The drive was pretty uneventful, as we had made the trip over a month ago to go see the Cincinnati Zoo. We listened to some good music, Betsy and Faith took cat naps for part of the journey and it looked like we were on schedule.

Betsy’s friend had warned us that we might run into traffic in Cincinnati, as the part of town we had to go through was notorious for crappy traffic, but we totally didn’t expect what was about to happen.

About six miles from our destination, tummies grumbling and needing to go to the bathroom after a two-hour car ride, we came to a standstill on I-275. Now when I say standstill, I don’t mean that traffic slowly inched its way along. No, it was not moving AT ALL.

People started turning their cars off in order to save gas. Jordan and I got out to investigate. It was actually quite humorous, as it reminded me of R.E.M.’s music video for "Everybody Hurts" when, during a traffic jam, everyone gets out of the cars on the interstate and just start walking around and talking to eachother. Sadly, because of the way the median is structured on this stretch of highway, there was no way that we could simply hop on the westbound lane and drive away. There was a "turnaound" about a mile down the road, you know, the kind that you’re not supposed to use, but people do anyway. A few people took that option, but most people opted to stay in traffic, hoping and praying that it would move again.

While sitting on the middle of the interstate, I had visions. I had visions of everyone getting out of their car and having a giant dance party. I opened up all the doors and started blasting "I’ve Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, but sadly, the idea never caught on. So after about 45 minutes of sitting in the middle of the highway and people who almost died of having to pee so bad, we finally got moving.

I read later that there was a four car chain crash that happened at the upcoming off-ramp which caused us to be stuck there so long. Apparently in Cincinnati, when one person crashes, everyone else feels like they have to join in… it must be an Ohio thing. We finally made it to our exit and ran into Wendy’s to grab a quick bite before the concert, I literally finished eating my meal as we walked up to the venue.

Fortunately we only missed an opening song or two, so I was not bummed. The concert venue is actually an old Discovery Zone that the church behind it bought and converted it into a student ministries/concert venue. Aside from people moving around so much (standing room only), I really enjoyed the place.

Leeland, Brandon Heath, and Francesca played great. They intermingled their sets, so that you got to hear everyone and didn’t get tired of one act waiting for the next one to come up. I think the one part of the concert that I really enjoyed was the part that didn’t involve music at all. They talked about a program called "Food For The Hungry" which goes into impoverished areas in the world and actually works with the people to come up with tangible solutions, not dictating what the locals should do, but listening to their ideas and partnering with them.

For example, some money went to buy seeds so that people in Cambodia could plant a field full of cucumbers. There’s really so much to this organization, that I’m actually going to write about it in another post (I’m going to sponsor a child with Food for the Hungry). So I’ll be sure to update all of you on how to get involved.

Anyway, suffice to say, it was a great concert, well worth the two-hour drive. We got stuck in traffic thinking we’d never make it to the concert, but fortunately we did and had a great time. I’ll leave all of you with this music video of Leeland’s "Follow You," with footage of their trip to Cambodia with Food for the Hungry. Enjoy!

I did have the utter realization as we were climbing to 5,500 feet, that I was placing a lot of trust in Jake to know what he was doing. He liked to reassure me that if I fell from this altitude, I’d have no chance of survival. Thanks Jake!

We made it Louisville in good time, landing at Louisville’s first commercial airport and the oldest continuous running airport in America, Bowman Field (you can learn more here). Once we landed, we ran across the street to Bearno’s Little Sicily and grabbed a couple of sub sandwiches… not too shabby. After that, we headed back to Bloomington.

Anyway, here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

The rest of the evening was pretty low-key. We sat around, talked, listened to music, and wrote in the cabin’s journal. Betsy’s co-worker owns this cabin and decided that in order to put it to best use, they would let others use it as well. The owners of the cabin keep a journal at the front of the cabin for the guests to write in, they are very particular about that. They want to know what we did, if we had a good time, so that they can look back and know that the cabin has been put to good use. Rest assured, we let them know about our fun little adventure about almost running out of gas.

