We arrived in Springfield at around 7PM. Jim has me talk to our local contact on the phone to guide us to the final destination – a warehouse. I initually thought we’d be going to a church. I later found out the church had a good deal going for renting the warehouse – $1/month.
We unloaded everything from the truck – dressers, beds, mirrors, clothes and food I had helped box up previously. There were about 20 people there from Sunset Church of Christ unloading. Much of the stuff was already on a pallet. So there wasn’t much we could do except dodge the forklift operator. Later on a teenaged boy took the controls and seemed to be less adept at it. I got several pictures of the unloading. Hopefully Kevin and Amy will be able to use it in the bulletin.
At lucnh we ate in Mountain View at the Pizza inn. There was a Walmart and Dollar General, Blimpies, and McDonald’s nearby. We ordered a medium meatlovers (or whatever they call it at Pizza Inn).
So tonight’s quest was to find a motel. We tried a “downtown” motel in Mt. View, but there wasn’t big enough parking for a semi. We could have parked in the business district, but Jim said he could be fine for that. HE got a $150 parking ticket in California.
Later on we tried the Honeysuckel Lodge, but it too had no parking for semis ( carport was too low for the semi). This is a common thing – trying ti find a hotel with parking for semis.
So now we’re at the Hickory House Inn in Birch Tree. Jim successfully parallel parked the semi – awesome. I could not have done that.
I ned to close this entry, as I’m being told we’re getting up early tomorrow.

Sinclar gas stations have small dinosaur logos on them. I began noticing them as we got into Kentucky. Gas actually comes from oil which came from dinosaurs. So I guess the logo is appropriate.
Let’s talk about political and religious statements. We just passed a large spool (cable spool) on the side of the road. Written on it was “Do You Know Jesus?” What gave someone the idea to write that on a large wooden spool, I’ll never know. Then there’s the van with “No War with Iraq” written in bold letters on the side of it.
Anti Abortion billboards. There’s here in Missouri also.
I saw a car wrapped around a railroad crossing sign – except that it looked like it was moved from its original location. Placed on the side of the road as sorta a piece of highway art.
We crossed over a couple of bridges to get to Missouri. We were briefly in Illnois for a time. Some of those bridges were quite narrow. We hoped we wouldn’t met another semi. There was a time when we were on a 2 lane road with no shoulder and met a wide load truck carrying a house. Luckily we were able to let them through without too many problems.

We just went though a weigh station. Supposedly there are sensors on the road which give a estimate of the weight. We were well within the weight limit so we did not have to stop. On the side there was a “save haven” – an overnight parking lot for trucks.
We went over the Cumberland and Tennessee River bridges just now. Part of the beginning of the Land Between the Lakes.
When we entered into Kentucky, I saw a “Plain Jane” police car – a Camero pulled over someone. Jim calls them “Plain Jane” cars.
We’re about to stop here in Marshall County.

Instead of Norman/Moore, OK, as originally thought, we’re going to Springfield, MO. We won’t be going the interstate all the way. We’ll take I-24 to Paducah then take backroads to Springfield. This will give me a chance to see more of the countryside. Maybe some of the Ozarks.
The trip will probably take just as long as Moore since we are on the backroads. it took a little while to get the paperwork. We arrived at around 9AM, but didn’t leave until 10:45.
Jim likes to listen to talk radio. Right now its Paul Harvey. I’m more of a music man. I made a CD with music that I thought he’d like. We’ll see if we get around to listening to it.
The seat tends to shake alot making writing difficult.
More to come later on.

I’m going to Norman, Oklahoma, tomorrow. I’ll be riding in the Disaster Relief semi-truck delivering supplies to tornado victims. Thankfully I won’t be doing any of the driving. I’m just along for the ride.
I’ll be keeping a travel log to post here when I get back…sometime on Wednesday. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a hotel which will hold a semi. Otherwise we’ll be sleeping in the truck. I’ll expect to be eating at Subway alot since they seem to be nearby truckstops.
It’s a 10 hour drive. We’ll be hitting the highway pretty hard and not stopping unless we absolutely have to, since it is difficult to find a parklot big enough for the semi.

When you are out of the office for any significant amount of time, you get those “While You Were Out” notes. I’m just now catching up to what was going on.

• Things are a whole lot greener. What a difference a week makes. When we were using coats just a week ago, now things are mild and the skies are sunny. Looks like summer again.
• The War: When we were leaving Baghdad had just been taken and our forces were moving toward Tekrit. Now it looks as if the war is over. Gas prices are falling, the alert level has been dropped to yellow and the world is a better place. Or at least I hope so. While I was in El Salvador I saw a bumper sticker which said (in Spanish) “Stop the war in Iraq.” On a similar note, I saw in one of the classrooms, a student’s essay on the WTC. Big events like that are truly world events, even in the remote area of Usulutan.
  We did get our first substantial news when we reached the hotel on April 17th. There was a USA Today from April 14th in the lobby area. We had already heard of the rescued P.O.W’s via our group leader who had a laptop and internet access. So the days old USA today was sorta old news by then. We had internet access at the hotel and CNN International on the TV. CNN International was fairly boring. They showed the same thing over and over again. It was either SARS or the Iraq War coverage. No domestic US news.
• Friends: Scott updated his weblog. He seems to update it only when he has something to gripe about. Meanwhile Todd updates his weblog constantly, with no rhyme or reason. Scott’s main concern these days is Bluecoat DCI stuff. I’m not sure if he realized I was out of the country. Anyways I think Todd is going to volunteer for DCI stuff this year. Those crazy college kids. Who knows what they will get upto next. DCI is so much smaller compared to the big picture of things. I’d like to see Todd volunteer at MJ’s church camp because he was a good positive force last year. But to each his own.

