Stuck on the inside.

I was at work saturday morning to help finish a steeple that we needed to get ready to ship to wisconsin. It's not a big steeple, so the inner structure isn't very large. someone needed to climb up inside the steeple, which is lying on it's side, to put some rivets on the inside. the inner structure is a long narrow pyramid, with braces holding it together, making several squares on the inside, getting smaller towards the top.
the 4 of us there started discussing who would fit through the second to last square in the structure, where you would need to rivet the pieces into place. long story short, i tried and just barely fit my upper body through, having to push one arm and shoulder through first, and then the second. it was a really tight fit.
the square was 11' 3/8 inches (29 cm) across. the fun started when i tried to get back out. i pushed an arm back through and started trying to squeeze out. it didn't work. i layed in side for several minutes, trying different angles and techniques.

the thoughts ran through my mind.......... is blood rushing to my muscles, so i can't fit back out....... can i crawl out another way......how would they get me out of here if i'm really stuck........this things would 10s of thousands of dollars....... oh man, how dumb.

I finally found the right angle to get my second shoulder back through the hole. I spent the rest of the day thinking about that hopeless feeling. the bruising on my ribs helped keep the reality of the stupity of my actions, or what could have been, running through my mind.

My shortlived taste of helplessness and fear........

I was listening to a show on public radio on the way home from church the other week and was interested and hit pretty hard by what was on. it was a special on juvenial delinquents. In no other country are youth treated like they are in the US legal system. In certain cases, youth can be charged and sentenced as adults. the craziest part of the program, or of US laws in this area, is a law in the state of Colorado that says that a youth that is involved in acrime where someone is murdered can be sentenced to life in prison without bail. That means..... I'm 15. my friends and I decide to rob a store, but not to hurt anyone. i don't bring a gun, but a friend of mine does and ends up shooting and killing someone................... I, go to jail for the rest of my life.

Crazy stuff. This law just seems crazy to me. I don't understand how we can have laws that are just this brutal. I've never had someone close to me that's been murdered and can't say that i can even begin to know how victims' families feel, but this just seems wrong in so many ways.

I can't imagine going to jail as a 15 year old, knowing that i'll never get back out again. never live a normal life again. that, and the thought of being in jail just scares the bagibits out of me.

I started writing this several weeks ago and haven't been able to get it out of my mind...... take the time to listen to that show if you have a chance.

Doing well.

hi y'all.
just thought i'd give a little update on my dad. he came through surgery fine. The doctor said that there were no other signs of cancer, so that's a good thing. he'll get tests back in about a week to see if there was cancer on his lymph nodes, which they also removed.
I stopped by the hospital today to see him. He looks better than i thought he would, but he's still in pain. He moved to a chair while i was visiting with him and they were going to have him try to walk a little later.
Thank you so much for your prayers and concerns. he'll probably be in the hospital another 2 days, then with friends for a week or so until they remove his catheter.
He was joking around today and definately being himself, so i'm pretty upbeat about his recovery.

oh... and thanks for the birthday greetings. i'm not feeling too old, though my age is starting to scare me.

With a little help from my friends.

Some of you know that my dad found out a few months ago that he has prostate cancer. He's been running back up to lancaster for tests and to talk to his doctors. They gave him a couple options for surgery, explained it all, set a date and well........ it's on friday.

The basic idea is that they're going to go in and remove his prostate, along with some lymph nodes that are close by. It sounds pretty easy, but it's going to be a pretty big surgery. He's been pretty relaxed about it, but I think it's starting to sink in that this is a big deal.

My mom and dad left this evening for lancaster. My dad is going into surgery early friday afternoon (November 10th). it's expected to take a couple hours. After that he'll need to stay in the hospital for 3 days, then another week or so up in lancaster until he's recovered enough to come back down to virginia.

So..... i'm asking that you please pray for my dad, his doctors, my mom and everybody involved. you never expect things to happen, but they sometime do. we just wanna cover this in prayer.

I guess that's all. muchos thankos.

Denison Witmer is gettin old!!!

