Thursday, August 30, 2007
we're here
So we're here. The drive went well. We are in our townhouse and all our stuff made it. There are tons of nice people living in the development and 6/18 of the townhomes in our "quads" have LDS families. Because we are in the 3 bedroom area (no 2 bedroom available) the families are huge with lots of kids. It makes me want to go play in the 2 bedroom area instead :) ). Everyone is great though and we had good help unpacking. Our neighbor (whose computer I'm using) sold us 2 dressers and a desk for $20 so that takes out about half the furniture we were looking to buy. Because of the influx of students and demand for internet (which is expensive by the way!) we signed up today but will not have internet until September 11th. We do pick up our neighbor's wireless signal so maybe we'll be able to get their passcode sometime before the 11th. That's the report. We still have phones, so feel free to call or text at the same number...we never come close to using all our minutes or text messages!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Rest Day 2--Michigan
Last night James was literally running in circles and panting until 2am. We slept in late this morning and bascially took everything at a leisurely pace. While my dad and Dianne were at work, we went for a 2-mile walk through a nature trail in the area. It felt so wonderful to walk that, had James not fallen asleep, I would not have been able to resist repeating the trail several times. James liked it at first, but soon fell asleep. The book on CD we just finished mentioned in one scene that children respond to terror by sleeping...maybe James' sleep was induced by the ambush! Along the trail we came across a deer (a buck) standing on the trail. He made direct eye contact and indicated no fear or compulsion to move. Deciding that we didn't want to take any chances with this animal, or its horns, we turned back to take another loop. Only 20-30 yards back down the trail we encountered a doe in the middle of the path. "Ambush!" we thought. Deciding it was not necessary to stand back to back in case of attack, we began to reason that although the doe was large and undoubtedly strong, at least she didn't have horns. Dan was imagining his courageous rescue of his wife and son if anything did happen as we attempted to pass, and I was picturing Dan getting pummeled like in those "When Animals Attack" videos. Then we saw a fawn standing near the doe and decided that what the doe lacked in weaponry, she compensated for in motive. We stayed put. A call to the office at the trailhead confirmed our decision to wait it out. Eventually the doe and fawn cleared the path and we passed. If you don't think this story illustrates our cowardice enough, a subsequent spotting of a fawn laying off the trail in the trees had us bracing ourselves to jump into "fight or flight" mode.
Other events today: At dinner James got his first taste of corn on the cob. His first attempt resulted merely in several piercings from James' one tooth. With extended gumming, however, he was able to squish down a good area of corn kernels. Maybe his interest in the corn has to do with the new tooth coming in that we just noticed tonight. He gets even more credit for his patience during the drive now that we know he has been teething too! A romp through the sprinklers, some quality time with his Grandma Dianne while the rest of struggled to stay awake, and a blog entry later, we are again preparing for another day's drive. Our drive to Rochester will only be about 350 miles, less than half the drive we made yesterday. No sweat!
Other events today: At dinner James got his first taste of corn on the cob. His first attempt resulted merely in several piercings from James' one tooth. With extended gumming, however, he was able to squish down a good area of corn kernels. Maybe his interest in the corn has to do with the new tooth coming in that we just noticed tonight. He gets even more credit for his patience during the drive now that we know he has been teething too! A romp through the sprinklers, some quality time with his Grandma Dianne while the rest of struggled to stay awake, and a blog entry later, we are again preparing for another day's drive. Our drive to Rochester will only be about 350 miles, less than half the drive we made yesterday. No sweat!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Driving Day 3 (Kansas City, MO --- Detroit, MI)
I put three dashes between Kansas City and Detroit in the title because the trek is WAY longer than any other section of our cross-country journey.
So here was today's plan: get up early, get out the door between 7-8am, drive as quickly but as low-stress as possible and only stop for gas and bathroom breaks (combining them when possible), and arrive at Lisa's dad's house around 10pm.
In reality what happened was we got up early, left at 7:40am, drove forever and only stopped a few times for bathroom and gas breaks, and arrived at Lisa's dad's house at 9:59pm. I know...incredible.
But don't worry- just because the day went to plan doesn't mean that I don't have some thoughts and stories to share (shoot, after 15 hours of driving I'd BETTER have some stories to share).
Observation 1: Every orange road construction pylon in America is currently in Missouri. The highway we traveled in Missouri was down to one lane for over 40 miles, both directions, with orange pylons evenly spaced about every 5 feet. If there are 5280 ft in a mile (which there are...trust me on this), than that means some poor construction worker was paid to lay down over 2112 orange pylons...and will eventually have to pick them up as well. Maybe we should have our nation's prisoners doing this instead of spending their time working out and learning how to make a weapon out of a master lock and tube sock (true story...I know a guy who was in jail and watched someone get killed by this "weapon"). Anyway...once again I digress...
