A word about the picture on the front page. That’s a DISH satellite dish. I saw it, along with about 100 feet of cable leading to a camper. They had placed it in the activity field around the campsite. The need for a satellite dish? To watch whatever NASCAR race is on that weekend.
I thought it was amusing enough to take a picture of it. Some people “rough it” when camping. Some people don’t. I prefer to rough it somehow. It’s best to “Kill your television” every so often. It’s a Ned Atomic Dustbin song. Look it up.

Most of us came back early from Fall Creek Falls due to severe storms which were expected in the area Sunday night. I had had enough of tent camping in the rain. Some people find rain at 5AM in the morning soothing. I find it annoying, especially when one needs to go to the bathroom.
I watched the storms on the radar last night. I wonder what happens at campsites when severe storms are in the area. Does the ranger drive through and tell everyone to take cover at the bathhouse? I would not want to be in a tent with that type of storm happening. Surely there must be a plan for that type of thing.

Camping this weekend at Fall Creek Falls. We usually have a good time. Mostly families from church, even though it is an unofficial church event. So it isn’t announced, per say.
And I realize that some people might feel left out if they are not in the loop of things. But it is easy to get in the loop. Just reserve your campsite in October and then you’re good to go.
What we usually do it sit around and come up with a utopian scheme for solving all the problems at church. We complain about unsavory things. We praise good ideas. And then there’s ideal solutions for problems that “If we were in charge…” things would work that way. Some of us are utilitarian in approach…i.e. the easiest way is usually the best way. Hence the 2nd service debate which I’m sure will come up.
One rule: Whatever is said at camp, stays at camp. That’s the only rule. Otherwise you can do what you want. There’s no one there saying you can’t do something. Or these rules apply to you. It’s more or less 30 families have 30 separate campouts on the same weekend at the same place. And the only scheduled activity is Sunday morning church service.

There is a town near Henderson called Finger. We drove there this afternoon. Not much to it. There’s the “Finger Christian Fellowship” and “First Baptist Church at Finger, TN” and of course “Finger Church of Christ.” I took a picture of it. I can imagine the town leaders about 150 years ago. “Well, we have this community here. What should we call it?” “How about “Finger” ?” And so the town’s name stuck. Or it could have been the finger part of a river or creek something.
Jackson was interesting too. We stopped by Union University to check things out. Seems very sparse. And there’s one big building where all of the classes appear to take place. Wow this campus is small. I later found out that this is not the original campus. They moved from downtown Jackson in 1975 to the bypass area. Which brings to mind, what happened to the old Union campus? Did they sell it off piece by peace, or did they dismantle it (ala “Little House on the Praire”? I’d like to find out. Surely not much is left as it happened almost 30 years ago. Unless another university moved in on the territory.
There is a building on Union’s campus called “Hyran Barefoot Student Union Building.” Which apparently is the Union Student Union Building, home of the Department of Redundancy Department.

The town of Henderson has a McDonald’s, Burger King, Baskin Robbins, Jack’s, Taco Bell, Subway…and (so I’m told) a Dominos, and a Pizza Hut. So I could survive here. Maybe. When I was here last…maybe about 8 years ago, they only had a Subway and McDonald’s. You’ve come a long way baby. You can tell that all of the restaurants above were built primarily because of college kids. Taco Bell is a main staple of a college student’s diet. You’ll note that there is no sign of Cracker Barrell, which I would term old people’s food. When was the last time you heard a bunch of college kids say “Hey, let’s go down to Cracker Barrell” ?
I’ve been told that the town sometimes really doesn’t like the college. Sure it brings alot of money to the town, but I’m sure that it has alot of influence in governmental decisionmaking. Is Chester County a dry county? I’ve been told that the local public high school doesn’t have prom…instead it has a banquet…possibly due to the influence of the town.
Todd doesn’t leave his door locked. I don’t know what his thinking is. Sure this is a Christian college, but so was Lipscomb. And I kept my doors locked all the time…actually the doors locked on their own. So there was no choice. It is 2004 and people, even some so called Christian people steal. Don’t leave yourself open for a tragedy in the making.
I think Ultimate Frisbee is in the making for today. Not sure what else. The town closes down at 9PM, while the curfew around here is 12:30. So don’t look for an extended night on the town. Might put in a movie. Who knows. Todd has no money. So I’m sure whatever happens will have to be cheap.
More to come later…

