Yesterday we went to the Wildlife Animal Park near Sonny and Sandy's house. Being a Saturday and summer it was quite crowded--and it was quite HOT!! I thought the dry heat would save me--but I was drenched everywhere. Sonny gave me a portable mister (he bought it a Wal-mart) but even then I was having a tough time. Bill took a lot of good pictures of the animals. We loved watching the lions sleeping on top of a car.
After we left the park we went to the pier for a delicious Mexican meal. It was amazing that only 15 miles away the weather was 15 degrees cooler.
Today we joined Sonny and Sandy for breakfast again and then went to church with them. They attend a huge church called North Coast. It offers a variety of venues--depending upon what type of music you like. You can have traditional (hymnal), a cafe setting where you drink coffee and eat bagels, hard rock, etc. The music portion of the service is played at the same time in all the different places..then the pastor is videoed into the room on a large screen. Today we went to the live service where the pastor actually was. We really enjoyed his preaching.
Afterwards we took a coastal route to watch paragliders as we ate our lunch. It was a gorgeous day-the breeze was just right and the weather was a perfect temperature. We then drove to a beach that was crowded with a herd of seals. The water there was crystal clear and an aquamarine blue--very unlike the drab ocean color where we live. It was fun watching the seals interract with each other.
Next Sonny drove us to the cross the sits high above the city. We walked up to it and were able to see a 360 degree panorama of the area. It was so pretty.
We came back to Sonny and Sandy's to rest and wait until the Southern California traffic dies down. If we left at 5:00 or 7:00--we would still arrive home at the same time. Good old So.Cal traffic!!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Sonny and Sandy in Sunny San Diego
Thursday was a 13 hour drive followed by Friday's 7 hour drive. It was amazing watching how the terrain shifted from the green grasses and trees to meadows and then finally bare desert with the cacti and tumbleweed. The desert area topped 110 degrees...but it was all dry heat...something we haven't had in a month. Coming into Imperial Valley we were astounded by the rocky terrain. It resembled a volcanic area..but the rocks were sandstone instead of igneous.
When we arrived in San Diego we felt right at home sitting in traffic on the 15 freeway--something else we really haven't had to deal with very much this past month.
We met up with Sonny and Sandy (Sonny is a close friend of Bill who co-teamed with him when he was working in the technology dept at the district office). We had a delicious dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and shared our mid west trip and theirs to the Caribbean.
We are having fun learning more technology from Sonny and drinking his famous smoothies!
Now we're on our way to the Wild Animal Park.
When we arrived in San Diego we felt right at home sitting in traffic on the 15 freeway--something else we really haven't had to deal with very much this past month.
We met up with Sonny and Sandy (Sonny is a close friend of Bill who co-teamed with him when he was working in the technology dept at the district office). We had a delicious dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and shared our mid west trip and theirs to the Caribbean.
We are having fun learning more technology from Sonny and drinking his famous smoothies!
Now we're on our way to the Wild Animal Park.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Six Tires Texas
Let me tell you a story:
About 30 years ago Bill and I were assistants to our youth pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church. One summer we took three cars filled with 16 and 17 year olds to a Luther League convention in New Orleans. The cars were rented out by Avis. (Their motto was “We try harder.”) Our first breakdown was in San Bernardino.
A few hours later we traded that car in Phoenix-but it was much too small. The two days later Bill had a flat tire between El Paso and Junction, Texas. A few hours later I had a blow out 20 miles beyond Junction in the middle of nowhere. When we went to change the tire—there was no spare tire! So we sat on the road with 20 kids.
We finally started carpooling the girls back towards a KOA camp that we had passed several miles back while the boys stayed on the road. Finally a small tire was found in a little gas station (those were the days gas stations had garages and not mini marts.) The tire really didn’t fit—but it had to do.
The boys pulled in late and even though it was 11:00 they wanted to go swimming. Then we had had to sleep in the long grasses (mosquitoes, chiggers, and all!) in our sleeping bags. Bill woke us all up at 4:00 A.M. so it was still dark. One of the boys accidentally hit the horn and it would not turn off. Bill and some others scrambled under the hood to stop the horn and someone accidentally pulled the ground wire that starts the car. Well, the horn stopped but now the car wouldn’t start. We could hear applause coming from the nearby tents as we pushed the car out of the camp.
Now we had to get on the road with one car that needed to be hot wired to start, another that could not go over 40 because the tire was too small, and another that was too small for comfort.
