Hangin Out in Who Dat Nation!

We are in New Orleans Saints country. Right now we are in Gulfport, MS, but several days ago we were in the Big Easy itself. On our way to a convention last week in Galveston, TX, we stopped in New Orleans for a few hours to see the rebuilding progress after Hurricane Katrina. Some progress has been made, but the evidence of the devastating storm is still visible. But it was obvious that the Gulf Coast Region was really excited about the upcoming Super Bowl game.

After finishing our convention we headed back toward Gulfport and Biloxi, MS. On Saturday we stopped in a mall in Baton Rogue, LA, and were adorned with Mardi Gras beads as we entered a department store. Here I am decked out in my beads on the day before the big game.

Today -- the day after the game -- we were out doing some shopping in Gulfport, and Connie spied a "free car wash" sign that was intriguing. A local carwash had promised that they would give free car washes on the Monday after the Super Bowl "when" the Saints won the game. Well, we got a free wash!

Here is one of the friendly attendants sporting his "Who Dat" shirt as he guides our truck to its needed cleaning. Our truck still had the remnants of a North Carolina snowstorm and road salt on its exterior from eight days previous.
After our wash was completed we had to take a picture of Connie standing by the "Pitstop Carwash" sign on Highway 49, just north of I-10 in Gulfport, MS. If you are ever in that area we recommend this friendly business. But, of course, you will have to pay -- unless the Saints win a Super Bowl again.

2009 Christmas Trip

We left Rocky Mount on Dec. 18th and had to swing down to Augusta, GA and then over to Atlanta on our way to Chattanooga. This Southern swing was necessary to avoid the big snowstorm that had swept across the country. We were glad to avoid the snowy and icy roads, but we did have plenty of snow later in the 3,400 mile trip. Praise the Lord for 4-wheel trip!

Our first stop was a three-day early Christmas with Kristy and Brian in their cozy place outside of Chattanooga. Kristy had done a marvelous job decorating their home, and Brian helped to make us comfortable for the visit. We didn't mind leaving them on the 22nd, because we knew they were planning to join us the next weekend in the Twin Cities.

From Tennessee we headed north to outrun the next snow storm coming from the West. In Madison we were able to have a delightful Christmas with Chad, Jen and Kirk. We stayed at the Grandstay Suites and found that place to be very comfortable. Here is our crowd on Christmas evening after we returned from an interesting dinner at a unique Japanese restaurant.

On Christmas Day we had the privilege to join Jennifer's family for a wonderful dinner. The time was fun and the ham dinner, with all the trimmings, was incredible.

Then on the 26th we set out, along with the Madison gang, to head for Minnesota. The snow flurries were minimal, after two days of almost continuos snow in Madison, and we reached the St. Paul area just in time to meet Kristy and Brian's plane coming from Atlanta.

That evening we enjoyed a truly "magical night" hosted by Greg and Becky at their home among the pines near Stillwater, Minnesota. Everyone in the Cutlan Clan was able to attend except Brad Brask. We surely missed Brad, but everyone savored the special opportunity that we had to be together. We enjoyed the time -- and the food! We don't get to be together much, and we have to seize the moment.

The Brask Family

The Cutlan Family

Here is Connie with her sister Judy and niece, Dana, enjoying the comfort of one of the rooms in the lovely house. Greg and Becky made every possible preparation and it was a memorable time.
Kristy and Brian were able to stay until Monday and we went to the Mall of America before taking them to the airport. After leaving the Twin Cities, we were able to a spend night with Cheryl and Dwight Turbett in their new home in Hillsdale, Wisconsin. Here is the beautiful view that Dwight has in his parsonage study. We loved their place and enjoyed a wonderful dinner that Cheryl prepared for us. And our truck started in the morning...that was a blessing in the cold weather.
From Wisconsin we traveled southward and once again spent our days outrunning a new snowstorm that was following the cold snap enveloping the the whole country. We were able to reach North Carolina by Saturday night so that we could meet Gail and Paul at Sara and Dave's house in Garner. We had a delightful evening with them and then visited their church on Sunday morning. Our visit was capped by a dinner at "Sweet Tomatoes" in Raleigh with the Fosmark and Mincy families, and Doug and Diane Bookman.

