Heartstrings Xpress

End Trucking/Begin Teaching Violin

2011-02-09T15:04:00.000-08:00

Very Big News! Jan 18, about 3:30 a.m. I was driving on I-84 east bound in Hartford, CT. It was snowing and very cold. Peggy and our pup were asleep in the bunk. As I came around a curve at I-84 exit 56, I suddenly saw an accident just ahead, headlights pointing at me, so I touched the brakes. The road was snow packed; the truck jack-knifed and slid to the left into the guard rail, short of the disabled car. Our trailer pushed forward into the rear of the truck. The truck was smashed against the guard rail, facing the wrong direction, the trailer forming a tight V shape with the truck. I could open the door only partially because the trailer was in the way, but it was enough to get in and out of the cab. Fortunately no-one was hurt. I have a sore rib and a circular scar where my left leg hit the window handle, but nothing serious at all. We are very fortunate, but the truck is totaled. The brand new Strick trailer from Monroe, IN sustained little damage, but the landing gear post on the left side was bent inward, so the landing gear won't crank down. We were towed to the tow company shop a few miles away. We spent most of the day in the driver's lounge or in our truck, organizing all our stuff to clear out. I made a few phone calls early in the morning. I called Floyd, who had provided us this truck. He immediately offered to drive out to pick us up. Floyd & Paula have blessed us many times over. I cannot believe how quickly Floyd is always ready to help! Peggy keeps saying, "Floyd is Jesus with skin on." As soon as he arrived on Wednesday morning – just about 27 yours after the accident, we were ready to throw all our stuff into his big pick-up truck. Our lives suddenly changed. The adjuster flew out from Indiana to look at the wrecked truck on Thursday. God allowed this for a purpose. We are anxious to see what the future will bring, and we are still praising the Lord for all His mercy and grace. He is our provider.
We got home on Thursday from our adventure-on-ice-with-a-truck in Connecticut. We had taken a motel at the end of the day on Tuesday. Floyd had left that morning shortly after we called him. He was at our door Wednesday morning about 8:30 a.m. eastern time We drove to the towing company and loaded everything into Floyd's luxurious 2005 Ford Super Duty pick up truck. Almost everything fit into the truck bed, but computers, violin, pillows & blankets, etc. went into the back seat. The inside of this truck is just like a large car with a full sized back seat. This is a nice ride! Floyd arrived very tired. He didn't stop much on the way up - at least 18 hours of driving. We left Hartford around noon. We all took turns driving home, so we kept moving pretty continuously all the way to Goreville, except for stops at Denny's in PA, at Waffle House in Hubbard, OH – plus 3 fuel stops and a couple rest areas. Roads were clear most of the way until Illinois. Then we had good opportunity to click over to 4-wheel drive. We took a 50 mile detour up to Charleston, IL to drop off a pile of stuff at RexDon, the company we've been with the past 5 years. Now, sadly, we're finished with RexDon. Just north of Marion, IL as Floyd was driving, we saw a north bound pick up truck go into a sideways slide into the ditch, out of the way of the semis just behind him – no contact! We got to Floyd & Paula's house about 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 20 and spent a couple hours in front of the fire talking and resting. They have been a major blessing to us so many times, and they had good ideas for us as we chatted about what God might do next in our lives. Floyd was just then in a similar situation as we were – unemployed. The week before, he had sold his Peterbilt at a good price with intent to get a more practical, cheaper truck. He really loved the truck we wrecked, which we'd gotten from him about a year previous. That is the type he wanted next – a smaller Volvo autoshift. Since then he's bought a 1999 Kenworth, bigger than the Pete he just sold, because it was such a good deal. It was a pleasure to sit with them in their country style cozy house, formerly a great big barn. Floyd sent us home with his truck to unload our stuff. I am now spoiled by the 4-wheel drive. There are times in our neighborhood when 4WD is required to get out. We didn't even try our own car (Volvo S70) because we knew it wouldn't have gotten up that bad hill. Next day the roads were plowed and cindered. Thursday night we met F&P at Cowboy Church in Goreville. I joined the worship team on fiddle. Afterward we drove the cool 4WD Super Duty home, laid on the couch in front of the fire for awhile and finally went up to bed. Friday we returned the big Ford to Floyd and stayed for a meal and dominoes.
We won't be getting another truck. We were considering other trucking companies as company drivers, but have finally committed to staying home and finding work locally. I started teaching violin in a community development program through Southern IL University. On Sunday Jan 23, in church I thought of calling Paula Melton, whom I worked with 10 years ago at SIU, teaching violin. The only reason I left that program was money. I was stuck at a low income and couldn't keep up with bills. That's when we turned to trucking. We had visited with Paula about a year ago over lunch during a Paducah Symphony weekend. I remembered that conversation and how excited Paula was about the new direction this program had taken and how much she needed help. So I called her, and Peggy and I ended up at her house for about 5 hours that Sunday evening to see if this would work for us. We were pretty much drawn in and assured that this time I could actually make a living at it. Peggy is starting part-time work as Administrative Assistant to Paula, who has been the director of this program for 13 years. Peggy is also considering other employment, and so am I to fill in until my studio grows large enough. Life changes so fast. We already have gotten a settlement for the wrecked truck. We have to use some of that for awhile till our new income kicks in. The program I'm teaching in is a cost recovery program, so I'm paid according to the hours I teach. I need to build up my studio as quickly as possible. We don't want to use up that truck settlement. We want to save as much of it as possible. It's nice to be home permanently. I'm 60 now, so it is really good to spend the last of my working years doing what I love to do – teaching and playing violin/viola. As soon as I reach a certain level of income in this program, I'll be eligible for SIU's excellent insurance benefits. I hope to be teaching through SIU for the next 10 years. Peggy is very excited about this program too. She may be able to work into a larger role. She is not a trained musician but is very gifted musically and sings beautifully, so now she is aiming to master the psaltery and get certified in Kindermusik so she can do some teaching in the program. She can be very tenacious to achieve her goals. We have gotten hooked on psaltery the past few years, and I consider it a nice intro-to-music instrument, that could lay groundwork for violin because both are bowed instruments. Many bow issues could be addressed and solved on psaltery before starting violin. And psaltery stands on its own as a folk instrument. My vision for that is to gather enough people to form a psaltery ensemble, at church and at the antique mall. The harmonies will be lovely.

