09 July 2003 19:05
well, it's nice and sunny, and a balmy 72 degrees to boot. i'm here for my second stint in california this summer. last time i was here i got a bag of grapes to eat with my lunches. i couldn't help but agree with my gdad on this issue. he's always said something to the jist of, "grapes are the most [he might have said 'one of the most'] refreshing fruit there is. he's right. they don't leave you thirsty, they burst like a raindrop in your mouth.. delicious. of course they're adictive, but that's another matter :).oh, about the third week in may, i was driving home. i left school on a saturday morning, took I30 to Little Rock, then proceeded on north on US67 into Missouri. this was to be a liseurely trip home (hehheh, and it was >) ). wandered through kentucky on the byways. you know what though? not many people were smiling. i was of course having a great day, in a rather chipper mood, and here are all these people blasting by me who are staring dead ahead through the windshield, oblivious of the wrold, and obviously not happy about it. sure, i know we've stopped waving at each other when cars pass, but at least we could smile at each other. hmm, i just noticed that i wrote abou this last time i posted. too bad people don't have hope enough to smile.
ah, but it was a glorious trip. and i've had nothing but a glorious summer too. i've spent a Lot of time outdoors, and i think that's a large part of it. i happen to like the outdoors. we're about a 20 minute drive from George Washington National Forest, and we've done a bit of hiking and driving there. driving home from Texas, i stopped a lot in Kentucky, esp on Sunday morning. i was driving down a narrow valley as the morning mist was burning off, everything verdantly green, 0700 nobody was awake, the road was mine, the creek was trickling in the back ground... lovely. i came through the Monongahela NF on St39, georgeous route, even though the leaves were not quite full yet. when i get back to VA, the twins and i are going to go camping down there.
last weekend, k and i went to visit some cousins in blacksburg, va. they live within an hour of the New River Bike Trail. it's about 50 miles of old railroad bed converted to bike trail. easy riding grade wise. we actually found it to be a bit boring. we're used to slogging uphill in the GW for and hour or so then cruising back to the bottom in 10minutes. we also weren't used to sitting on our bike seats for so long. that made us quit by 1030 instead of 1600 like we'd planned. did some rock climbing along the trail. last thursday i went rock climbing on an indoor wall with some friends from work (letu students). that was exhausting, but fun. this was exhilerating, and somewhat unnerving. i asked the guy running the wall if he ever climbed without gear. "no" he replied, "i'm a family man."
after we got back to our uncles, we had a picnic down by a bonfire they were burning. that was a lot of fun to socialize with them and the couple that rents a house on their property. the next morning (sunday), k and i left at 0500 for home, stopping along the way for a large mt dew and some krispy kreme donughts. we both could have used more sleep. i had 1.5hrs before church, which i went to sunday school at my parents church. we (the college class) had a most excellent discussion/argument on business ethics from nehemiah 1-2. that wasn't the intent i don't think, but that's what it ended up being. i intend to blog on that at sometime. then k and i went to my church for the service where two of my friends (bro and sis) were commissioned for the next year or so of service (in jamaica and turkey respectively). k and i would Love to visit her in addendium to our visiting grandparents in albania next spring. we'll see how the money flows. we've already trumped up and dismissed one trip to montana this summer (essentially i'd get back from california nad start driving to montana), and a trip to west texas is pending early this fall. holding full time jobs is annoying :).
after church i had an hour, then i was on the road to dc to catch a flight here. friday i helped dad build a retaining wall. gloriously hot, it feels so good to be doing hard manual labor in the summertime. "almost" makes me wish i was working for granddad again. 4 years of college had softened me too much. kyle wins over half of our arm wrestling contests. i guess that's what i get for going to school while he works on a farm.
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