So I’m visiting Todd at FHU right now. So far its been uneventful. Freed is dead on weekends. We’ve been surfing the internet mostly. Not even left the dorm room.
Freed blocks MTV and VH1, but doesn’t block the USA Network. Go figure. Lipscomb didn’t block VH1. Oh and we’re watching Se7en on TNT right now. Now tell me that isn’t any worse that what you’d see at a Superbowl Halftime show.
I stopped a Wendy’s in Dickson on the way down there. All over it was a Baptist youth group. As I standing in line for my Wendy’s Single with cheese….some kid came up behind me and was standing pratically on top of me. I don’t know if he was trying to cause trouble or if he was just anixous to see Dave. (Dave’s dead, you know). So I turn around and the kid sorta gives me the “what’s up look to his eye.” To which I give the same stare. I think this kid was sorta the outcasts, because when he sat down no one else was sitting with him. “Come on, guys someone sit with me.” Well maybe if he wasn’t so much of a close talker (think Seinfeld). Anyways eventually someone did sit down with him…and it was the kid who spilt his drink on the way to the table.
There. I can’t believe I wrote a paragraph on everything at happened with the Baptist kids at the Wendys. Ok whatever. Oh yeah. The Wendy’s was out of ketchup too.
Tomorrow there’s a frisbee golf tourney or something Todd has signed up for. Fun.

Dollywood with Corinth church yesterday. I got up at 4AM so I could be in Portland at 6AM. Wow. And we drove through Lebanon to get on the interstate. Doubleback.
Spenser, Sam, and Brian and I rode Daredevil falls 12 straight times. That’s one hour on the ride. I can’t believe that. It kinda became surreal after a while. Seeing the same thing over and over again. The record for that ride is 96 times. Apparently you can only do 12 rides per hour. Since the park is open for 8 hours that day, you could ride is continuously for 8 hours.
Dollywood is known for their shops like Opryland was known for their shows. And Dollywood has all old people working for them. Apparently they have camping areas for their workers. They try to encourage older retired people to work the rides.

All listed are middle (lower) Ocoee unless otherwise noted.

• September 12, 1992: Mt. Juliet (no camera; O.A.R.): As I remember, a friend from KY (Stephen Collins) came along on this trip. Not that it matters to the vast majority of you. I thought I’d put it in there for future reference.
• September 25, 1993: Mt. Juliet (waterproof camera; O.A.R.)
• September 12, 1998: Mt. Juliet (no camera; O.A.R.): More or less an adult trip.
• July 15, 2001: Scottsville and Linary Churches of Christ (waterproof camera): Flat tire on one of the Linary vans going up there.
• August 4, 2002: Scottsville Church of Christ (water proof camera): Small group. Probably around 12 people (or less) total.
• August 9, 2003: Mt. Juliet (Upper Ocoee; no camera; O.A.R.): Flat tire on the Pirtle’s van going up there.

It is sorta sad that I have this information reasonably at my fingertips. If you are into saving money, you can get a discount if you go on the Ocoee after Labor Day. When the weather is slightly cooler.
When Joey was Mt. Juliet’s youth minister (’93-’98) we didn’t go down the Ocoee. Something about a previous incident happening earlier at another church where a kid almost drowned. I don’t know the significance of it. You do have life jackets on. And it’s a pretty safe river.
[Update 8/26/03]
I finally figured out why Joey didn’t like the Ocoee River. This bulletin article might explain why:

