Road Trip Day Six

true, right now is technically day seven, but i was up very late last night and didn't get a chance / forgot to post some pics. i'm not really that late.

yesterday was by far our most eventful trippin day. tracy and i took a state highway, thinking it would save us some time. the official speed limit was 55 mph, but the recommended speed around the twists and turns next to extremely high cliffs was about 15 mph. needless to say, we scared ourselves to death, saw quite a bit of rural west virgina, and didn't save any time at all. actually, we think we lost quite a bit. and with scenery that included antique tractors totally overgrown with vegitation, 2,000 ft drops, decades-behind towns, and "the mystery spot," we very loudly thanked GOD when we got back on the interstate. my sis plans on getting the poor AAA guy who suggested the idea fired. well, it was an adventure.

7:30 a.m., leaving Louisville, Kentucky. This is downtown.

Sometime around 12 noon, Charestown, West Virginia.

1:00 p.m., some cool West Virginia waterfalls in some small, undetermined town. We took state highway 60, thinking it was a shortcut. It was not, but we got some interesting pictures along the way.

Same time... we are still friends! And I think my sister's hair looks fabulous.

2:30 p.m., Mystery Hole, West Virginia. We were totally weirded out by this, by the way. It wasn't the "Mystery" part.... it was the "West Virginia" part.

4:00 p.m., Virginia/ West Virginia Border

7:00 p.m., richmond, virginia. visit uncle kevin, auntie jean, and two cousins!

Road Trip Days Four and Five

took a break from the trippin and did some crashin.... yesterday we were in louisville all day and didn't do anything really eventful, except go to dinner at kasmir, and indian restaurant that i can't say i particularly cared for. at any rate, i didn't take pictures.

today tracy and i drove to cambelsville, where she wants to go to college, and back to louisville. on the way we passed lincoln's birthplace and elizabethtown, which tracy likes because olrando bloom went there to film his new movie that's coming out. and she calls me a nerd...

overall, i think the two of us are holding up pretty well together, considering we have been in close company since sunday evening, and loose caompany since even before that. i DO think that she elaborates her stories a little bit for the family. hmm...

more later! bueno!

Road Trip Day Three: Louisville, Kentucky

i guess this part of the trip doesn't really count as "road", since we've been in louisville all day, but here are the day's pics anyway. my cousins are super fun, i love them so much!

12:00 noon, Bardstown Road

3:00 p.m., my cousins and my sister shopping

4:30 p.m., Du Pont Manuel High School, where my cousin attends (and it looks cool, too).

8:00 p.m., Katie's soccer practice

Road Trip Day Two

today tracy saw me writing down what time we went through every city and asked me what i was doing. i told her i was going to post pictures of the road trip online, along with what time we'd been there. she answered, "in other words, you're going to be a nerd about it."

ZING!

well, i guess i am being a nerd about it. i can't help it.

7:30 a.m. This picture speaks for itself. The coffee was horrible. :)

10:30 a.m., Rolla, Missouri. (Sign reads, "We pump it for you!")

1:00 p.m., St. Louis, Missouri.

2:45 p.m., Mount Vernon, Illinois. There wasn't a lot of awesome scenery, but Tracy's shoes were cool.

3:30 p.m., Indiana State Border.

6:30 p.m., Louisville, Kentucky, last stop of the day!

Road Trip Day One

here they are.... see you tomorrow! we should be in louisville by then.

6:00 a.m., Albuquerque, New Mexico

8:45 a.m., Amarillo, Texas

12:00 noon, Groom, Texas, the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere (we thought it was weird, too)

3:15 p.m., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

5:45 p.m., Tulsa, Oklahoma.

ROOOOOAD TRIP!

tomorrow starts our road trip! my sister and i are driving across the country, from albuquerque to virginia beach. woo hoo....

no, i'm not really that excited. i think it will hit me when i'm actually in the car, on the road, with my music on and no work or people in my face. well, except for my sister. but i think we'll be okay.

i'll post pictures!

1 Samuel 17

45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands.
48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.

where am i going with this? i want to have faith that GOD will save me before i know i can win. like i've posted before, true faith is faith in GOD's faithfulness.

"take heart, daughter, for i am faithful."

just for fun...

it won't happen again

about half of the tech campus is under construction right now. oddly enough, that's not much of an exaggeration. all the roof tiles and skylights were destroyed in the hailstorm, so every building has a fence around it and the parking lots are one by one being blocked off for the construction crews. cramer, the building next to the one i work in, is being entirely gutted and re-done from the inside out. a big new sub is being built in the middle of campus, and there's a new chiller plant being built on the other side. a normally-short walk is incredibly delayed by slowly making your way all the way around the many fenced-off areas.

on such a walk yesterday, pablo noticed that the fence around cramer had been opened up, and we walked inside and checked it out. we went upstairs to and walked on the shaky floor, parts of which had cracks through which the rooms below were visible. that was creepy. and the basement is being completely torn up. that was kind of cool.

and then we walked out, simple as that. or wait, maybe not, because there's a truck coming up behind us pretty fast, and as soon as i heard it, i thought, there's campus police. sure enough, someone had called the cops on us. what kind of loser did that?

nothing dramatic happened, i just smiled, apologized and said it wouldn't happen again. it's amazing how far that gets you with authority figures. the officer told us that he didn't want us getting hurt, and he didn't want to call our parents to tell them we were injured. i don't really think it's his job to notify the family, but i didn't argue. just smile, apologize, and say it won't happen again.

quote from adam

it's been a long time since adam has said something worthy of my quote book. but despite not contributing to the list in probably a year, he is still the most-quoted person in the book by a good margin. honestly, i think he has his own page. single-spaced. this next quote from good ol' adam will remind you why he has his own page. as with most of my quotes, keep in mind that this is taken grossly out of context and was meant to be completely innocent. enjoy!

Adam: "I can feel my pants igniting as we speak."

are you a cool kid?

so i helped out with freshman orientation today. oh my goodness, i was laughing the whole time.

poor kids. half of them won't make it, and they don't even know it. tech is a really tough school. but i'm not a sadist, that's not what i was laughing at.

it's the little freshmen! the little froshies with their witty t-shirts and their pretty jewelry and their preppy clothes and new backpacks and perfect makeup. oh, the little kids, most of them trying so, SO hard to be cool. some of them pulling the "i'm too cool to look around me" or the ever-present "this is a waste of my time." others had the attitude of "i'm the greatest person ever, come be my friend!" sadly, there were many that were scared to death. when i talked to them they couldn't even answer without panicking.

to be fair, there were a lot of kids at orientation that are actully, genuinely cool. i talked to several of them. the cool ones are the ones who realize that we, the helpers, really do know what we are talking about, and they can benifit from our help. i'm not saying that i'm the all-knowing goddess of the universe or anything, but i've actually been going to tech for three years and i know how it works. the cool kids aren't freaking out trying to make first impressions. and they look you in the eye. i love that. a lot of the cool kids were at the mechanical engineering table. coincedence? i think not.

i don't know if you're reading between the lines or not, but i'm actually thrilled that the freshmen are coming. i love meeting new people, even if they think they are too cool to be here. i love talking to new kids and finding out about their lives.

but some advice? freshmen, really. don't try to be cool. you're the coolest when you're just yourself, i promise. don't try to re-invent yourself. and don't, whatever you do, pull the "this is such a watse of my time" attitude. then people just think you're mean. you've got all of your college experience to make friends, don't try to rush it. you'll be fine.