We finally limped into a small tire dealership in little town. It was the 170th day of a rubber strike so they had a very difficult time finding tires that would fit for the car. We were forced to put four brand new tires on that car. When we looked at another car we realized that it too needed two tires. Avis could not purchase it in that small town but was willing to reimburse us when we got back. Bill and I had just received our very first credit card with a limit of $300. We spent it all.
For years we have told this story to people and we have always referred to this small town as “Six Tires, Texas.” We have never known where “Six Tires, Texas is but yet we have always talked about it as if it is the official name.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, last night we slept in “Six Tires, Texas” otherwise known as Kerrville. We stayed with our friends Mike and Michelle Hozman who have retired there and love it. Kerrville now has 20,000 people and looks much different than it did 30 years ago. It was fun catching up with Mike and Michelle and seeing their home. There are deer everywhere so Bill was able to get a few photos. The deer are very bold and even come up to the glass doors of the house (though we weren’t able to witness this last night.)
We left at about 9:00 for a 12 hour drive to Tucson, Arizona. (and passed the KOA camp.) Gone is all the greenery we have seen for the majority of this vacation. Most of the day was desert. We went through a few rainshowers but nothing terrifically bad.
We switched off driving so Bill could get some rest. I became a little nostalgic as I heard “Sloop John B” on my iPod. I could hear in my mind so vividly Kiersten and Sean singing it on our 1992 vacation to Nebraska “I wanna go home—oh let me go home”
At that time it annoyed me-- but today it brought good memories of family time.
Its nice to be back in a state that offers seat covers in the rest rooms!
About 30 years ago Bill and I were assistants to our youth pastor at Ascension Lutheran Church. One summer we took three cars filled with 16 and 17 year olds to a Luther League convention in New Orleans. The cars were rented out by Avis. (Their motto was “We try harder.”) Our first breakdown was in San Bernardino.
A few hours later we traded that car in Phoenix-but it was much too small. The two days later Bill had a flat tire between El Paso and Junction, Texas. A few hours later I had a blow out 20 miles beyond Junction in the middle of nowhere. When we went to change the tire—there was no spare tire! So we sat on the road with 20 kids.
We finally started carpooling the girls back towards a KOA camp that we had passed several miles back while the boys stayed on the road. Finally a small tire was found in a little gas station (those were the days gas stations had garages and not mini marts.) The tire really didn’t fit—but it had to do.
The boys pulled in late and even though it was 11:00 they wanted to go swimming. Then we had had to sleep in the long grasses (mosquitoes, chiggers, and all!) in our sleeping bags. Bill woke us all up at 4:00 A.M. so it was still dark. One of the boys accidentally hit the horn and it would not turn off. Bill and some others scrambled under the hood to stop the horn and someone accidentally pulled the ground wire that starts the car. Well, the horn stopped but now the car wouldn’t start. We could hear applause coming from the nearby tents as we pushed the car out of the camp.
Now we had to get on the road with one car that needed to be hot wired to start, another that could not go over 40 because the tire was too small, and another that was too small for comfort.
We finally limped into a small tire dealership in little town. It was the 170th day of a rubber strike so they had a very difficult time finding tires that would fit for the car. We were forced to put four brand new tires on that car. When we looked at another car we realized that it too needed two tires. Avis could not purchase it in that small town but was willing to reimburse us when we got back. Bill and I had just received our very first credit card with a limit of $300. We spent it all.
For years we have told this story to people and we have always referred to this small town as “Six Tires, Texas.” We have never known where “Six Tires, Texas is but yet we have always talked about it as if it is the official name.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, last night we slept in “Six Tires, Texas” otherwise known as Kerrville. We stayed with our friends Mike and Michelle Hozman who have retired there and love it. Kerrville now has 20,000 people and looks much different than it did 30 years ago. It was fun catching up with Mike and Michelle and seeing their home. There are deer everywhere so Bill was able to get a few photos. The deer are very bold and even come up to the glass doors of the house (though we weren’t able to witness this last night.)
We left at about 9:00 for a 12 hour drive to Tucson, Arizona. (and passed the KOA camp.) Gone is all the greenery we have seen for the majority of this vacation. Most of the day was desert. We went through a few rainshowers but nothing terrifically bad.
We switched off driving so Bill could get some rest. I became a little nostalgic as I heard “Sloop John B” on my iPod. I could hear in my mind so vividly Kiersten and Sean singing it on our 1992 vacation to Nebraska “I wanna go home—oh let me go home”
At that time it annoyed me-- but today it brought good memories of family time.
Its nice to be back in a state that offers seat covers in the rest rooms!
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