As the night got darker, Chad and Andrew went outside and started a bonfire. I wasn’t in the mood to smell like smoke, so I turned on some B.B. King on the boombox and did the dishes… Faith and Betsy helped me. Then it was time to start packing up (as we would be leaving later on Sunday) and start going to bed.

Sunday
We got up early on Sunday since we had a reservation with Gilligan’s Boats for a pontoon boat at 10 a.m. So we spent most of the morning packing up as much as possible and had a fairly small breakfast before heading off.

We had originally reserved the boat for Saturday, but after checking the forecast, we decided that Sunday would be a better day… fortunately, our gamble paid off. It was GORGEOUS out, you couldn’t ask for a more perfect day: clear skies, no precipitation, 80 degrees… ahhh, thank you JESUS!

After stopping by the marine shop to pay for our boat, we headed off to the lake where they were getting our boat ready. The staff gave “Captain” Chad a 5-10 minute overview of boating safety and operation and we were off! We went around the lake a little bit before finding a spot to anchor down and relax for a bit. I was itching to go for a swim, but waited until everyone else was ready. We spent a good portion of time talking and hanging out before preparing for lunch.

In order to make sure our stomachs didn’t get sea-sick, we decided to move the boat to an area that wasn’t as frequented, so the wake wouldn’t rock our boat around. We mostly stuck to basic picnic food: turkey sandwiches, macaroni salad, potato salad, etc. It was a pretty good lunch. After allowing our stomachs to settle for a bit, I decided to go ahead and jump in… the water was perfect. Shortly after, I finally got the rest of the crew to dive in.

Betsy, Faith, and Chad are training for a triathalon, so they did a little more swimming, I just tried to enjoy myself as much as possible. After we were done swimming, we decided to just boat around the lake for a while… all of us taking turns. Faith had the worst luck driving the boat, first she lost a cup that fell in the water and then the pirate’s hat flew right off her head and into the lake. Whoops! Now before all of you try and judge us for littering in the lake, we did go back and try to recover the cup and the hat, but couldn’t find them.

The rest of the time on the boat was uneventful, we laid out, read our books, enjoyed the peace and quiet… it was a good time. Around 2:30 we decided it was time to head back. The ride back to the boat rental place felt like a long time, so I’d guess that we went farther out that I had previously thought. But we finally arrived and in typical Chad fashion, he smacked the corner of the boat right into the dock. Fortunately there was little damage… phew!

Once Chad did his final walk-through of the boat with the rental company, we headed back to the cabin to pack up, clean up, and leave. I had finished packing up the entire car when I walked back to hearing whispers, “Hey Kiel, go get your camera!” Without asking questions, I ran to the car and grabbed my camera which was buried among the girls’ stuff. When I came back, I was pleasantly surprised to see a doe taking a nap in front of our cabin.

I got really close, but unfortunately a leaf was blocking its face. When I went to move the leaf, the doe decided to get up and leave. Either way, it was nice to see one of God’s precious creatures.

We finally said our goodbyes to the cabin and headed for home. We decided to take a different way home, which would give us all highway. We were doing good until we got to Louisville and I see Andrew swerve to get off the interstate. Apparently I was so focused on singing that I totally spaced that our exit was coming up. Ha ha!

After making a u-turn, I got back on I-65 N and tried to catch up with Andrew… and tried to catch up to him for the rest of the two hour drive. There were a couple points when I was within two miles of him, I know this because I was able to make radio contact with our little walkie-talkies. But for the most part, despite my NASCAR driving skills, I never caught up… sigh.

So overall, it was an awesome weekend. We enjoyed eachother’s company, enjoyed the great outdoors, but also got to spend plenty of time relaxing. It was a weekend we will never forget.