Observation 2: This section of the trip, although the longest, was definitely not the most mentally taxing. It's actually quite an enjoyable drive. There is an amazing amount of geographical diversity between Kansas City and Detroit. Missouri (although the whole state is under construction and thus has a lower speed limit) has lovely green rolling hills and beautiful fields and trees lining the highway. Illinois by far had the best drivers. Lisa drove this section and everyone was very courteous and quickly pulled into the right lane to let us pass without us having to slow down at all. Granted Lisa was going about 115 mph, was honking the horn and flashing the lights, and had put a red strobe light on the hood, but nonetheless people were very accommodating for us (that was a joke, we were very civil :) ). We didn't even stop in Indiana, so we'll just define Indiana as being a "fast" state. Michigan was the most crowded but has the prettiest trees as well as the best urban feel.
Observation 3: If you're going to run over a construction worker, make sure you don't do it in Missouri. The posted penalty on the signs for hitting a worker is a $10,000 fine and 14 years in prison. In Illinois and Michigan it was only $7,500 and 14 years in jail. Make sure you hit him doing the speed limit though, because fines are doubled with a minimum fine of $250 for speeding.
We felt sorry for James when (1): every time we would get out of the car, he would run around and have such a good time. But, to be extra cute, he would always give mom a really long hug and cuddle some. Then when we would try to get back in the car he would wrap his arms around our necks and pull and cry and hold on so that we couldn't put him back in his car seat. Eventually we would get him in and he would just fuss and look grumpy for about 15 mins or so. Sometimes he would just cry and outstretch his arms looking at Lisa wanting a hug while driving. He's such a sweet kid.
We felt sorry for James when (2): He was getting fussy, but we weren't running low on gas and neither Lisa or I really had to use the restroom, but we had been on the road for about 2.5 hours. Well, just because we don't have to go to the bathroom doesn't mean he doesn't. Lisa felt his diaper to see how he was doing and it was wet, so we figured we should check it out at the next rest stop. Well, he had completely saturated his diaper, saturated the bottom-front of his onsie, and almost the entire back of his onsie. Our sad little man was swimming in his pee and was trying to bear it well but just couldn't take it anymore!
Construction story of the day: We encountered the most heavy traffic of the day just south of Chicago. We came to a standstill and did stop-and-idle driving for more than a half hour until we finally saw what the construction was. The entire interstate was stopped for about 7 construction cones making a diagonal across the right lane of the highway. When we passed it, there was a highway worker standing next to his truck leisurely picking up the cones.
To put it in perspective, we drove through Kansas City (MO), Springfield (IL), Chicago (IL), and Detroit (MI) all in one day with an incredibly patient and awesome 13-month old in the back seat, and we did it on time. A good day indeed for us!
So here was today's plan: get up early, get out the door between 7-8am, drive as quickly but as low-stress as possible and only stop for gas and bathroom breaks (combining them when possible), and arrive at Lisa's dad's house around 10pm.
In reality what happened was we got up early, left at 7:40am, drove forever and only stopped a few times for bathroom and gas breaks, and arrived at Lisa's dad's house at 9:59pm. I know...incredible.
But don't worry- just because the day went to plan doesn't mean that I don't have some thoughts and stories to share (shoot, after 15 hours of driving I'd BETTER have some stories to share).
Observation 1: Every orange road construction pylon in America is currently in Missouri. The highway we traveled in Missouri was down to one lane for over 40 miles, both directions, with orange pylons evenly spaced about every 5 feet. If there are 5280 ft in a mile (which there are...trust me on this), than that means some poor construction worker was paid to lay down over 2112 orange pylons...and will eventually have to pick them up as well. Maybe we should have our nation's prisoners doing this instead of spending their time working out and learning how to make a weapon out of a master lock and tube sock (true story...I know a guy who was in jail and watched someone get killed by this "weapon"). Anyway...once again I digress...
Observation 2: This section of the trip, although the longest, was definitely not the most mentally taxing. It's actually quite an enjoyable drive. There is an amazing amount of geographical diversity between Kansas City and Detroit. Missouri (although the whole state is under construction and thus has a lower speed limit) has lovely green rolling hills and beautiful fields and trees lining the highway. Illinois by far had the best drivers. Lisa drove this section and everyone was very courteous and quickly pulled into the right lane to let us pass without us having to slow down at all. Granted Lisa was going about 115 mph, was honking the horn and flashing the lights, and had put a red strobe light on the hood, but nonetheless people were very accommodating for us (that was a joke, we were very civil :) ). We didn't even stop in Indiana, so we'll just define Indiana as being a "fast" state. Michigan was the most crowded but has the prettiest trees as well as the best urban feel.
Observation 3: If you're going to run over a construction worker, make sure you don't do it in Missouri. The posted penalty on the signs for hitting a worker is a $10,000 fine and 14 years in prison. In Illinois and Michigan it was only $7,500 and 14 years in jail. Make sure you hit him doing the speed limit though, because fines are doubled with a minimum fine of $250 for speeding.