Thankful, Thankful

We are so thankful this Thanksgiving for so many things -- but especially for Connie's visit to the dentist's office on the day before Thanksgiving. We had just finished seven out of nine weeks on the road exhibiting at conventions. Prior to the last convention Connie developed a toothache and saw her regular dentist. The prognosis was that she might need to visit an Endodonist for a root canal. Sure enough that was the conclusion after she suffered through several days of medicated misery. The Lord arranged a miracle cancellation so that we could hurry back to Rocky Mount from Washington, D.C., for a Wednesday appointment.

We had planned to have Thanksgiving in Northern Virginia, but, instead, we drove to Raleigh for a turkey dinner at Mimi's Cafe. This is the third time in five years that we have enjoyed Mimi's Thanksgiving feast -- first in Orlando, then Fort Worth, and now in Raleigh.

We highly recommend Mimi's Cafe -- here is the feast! (Plus pumpkin pie.)

At our Washington convention Connie met one of her favorite telephone customers. Her name is Myrrh. Can you tell that she is timid and shy, just like Connie?
Here is a little Southern cultural experience that we have every fall. We drive past a Cotton Gin every day we go to work in the tiny town of Whitakers, North Carolina.
This what cotton looks like when it comes in nowadays from the cotton fields. These are huge bales that are the size of the inside of a semi-trailer. There are not as many cotton fields in Eastern Carolina these days as when we moved here thirteen years ago, but the finishing process has become more hi-tech.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER IN NORMAL (Actually it was in Bloomington)

Following the Lindblom Reunion (see below), we had the privilege on Sunday morning of attending Marquette Manor church and speaking in the Youth Department Sunday School class. After the morning service we hitched up the trailer and headed for Normal, Illinois, to camp at the Calvary Baptist property and attend the Sunday evening church service. It was fun to attend Calvary and see many friends where we had lived and served from 1966 t0 1970, and then again from 1978 to 1985.

On Monday morning we had to do a mound of laundry. But in the afternoon we enjoyed the beautiful weather and took an 11 mile bike ride on the excellent Constitution Trail. This trail is the former railroad trackbed that ran right behind the house where we lived from '78 to '85. Here is Connie in front of our old house at 22 Broadway Place in Normal.

Here is the Camelback Bridge that is just a block north where we lived. This a good shot of the trail heading north.
We fondly remembered this drainage ditch that was one of Chad's first "fishing holes" back in the 1980s.
But the great blessing was a wonderful dinner gathering that we had that Monday evening at the Olive Garden in neighboring Bloomington. We had asked Dan and Jane Shickle if they could invite some friends to go out for dinner. Bless their hearts -- but 27 of them showed up!
It was a great evening of sharing testimonies, experiences and remembrances. We are hoping to plan a Reunion Singspiration for sometime in 2010 if possible.

50th HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

From Iowa we made our way to Kansas City to exhibit at our third convention. As soon as the convention was over on Friday we dashed toward Illinois so that I could arrive at my 50th High School Reunion that began at 3 pm on Saturday at he Holiday Inn in Hinsdale, Illinois. We drove the 500 miles and made it on time. Actually, we arrived in time to park our trailer at Marquette Manor Baptist in Darien, which was about 10 minutes away from the Holiday Inn where the reunion was held.

What a great experience that evening was! George LaBine and his committee did a superb job planning and organizing a delightful evening of memories. We had 99 class members attend, out of 478 listed in our 1959 yearbook. Back in the day the Chicago Public Schools operated on a semester system and therefore held a January and June graduation each year. Our reunion for the Lindblom High School Class of 1959 included both groups.
It was fun checking the "lanyard photos" around our classmates necks to see who we could remember and identify. I enjoyed immensely the opportunity to reconnect with classmates after so many years.
The program included a delicious dinner, plus a very interesting video and several special features. Of course there was time for lots of pictures and lots of conversation.
Here I am talking with Jack Beasant and Jo Mannino; with Ron Lach on the left in the background. Connie enjoyed herself and did a great job snapping priceless pictures.

STOPPING AT THE AMANA COLONIES

After leaving Madison we headed southwest toward Iowa, on our way to Kansas City for our next convention. Late in the afternoon we pulled into the campground at the Amana Colonies and were informed that water would not be available after 5 pm due to the freezing temperatures. The next morning we had to wait until about 9 am before the thermometer crept to 32 degrees so that we could connect the water hose and take showers.

Then we drove into town and spent a little time in the historic Amana Colony. Here is Connie at the Woolen Mill after she purchased a worm, woolen scarf to fend off the chilly weather.

