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CONFERENCE WEEKEND
After our District Conference obligations were over at 9:30pm last Saturday, the 2 GSE teams headed out for a night on the town. We were also joined by Terry - a 30-something landscape architect, Rotarian and very poor mechanic, and his wife Shannon. Sarah lead us to the Velvet Dog (a 3-storyed bar), catching the beginning of a hail storm as we entered. A quick couple of drinks, and a round of shots (thanks Jesse!) were enjoyed before heading to the Beaumont Club.
Arriving at the Beaumont, 5 very amused NZers were surprised to find a large barn filled with row upon row of line-dancers, all moving in perfect unison. Sarah and Mary were particularly delighted to find a mechanical bull, and it wasn’t long before the challenge was too tempting. Sarah led the way with a very respectable performance. She also managed to secure a free ride for a NZer - Mary jumped at the chance.
Against the best medical advice, and the conditions of her travel insurance, Mary leapt astride the bull. She proved to be easily the best on show, and astounded her fans (us) with an incredible exhibition of upper arm strength.
Her performance was perhaps proof that Judo training is ideal preparation for mechanical bull riding. Her endurance and poise became especially commendable in contrast to the next rider’s (is that even the right word?) attempt.
Arnold also entertained the locals - helping Sarah’s friends out with a balloon hat. This hat was messing up the girls’ hair, so Arnold was the perfect accomplice.
Towards the end of the evening, the NZ team started to recognize some songs as the theme became slightly less country and line dancing made way for the more familiar variety.
We headed back to the hotel as the bar shut at 3am. Hunger soon kicked in, so at 4am Luke, Nik, Mary, Brock, Jesse and Amy headed for IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for an early breakfast. Brock managed to confuse coffee and maple syrup - but still ate the soggy pancakes. At 5:30am the tired sextet hit their beds for a couple of hours sleep before starting the next leg of their journey.
KIRKSVILLE
A tired GSE team was handed over to
All of us
GSE x2 and friends their new host families on Sunday morning. A 3 hour trip to Kirksville followed.
Monday dawned another vocational day. The team were big news in Kirksville, Luke spent the day with the local paper ‘researching’ a story about our arrival. He caught up with Arnold at the local airport and both enjoyed a flight over Kirksville and the surrounding areas. It would be fair to say that Luke has subsequently enjoyed every opportunity to remind us that he got the chance to fly.
Nik spent the day touring local gardens, Mary visited the local hospital in the morning, Melanie toured supported housing complexes for the aged, disabled and low income. Mel and Mary then joined interests in the afternoon and spent the remainder of the day with Elsie learning about AT Still University’s osteopathic medicine training.
Time scheduled late in the day for emailing at the local community computer centre was appreciated for the chance to catch up on emails.
As the week progressed, the team conducted 2 radio interviews, 1 television interview and were the subject of 2 newspaper
articles.
Our time in Kirksville was very interesting and busy! We had a Rotary meeting to attend every lunch time (apart from on our vocational day) and one at 7am on Thursday morning. Our only formal presentation was Wednesday to the Kirksville noon club, although we provided a shorter, verbal programme at each of the meetings we attended. The opportunity to deliver impromptu sessions is good training for us, and we are becoming very comfortable and confident with this request.
Other highlights of our time in Kirksville include a morning spent at the Thousand Hills State Park on Kevin’s pontoon and the opportunity to work off some of the many calories we are consuming with a hike. Nik and Luke also speak very highly of 2 trays of lasagne they managed to attack one evening, we also enjoyed a pub crawl with local Rotarians and learnt the fantastic game of shuffleboard. A visit to a local dairy farm provided a fascinating contrast with dairy farming as Arnold knows it - only 80 cows being milked though an 8-bale shed year round. A tour of a buffalo farm, pecan orchard and Walmart cold pack warehouse (maneuvering our way through
-20F temperatures - that’s about -30C for our NZ friends) were also unique American experiences.
ST LOUIS
For maximum travel efficiency the team was delivered to Macon a day earlier than originally scheduled. Brock arranged a traditional hunting cabin, perched aside a large pond and complete with more dead animals than the walls should have coped with (including a bear!), for us to spend Friday night in. Jesse and Brock and his wife Sonja joined the team and prepared a truly marvelous meal. Jesse provided fish he’d caught himself (and on his 2nd cast in the pond pulled up another) and we christened Brock’s deep fryer with more oil than this NZ team has ever owned. Homemade potato chips, onions, kebabs (the stick variety - not cooked in the deep fryer! Instead over a rustic outdoor oak fire), crumbed fish, garlic bread and strawberry shortcake were a filling and delicious meal.
A relatively quiet evening, concluded with a few rounds of cards, in preparation for an early start on Saturday - departure for St Louis.
We decorated ourselves with borrowed Cardinal’s attire, stopped briefly in Hannibal to collect Amy and Jesse’s dad and for Mary to buy a pack of twinkies, before heading south to St Louis. The ballpark was our first stop - not even pausing to check into the hotel. The walk to the stadium was under umbrellas, and we occupied ourselves under the stand while waiting and hoping for the rain to abate. In the spirit of a truly blessed GSE trip, the weather cleared just in time for game start.
The ball game featured the St Louis Cardinals, the Washington Nationals, a brand new stadium and an atmosphere akin to that of the Wellington Sevens (except everyone is wearing the same colour - red). Victory after a very defensive game for the local team rounded out an excellent afternoon.
After checking in at the hotel we descended upon a highly recommended local Italian restaurant for yet another excellent meal. A quick walk to the Landing brought us to The Big Bang - a piano bar like nothing we had ever seen before: 3 bars, 2 grand pianos, 4 pianists/singers, dancing bar staff, more bride-to-be’s and a few creative interpretations of well known songs.
Sunday morning involved quick trip to the top of the Arch - travelling in a small egg-shaped pod. Yet again the rain cleared in time for us to enjoy magnificent views of St Louis city, Illinois and the Mississippi River.
A quick stop at Union Station for some shopping and lunch before returning to Macon to connect with our new hosts from the Chillicothe area.
Sonja prepared some delicious pies for us to enjoy for afternoon tea.
The team would like to wholeheartedly thank Jesse and Brock for the time they invested to make the weekend such a success. Cheers guys!!
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Sue H
non-member comment
Great record!
Hey Luke, Thoroughly enjoying the trip to Missouri via your pen! Well done, you might never want to come home!! S