We felt sorry for James when (1): every time we would get out of the car, he would run around and have such a good time. But, to be extra cute, he would always give mom a really long hug and cuddle some. Then when we would try to get back in the car he would wrap his arms around our necks and pull and cry and hold on so that we couldn't put him back in his car seat. Eventually we would get him in and he would just fuss and look grumpy for about 15 mins or so. Sometimes he would just cry and outstretch his arms looking at Lisa wanting a hug while driving. He's such a sweet kid.
We felt sorry for James when (2): He was getting fussy, but we weren't running low on gas and neither Lisa or I really had to use the restroom, but we had been on the road for about 2.5 hours. Well, just because we don't have to go to the bathroom doesn't mean he doesn't. Lisa felt his diaper to see how he was doing and it was wet, so we figured we should check it out at the next rest stop. Well, he had completely saturated his diaper, saturated the bottom-front of his onsie, and almost the entire back of his onsie. Our sad little man was swimming in his pee and was trying to bear it well but just couldn't take it anymore!
Construction story of the day: We encountered the most heavy traffic of the day just south of Chicago. We came to a standstill and did stop-and-idle driving for more than a half hour until we finally saw what the construction was. The entire interstate was stopped for about 7 construction cones making a diagonal across the right lane of the highway. When we passed it, there was a highway worker standing next to his truck leisurely picking up the cones.
To put it in perspective, we drove through Kansas City (MO), Springfield (IL), Chicago (IL), and Detroit (MI) all in one day with an incredibly patient and awesome 13-month old in the back seat, and we did it on time. A good day indeed for us!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Rest Day 1 (trip day 3)
Since Dan only plans to write on actual travel days, I will fill you in on our "day of rest" today. We woke up this morning with a keen awareness of the ground through the deflated air mattress (Joe and Lauren's, but we will be using our own tonight). Joe and Lauren had left early (530ish) in the morning for a triathalon--Joe to participate, and Lauren to observe. (They were very gracious about the imposition of our late arrival and James' antics that lasted until around 1am.)
Despite today being a break from driving, we managed to spend a good amount of time on the road. An early start toward my old ward building about 30 minutes south of Joe and Lauren's apartment allowed us a full hour to arrive and begin mingling with old friends. Instead, we got lost and arrived 30 minutes late. To put our MO driving experience in the best light possible, the many highways in the "Show Me State" are simultaneously safe and adventurous. The unreasonably low speed limits and frequent stop lights along the "highways" keep traveller's progress under wraps. However, this does not take away the adventure of the experience. A closed highway on-ramp without a marked detour led to our dependence on a MO state map that read much like one of those "choose your own ending" books you read as a child. Highways on the map drop off suddenly and reappear in Kansas. "Welcome to Kansas"...and we take the next possible Eastward exit. Again...choose a road and wait for another chapter to see where it leads. Our eastward highway became progressively more urban and began forking without any signs to indicate which prong of the fork was our chosen path. Eventually we got to the end of the chapter and found ourselves back where we had started, in downtown Kansas City. This time we took the way I had suggested initially (I just had to throw in at least one loaded comment) and smoothly made our way to church.
It was great to see so many people from my former ward--it felt like a family reunion of sorts. These names won't mean much to most of our, but for my sake, I saw the following families: Copelands, Lon Tracy's, Cox's, Scalzi's, Obermiller's, Oatmans, McCrae's, Dyring's, Rothlessburgers (sp?), Cahoon's, Martin's, and more. Our trip back to KC afterward was uneventful. We arrived at Joe and Lauren's flat and cat napped while they recuperated from the triathalon and James used his new wooden Marvel Comics character toys to test the integrity of Joe and Lauren's glass coffee tables...and his mommy's patience :).
Another 30-40 minute drive took us to my Aunt Julie's where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in her beautiful home. James found plenty of ways to make messes and went through another 3 bottles. We are now all set with our leak-free air mattress inflated, James asleep, and teeth brushed. Today has been a wonderful break with great hosts and we are feeling ready for another long drive tomorrow. Good night!
Despite today being a break from driving, we managed to spend a good amount of time on the road. An early start toward my old ward building about 30 minutes south of Joe and Lauren's apartment allowed us a full hour to arrive and begin mingling with old friends. Instead, we got lost and arrived 30 minutes late. To put our MO driving experience in the best light possible, the many highways in the "Show Me State" are simultaneously safe and adventurous. The unreasonably low speed limits and frequent stop lights along the "highways" keep traveller's progress under wraps. However, this does not take away the adventure of the experience. A closed highway on-ramp without a marked detour led to our dependence on a MO state map that read much like one of those "choose your own ending" books you read as a child. Highways on the map drop off suddenly and reappear in Kansas. "Welcome to Kansas"...and we take the next possible Eastward exit. Again...choose a road and wait for another chapter to see where it leads. Our eastward highway became progressively more urban and began forking without any signs to indicate which prong of the fork was our chosen path. Eventually we got to the end of the chapter and found ourselves back where we had started, in downtown Kansas City. This time we took the way I had suggested initially (I just had to throw in at least one loaded comment) and smoothly made our way to church.
