Antique Mall on the Horizon

It’s Autumn - nearly winter… It is so good to be home after a 2 weeks on the road. I decided not to go home last weekend because Peggy went to Kansas City to visit a sick uncle and to meet Cousin Dana there, in from Dallas. Since Peggy would not be home, I realized it would not be so nice to be home alone, so I just stayed out over last weekend. The problem is that one runs out of hours. The USDOT allows truckers to drive 70 hours in an 8 day period. A week ago Friday I picked up a trailer in Lufkin, TX and drove it to Phoenix. By the time I got there I was out of hours and had to park for 34 hours to reset my logbook. That worked out well because my 34 hour break ended Sunday night. I had plenty of time to go to church and relax before heading into CA. My next appointment was at 8:00 a.m. Monday in Walnut, CA. I picked up an empty trailer at the Union Pacific rail yard in L.A. and drove 25 miles east to Walnut to get loaded with 700 suitcases for Wal-Mart in Brooksville, FL - a 2500 mile trip. I stopped in Tucson for a couple hours to meet Peggy’s daughter and her husband, Racheal & Eric at a hot wings restaurant. It was after 10:00 p.m. so I didn’t get to see grandson Zachory. Racheal makes jewelry; I bought some for Peggy for anniversary, Christmas and beyond - 3 necklaces. (I am confident Peggy won’t read my blog and learn my secret.)

Half-way through the week, I heard from Peggy that she was interested in buying an antique mall. She had been talking about doing this for a long time. There is a vacant Wal-Mart building in Marion. She had contacted the realtor to inquire about buying it - uh, $4.5million... But the realtor had Peggy in mind when another place became available in Marion - much more affordable. It is not part of my personality to get involved in such an endeavor. Let me play my fiddle as much as possible and encourage members of the next generation to love music of the highest quality and to learn to play it. But Peggy loves the idea of gathering and selling old stuff. Yes, she bought the Marion Antique Mall this week, with my blessing and support, but without the ability to share her passion. I’m a little nervous about how this will come out, but it’s OK. Peggy is very excited and optimistic. It does sound like a great deal. I’ll keep driving the truck of course. It may be possible to stop driving in a year or so if the antique mall is profitable. Should it generate enough cash, I would be very happy to carve out some studio space at the mall and get back to teaching. Trucking will always be there to fall back on. Teaching music will never be enough to support our household, but with the mall and whatever else I can do, it could work. I’d love to be able to commit a couple days per week to students. Perhaps our new venture will make that possible. We are still planning to move to Peggy’s brother Larry’s farm as soon as our house sells. Once we move, there are very many possibilities for occupying our time. It would be premature to go into all that. Suffice it to say there are a million dreams wrapped up in living on the farm. Bottom line is, all this must be funded in some way or other.

My eldest cousin, Don Vik of Hollister, CA called us a couple days ago. I was at a rest area in Florida when he called. I hardly ever hear from Don & Karen, but they are most erudite and interesting folks. Both are retired from public school teaching. Before becoming a teacher, Don had retired from the U.S. Army; he was an intelligence officer. We visited their lovely home a few months ago in Hollister, CA. Don & Karen love to travel. Because of that in combination with their great gifts for communication, they were asked to host “Travel Bear” from a 2nd grade class in Riverside, CA. Their daughter Tanya is a friend of the teacher in Riverside. Don have hosted TravBear for the past month, toting him through the western states and as far east as Colorado. The idea is to send TrvBr to every state in the U.S. this school year. I understand he has had other hosts before Don & Karen. I am to be the next host of Travel Bear. I’m looking forward to it. In fact I have a lofty plan. We have friends in Washington, D.C.: Tony & Valerie Snesko. Val works in the office of Duncan Hunter, R congressman from San Diego and a 2008 presidential candidate. I just met the Snesko’s a month ago when we stayed in D.C. for a weekend. Peggy was close friends with them 30 years ago in San Diego. Getting a picture of TrBr with Congressman Hunter would be great. But I believe that Val could get Duncan to take TB with him for a photo op when he meets with President Bush. Now I’ve said it. You will certainly hear how it turns out.