Surprised By Luxury

2010-11-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

Oct 24, 2010

We arrived home late on Saturday 16 Oct, after delivering a trailer in Charleston, MO – 59 miles from home. We had a busy Sunday morning because both of us were scheduled for the prayer room. I prayed at first service and attended the second; Peggy vice versa. Then we ate at a Chinese place and had a relaxing Sunday afternoon at home. We took a walk down the hill from our house to look at a new luxury home that is being built on the waterfront. It's all framed out, and the roofing was started It's on a steep lot. The entrance is through the garage, and the rest of the house is downstairs from there – 3 levels total. The views are grand from the large windows out onto the lake. Can't wait to meet who's going to live there. Monday we didn't go out trucking. We got home late for the weekend, so didn't feel like rushing out again so soon, plus we hoped to receive new equipment from Sprint to replace an air card that had shorted out and a phone.
I started my Monday at 4:30 a.m., met a friend at the Marion Truck Stop at 5:30, taught my students at the antique mall at 8:00, and spent the rest of the day doing antique mall business on the computer, while Peggy enjoyed a day at home. And Maryanne from Allen, TX came in – wow – good timing. We first met her at our shop at least a year ago and have now visited her church in Allen twice and met her whole family there. She and her husband grew up around Marion but have lived in Allen for 25 years. I got home about 4:00. The house was clean and organized, and Peggy had prepared a nice dinner. (It was luxurious, but this is not what 'Surprised By Luxury' refers to.) We watched the video “JFK”- about the post-assasination investigation of a New Orleans district attorney, finding the Warren Report to be fabricated, and finding tons of evidence suggesting a very high-level government coup... Eye-opening.
Tuesday we gave up waiting for our equipment from Sprint and took the truck to Marion to do a few chores. I dropped Peggy at the rooming house and went on to the antique mall. Without the air card, I had to do all my banking and email at the shop where we have a hotspot. On the road we depend on the air card to access internet while rolling. This trip we paid for a month of wifi at Flying J, but we have to find a Flying J and stop every time we need to get online. Next time we're home, our new equipment will be waiting. Our load assignments took us to Terre Haute / South Bend, IN; then Detroit to Tacoma, WA. En route we picked up a hitchhiker in Sioux Falls, SD and took him 1200 miles to Spokane. Shaun is 40, lives near Seattle, has converted from Catholic to Mormon, does farm work. We very seldom pick up hitchhikers, and this was the farthest we've ever taken anyone. He was a good rider - clean, polite, smart. We took him to breakfast at our favorite breakfast place - Michael D's Eatery in Coeur d'Alene, ID, at I-90 exit 15. We arrived right at 6:00 a.m when it opens. We hadn't been this route in 4 years, so we were greatly anticipating eating at Micahel D's again. He's a trained, executive chef and specializes in eggs & chicken. He's open 7 days a week – breakfast & lunch, 6 a.m. - 2 p.m. It's not far at all from Coeur d'Alene to Spokane. We dropped off Sean and got to Tacoma mid-afternoon Friday. Peggy noticed a coolant leak; we had to have a couple hoses replaced before leaving town. It was 500 miles to Boise for the next pickup.