So i've been listening to Denison Witmer since Lancaster Mennonite High School, where he graduated with my brother and where I would often get to hear him play. I've followed his career and made sure to get to shows.

My German friends might remember seeing him play at Carambolage a couple years ago, or at Kubik NUN Kaffeehaus this year.

Well Denison just turned 30 and decided to reward us all with some great free music. He's done this with a website made specifically for his birthday.
happybirthdaydenison.com

He's recorded a bit lately with a full band or with electric guitar, but those who know him from way back still love the simplicity of just him and his acoustic guitar. That's what he's done for this..... just sat down and recorded himself playing his songs and singing.

I'm so happy that he's done this and love the opportunity to download great classic versions of 33 of his songs.

Cause Ulf asked so nicely.......

Trip facts.

I got back from my trip a couple weeks ago and somehow still haven't done a general rap up of my trip. So here's some general info and numbers about my rampage across the country.
Total mileage- 11190 mi/18008 km (about the distance from karlsruhe,germany to peking, china and back)

Mullah Spent in Gas- $821.35
Gas used- 333.283 gallons/ 1261.6 liters
Average gas price- $2.54/gallon
Average gas useage- 33.6 mpg / 7 liter auf 100 km
Oil Changes- 2
Patched Tires- 1
Speeding Tickets- 1

Nights slept in my tent- 9
Nights slept in my car- 18
Nights in Hostels- 2
Nights "Mennoniting My Way"- 1
Nights staying with friends/family- 13
Number of times woken up by Police- 1

National Parks Visitied- 13 (Rocky Mountain NP, Saguaro NP, Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon NRA, Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP, Yosemite NP, Crater Lake NP, Olympic NP, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons NP)

States/Provinces visitied- 25 (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinios, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin)

most of the rest......

I haven't updated my blog in a long while. I was travelling and just didn't feel like sitting for hours in an internet cafe when i should be out hiking around in a national park. It just didn't seem right. So I got to see pretty things, but you've missed out on hearing about it all.
I'm not quite sure how i wanna do this. So much happened and I saw so many beautiful things. It feels wrong to just skim over them and show a picture, but i don't know how else to do it. I'm thinking i'll put some pictures up now, but continue to post about my trip, maybe with a picture and a story every once in a while.
sound like a plan?
Here's a brief run through of the last week or so of my roadtrip.
From Canada, I headed back through the Seattle and down through Montana to Yellowstone National Park. The drive through northern Idaho and Montana was just beautiful.
I slept in my car outside of the west entrance to Yellowstone and woke up to snow the first morning. I slept in the same spot a few days, taking trips into the park during the day. Roads were shut part of the time and they were shutting down the park for the season.i checked out some trails, waterfalls, old faithful, and hot springs. it was just amazing how much wildlife is just roaming around there. it was the "off season" and there were still tons of tourists driving really slow and stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures of stuff. i can't imagine what it would be like in mid summer.From there I drove down past the Grand Tetons. I realized that i should have spent more time down there to hike around the mountains. I ended up only having an afternoon to drive by and take in the view of the peaks. While there, I remembered a little Chapel that faces the mountains and has a great view through the window behind the altar.I stopped in and took tons of pictures, before starting to drive towards Laramie, where my cousin Allison lives. The drive down route 287 was beautiful. The sun was setting behind the Tetons behind me. I kept turning around in my seat for the next 40 minutes to take in the view. They mountains just kept looming over me.
I drove several more hours and decided to sleep in the town of Landers, Wyoming, because i would only have to drive a few hours the next day to get to my cousin's house.I've got a nice story to throw in here. i'll stop and continue with this later. I just realized that i skipped a couple states. I'll have to just write a little bit about that later.
I had a great time visiting my cousin allison and her boyfriend grady in laramie. we just hung out for the evening, and then ate dinner. they love food and cooking. we started thinking about making dinner at 6, decided on making sushi, eggrolls and miso. we went shopping, cooked and ended up eating dinner at 10. it was soooo good!!!After dinner they started to fall asleep on the couch with Dixie Dog. Allison plays fiddle in a bluegrass band and Grady has just learned banjo this year. The next morning I got him to show me clawhammer style banjo and ended up ordering a book online so i can learn.
I left Lamarie the next morning and headed east.......