It was great to see so many people from my former ward--it felt like a family reunion of sorts. These names won't mean much to most of our, but for my sake, I saw the following families: Copelands, Lon Tracy's, Cox's, Scalzi's, Obermiller's, Oatmans, McCrae's, Dyring's, Rothlessburgers (sp?), Cahoon's, Martin's, and more. Our trip back to KC afterward was uneventful. We arrived at Joe and Lauren's flat and cat napped while they recuperated from the triathalon and James used his new wooden Marvel Comics character toys to test the integrity of Joe and Lauren's glass coffee tables...and his mommy's patience :).
Another 30-40 minute drive took us to my Aunt Julie's where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in her beautiful home. James found plenty of ways to make messes and went through another 3 bottles. We are now all set with our leak-free air mattress inflated, James asleep, and teeth brushed. Today has been a wonderful break with great hosts and we are feeling ready for another long drive tomorrow. Good night!
Driving Day 2 (Cheyenne, WY - Kansas City, MO)
It's fitting that Nebraska isn't mentioned anywhere in this blog entry's title as the state is all together forgettable. It's funny how your mind plays games with you - as you leave Wyoming and enter Nebraska you think to yourself "Horay we're finally out of the boring and desolate west!" only to discover somewhere between 2-6 hours of flat corn fields later that you've been sucked into the even more boring and desolate mid-west.
All in all the drive today was uneventful and smooth. We left a bit late (around 10:45am) and got to Joe and Lauren's around 11pm...the time change hurt our ETA as well. James handled it as well as could be expected. They say that on long trips you should get out and walk every couple hours to prevent scary things from happening to you (like blood clots in your legs migrating to your brain and giving you a stroke). James makes this easy since he drinks constantly and has a seeping present for us about every 2 hours. He kindly lets us know when his gift is ripe.
We did do one fun thing today - we stopped at a rest stop around noon and made ourselves lunch and ate it picnic-style on the grass outside of the restrooms. We have a large Styrofoam cooler that we put lunch meats and such in so that we don't have to stop to eat along the way. I guess we still stopped to eat, but at least it wasn't out of the way and we didn't have to pay anything more for it.
I found myself glad today that I had pledged to write an account of our travels as this blog gave me something to think about while driving through 8 hours of corn. At times you really actually feel like driving through the corn...just veering off the road and going crazy with it. But anyway, I digress. The remainder of this article will mostly be thoughts I had while driving through Nebraska.
Thought 1: Nebraska is made entirely of asphalt and poop. Seriously, as soon as you enter the state you don't see any man made structures except for the road and the stench of manure instantly fills your nostrils. It's quite uncanny - you don't even see any animals for most of the time, but you smell poop...and I don't mean that "they must have just fertilized the fields" poop smell, I mean that "There must not be enough water in the basin of the toilet" poop smell. I will soon post pictures of James reacting to the smell and also of him sleeping. They pretty much typify the Nebraska experience.
Thought 2: The Wizard of Nebraska (think of the lolly-pop guild chanting "Follow the I-80 road") doesn't want anything to do with the west. As you enter Nebraska from Wyoming, all within a quarter mile the grass gets AMAZINGLY green (see Thought 1), all mountainous terrain is immediately eliminated, and the sky is filled with those cute puffy white clouds that look like ribbons in the sky (as opposed to those angry gray clouds constantly swirling around the mountains). I'm not making this up...I was talking to a friend on the phone when this transition happened and we had to talk about it for a minute.
Thought 3: I don't know what the Nebraska slogan is (probably something involving corn...we'll just say it's "Nebraska: the best corn on Earth!"), but I thought of some other ones it could be -
- "Nebraska: No one lives here!" I think in a 5 hour span I only saw 3 other cars with Nebraska license plates. Everyone was either from Idaho, Colorado, or California. However, there weren't even that many cars, which leads to the next slogan...
- "Nebraska: is for Truckers!" I can only imagine how much faster cross country FedEx deliveries would be if we could somehow just cut Nebraska out and squeeze Iowa and Wyoming together.
- "Nebraska: Please don't confuse us with Kansas, Oklahoma, or Iowa. We're different, really we are. We promise." I can't tell you how many times I almost asked Lisa how much more of Kansas we had ahead of us. Instead of calling it the mid-west, it would probably be more appropriate to call it the "corn belt"...or maybe the "corn and alfalfa belt". I guess it intersects with the Bible belt, so it should probably be the "corn and alfalfa Bible belt" or simply the "Cornalfaible Belt". Yea, that rolls off the tongue real nice...perfect!
Thought 4: Anyone who is paranoid about world overpopulation or global warming should move to (or at least visit) the great state of Nebraska. I think there are about 10 acres of corn field for every man, woman, child, farmhand, slave, sheep, goat, cow, lemur, and muskrat in the state and therefore very little pollution as well.