Since it was now the weekend, and we had more than 2 days to deliver in Stratford, TX and then get to David City, NE by 6 a.m. Monday, we were moving at a leisurely pace. We finally made it to Boise about 4:00 saturday afternoon to pick up. Peggy has friends who recently moved from Washington, D.C. to Boise, ID. Peggy first met Tony & Valerie Snesko at church in Poway, CA about 30 years ago. This is the 3rd time I've met them. In Jan 1995, Peggy and I drove from Urbana, IL to LA to catch a flight to Korea. For a couple days she took me to many of her old stomping grounds, including the Snesko's house. That was too long ago for me to remember much about the encounter. The 2nd time I met them, they were living in D.C. Tony was a PI/process server. Valerie was secretary to Duncan Hunter, Congressman from San Diego. We were attending the Voters Values Summit at the Washington Hilton in Fall 2007. The Sneskos invited us to their home for dinner on a Friday, and then we met them again on Sunday for breakfast and church. Now in Boise this is the 3rd time I've met them. Duncan Hunter's term of office ended, and now his son Duncan Hunter, Jr. has won that seat. So Val's job ended. She went to work with her husband and son, helping in the family business. Now son Brandon is married. He's taking over the business, and it's time for Tony & Val to retire. They are building a home outside Boise to the north, overlooking a valley. It will be done in early December. We had trouble getting in touch with them. Peggy's lost phone had their numbers in it. We did finally get their number when we arrived at a Flying J to use the wifi, just outside of Boise. We got hold of Brandon in D.C. We sent linked-in and facebook messages. We sent email, and we left messages on both cell phones. Then we proceeded the 30 miles to pick up the trailer. Finally we weren't expecting to hear back from them, but we did! They were excited to get our message and came out to where we were parked to pick us up. This is when we were “Surprised by Luxury.” I knew they were building a house, but had no concept of how it would look. They drove us through very nice neighborhoods to get to their new home. It's in a large neighborhood association, with very many strict rules. The town of Hidden Springs, ID was started in 1997. Each home is unique - no two look alike. V&T's house is based on their neighbor's house, which they liked, but components rearranged so they don't look alike. All plans, colors, changes, must be submitted for apporval. Because of this, the whole community is coordinated and remarkably beautiful. From the top of the hill, looking down on the valley from T&V's patio, it looks like a Thomas Kinkaid painting. The floor of the valley is covered with colorful, luxury homes – all coordinated. We saw some sprawling homes and some smaller, but all up-scale, wonderfully landscaped, expensive. We walked through Tony & Val's half-done house. The neighbor couple joined us, the one's whose house inspired this one. The ceilings are very high. The master bedroom has a walk-in closet large enough to be another small bedroom. The 3 car garage is cavernous. The door from the house into the garage opens onto a spacious in-between space, where Tony says there will be a ping pong table and a bench for processing deer against the wall. Val says it will be piled to the ceiling with stuff... We were so glad to see the house at this stage, all drywalled, roofing material poised on the roof. Next year we'll have a chance to get through there again to see the finished product, and to stay in the guest room. Tony & Val then took us out to dinner. The three of them had the lasagne special, and I had the baked salmon – on Val's strong recommendation. The contrast from being truckers to being ushered into the higher society of Boise, was serendipitous. The Sneskos are wonderful hosts, committed to God, very hospitable, most interesting conversationalists, and rich in past accomplishments and experiences. I'm sure they could write a book, and I'd love to read it. We stepped out of the Lexus back into reality and said our goodbyes in front of the gate of Trinity Trailers, next to I-84 on the south side of Boise, ID.