Friday Night
Friday night was pretty chill. We ended up leaving later than anticipated because of Chad’s lack of timeliness… ha ha! I had bought a pair of two-way radios from Fry’s Electronics, so it was fun being able to communicate car-to-car. Me, Faith, and Betsy were in one car while Andrew, Chad, and Stephanie were in the other car. The trip was fairly uneventful and we made it down there in about three-and-a-half hours.

We had a hard time finding the cabin at first, but we eventually found it. We took the time to turn on the water and unpack. Afterward, we sat around talking until it was time for bed.

Saturday
Because we had worked hard all week, we had decided that it’d be cool to sleep in on Saturday. I personally woke up at least three times during the night… which sucked, but I guess I had a hard time sleeping. The girls helped prepare a breakfast consisting of pancakes, scrambled eggs (with bits of green onion and tomatoes), muffin wedges, strawberries, and grapes, it was awesome.

After breakfast we went to work deciding what we were going to do for the day. It was decided that we would go hiking at Hemlock Cliffs, which is part of the Hoosier National Forest. It was a pretty sweet hike for only being a two-mile loop. We went off trail several times, mostly following Chad, as we explored the cliffs! Faith lightened the mood by singing camp songs that she learned at Spring Hill, including The Moose Song, it goes a little like this…

There was a great big moose
Who liked to drink a lot of juice
There was a great big moose
Who liked to drink a lot of juice

Singing whoa-oh-oh-oh
Way-oh way-oh way-oh way-oh
Way-oh, way-oh!
Way-oh way-oh way-oh way-oh

Chad was having lots of fun exploring the different cliffs. We finally found a nice little area to sit down and to have a snack, drink, and a group picture. It started to sprinkle, but it was a welcoming rain, as we were getting hot. Later in the hike, Chad found a fairly steep cliff and ended up finding a cave. Me, getting bored waiting for him to come down, decided to go up and take a look at the cave that Chad had found. Stupid me. As I began to inch down into the cave, my foot slipped and I fell a few feet. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt and my camera was still intact, I climbed out and headed back down to the others to find that I was bleeding below my elbow. After washing off my little wound in the creek, Betsy put a band-aid on it and we were back on our way… this is where it gets interesting.

As we wrapped up our hike, we hopped into Andrew’s Jeep. As he turned on the engine, we realized that his gas gauge was on “Empty.” I further clarified this by looking at the heads-up display that said, “0 Gallons to Empty.” I fired up my GPS and located the nearest gas station… over 10 miles away.

Andrew made every effort to coast when possible to conserve fuel. This plan went a little awry when a turkey ran out in front of our Jeep as we were heading down the hill. Andrew hit the brakes and the turkey flew off, unharmed. The thing that sucked is that we were driving through country roads past very redneck-looking places. We finally made it to IN-37 and headed south towards the gas station which was still 5-7 miles away. I really didn’t think we were going to make it and my fears got worse when we passed a sign that said, “Prison Area: Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers.”

“Great, as if God could be teasing us anymore,” we said to ourselves. So Stephanie grabbed the MP3 player and turned it to Bon Jovi’s song, “Livin’ On a Prayer.” Fortunately for us, the gas station came into sight and we made it in. Once Andrew finished refilling, we noticed that he had filled up his 20 gallon tank with over 19.9 gallons of fuel… we BARELY made it to the gas station. PHEW! Bullet dodged.

That, my friends, is a story that we will never forget. We made it back to the cabin where Faith, Chad, and Betsy decided to go on a short run while Stephanie, Andrew, and I got our showers out of the way. Saturday night was a great night to just sit back and read a book as dinner was being prepared.

Stephanie really took the lead on preparing dinner and we had a TON of food to eat: hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, macaroni salad, cole slaw, baked beans, diced potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and so much more. It was a great meal and it was great to share it with awesome friends.

To be continued…

Anyway, it got me thinking about my favorite George Carlin bit called “Airline Announcements.” I’ve put both parts of the video below. I will warn you, some might be offended by vulgarity (after all, it is Carlin) and an occasional crude reference. But apart from that, I watch this video thinking that Carlin had to have been an English major in college. Why? He talks at-length about how airlines totally mis-use words, phrases, and try to “puff” things up to make them sound more important than what they really are. Enjoy!

