them). In addition, every town's football stadium looked like a Division I stadium.

We also saw a ton of "Cowboy Churches", which was something that makes sense, but I never heard of before. We drove through Houston on this journey and it has to be one of the biggest cities I have ever been through. The traffic was almost Chicago-esque...bumper-to-bumper all the way through it. We drove right past Lakewood Church, the church that Joel Osteen pastors with his wife. It was the home to the Houston Rockets for many years. Boy, what a big church...I guess they have 20,000 for services.

As I type this post, I am sitting on a picnic table at our campsite. We are right beside the shower house and are in a secluded section of the RV park. The people here have been very friendly so far and really like pets, so Chase is in a good place. The temperature is around 85 degrees and overcast skies with some sun peeking out. We are a stone's throw from the water here, so Chase will be loving this place.

Candy and I will start our reading marathon today. I know that during the trip yesterday I really started to think about the great John Wooden's definition of success and what my thoughts are about it. I brought two of his books with me (as well as many other books from other authors) and will be searching for what I believe success is. I am sure it is identical to what his definition is, but after how tough the last three years have been, I have to refocus on this.

Candy and I both have a lot of work to do. It may be a nice, warm place, but we are both on a quest...a quest for what is really important in our life. We know that this is going to be a trip that will be a turning point in our lives and we are ready for it.

Regarding what we are doing, I found this great quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson regarding sticking to your guns: "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

This quote fits what we are searching for. People think we are crazy to just jump in our Honda Element and go out into an uncertain world and future. We say we would be crazy NOT to do this. It certainly is not a life for everyone, but it is the life for us right now. We are both looking forward to just doing what Jesus did many times in His ministry- getting away from the world and praying and resting.

Alright, I will get off the soap box now and stop preaching (plus, I think I might be getting a sunburn on the back of my neck). We both hope you all have a great day and we will have another post ready for tomorrow. We need to get out and see what is actually here in Corpus Christi!

Elvis Sighting: Chase Not Impressed

Candy:

Chase began the day in the way that all water dogs wish they could: swimming in a clear, cold pond and gnawing on a huge branch.

After the walk back to the cabin and KOA showers, we loaded the Element and headed to Ryan's.

"It's the restaurant everyone has to go to," said Tim, "if they visit the south."

A few hours later, I decided that a scenic route was necessary in order to find something to photograph. Tim agreed, and we turned off I-40 around Jackson, Tennessee, heading toward Covington, where, according to the map, we would join the scenic Highway 51.

"There was nothing scenic about it," said Tim.

He's right. It was simply a four-lane road back to Memphis.

So, we returned to the interstate and decided that we would try to make it to Texarkana (another KOA Kabin) before stopping for the night. The temps today were in the high 60s with sunshine and hardly a cloud in the sky. Tonight's sunset (above, via camera phone) generated navy blue light on what clouds there were in the sky, and Tim thought it was pretty nifty.

Some funny things happened today.

We met a cross-eyed lady from northern California with two beagles; Indy and Elvis. Chase was pretty much indifferent to both their invitations to play. Hence the title of this posting.

When we stopped to play fetch with Chase this afternon, Tim went ahead to scout out how muddy the ground was, and before I knew it he was running back to the Element (El) in trepidation. He said, "Did you see that?!" as a puffed-up kildeer ran toward him in a vain effort to protect its nest. Guess you had to see it, huh?

As we were driving tonight through Arkansas, I worked on my resume while Tim did some channel surfing on the stereo. He came across a couple of stations whose call letters began with the letter "k" and we knew then that we had reached the southwest.

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" said Tim. "That you can go from Hiram, Ohio, to Texarkana, Texas, in a matter of two days and everything changes? Culture, scenery, weather, accents, everything."

Chase has been a little grumpy today...I think he's just exhausted and is jonesing for his queen-sized futon mattress. The KOA bunkbed last night and Element seats just aren't the same.

In case you're wondering why there were no photos yesterday, I was unable to load any because the KOA web service was a little slow.

As our good friend Nicole says, "'Til our paths cross again may you always have a smile on your face, two Twizzlers in your hands, and sunshine in your hearts." We can't say it any better than that.

Have a great Thursday. :)

Towards Bluer Skies

Candy: As we headed south today, an interesting thing happened.

The skies in northern Ohio were completely filled with gray clouds, but as we approached the central part of the state, we began to see small patches of blue sky between clouds that were beginning to be less gray and more white. The further we drove, the fewer clouds there were, and by around 4pm the skies were completely free of clouds and we were no longer in the state of Ohio.

We were also no longer in the same mental state.

I thought about how we had just witnessed a metaphor that describes our lives at this point. The more we began to raise our heads and look around, the clearer the skies became. The more we were bathed in the sunshine, the more aware we became of the brilliant blue of the sky.

This has been a difficult period of time for us in our professional lives. We let it affect our personal lives, too, but today it occurred to me that if we just raise our heads, change our perspective, and look around us, the skies are blue and waiting to be noticed.

The entire day was magical, and the sunset this evening was a perfect finish. The sun became really orange as it began to sink into the western skies, and the soft glow of honeydew melon at the horizon turned first to violet and pastel pink, then deepened into a vibrant orange and yellow.

The colors lingered in the sky for what seemed longer than usual, and then the moon began to rise in the east. It was bathed in the colorful glow of the sunset and hung low on the horizon, gleaming in its full, pale glory. It was spectacular!

As I sit on the porch swing of our KOA Kabin in Bowling Green, Kentucky, it seems fair to say that more blue skies are in the forecast in our lives.

Here's hoping you can look up and see the blue skies around you, too. We're thinking of you and missing those of you we left behind.

Head 'em up and move 'em out...

It has been an interesting couple of days for us. We decided that we will leave Hiram tonight and hit the road to what is next. Both of us have worked hard the last week to get everything packed up and moved into storage in Garrettsville, a town just minutes from Hiram. We have our inspection for the house today to move out and I (Tim) have been here at home all day waiting for it to take place. I have also become an outstanding oven cleaner...it may be of use in the future (just kidding)!

In addition, we sold most of our furniture like hotcakes to Hiram folks...something like 10-15 people wanted our stuff. We sold it all in 4 hours. All it took was an email with pictures...an on-line garage sale. Boy, the power of email and pictures!

For those of you who did not hear yet, I had a phone interview with Gonzaga University's basketball program last Thursday (academic advisor job). The interview went well and I did a good job of answering the questions they zinged at me. They are going to move fast so I will find out this week if I am heading out for a campus interview. The job would start almost immediately.

Here is the plan for the next three days...just drive to wherever, get a place to stay, then drive some more each day. We will get to Texas on Thursday and then start over. It is an exciting time for us both. We needed to get back to our grassroots...it will definitely be interesting.

Well, I guess I will sign off for the wayward Rice clan for now. Until Texas...

Tim and Candy