Coast to Coast to Coast in 7 Days

2010-11-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

Oct 16, 2010
Coast to Coast to Coast in 7 Days
We had a Paducah Symphony concert on Saturday, Oct 2 – Overture to “Nebucco”; Haydn Trumpet Concerto with Allen Vizzutti; “Sorcerer's Apprentice”; and “Death & Transfiguration” - a challenging program, for which I practiced hard but with a late start (forgot to bring the music on the truck the week before.) One of my favorite activities is working out the parts for a concert and playing it well with the orchestra! Picture me at truck stops and rest areas practicing this stuff! In that setting I throw in plenty of fiddle tunes if people draw near. As soon as our concert ended, I drove 40 miles home. About 11 p.m. we set out on the truck to deliver a trailer in Tampa, FL. As it turned out we were too late to deliver on Sunday by 3:00 p.m., so we went directly to our timeshare west of Orlando, arriving about 9:00 p.m. We had to drop the trailer at Walmart and bobtail a mile to “Orlando Breeze.” I got up at 4:00 a.m. next morning to take a brand new 'Pepsi' trailer to Pepsi Co. in Tampa – 62 miles away, while Peggy continued sleeping, and she was still sleeping when I got back at 7:30. Our dog Patty came along with me. Poor Patty hates to be left alone. She's always with us – except when we go into a store, church or movie, or when it costs $75 to keep her with us at the timeshare... We HAD to bring her in that first night – couldn't leave her alone all night, and I took her out with me at 4:00 a.m. But when I returned, I left her in the truck across the street and rejoined Peggy. Then we found out we didn't need to pick up the next trailer till the next day, so that gave us more resort time. We paid the $75 to bring Patty on property. We got some special food at Walmart – ribs, sweet potatoes, mangoes... While the ribs were cooking, we swam in the pool. We got into conversation with Mark & Mindy Monroe of Louisville, KY. Mark's dad is a cousin to the famous Bill Monroe, who started “Bluegrass.” Very cool to hear personal accounts of the great Bill Monroe! Mark is a self-employed landscaper. He has a 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is an instructor and competition judge. Mindy is 2nd degree. I am 1st degree from when we lived in Korea, so I was very interested in Mark's martial arts experiences. He also restores antique cars and owns several. The conversation went on & on at the pool. Peggy invited them up. We moved to our condo and shared dinner with the Monroes – very cool couple, about 10 years younger than us.
Early next morning we left our kingsize bed, washer/dryer, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, dishwasher, 2nd floor patio and spacious living room to cram back into our truck. Tuesday we needed to pick up in Atlanta early enough to deliver in Memphis by 5:00 p.m., so we figured we had to be on the road by 3:00 CST/4:00 EST. We got done in Memphis and drove to St. Louis to pick up a trailer bound for Chicago, then picked up in Kewanee, IL north of Peoria and took it to South Bend, IN – three short loads in a row, including a lot of empty miles. But these were designed to get us to Indianapolis on Wednesday morning to take a trailer to Fresno, CA. Peggy had already seen this trailer the previous Friday but couldn't take it at that time because over-height permits hadn't arrived. We left Indy Wednesday morning, drove non-stop, except for fuel & necessary rest breaks, via St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Barstow and Bakersfield to arrive in Fresno about 7:00 p.m. Friday. A friendly young mechanic, Arturo, waited 2 hours after closing time for us to deliver, which helped us tremendously – not to have to wait overnight. We tipped him $30, which surprised him; he didn't expect it at all. I drove through the night the 350 miles to San Diego for our Saturday pick-up. We hit LA before 5:00 a.m., avoiding the worst traffic. We had breakfast at a favorite Mexican hole-in-the-wall cafe, inside a small truckstop situated only a few yards from the San Diego/Tijuana border crossing. We had last eaten here on my birthday two months ago. Just up the street we picked up a stack of 5 chassis, which took us 3 hours to secure with chains. Around noon we set out for Savannah, GA and kept moving pretty continuously via Tucson, El Passo, Dallas, Shreveport, LA; Jackson, MS; Meridian, Birmingham, Atlanta, arriving in Savannah Monday morning, which officially brought to a close our best week ever as OTR truckers. We went to the nearby truckstop to organize our trip-pack and put it in the Fed-Ex box. Then we moved to Statesboro, GA to celebrate with Chinese food and a 3-D animated movie about good vs. evil in an anthropomorphized society of owls. It was a nice break, but of course life goes on. Since then we have had another good week: Birmingham to Cleveland, TX (north of Houston;) Ft. Worth to Walton, KY (south of Cincinnati;) Elizabethtown, KY (south of Louisville) to Akron, CO (east of Denver;) Denver to Charleston, MO, which is 59 miles from our house, and then to home late on Saturday, October 16.