Echoes from the Basement
with Joey Davis
May 21, 1995
It was on the Ocoee River that I learned a great lesson in life. My wife had talked me into going white-water rafting down the Ocoee. I had never gone white-water rafting before. The idea of taking on deadly rapids in a rubber raft bordered on insanity in my book. However, my manhood had been challenged. So, with of all the bravado I could muster, I embarked on the encounter trying to appear calm.
As we rode in the bus that carries the rafters to the head of the stream, I looked out to see the raging river below. Halfway up that winding road, I became certain that I had lost my mind and the bus was loaded with suicidal maniacs. At the head of the river, I was ready to tell everyone that, “I’ve enjoyed the bus ride, the scenery was wonderful, but you ain’t gettin’ me in one of those boats!”
Just as I was about to give my exit speech, I noticed who was launching the raft in front of us…six (really old) Catholic Nuns. Do you see my predicament? Manhood challenged…scared…about to wimp out on something elderly Nuns aren’t afraid of.
You know the rest of the story! I loaded into the raft with all the other idiots. The ride started out quite calm and with each victory over the rapids, I began to feel more comfortable…that is until we got to the last rapid called “Hell’s Hole.”
“Hell’s Hole was a 12 food drop off that, if you don’t maneuver it properly, would propel your raft directly into a bridge support and capsize the craft. The guide warned us that people had died here. This did wonders for my confidence.
As we approached the rapid I became angry. I wanted to blame Melissa for talking me into this. I wanted to blame those Nuns fo rmaking this look safe. But there was one thing I wanted more than to blame somebody for my predicament…I wanted to survive “Hell’s Hole.” I became determinded that if I died here, nobody was going to put…”died because he wouldn’t paddle“…on my tombstone.
That’s when I learned a great lesson in life…The time to analyze and criticize is in the planning stages, but when you’re in the middle of a challenge…”paddle!” Paddle with all your heart; paddle with all your might; paddle as if your life depended on it (because sometimes it does); but suck it up and paddle!
The Bible calls it “perserverance” (Titus 2:2). When you find yourself in a situation where all the analyzing in the world won’t change anything, stop analyzing and deal with it. If you survive, you can analyze and criticize the situation later.
Don’t fail because you didn’t have the heart to try…paddle!

Whitewater rafting with the youth group. We went on the upper Ocoee. Before I had always done the lower (sometimes called the middle) Ocoee. After experiencing both, I can tell you the lower is much better. The lower has alot of rapids and less dead space. Whereas the upper has alot of dead space where not much is happening. Still, it was a good trip.
I went with Don Spires, Jeremy Spires, Jeremy’s girlfriend, and a father and his 2 sons from Atlanta. Don picked the lead raft so that we could go ahead of all of them and get good pictures of the rest of the church group. And I think it worked. Don had a decent underwater camera. I’m interested in seeing what kind of pictures it took.
Interesting facts about the Ocoee. I asked how often someone dies on the river. Our guide said not very often. Maybe once every 5 years. And it is usually because someone did something stupid. Darwin’s Law. For instance one time someone drowned because they were on a flooded river. Another man had a heartattack on the “Grumpy” rapid because they had just had heart surgery.
Also apprently TVA isn’t making any money on the Ocoee. They seem to be getting electic power at a loss, for the amount of equipment spent on it.
On the way back we stopped at Sticky Fingers, a barbeque place. None in Nashville. Nearest one is Chattanooga. Great barbeque. The unusual thing was that many of the kids didn’t want to eat there. “No” to barbeque. Many of them got chicken fingers for no reason at all. My pork barbeque sandwich was good. My only complaint was that it didn’t fill me up.
And when did the youth of America start liking “Good Charlotte” ? I am completely lost on this one. Can’t even name one of their songs. Yet for the kids in the church van, this band is the flavor of the moment. I’m going to make a prediction. One year from now, Good Charlotte’s 15 minutes of fame would have ended and the kids of America will move on to other things. The next big hit if you will. Its just a fad. Time to move on. Then again, I guess it is better than your average boyband.

Our day started off soggy. Rained the entire way up to the metropolis of Louisville. No worries. During the ride up there I was with Toddman and our education minister. We retreated to the noiseless of Phil’s car. By the time we got up there, the rain cleared.
Kentucky Kingdom is no Six Flags. As Andrew put it, it’s 6 Flag’s dirty little secret. I knew it wasn’t Disney World when I got in line for the first ride. It was the Breakdancer….sorta a carnival type ride. Spins around and makes you throw up and all that. What made it much different than Disney World was that the ride operator hawked up a big nasty loogie and spit it out in view of myself. Nasty. She (yes, SHE) apologized for it (I think). Then after a few minutes of fumbling at the controls, she got on the intercom and said “Ok, it’s gonna be a little longer because I can’t get this started again.” Completely unprofessional on both counts. Don’t ever spit in front of patrons. And always be trained adequately to handle how to start and stop the rides. I mean it’s nearing toward the end of the summer. Seems like she should have figured out how to do this by now.
The Kingdom (or commonwealth) of Kentucky is filled with roller coasters. Unfortunately these roller coasters tend to give me headaches, so I’m not as enthusiastic about it as what I should be. The Twisted Twins were good. The Twin’s name once was “Twisted Sister.” But Dee Snider must have objected, citing intellectual property reasons. (And I did say Dee Snider and intellectual property in the same sentence.)
I’m glad I went. It was a pretty reasonable afternoon. The kids seemed to enjoy it too.