Rapid City Adventure - The story of the elk

November 26, 2007

The adventure begins.

Actually the beginning started a few months ago when Mar and I decided that the family van was showing its age. We decided to look for a new car. Today that search paid fruit. We spent the morning buying - now don't get too excited - we traded in our Town and Country for a

New Town and Country - 2008 model. We feel goodabout it. Here is a picture of the new Town and Country with Laramie Peak in the background.

Yes, this picture was taken on the next portion of the adventure. Mar and I drove to Rapid City, Sout Dakota for the long Thanksgiving Day weekend. We just thought it would be fun to get away, so we did. It is about a six hour drive from home. Getting a little bit of a later start, it got dark during the trip.

After only six hours of new car ownership, right after sundown, we saw a whole herd of elk real close up. In fact, about a dozen of them were right in the middle of the road. Have you ever tried to maneuver around a dozen 250 pound elk. Let me tell you it is not easy. For me it was impossible. We hit a big buck on the right front corner of the car. That does not do wonders on a new car. We left a portion of the bumper there on the road. It crumpled in the right front quarter panel - the door won't open all of the way. But we have a lot to be thankful for. We were not hurt. The car still functions perfectly. We hit it a glancing blow so none of the airbags went off. We slowed down enough to not do more than $2000-3000 worth of damage. The anti lock brakes and Electronic stability worked great. Really, I almost guided a car under full brake from 65 miles per hour through a herd of giant animals and almost made it through.

The elk wasn't as lucky as we were. He is probably really hurt. I know he is very bald in one spot becasue I took 4 giant handfuls of elk fur out of the door frame. No we didn't save any of it.

Really, we were blessed tremendously. This could have been a whole lot worse. We have heard terrible stories about people hitting much smaller animals. We could have easily been stranded in the desolation of eastern Wyoming. We could have been hurt. We could have been hurt real bad. Someone could have had the horrible job of calling our children and telling them we had been hurt or killed. (Brea, this was just ten minutes after the Assine D'Pepi recipe call.) But we weren't hurt and we feel really blessed and watched over. We are really grateful for our safety. This year, for us, that gets a whole feather of the thankful turkey. There are tender mercies involved in all of our lives all of the time. Sometimes they are more evident than at others. We had a dozen or so just today.

We are at our motel now. We have decided to stay here an extra day, becasue this motel is having a free Thankgiving Day Turkey dinner for all of the guests. Wahoo!!!!

Santa Rosa - Return to Summer

November 10 - 15, 2008

Santa Rosa, California

I had another business trip. This time to Santa Rosa in Sonoma County north of San Fransisco. It was mid-November, but the weather was beautiful. By the end of the week the temperature was in the 80s. Now the hard part of that was - well in November, I go to work early in the morning and by the time I get off, the sun is down. I did like the trip. I had never been to Santa Rosa before and I was impressed. It is a nice city with a vibrant atmosphere. Of course I didn't see too much - but I tried to take some pictures.

I arrived on Monday. I flew into Oakland and then drove up. In order to not get lost, I ordered a car with NeverLost GPS. It was supposed to take me up across the Richmond Bridge into San Rafael, but I missed a turn and ended up on the Oakland Bay Bridge - no U turns there - so I went through San Fransisco instead and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

I got to Santa Rosa bu 3:00 and then, because I wasn't due for work until the next day, I drove over to Bodega Bay. That day it was overcast and chilly.

I did find a running path along Santa Rosa Creek, which was right by my motel and used that to see some of the parks in the down town area.

I also walked around the downtown area in the evenings.

On Friday evening I drove back to Oakland and on Saturday, I flew home. Oh - the flight was a little bit late because "one of the engine turbines looked like it was rubbing on the housing and they needed to get that checked - yea - I think so. (Actually, this was a really good customer service experience - United Airlines did a great job. They kept us informed, they checked on connecting flights, they aided people to make those flights - I was surprised because sometimes United doesn't do that well.)