Renewed Relationships

2010-06-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

What a great week! Last Monday Peggy and I left home about 3:00 a.m. to deliver a trailer in Nashville. Just 3 miles from the drop we picked up a trailer loaded with video equipment bound for a festival in Muskegon, MI. Monday night we parked near the festival grounds at a hotel with a marina on Lake Michigan. Tuesday morning we met the crew, assembled from around the USA: from Tucson, Flagstaff, Oklahoma City, Dayton and Nashville. We moved the truck to the main stage area and waited for them to unload it. I sat on a bench under a tree overlooking Lake Michigan to fiddle while waiting. It just seemed exotic & cool to talk to these guys who travel around the country to run TV cams, recording & sound equipment for big name bands at large venues - not that I'd ever like to do that. It would be very cool however to drive a truck for Garrison Keilor, or even better – Chicago Symphony! On the other hand, I think our lives are exciting enough as is. After Muskegon, we picked up in Detroit and delivered in Bettendorf, IA at midnight the same day.

Wednesday morning we picked up in Oregon, IL – just 85 miles from Bettendorf and drove to the Canadian border at Houlton, Maine arriving Thursday afternoon. And it was time for a break. We had dinner at the Houlton Truck Stop. Our next pick up was in Boston, 350 miles away. After a few delays we finally got hooked up and chained. (We had a stack of 5 chassis.) We were able to deliver in Chicago on Saturday morning and pick up another trailer in Romeoville bound for Charlotte, NC.