After delivering in Florida on Thursday, I drove up to Atlanta, then to Grottoes, VA and finally home. It was a full week of driving. The earliest I could arrive home was about 3:00 p.m. Saturday. Peggy picked me up with the 5 Urbana grandkids. Peggy had picked them up on Friday. Saturday was my night to fiddle at Delaney’s Restaurant in Goreville with Cathie Paull. We met at 4:00 at the antique shop to practice. I drove about 600 miles from Virginia, got in at 3:00, unloaded and ready to go by 3:30, got dropped off at the antique shop and played fiddle music till 7:30. We had a very good crowd last night. We had the most amount of tips ever - $28.00 which Cathie and I split. Boy was I tired after driving all day and going directly to play at the restaurant. The next week will be more relaxed - Thanksgiving. I’ll go out Monday morning early and be back Wednesday night for a wonderful long weekend.

Sunday in Phoenix

I’m sitting at the Flying J, I-10 exit 1, AZ. I stayed out this weekend because Peggy is not at home. She went to Kansas City to spend time with a sick uncle. Uncle Mike has cancer. Peggy’s cousin Dana also drove out from Dallas. I’m picking up a load east of L.A. bound for central FL, which will keep me busy through Thursday.

It’s been a very long time since I posted to my blog. It’s not that nothing is happening. I’ve just gone through a dry, lazy season. Or it’s way down my priority list; I’ve been busy. But today I’m taking a long break before going the last 200 miles to L.A. for my 8:00 appointment tomorrow morning. This will be brief as I ease back into blogging…

This morning (Sunday) I woke up before 7:00, parked in the lot of a Lowe’s under construction north of Phoenix, delivered a trailer, and departed. In the early morning sun, I began to observe some small unusual objects in the sky up ahead. Was that one of those balloons, tethered to the ground, that car dealers fly high above their car lots? No, as I got closer, I saw that these were huge hot air balloons. I was fascinated. What a spectacular sight. There were about 7 of them. I arrived at the launch site, just next to the road I was traveling on, just as the last two were leaving the ground. Serendipitous! It’s still only about 7:30. I had decided to go to church, and I prayed God would direct me to a good one, since I was not near a hot-spot, could not get on the internet and didn’t get any good leads from the Lowe’s workers. So I left it up to God to lead me, and He came through nicely. My route took me south from Carefree, AZ to the NE corner of Phoenix, across HY 101- the loop around Phoenix, down to I-10 and west. Half-way around the 101-loop I took the Peoria exit, knowing the area a little. Peggy & I had parked there a couple times. There, a couple years ago, we had our first experience with “Cheesecake Factory.” About a mile past Peoria’s famous sports complex heading south, my eye caught sight of a sign in passing - “Lighthouse Church.” I did a U-turn and went there. Perfect timing. It was a little after 8:00, and early service was 8:30. I changed clothes and ate a little breakfast before going in. I had no idea what to expect. I was greeted and met a few people including Pastor Paul Owens upon entering. The music is rock-style. The new church is very modern. I could tell it was a Bible teaching church. It reminded me a lot of Urbana Assembly (now renamed “Stone Creek“,) which we often visit when we’re in Urbana. Both are high-tech, contemporary, Bible oriented, multi-cultural and ‘hip‘... The experience was good - I was made to feel welcome, it was fun. And it was slightly amazing that I had landed at a church where the father & son pastors know Pastor Ernie Moen, retired from Rockford, who has been a guest speaker in our church many times. Our pastor was a youth pastor in Moen’s big church in Rockford and has held him in high regard as a father-figure and mentor ever since. They have a very close relationship. The Moens retired to Peoria, AZ and live very close to Lighthouse Church. It would’ve been perfect if Pastor & Mrs. Moen had been there, but my serendipity didn’t extend quite that far…