Tolkien Again - Part Three

November 15, 2008

And I have finished reading the Tolkien Trilogy again. Today I finished The Return of the King. I am satisfied. I don't need to read The Hobbit. I don't need to read The Silmarillion. Yes - I still really like these stories.

A Day of Service - Unlooked For

November 13, 2008

Margaret woke and went to exercise as was her plan. She even did a little bit extra. Then she went home to do the rest of her plan - which was to have an unplanned day to relax and study. That didn't last long.

Her friend Becky called. Their Middle School had a field trip to see the Denver Symphony - 5 bus loads of kids - and some of the chaperons had fallen through. Could Margaret come and help. Why yes she could. So she got to go with 250 kids to a symphony - prepared just for this age - and then out to lunch at a mall food court (oh, yummy). She got home at about 3:00.

Now she could salvage what was left of her relaxing and studying. Then Sean called. He was going to work and his car had broke down. Could Mar help? Why yes she could. So she jumped in the car and went to Denver to rescue Sean. There are more details to the rescue, but suffice it to say, she again saved the day.

Well today she saved the day twice.

Tolkien Again - Part Two

November 10, 2008

And tonight I finished Part Two of The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers.

Running for Real

November 8, 2008

It is all Erica's fault - at least twice. She is the one who said I had to be in shape to run the Bolder Boulder 10K next Spring. so I have been running - and running and running. Then she said I should try to run it in under my age - so that started me running and running and running faster. Thursday I ran 10K in under 55 minutes - pretty good I said to myself - but it was all flat - and the Bolder Boulder is a gravity challenge.

Thursday afternoon I learned of a lesser challenge. The Turkey Trot was being held in Longmont on Saturday. The Turkey Trot has a 10K, but since I had done it Thursday, I deemed it unwise - no fool hardy to try it again so soon. I'm just not ready for that. But the Turkey Trot also has a 2 mile fun run. Now I have gotten to a training stage where two miles is a short morning run for me. So I figured I might venture. No, I wasn't going to. Then I told Erica and she said she would come and run with me. Rats and Drat - I was captured. I had to do it. Therefor, I decided I would do it fast. No slow even jog for me. I was going to run.

Saturday morning Erica and I went down and registered. We waited and stretched while the 10K race started and then it was our turn. And I was determined to go fast. Then they said GO. This was my first real event race. There were a lot of people and I think it invigorated and challenged me - a little too much. I left Erica soon - she didn't want or need to go fast. I passed people. I did not pace myself, which I should have because the beginning was uphill. It spent me quickly. I reached the one mile mark and checked my time - just under 8.5 minutes. I was okay with that because it was lower than my average - and it was uphill mostly up to that point - but I was spent. However the next portion was downhill and I let gravity do its best. I reached the bottom of the hill and was actually hurting, and the last 200 yards were uphill again. I was running alone. The first wave had left me but I was in front of the last wave. I pushed on, wishing I could stop. No - I didn't. I finished in 16 minutes 13 seconds. I was happy - but about ready to die. Yes, I had gone fast. For me it was real fast.

The final result was - well they put me in the wrong category. They had me in the age group just younger than I really am. And in that age group I came in third. So I looked to see where I would be in my real age group - where I really belonged. Ouch - I was seventh in that group - so I just let the error stand - I can now say that in the two mile run I was third in my group. It was good. But I also now know the virtues of planning your run.

It is all Erica's fault - and I thank her for it.

North West Adventure

Eugene, OR - October 27 - 31, 2008

This was a busines trip to do an on site mentoring engagement ar DataLogic in Eugene. The engagement went better than I had hoped. In fact it went quite well.

I did present one problem to my host with the question, "What is there to see in Eugene?' Hmmmm. Not much. It is a very nice community with the University of Oregon nestled downtown. But really that is all there is - especially when you are there at the end of October and it is too dark after work to really see anything.


They do have a very nice Greenway that runs along both sides of the Willamett River. I ran a few miles on the River Valley Greenway everyday becasue it was literally just 20 feetoutside my motel room patio door.



And yes - the weather patterns were exactly what you would expect - fog in the mornings - cooler - and one day of just rain.