That’s pretty much it for changes to my little world for these past few days.

What a big nerd I am. Here it is 3AM and the most productive thing I can do is to write in my weblog. Stupid is as stupid does.
I’ve seen 2 emails from our mission captain who is already in El Salvador. (Maybe I will have very limited internet access. Anyways, apparently they had to get the gears of the bureaucracy going with a little help with free candy for everyone. So it looks like we will be going to Usulutan.
I weigh 127 lbs. I wonder how much I’ll weigh when I get back.
Otherwise this place better be spotless when I get back.

Let’s talk about UT’s cafeteria. There’s the grill, which has a sandwich shop, Pizza Hut, Chick-Fill-a, burger place….etc. Good food. Then there’s the regular cafeteria. Lots of variety. We ate there at Saturday at noon. They were still serving breakfast food. Scambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc… along with regular lunch type food. Sandwiches, pizza, stir fry. Just about anything you could think of. More variety than Lipscomb’s cafeteria. If they were having something you just didn’t like, you were pretty much stuck. If it wasn’t the cafeteria, you were stuck eating DQ or Pizza Hut or a sandwich. Well, come to think of it, maybe we did have a little variety, at least downstairs at Lipscomb. DQ is gone now. There’s a Starbucks in its place.
Scott and the gang have this “Bathroom Journal” which they have placed on the tank section of the toliet in their apartment. You’re supposed to write in there when you’re doing your business. They showed it to me, but I didn’t exactly want to touch it, knowing where it’s been. Wash your hands, dude.
Living with Scott is sorta like an episode of Friends. 4 guys in one apartment plus 2 girls who seem to be over there frequently. Then there’s Todd who doesn’t live there, yet seems to be perpetually over there anyways. Makes me wonder if he’ll feel left out when all these guys graduate.
Anyways these people never seem to have an argument. Everyone seems to be happy go lucky. Except for maybe HG who hates everybody. HA.
Worship on Sunday was good. If I were Scott and Todd, I’d be getting heavily involved in church activities…ie the Christian Students’ Center. Church is a good support group when you’re away at college.
So schools are closed again today. Long weekend for all the kiddies. Now we just have to suffer though the local news scrolling child care centers closings across the bottom of the screen. Nevermind that these child care closings only affect maybe 100 people, this is important! As far as I’m concerned, the roads are clear in front of my house, therefore all schools in Mt. Juliet should be open. Case closed. Why waste another school day?
Zack has posted his Wheel of Fortune Experience. Good read.
Adaware 6.0 is out. By all means, download this program and get your computer in order. You probably have spyware on it and don’t even know it. Download it; scan your computer; and delete the junk. You’ll thank me later.

I made it back ok. But not before driving to view the Sunsphere in downtown Kville. I also stopped at a Super Target on the way out of Knoxville. What is a Super Target? Well it’s a huge Target store with a grocery store and Starbucks inside. The one I visited was located right next door to a Super Walmart. Pretty bold of Target. It was the first and only Super Target I had seen. I wish they’d build one here.
Ran into snow around Crossville. It was a slow go throughout. I didn’t make it back home unitl 6:30PM. Too late for church and the roads were getting covered with snow anyways. So I came home.

Surprisingly I woke up in time for to make it to Sunday school at 9:30AM. Laurel Church of Christ. Nice church. Big college class. I was able to successfully fool the teachers into thinking I truly was a college student and not just someone visiting friends.
The class was so big in fact, that they had to separate the girls and guys. Not sure what the reasoning behind that. The topics discussed weren’t the type that would cause problems with the opposite sexes to discuss.
Scott commented that this church seems to have the Lord’s Supper as a sorta mini-devotional in the middle of services. Much more time is devoted to it. Which is sorta refreshing a way. Too many times we are urged to “hurry up” and get the Lord’s Supper overwith so we can get to the “meat” of the service…ie the sermon. We tend to forget that the Lord’s Supper is the most important part of Sunday’s worship service.
Saw Hunter Hagewood, an old college friend of mine at church. He’s up here working at UT’s computer center. His wife is expecting a boy anytime. Hunter is cool. He’s a missionary’s son and spent much of his childhood in Brazil.
We stopped at the Giant Panda Chinese Restaurant for lunch, but thought the prices were just way too expensive for us college students. So off to a nice Mexican Restaurant. After that we went to some used clothing store.
Anyways I’ll be leaving soon for my drive back. Maybe I’ll stop by the Sunsphere and relive old memories of the 1982 World’s Fair. When we first visited the World’s Fair, my mom said it was going to be the best thing since sliced bread. She had been to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City. So much better. Knoxville’s World’s Fair was just fair. The world’s largest Rubik’s Cube. Robots that drew pictures in Japanese… You know. Just fair. Not spectacular. Nothing that will be remembered in history books. Just fair.
Adios everyone.