Thought 5: (I told you I had a lot of time to think) Iowa is like a malignant appendage to Nebraska. It's just a little polyp sticking off the eastern border that desperately wants to be a part of Nebraska, but just can't pull it off. I got some advice for you Iowa - raise your speed limit to 75mph like your neighbor...that would be an excellent start.
By the time we got to Missouri I had lost the ability to think anymore, and that's where I stand now - mentally spent and physically tired. Any day, however, where you drive this much with a 1 year old and he's relatively happy the whole day is a good day, and I am thankful for that!
Tomorrow (Sunday) is a rest day and we aren't driving, so therefore no new post until we make the big trek from Joe VI (Kansas City) to Joe V (Detroit). I sure hope James does as well during that leg!
All in all the drive today was uneventful and smooth. We left a bit late (around 10:45am) and got to Joe and Lauren's around 11pm...the time change hurt our ETA as well. James handled it as well as could be expected. They say that on long trips you should get out and walk every couple hours to prevent scary things from happening to you (like blood clots in your legs migrating to your brain and giving you a stroke). James makes this easy since he drinks constantly and has a seeping present for us about every 2 hours. He kindly lets us know when his gift is ripe.
We did do one fun thing today - we stopped at a rest stop around noon and made ourselves lunch and ate it picnic-style on the grass outside of the restrooms. We have a large Styrofoam cooler that we put lunch meats and such in so that we don't have to stop to eat along the way. I guess we still stopped to eat, but at least it wasn't out of the way and we didn't have to pay anything more for it.
I found myself glad today that I had pledged to write an account of our travels as this blog gave me something to think about while driving through 8 hours of corn. At times you really actually feel like driving through the corn...just veering off the road and going crazy with it. But anyway, I digress. The remainder of this article will mostly be thoughts I had while driving through Nebraska.
Thought 1: Nebraska is made entirely of asphalt and poop. Seriously, as soon as you enter the state you don't see any man made structures except for the road and the stench of manure instantly fills your nostrils. It's quite uncanny - you don't even see any animals for most of the time, but you smell poop...and I don't mean that "they must have just fertilized the fields" poop smell, I mean that "There must not be enough water in the basin of the toilet" poop smell. I will soon post pictures of James reacting to the smell and also of him sleeping. They pretty much typify the Nebraska experience.
Thought 2: The Wizard of Nebraska (think of the lolly-pop guild chanting "Follow the I-80 road") doesn't want anything to do with the west. As you enter Nebraska from Wyoming, all within a quarter mile the grass gets AMAZINGLY green (see Thought 1), all mountainous terrain is immediately eliminated, and the sky is filled with those cute puffy white clouds that look like ribbons in the sky (as opposed to those angry gray clouds constantly swirling around the mountains). I'm not making this up...I was talking to a friend on the phone when this transition happened and we had to talk about it for a minute.
Thought 3: I don't know what the Nebraska slogan is (probably something involving corn...we'll just say it's "Nebraska: the best corn on Earth!"), but I thought of some other ones it could be -
- "Nebraska: No one lives here!" I think in a 5 hour span I only saw 3 other cars with Nebraska license plates. Everyone was either from Idaho, Colorado, or California. However, there weren't even that many cars, which leads to the next slogan...
- "Nebraska: is for Truckers!" I can only imagine how much faster cross country FedEx deliveries would be if we could somehow just cut Nebraska out and squeeze Iowa and Wyoming together.
- "Nebraska: Please don't confuse us with Kansas, Oklahoma, or Iowa. We're different, really we are. We promise." I can't tell you how many times I almost asked Lisa how much more of Kansas we had ahead of us. Instead of calling it the mid-west, it would probably be more appropriate to call it the "corn belt"...or maybe the "corn and alfalfa belt". I guess it intersects with the Bible belt, so it should probably be the "corn and alfalfa Bible belt" or simply the "Cornalfaible Belt". Yea, that rolls off the tongue real nice...perfect!
Thought 4: Anyone who is paranoid about world overpopulation or global warming should move to (or at least visit) the great state of Nebraska. I think there are about 10 acres of corn field for every man, woman, child, farmhand, slave, sheep, goat, cow, lemur, and muskrat in the state and therefore very little pollution as well.
Thought 5: (I told you I had a lot of time to think) Iowa is like a malignant appendage to Nebraska. It's just a little polyp sticking off the eastern border that desperately wants to be a part of Nebraska, but just can't pull it off. I got some advice for you Iowa - raise your speed limit to 75mph like your neighbor...that would be an excellent start.
By the time we got to Missouri I had lost the ability to think anymore, and that's where I stand now - mentally spent and physically tired. Any day, however, where you drive this much with a 1 year old and he's relatively happy the whole day is a good day, and I am thankful for that!