Lots O' Stuff.

It's been a while since i've wrote. I been movin round pretty good. i'm presently sitting in a cafe in Astoria, Oregon, right across the river from washington. i'll be crossing over as soon as i finish this little update and get something to eat. i've got a craving for chinese food.

so.... real quick. i went to pasadena after vegas. i stayed with these lovely people.dave and rebekka stutzman let me crash at their place and even took me to IKEA for the first time(where this picture was taken). don't ask how i survived 3 years in germany without going, but i did.

we hung out, went out and tried out there fondue set. matt krabill was an accomplice as well.Dave and Matthew are out there studying at Fuller Theological Seminary. I didn't really wanna get near "LA", but the pasadena old town was really nice.

I then headed up into the mountains to see the Giant Sequoia Trees. They were big and camping cost me $20 for the night. not happy about that.
I drove out of the mountains and stopped in tucson for lunch along the way to at least "be there." i figured tacos were a good choice.then back into them to get to yosemite national park. My brother gave me the contact info for dustin smucker. he's a first generation happy camper that's living right outside of yosemite. he hooked me up with a great burrito dinner and my own trailer to sleep in.I headed into Yosemite, though i only really spent a day there. it would be great in the middle of summer when the water fall would be raging, rather than empty.
After yosemite, i headed out of the mountains, drove through sacramento and slept at a rest stop for the night. the next day i had a long drive to get up to crater lake. i picked up karla and we camped there for a couple days, enjoying the cold nights and campfires.i must add....... this was the first time during my trip that i could make a campfire and thus, use brad's hatchet.this is one BLUE lake.just good relaxing time around the camp site, plus a little bit of hiking and cooking on the rim overlooking the lake.

let me tell you bout the bugs. there are some seriously huge bugs in oregon, or at least around crater lake. i cleaned my windshield and a couple hours later it was caked with the streaks of kamakazi insects. seriously. wicked.we then we headed north to portland, where she lives and where we hung out for a couple days. Portland's a beautiful city. lots of culture. i don't really have pictures to put up right now.

i left portland this morning and drove to the coast, stopping at Seaside, Oregon to dip my toes in the waves and search in vain for a cafe with an internet connection. i'm driving up the coast on rt. 101 and plan to get to Olympic National Park tonight, then we'll see what happens.

the VW is still moving along, though making some funny noises..... keep praying.

Viva Las Vegas!!! hole to throw money into....

I left Zion NP at about 9:30 in the evening and headed toward california, figuring i'd stop in las vegas for an hour or so. I got there a bit after midnight and found my way to the Vegas Strip.

There were tons of cars on the strip at 1 in the morning with people walking around all dressed up for night clubs and exploring the city at night. Lots of lights and confusion. I had decided to try $10 in a casino to see if i could win anything, thinking that i could get $10 in quarters and just spend til they were gone, keeping whatever i might have won, and leaving.I drove the whole way down the strip, then turned around and drove back until i could make my way into a parking garage. I ended up at The Mirage casino, happy to see that parking was free. I walked inside and took in the whole atmosphere, watched the people play the slots, tables and lose lots of money. i asked some old woman to explain the slots to me, cause they're all computerized now.right...... to make a long story short, it wasn't what i expected. all computerized. i put in $10 and got this piece of paper with how much CREDIT i had. Then i could go the games that i wanted to play and just stick it in. the slot machine "arms" didn't work. they're just there for looks. all push button.

yep. sad.

i walked around a little more, checked out another casino that looked about the same and walked back again. i did spend like 10 minutes watching these guys at a table each lose hundreds of dollars. enough vegas for me.

to Zion....

