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Published: August 19th 2008
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Check out this buggy
I had never seen a buggy with car seats mounted on it, now that is cool! This morning Kayla and I went out to breakfast at the local bagel place in town. Not too bad I might add. We paid a visit to the local Post Office to send out some goods. Dad, you can rest assured that we are still contributing to your retirement check! Afterward we went to the bank where Kayla works, and I was able to use their internet connection to catch up on a few things.
One thing I forgot to mention was that on the way driving down to Harrisonburg, the undesirable happened again….I got rained on for about 40 miles of some of the nicest scenery and roads I will see on the trip. Skyline Drive wanders through part of the Appalachian range, and follows some of the mountain ridges through some beautiful scenery. But today I was redeemed because Kayla and I drive through parts of Skyline Drive while the weather was better. We did some scenic driving and enjoyed a lot of the pullouts where there are nice views. And we also parked the car and did some hiking. Part of the hiking was done on what the locals refer to the AT, or Appalachian trail. I
Nature inspiration
Ever wonder where man thought up the ergonomics of motorcycles? I think I found out when I saw this rock... believe it runs for 2000+ miles north to south along the mountain range. We only caught about 1 mile of the trail, but it was cool to say that I have been there. We passed a guy by himself on the trail, and when we talked to him for a couple minutes we found out he is from Georgia and is traveling on about 1000 miles of the trail. He was traveling solo, and said that his family was going to pick him up when he is done. How cool is that to be doing that kind of traveling! I am not sure how far you can go in a day, but I imagine a trip like that would take at least 1 month, and probably more like 2 months.
While we were hiking we also saw a buck, and we were very close to it. We had stopped to read some brochures along the trail, and when I looked up I saw a four-by-four (I think that is what you call it, it had 4 spikes on each antler) standing about 30 feet away. He was eating and doing his thing, and didn’t seem to be affected by
AT
We hiked the Appalachian Trail! our presence. In the next minute he slowly made his way over to Kayla and I, and I was thinking to myself the whole time that I need to keep the sturdy steel brochure stand between him and I. But maybe I am just being a sissy too, mostly likely that is the case. But all of a sudden he starts to run toward us, and takes a leap over a bunch of bushes literally right in front of us. I bet the buck was about 5 feet in front of us, and I probably could have reached out to touch it as it sailed through the air in front of us. And I think he was probably about 3 or 4 feet in the air as he cruised right past us. I think that is one of the cooler things I have seen on the trip, simply amazing.
On the way home we stopped to see the schools and classrooms that Ben and Jolene work in. I have to say that the place that Jolene works at is awesome! It is a brand new school, and I saw many things that the kids get the privilege of using
that I never had. One thing is the SmartBoard in the classrooms. I had never seen or heard of these until today, and are amazing! They work with a projector and computer, but they allow you to write on them with their special pens and erasers and it will show up on the screen. But everything that is being done is digital, meaning there is no mess or cleanup involved as with blackboards or dry-erase boards. It just amazes me sometimes how much technology has been invented in the last 15 years. One thing that Kayla thought up was drawing all of our body silhouettes on the SmartBoard, and it turned out awesome! See the picture I posted, it says more than I can really explain.
Tonight we went to a local park where there was a going-away dinner for Aaron Nussbaum. I was glad that I was able to be part of that event. I met some of the people that my EMU friends talk about that come up in conversation, and now I can put faces with names. I saw some other people I knew from Western and Hesston such as Jenna Martin, Becky Horst, and Nick
and Erica Stoddard. Most of these people I haven’t seen for about 4 years, so it is always nice to see them again and see what they are up to. Of course Jolene, Kayla, and Aaron were there too, and good times with them as usual. Kayla and I rode my bike over, and we went over to see Rachel afterward. I can’t say that riding at night is my favorite thing to do, or the safest thing to do for that matter, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. You just pray to God for safety, and be as careful as you possibly can.
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