The drive from my mom’s place to my Grandma’s was pretty uneventful. I found a radio station that kept playing music I liked while I listened to my police radio in the background.

I called my Grandma when I was fifteen minutes away, only to realize that I had her old address programmed into my GPS. Okay… well I suppose it doesn’t hurt me to see where she used to live. Fortunately her new place is right up the street and I arrived there within 5-10 minutes.

The first order of the day was getting me a place to sleep. Apparently she had called the concierge desk and asked for a roll-away bed, but it hadn’t arrived. I had to keep reassuring her that it was fine… even if I had to sleep on the floor, I was fine. We decided to head down to the cafeteria downstairs for some lunch. I had forgotten that it was Friday and Grandma reminded me that she doesn’t eat meat during Lent. I guess I spent most of my Lent trying not to talk politics that I totally forgot about meatless Fridays!

Anyway, we had a good lunch. We both got the same thing: filet-o-fish sandwich with fries and cole slaw. It wasn’t bad food for being retirement village food. It was actually kind of funny, Grandma kept pointing out that the community was getting ready for Happy Hour and that she didn’t approve.  I can understand that, but all I could see in my mind were a bunch of old people getting liquored up. Ahhh, can you tell how my mind works?

After lunch we went back upstairs and sat on the porch which overlooked the parking lot and the Pinellas Trail (similar to Indy’s Monon Trail, but quite a bit longer). We got caught up talking about the family, she showed me around her apartment, all those good things. When I noticed Grandma drifting off into a good nap, I told her that I was going to go out and see where Grandpa’s resting place was.

I got in the truck and headed down to Serenity Gardens where my Grandpa is “buried.” It didn’t take me long to locate where he was since Dad sent me a link to Google Maps and said, “it’s under the ‘C’ in Serenity Gardens Cemetery.” Thanks Dad, when I go to the cemetery, I will look for the gigantic “C” floating in the sky. Ha ha! Just kidding!

It was very peaceful and I just sat next on his bench, just reminiscing and looking at the pond. It was really weird because on one hand I was like, “okay, I’m done and I’m ready to head back.” Yet on the other hand, I just wanted to sit there and just look at the pond and think about Grandpa.

I thought that my Grandma might be taking an extended nap, so I decided to head over to Indian Rocks Beach. I spent most of the time just driving around, checking it out. I got out and walked the beach for a few minutes, but I’m waiting to go to a beach in Bradenton-Sarasota… so I got a little taste of what was to come and heading back to Grandma’s.

My Grandma lives in what they call “South Tower” of her complex and as soon as I pulled in, I looked up at her porch on the fourth floor and she was waiting for me.  Grandma was so awesome and made some meatless vegetable soup. We also had cantaloupe and some cake leftover from lunch, it was pretty good.

By the time we got done with dinner it was about time for Grandma’s favorite shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! I don’t know why, but for as long as I’ve known my grandparents, I always remember tuning in with them at 7:00 to watch those shows.

Aside from all the talking, we’ve spent some quiet time, reading our respective books. I had started reading Tony Dungy’s book, Quiet Strength. But I have been way more interested in reading a book called A Man on the Moon, which talks about the space program from Mercury through Apollo (I’m a dork, don’t hate).

I’m looking forward to Saturday. We’re going to have brunch at Bob Evan’s with my Aunt Pam and Uncle Ken. My Aunt Pam is a fun lady to be around, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. After that, I’ll head back to my Mom’s place for the evening. I’ve made plans to have dinner with my mom, step-dad, and step-grandma (Maeva). Maeva says that she’s going to teach me some card games… maybe I’ll end up winning some money! Ha ha!

