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A big thanks to the Spurs for waiting for us to get to San Antonio before winning the NBA title. Lots of Spurs fans in the family, but my mother-in-law is a die-hard. Way to go Spurs!

We finally arrived in San Antonio today. It’s been a long 3-day car trip. We did not receive any one-finger salutes during the journey, but we did get honked at once by a trucker for blocking the left lane. Here’s some of what I learned in the 1400 miles we drove to get here (in no particular order):

- Every Interstate between San Antonio and Dayton is under construction
- Pepto Bismol can be taken every ½ to 1 hour for an upset stomach
- Braum’s ice cream is still fantastic (no relation to previous lesson learned)
- They have a BW3’s in Oklahoma City
- The Bennigan’s Monte Cristo sandwich is as good as ever
- Getting the kids in the car at 0530 to get a couple of hours under your belt before the kids “wake up” doesn’t work when you walk outside and it’s already light
- I don’t think we could have survived without a TV/VCR in the car
- Texas is still really hot
- Driving through Ft Worth/Dallas and Austin still sucks
- There are a lot of fireworks “outlets” in Missouri
- Free WiFi in the hotels is cool
- After 2 days in the car, the kids thought the Flying J Truck Stop was more fun than Disney World
- Foldout couches are more comfortable when you’re a kid

There will be more to come, but for now, we’re going to spend a few days here in San Antonio.

J

Saying goodbye has never been an easy thing to do. Yesterday, I had to leave a lot of good friends that we made in Ohio. The church we found there was awesome…a great group of people that love God. Yesterday morning was a little emotional as we said goodbye to many of our friends. I will miss all of them…especially the ones that would come eat lunch at school with me, got me into Blogging, hung out with me every Tuesday (and then every other Tuesday) at BW3’s, let me make cool garage sale signs (if there is such a thing), let me mock them for leaving their van open at night only to be surprised that their spare change was stolen from the ashtray, and were a support and encouragement to me and my family. I will miss them all. Living in a place like that was a true blessing that I will have a hard time finding again on this side of heaven.

As good as that was, it’s even more difficult to say goodbye to our good friends that lived across the street from us for 3 ½ years in two different places. When we moved to Ohio, it was easy…we just took our friends with us. But now, as we move from Ohio, unfortunately our gang must be split up by a considerable distance. I have to remember what it is like to move to a new place and have to start over with new friends…especially when the last ones knew you so well. I especially feel bad for our kids – they knew each other for most of their lives. It’s hard to put into words what they mean to us, but just know they will be sorely missed and the void they leave will be hard to fill. This is getting pretty tough…and when the going gets tough, the tough get going…I’m outta here!

J

I’m not quite sure how to put into words what I’ve experienced over the last two days. Our school brought in a special panel of guest speakers to share their experiences with us, and I must say, it was impressive, exciting and very humbling. I was truly in the presence of American heroes. Each one of them gave a personal, first-hand account of their experiences. Here are some of them:

- A WWII triple ace, who destroyed 16 1/4 enemy aircraft while flying the P-51
- A member of the initial cadre of the 99th Fighter Squadron - the Tuskegee Airmen
- A WWII B-17 bomber pilot who flew 52 missions deep into Germany. On one of his missions, his aircraft took off as 1 of 20 B-17s in his squadron…his was the only one to return that day.
- Two men who earned the nation’s highest award for valor - the Medal of Honor
- An astronaut who made 5 trips to space, including a 6 month stay on the International Space Station

- And to top it off, I ate lunch with 1 of only 12 men to have stepped foot on the moon

With so many heroes in one place, you almost take for granted what each one of them accomplished. It would have been an honor to hear any one of these people speak, but to get them all together in on room for two days is an event that I will probably never experience again. Since many of the WWII veterans are in their 80s, I was especially thankful that I got to hear their stories - from them. All that will soon be left is a history book and it’s a lot more satisfying to learn about military heritage from a person rather than a book. Thanks to these men and women that made our country great!

Garage Sale, Day 1 -

Big shout out to “Cow” for his help with the garage sale signs! We’ve had lots of compliments on the professional signage. PLUS, I got a quick lesson on the finer points of sign making.

Next: Please pray for my friend Bryan. He is on his way to Cuba to spread the Gospel to Fidel land. He will be down there for a whole week. Also, he’s going to let me do a guest spot or two on his site…quite an honor. I hope I have something that is OG-worthy.

Back to the garage sale: Very successful so far. Although it was looking bleak for a moment as the neighbors had sold almost all their stuff and we were struggling to get rid of our excess furniture items. Although, our office desk was not really excess, but it’s time for an upgrade. As we will be moving soon, we were trying to cut down on the weight. As it is, the office looks like a college dorm room. The monitor, mouse, keyboard and speakers are on top of the filing cabinet. It’s pretty lame, but at least it’s only a two-drawer cabinet. I think I would get tired of standing in front of a four-drawer. Signing off for now…

J