Tomorrow (Sunday) is a rest day and we aren't driving, so therefore no new post until we make the big trek from Joe VI (Kansas City) to Joe V (Detroit). I sure hope James does as well during that leg!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Driving Day 1 (SLC, UT - Cheyenne, WY)
Here was the master plan: get up early, run some errands, pack the car with the last of our belongings, clean the apartment, pick up Lisa at work around 2pm and head straight for Cheyenne, arrive in Cheyenne around 8:30pm singing merrily all the way. Well, we're in Cheyenne, but that's about where the similarities between plan and reality end.
I guess I haven't learned yet that errands talk longer than expected. I guess I also haven't learned yet that regardless of how much you pack in a large moving truck, there are always an amazing amount of little items hiding in every corner still. I also haven't yet learned that everything takes longer when you have a one-year-old hanging onto your pant legs. I have learned, however, that regardless of the occasion cleaning never gets any more fun!
James got up pretty late (and in a small place like ours you really can't do much until he's awake or else he will be awake and not happy about it). Then I got sucked into the black hole known as Wal-Mart for much too long just trying to get a few items for the drive. By the time 2 rolled around, I hadn't even started cleaning yet and was still playing Tetris with the trunk of the car and all our stuff. Fortunately, I won and the cabin of the car is pretty roomy still. Lisa came home and helped and (after taking some much needed pictures of James with the dogs that lived with us) we got out and on the highway around 5. We'd had our glitch and it was going to be smooth sailing from this point forward!
NASA we have a problem...before reaching the Utah/Wyoming line, we hit some traffic. I'm not talking about downtown SLC traffic in rush hour, I'm talking NJ shore traffic in mid August on Saturday morning (or for those of you unfamiliar with the NJ shore, just imagine a semi, carrying a mixed load of African killer bees and fireworks, spontaneously combusted and lay burning across all 4 lanes of I-15). After stop-and-creep driving for more than an hour, we finally got past the construction. Horay smooth sailing!
Around 9:45 we're about half of the way through Wyoming and James decides he doesn't want to be in the car anymore and is discussing the matter with us. If you've ever tried to argue with him you realize that there is no answer to his profound logic (Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!). We realize his diaper is wet and decide to pull over thinking that might help. Lisa, not having driven much around these parts, doesn't realize that not every exit has services (in fact, the majority are just utility and farm exits) and that the exits don't have long exit ramps. Couple this with the fact that it is dark and Lisa is paranoid of getting in an accident after working in a hospital for 9 weeks and you've got a recipe for fun times. So after trying to take the first 2 exits we encounter at 70mph and then swerving back onto the highway (scary!) we finally slow down to the posted exit speed limit of 35mph for the third exit and safely park on some deserted farm road. James gets changed. James seems happier with the situation.
By now it's after 10pm and we're approaching Rawlins (about 60% through the state) and think maybe we should stay there. However, James has been good for about 15 mins and we make the executive decision just to push on to Laramie (about 70ish more miles). James, actually, for the remainder of the night only gets fussy a few more times, and eventually calms down after each time (especially after stopping at a rest stop and letting him play for a few minutes).
As we get closer to Laramie I start calling hotels to book our palace for the night. Starting with what I considered to be our best and working down, each place tells me that they have no vacancies. This is Laramie, not Houston during the Super Bowl...needless to say I'm shocked. I finally ask one desk attendant if there is something going on in Laramie and she enlightens me of about 5 different craft and other what-we-do-to-waste-time-out-here-in-the-boondocks fairs happening this weekend. She says that they and everyone else are all booked through Sunday. But then as an afterthought refers me to a place called "The Ranger" which she describes as "nothing special, but they have a couple rooms and might have one open for us still". With this information in mind, we decide to switch drivers (Lisa was driving this whole time) and press forward to Cheyenne. High-ho Silver away!
Cheyenne finally comes to us around 1 in the morning and we find a Comfort Inn and Suites with a non-smoking room available (fortunately it was also at a rate we were planning on paying!). Tomorrow- Cheyenne to Kansas City!
I guess I haven't learned yet that errands talk longer than expected. I guess I also haven't learned yet that regardless of how much you pack in a large moving truck, there are always an amazing amount of little items hiding in every corner still. I also haven't yet learned that everything takes longer when you have a one-year-old hanging onto your pant legs. I have learned, however, that regardless of the occasion cleaning never gets any more fun!
James got up pretty late (and in a small place like ours you really can't do much until he's awake or else he will be awake and not happy about it). Then I got sucked into the black hole known as Wal-Mart for much too long just trying to get a few items for the drive. By the time 2 rolled around, I hadn't even started cleaning yet and was still playing Tetris with the trunk of the car and all our stuff. Fortunately, I won and the cabin of the car is pretty roomy still. Lisa came home and helped and (after taking some much needed pictures of James with the dogs that lived with us) we got out and on the highway around 5. We'd had our glitch and it was going to be smooth sailing from this point forward!