Sunday looks like a low-key day, Maeva is insisting that I go to the 9:30 a.m. church service. This wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that God and I have this understanding that I’m not that functional at 9:30 a.m., but I’m going to give it a shot.

Well, I’m going to quit rambling now. Talk to ya’ll later.

So I made it to Florida today, woo hoo! For those of you who don’t know, I have struggled for eight years to get down here. Why? I have an anxiety disorder which has pretty much gave me a paralyzing fear of air travel, which is kind of weird, because I love planes! And as I’ve wrestled through this anxiety disorder, I’ve had to realize that a lot of that fear was built up in my head and was fairly irrational. So it was a great relief when I woke up this morning and had no anxiety. Dad came and took me to the airport, no anxiety. Boarded the plane and the plane took off, no anxiety. Praise God!

I guess the best way to describe it would be like this… imagine that you’re petrified of snakes,. And over the course of time, you become less and less petrified. Until one day, you find yourself no longer petrified. That’s how it was with me, it got gradually better over time.

It was nice going to the airport and having lunch with my Dad. I was really looking forward to some Chick-Fil-A, but I couldn’t find one at the new terminal, so Dad and I had to settle for McDonald’s…. blah! He then left and I went ahead through security, no big deal. I almost felt like I got there too early (I was there two hours before departure), so I was trying to find ways to kill time. Thank goodness that the airport has power outlets and free wifi. I killed part of the time reading news stories and part of the time watching Dragnet on Hulu. After a while, I got bored with that and just walked the concourse.

The flight in itself was fairly uneventful. I got one of the best seats in the plane, the row right behind the emergency exit, so I had plenty of room to spread out. Perhaps one of my favorite things was listening to the kids get excited about taking off. “Okay Kyle, we’re going to make another turn here and then the plane is going to speed up and we’ll be flying!” It was just so cool to see the kids press their face up to the windows and watch in amazement. “Do you see? We’re going through clouds! And then, we’ll go through more clouds!”

Perhaps the weirdest part of the flight was when the guy next to me kept drifting off into my personal bubble. I leaned forward and talked to the girls in front of me (who were about my age) and asked them if they wanted to trade seats and in exchange, cuddle with the creepy guy next to me. No takers!

After talking to the guy, I found out he had a couple drinks and was a wee bit sleepy. He ended up staying awake for the rest of the flight reading his Wall Street Journal and talking to his business partner. The girls in the row in front of me got a good laugh out of it and I was happy that he finally woke up.

My mom and step-dad picked me up from the airport. Little did I know that David had plans to give me a tour of Tampa, so I didn’t get to head straight to their place. I got to see all the sights: saw where the rich people lived, checked out the University of Tampa, and saw the party scene in Ybor City. Just an FYI, this tour contained a LOT of strip clubs. Not because David wanted me to know where they are, but because you can’t throw a stick in Florida without hitting one. Ha ha!

We stopped at a nice Spanish cafe and had dinner. I had a Cuban sandwich along with some cooked plantains, they were pretty good. We finally got to my mom’s house around 8:30 or 9:00. It’s a nice house and I absolutely love it. I’m looking forward to laying in the pool and reading. I was so happy to walk in the door and be greeted by my African Grey Parrot, Isaac. Isaac moved down here a couple of years ago to be with my mom. He must not have remembered me because when I put my arm out for him to perch, he tried to take a bite out of me. Here’s a short video of Isaac showing off his signature “hip hop” move…

Well, that’s all for now. Had trouble with my GPS, but after a reset, it started working again. I’ll be heading to my Grandma’s tomorrow in Largo, FL. Hoping to go see where my grandfather is buried and looking forward to just hanging out with Grandma… maybe I’ll challenge her to a mad game of Uno. Ha ha!

I may not post a blog entry tomorrow because I don’t know if I’ll have wifi. I’m pretty thankful that my Mom’s neighbor left their wireless network open, which is pretty sweet for me because my mom has dial-up (LAME!). Anyways, I hope ya’lls (yup, picked up a new word down here) have a great Friday!