I drove the hour or so from Bryce down to Zion National Park, arriving when it was already dark, there were no park rangers at the gate, and i was starting to worry about the funny noises that my car was making. I ended up driving on route 89 through the canyon, not knowing what would come, but just hoping for a campground somewhere. i drove on the windy canyon road with tons of switchbacks and a couple long tunnels. I found myself looking up out my window and the huge silhouettes of the canyon walls besideme. All I saw were the tons of stars above and huge looming black objects towering above me on either side. I knew I was driving into something spectacular.The second campground that I arrived at had space, so i put up my tent in the dark and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to go register and there were mule deer walking through the campground. I ended up staying 3 nights at the campground.Zion Canyon is narrow and used to be really congested when visitors were allowed to drive their cars into the canyon. so years ago the park decided to start using shuttle buses to take visitors back into the canyon, stopping at trail heads and interesting things to see. I can understand why they do it that way, cause there were lots of tourists around.
I spent a few days in Zion, going on different hikes and just enjoying the nature and incredible views. It's at a lower elevation that bryce canyon, so it was alot warmer.

On the first day, I hike up to the Emerald Pools, then the second day I hiked up to Angels Landing, which is a spectacular view. The hike it's the hardest, but you have to hike along a narrow ridge for a while... It's one of the best views in the park. You standing on a penninsule of rock, way above the canyon floor with a great 360 degree view.Then the last day I hiked back into the Zion Narrows, which is basically a stream hike back into where the canyon gets narrow, further towards the source.
I had blisters on my heels from hiking with my boots the day before, so i couldn't wear my tevas.I ended up wearing my flip-flops, which is definately no to be recommended. most people had special shoes and socks and hiking poles. I had neither. It took alot longer, but i was definately respected for my accomplishment.I thought the river would get narrower right away, but it took a while. I kept going and going........ it ended up taking almost the whole afternoon. I was walking in cold water for at least 5 hours, though stopping often to take pictures along the way.

It was just incredible to see how the rocks were carved out and the different shapes along the river. just an incredible walk.In general, Zion is just beautiful. I just love that the canyon has such massive rock walls, but that there's normal vegetation along the bottom. I wish I could have spent more time there to do a couple more hikes into other parts of the park, but i'll have to do that another time. The views in the park were just breathtaking.

I left friday night at around 9:30 and headed towards California, planning to stop at Las Vegas for a couple hours........

Bryce Canyon National Park

I remember riding a mule in Bryce Canyon when i was a kid. i think i remember correctly. the rest of my family each got a horse, but i got a mule. surefooted they said. oh well.I'm back again for round 2. Bryce is just beautiful in it's own way. the rock formations are wild and the tourists very international. i got here a couple days ago and have spent parts of each day hiking around the different trail loops that they have here. it's just amazing. the weather has been great as well. blue, cloudless skies with a light breeze. the rough part comes at night when it drops below freezing....
I stopped at the visitors center and bought a backcountry pass so that i could camp out in nature. it cost $5 for up to 7 nights i think. i'm just using 2. I then checked out the view from sunset point and hiked down into the canyon with the rest of the tourists. the blue skies were just so amazing from down in the canyon. the contrast between the red rock and the deep blue sky was great. i really wish i could have captured it in a picture.

i hiked down into this canyon for the night.it was a mile hike, downhill pretty much the whole way. the camping site doesn't look like what bryce is famous for, but it was nice to get away. i cooked dinner and settled into bed at 8, then realized how cold it would be. i slept.... but not really really well. i hiked several miles yesterday and came up from the canyon for a little break. i decided to take another blanket in with my to keep me warm for the night. it worked well, i slept well, and all was well.this morning i packed everything up and hiked back up out of the canyon, which wasn't the easiest thing in the world. i'm enjoying the internet connection at the country store before i head over to zion canyon this afternoon. hope you enjoy the pictures.oh...... about the tourists. there are so many german and french tourists here. i love getting to sit here and listen to it. yesterday i asked an elderly woman if she needed help with something, because she looked confused. she responded with "ich verstehe sie nicht." so i happily responded in german and showed her how to get coffee from the machine.

it made my day.