NASA we have a problem...before reaching the Utah/Wyoming line, we hit some traffic. I'm not talking about downtown SLC traffic in rush hour, I'm talking NJ shore traffic in mid August on Saturday morning (or for those of you unfamiliar with the NJ shore, just imagine a semi, carrying a mixed load of African killer bees and fireworks, spontaneously combusted and lay burning across all 4 lanes of I-15). After stop-and-creep driving for more than an hour, we finally got past the construction. Horay smooth sailing!
Around 9:45 we're about half of the way through Wyoming and James decides he doesn't want to be in the car anymore and is discussing the matter with us. If you've ever tried to argue with him you realize that there is no answer to his profound logic (Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!). We realize his diaper is wet and decide to pull over thinking that might help. Lisa, not having driven much around these parts, doesn't realize that not every exit has services (in fact, the majority are just utility and farm exits) and that the exits don't have long exit ramps. Couple this with the fact that it is dark and Lisa is paranoid of getting in an accident after working in a hospital for 9 weeks and you've got a recipe for fun times. So after trying to take the first 2 exits we encounter at 70mph and then swerving back onto the highway (scary!) we finally slow down to the posted exit speed limit of 35mph for the third exit and safely park on some deserted farm road. James gets changed. James seems happier with the situation.
By now it's after 10pm and we're approaching Rawlins (about 60% through the state) and think maybe we should stay there. However, James has been good for about 15 mins and we make the executive decision just to push on to Laramie (about 70ish more miles). James, actually, for the remainder of the night only gets fussy a few more times, and eventually calms down after each time (especially after stopping at a rest stop and letting him play for a few minutes).
As we get closer to Laramie I start calling hotels to book our palace for the night. Starting with what I considered to be our best and working down, each place tells me that they have no vacancies. This is Laramie, not Houston during the Super Bowl...needless to say I'm shocked. I finally ask one desk attendant if there is something going on in Laramie and she enlightens me of about 5 different craft and other what-we-do-to-waste-time-out-here-in-the-boondocks fairs happening this weekend. She says that they and everyone else are all booked through Sunday. But then as an afterthought refers me to a place called "The Ranger" which she describes as "nothing special, but they have a couple rooms and might have one open for us still". With this information in mind, we decide to switch drivers (Lisa was driving this whole time) and press forward to Cheyenne. High-ho Silver away!
Cheyenne finally comes to us around 1 in the morning and we find a Comfort Inn and Suites with a non-smoking room available (fortunately it was also at a rate we were planning on paying!). Tomorrow- Cheyenne to Kansas City!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
One Last Time
For one last time as a Utah resident, I went down to Provo to tie up some loose ends and in the process took some unexpected journeys down memory lane. I've never been back to Florida, but I suppose that returning to Provo today not as a student is much like how it would feel to return to Tampa (where I served) not as a missionary. Every time I walked through a doorway or down a hallway or past a room or building my mind was flooded with experiences I had had at each location. I couldn't help but smile as I thought about eating breakfast/lunch in the "Cougareat" with my buddies freshman year. Looking at the library I remember how I spent a whole lot of time as a single nerd studying, but I also spent almost an equal amount of time (still as a nerd) studying there so that I could be next to Lisa (also a nerd) and enjoy that time together. Even the circular drive on 9th in front of the Wilkinson Center brought back memories of being picked up by my roommate/best friend Mike en route to our ice hockey class. I could go on and on. I am proud to be a BYU graduate and I can honestly say that I look back with few (if any!) regrets.
It has been a wonderful and fulfilling experience. Of course there will always be those who complain that the school is too strict or too "churchy" or too something else, but the school is very transparent in what they are about and very upfront about what they stand for. Having been one of those who went to the school embracing the atmosphere and not one of those hoping to change it to suit my ways, it has been an experience which I'm sure will be unparalleled by any I will ever have again. I feel that I'm emerging a different, but much better person than I was at age 18.
Now today for the first time in five years, the security guard let me park in "visitor" parking (it was almost like getting a meeting with the Wizard of Oz!). I had a hard time using the last of the money in my student account since I've stopped carrying my BYU student ID card with me. Life is changing...status is changing...it's almost surreal.
Every year almost 7 thousand new bright-eyed freshmen cram into campus* with their crisp notebooks, stacks of white index cards, closets of new clothes, and reams of loose leaf paper. I suppose it's now my due time to be one of the 7 thousand who must leave in order to make adequate room for their hopes and dreams.
* BYU Admissions Statistics
It has been a wonderful and fulfilling experience. Of course there will always be those who complain that the school is too strict or too "churchy" or too something else, but the school is very transparent in what they are about and very upfront about what they stand for. Having been one of those who went to the school embracing the atmosphere and not one of those hoping to change it to suit my ways, it has been an experience which I'm sure will be unparalleled by any I will ever have again. I feel that I'm emerging a different, but much better person than I was at age 18.