We enjoyed some shopping and some historic investigating. The woolen mill is still operated and then the products are sold in the same building. Our visit was timely on account of the very early cold temperatures.
We discovered the Brick Haus Restaurant in Amana and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. Seated next to our table was delightful group of ladies who belong to the Red Hat Society. We had heard of "Red Hatters" and so we asked if we could take their picture. They obliged -- and that gesture led to the responsibility of being their de facto photographer for awhile. They were a lively bunch!

VISITING KRISTY & KIRK

We've arrived home after 28 days and 4.300 miles on the road. Next is a trip to Lancaster and Gettysburg, PA. Our first two weekends in October were spent in Chattanooga with Kristy and Brian, and then Madison with Kirk. Chad and Jen were off to warm Guatemala, and we endured 25 degree cold in Wisconsin -- but it was worth it!

In Chattanooga we arrived in time to participate in Kristy's neighborhood Garage Sale. Here is the "Sale Lady and Crew" on a beautiful fall morning.

Then before we left town on Monday morning we were able to visit Kristy at her school. Here is Kris and Mom in the classroom. It is in the blood!
We even were able to sit-in on one of Kristy's classes. It was fun to interact with the students and see Kris at work.
The next weekend we were in the cold north with Kirk. It even snowed a little at our campground. We had a great time hanging out with Kirk, which included grilling brats at the KOA.
Before we left the Madison area we were able to visit Kirk's place of employment. Here is Kirk at the front door of the offices of REM Wisconsin. We were very impressed with the quality facilities and friendly staff members of this interesting company. Kirk loves his job and we were pleased to see him doing so well.
Here is Kirk in his office cubicle at the REM headquarters. His work keeps him very busy as he manages the lives of six clients. We even were able to meet one of Kirk's charges. We left Madison on Monday, October 12th and headed for Kansas City by way of the Amana Colonies of Iowa.

A Visit to Uncle Remus

We began our fall convention trip two weeks ago by traveling to the sunny state of Georgia. We just left Madison, Wisconsin where the temperature dipped to 25, and we had snow flurries! What a contrast!

On our way through Georgia we happened to see an interesting place. It was the Uncle Remus Museum in the small Central Georgia town of Eatonton, about 45 miles southeast of Atlanta. This town was the boyhood home of Joel Chandler Harris, who was the author of the Uncle Remus stories.

As a boy my dad would read the stories about Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox. These stories were created by Mr. Harris and originally published in the Atlanta Constitution newspaper. A number of years ago Cousin Dave Gunzel gave me a small book containing some of these stories as a gift. I have kept that book in my office as a remembrance. We enjoyed a short visit to the very fascinating museum that is located in a log cabin made from two original slave cabins.

You can learn more about the museum at http://www.uncleremus.com/index.html. Here is Connie being welcomed by Brer Rabbit.

This plaque explains the historical significance of the site.

Connie is standing at the door...it was a neat museum.

Here I am stirrin up trouble!

I got stuck in the "Briar Patch"

From Eatonton we traveled on to Macon for our first convention. We camped at the beautiful Lake Tobesofkee County Park just west of Macon. The only problem was that we did not get an opportunity to enjoy the lake property, except for a very short time in the morning. Here was our view from our trailer's front door.

Summer is over!!

Summer is over, but it was great while we had it! Our last trip of the summer was over Labor Day weekend and we enjoyed several days at the Outer Banks. We returned to "The Refuge" at Wanchese, NC, and camped again at a beautiful spot on the backwater of the Pamlico Sound.

This is what we saw every day out our picture window in the trailer. The weather was beautiful and we love this location.
One of the days we visited friends Herb and Elaine Haines and saw their beach house building project. The Haines' were friends from the 80's when we lived in Fairfax, VA. They are building their retirement home in Rodanthe, NC, which is about 25 miles from the Hatteras Lighthouse. Elaine's parents purchased the property many years ago, but never built.
On Saturday we climbed Jockey's Ridge, the large sand dunes in Kill Devil Hills. Connie has always wanted to do this -- and as a good husband, I went along for moral support.
Jockey's Ridge is where you can learn to fly -- or, at least, hang glide. No, that is not me! (Or Connie, either.)
We took two great bike rides over the weekend. Our second ride was from Duck to the Sanderling Resort on the northern end of the Outer Banks. Along the way we passed the Costal Research Facility and saw this "danger" sign. At this facility they study ocean waves, but it previously was a military training where munitions were tested.