Now today for the first time in five years, the security guard let me park in "visitor" parking (it was almost like getting a meeting with the Wizard of Oz!). I had a hard time using the last of the money in my student account since I've stopped carrying my BYU student ID card with me. Life is changing...status is changing...it's almost surreal.
Every year almost 7 thousand new bright-eyed freshmen cram into campus* with their crisp notebooks, stacks of white index cards, closets of new clothes, and reams of loose leaf paper. I suppose it's now my due time to be one of the 7 thousand who must leave in order to make adequate room for their hopes and dreams.
* BYU Admissions Statistics
Please Vote!
So I think we would have been just as well off having Leslie do our pictures again (she did our engagement pictures), but oh well. It is hard getting pictures where all 3 of us look good. As far as family portraits go, we have narrowed it down to these two. Please leave a comment to vote on which you think is best. More professional photos on my facebook account.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Baby Sign and otherTricks Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5xehHZ-TME
He learned a lot this weekend!
He learned a lot this weekend!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Pomp and Circumstance
One of few pics where JJ would wear the cap
Isn't he adorable?
Why take it off before I have to?
Our family of grad. See http://deseretnews.com/dn/view
for a piece of our interview.
See http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46036&l=15c6d&id=854310511 for the complete collection of photos. Professional photos to come.
We are excited for our new future. I especially am excited to see if I can live up to our commencement speaker's challenge to live up to the most difficult measure of greatness: being a great wife (or husband) and strong mother (or father). Woohoo it's over!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
And I owe it all to UTA!
My supervisor loves that I get to work early every day. I have a new supervisor right now temporarily who is the team lead, an amazing clinician, and has made a huge impact on me and my choice to go into this field. I was really nervous to have her be my supervisor, but she is full of praise on how I am doing. She told me today that she loves how responsible I am and how invested I am in my patients, that she would hire me, and that I am among one of the top externs (unpaid interns) they have had. From comments she has made previously, I think that a lot of that praise stems from me being 20-30 minutes early every day. The funny thing is, that I really only get there that early because of the bus schedule. It is either 20-30 minutes early, or barely on-time/running the risk of being 5-10 minutes late. Anyway, my supervisors think I am wonderful, and I owe it all to the Utah Transit Authority.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
ready for school
Last night James was obviously not tired enough to fall asleep when his bed time came around. He was already bathed and dressed in just a diaper (no a/c), but I put his crocs on him and we went for a walk (very high class). James gave me a guided tour of the neighborhood walking around and pointing to every tree, dog, bird, and cat. The cutest part was when we arrived at the neighborhood school. James went to 3 different doors pulling on the handles trying to get in. I guess he is ready for his first day of school...just 4 more years James :) The saddest part was when playing with a kitty on the way back. The kitty quickly determined that I was friend and James was foe. James, however, kept turning around and running back to the kitty. He was only discouraged from his pursuit when one of his not-so-gently pats was returned with a not-so-gentle pat from the kitty. James went home with a scratched shoulder and a broken heart I think...he seemed so sad/crushed/betrayed! Wow he's cute.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Landmark day!
I finished my 400 clinical hours today!
I submitted my thesis today!
I attended my final class today!
Woohoo!
I submitted my thesis today!
I attended my final class today!
Woohoo!
Monday, August 6, 2007
The rain on my parade
So apparently grad school has pushed us all to our limits. I got a refurbished laptop last May for grad school. After a year or so of valiant service, my computer started making a loud whirring sound over the past few weeks. Since Saturday, just a day or two after I officially completed my thesis, my computer has refused to fully boot up. We had backed up most of my documents when the whirring started, but not everything made it onto Dan's computer. The laptop cost $600 and it will cost $60 to figure out what's wrong with it, $100 to back up the hard drive either way, and at least $200 to replace the hard drive (the likely culprit). So now we have to decide if it is worth saving, especially with its missing 'R' key (thanks James) and other minor problems (e.g., plug is missing the ground prong). Or we can get a desktop. Or I can just use the computer when Dan gets home from school in the evening. It is so hard to think of spending more money on another computer so soon! This was definitely not in my forecasted budget, but how can I live without a computer? I have become way too spoiled by technology! So if you start seeing less of me on the blog/facebook/email/etc., you know why :( At least my graduation requirements are done!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
I do not aspire to aspirate!
Many people are not aware of the existence of dysphagia: swallowing disorders. This is one of the major things I work on at the hospital. Many of my patients cannot eat or drink anything through their mouth without developing pneumonia. I am the one who makes the decision if and what they can eat/drink, which does not automatically endear me to some patients :) It is difficult to fully appreciate the blessing it is to be able to swallow until you see a woman in her 60's cry because she has "failed" another swallow study. Then to see her cry when she can finally have something to eat even if it is soft food and liquids by spoon with required coughs after every bite/sip. Very rewarding after 4 weeks of 1 hour a day in therapy eating ice chips to get to this point. So next time your food ends up in your stomach instead of your lungs...be grateful!
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