Here's the best part of the week! Once we got the load assignment for Charlotte, with a lot of extra time to drive it before delivery on Monday, I started looking for someone to visit en route. There were two candidates: 1) James & Joan Werning in Asheville – exactly en route; or B) James & Seung Hyun Wanliss near Greenville, SC – a little out of route. I emailed to James Wanliss but didn't expect much from a busy physics professor whom we haven't seen for 12 years. Sunday morning we were positioned just west of Asheville and were figuring out how to get parked with truck & trailer near 'The Body' – James & Joan's church. We didn't phone ahead to them, but would've just gone to their church & hoped to see them there... But then I saw James Wanliss's reply to my email. He is in Korea for 4 weeks, but he invited us to meet Seung Hyun at their church, and gave us detailed directions, so we decided to head for Greenville. (Sorry Wernings.) We were 30 minutes late for the 10:00 service. Fortunately there was a perfect place to park our big rig right in front of the church. As I drove, Peggy was checking things out on Google Earth, so we could see what to expect. There is a 10:00 service, then lunch, then 1:30 service. Most people stay through all of that. Some families come from far away for this church. It is Presbyterian, Free Scottish Reformed, or something like that – anyway, very conservative, evangelical. Most women wore a head covering, usually lace but could be a hat or scarf. There is no instrumental music, drama team, worship team or dancing. The singing is Psalm Singing, acapella. One man sitting in the middle of the church would start each tune by singing the first few notes. It is a powerful, austere sound. These folks sing with gusto, and the vast majority are in tune, so the off key ones (I could hear some) were decisively covered up. The preaching was very good. There was a catechism class between 1st service and lunch. Everything takes place in one large space – lower level of an office building, until the new space is completed mid-July. The people are very friendly. We especially loved seeing Seung Hyun and the two girls. We enjoyed telling the story a few times over: When Peggy and I lived in Seoul, Korea, James Wanliss got in touch with us somehow, to ask if he could stay with us to save money while in Korea to visit his fiance, Seung Hyun. James is white South African from Johannesburg. When we met him he was in grad school in Canada, where he had met Seung Hyun. He stayed with us 2 or 3 times in Seoul. Then they set their wedding date. But at the last minute Seung Hyun's parents would not give their approval, so the couple honored the parents' wishes and canceled the wedding. But James's parents had non-refundable airline tickets from Johannesburg, so they lost a lot of money. The wedding was rescheduled a few months later. This time James's parents could not afford to make the trip, so... James asked us to be his stand-in parents. That was about 1997. We participated in the wedding – a Korean style Christian wedding – some elements of western weddings with white dress and tux, but also some Korean traditions. We sat in special chairs in front of the church along with the bride's parents. The couple bows to both sets of parents, etc... My memory of that day has faded, but it was a little humorous to be so intimately involved in a wedding ceremony and not really knowing the couple all that well... After that day, we lost touch with James & Seung Hyun until now. I tried to locate them once after we had returned to the States, but he was no longer at college in Canada, so I mostly forgot about them and would occasionally wonder what ever became of them. Praise the Lord for renewed relationships! It was a very stimulating Sunday with these church folks. The lunch was pot luck. Every Sunday the church shares a meal and then comes back together for the 2nd service – all in one large basement space. I think this is an 'evening service' that is moved up to 1:30 because of the several people who come from great distances to church. Next time, we look forward to seeing James as well.

Split Week

2010-06-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Last week was a 'split week.' Peggy went out on the truck with a Chinese friend, Kathy Sitt, and her 2 kids, Gordon (14) & Rachel (11?). They left our house on Sun. June 13 and returned on Fri. the 18th. I stayed home. It sounds like the Sitts had a good time. They had the American Big Rig Cultural Experinece - riding high above the 4-wheelers, fueling in the truck islands, backing away from a 10 ft. bridge that trucks cannot fit under, eating mostly out of the cooler & small frig in our truck, rolling-rolling-rolling night and day for a week. Peggy did not stop much. She had a very good week of driving. I kept the dog at home. Paddy and I had a nice week. We spent the day at the antique mall on Monday. I entered figures on the computer and revised the vendor list with our manager. It is very unusual for me or Peggy to be at the antique mall on a Monday. Most of the time we're out driving. But that Monday was a divine appointment for me. I was at the front desk all day, working with Sandie. Usually I do my work back in my corner. In the afternoon Sandie answered the phone and turned to me to say someone was trying to call from jail – would we accept a call from Cavitt. That is Peggy's maiden name. I took the phone. Peggy's younger brother seemed relieved to get hold of me. He asked me to bail him out of jail in Murphysboro. So I finished up my work and went to bail him out. He'd been in for 5 days. He was charged with assault. He'd had a yelling fight with his 17-yr-old daughter the previous Wed. He had been drinking. She has been very hard on him for the past couple years, giving him a lot of friction, so at times it comes to a head. As she was going to her car to drive away, James yelled at her not to leave, and he hit her car with a shovel as she was driving away. She must've called the police – someone did. A little later, police came into his apt, cuffed him and took him away. He does have some history of getting into trouble with the law from time to time. So I bailed him out, and he told me the whole story on the way home. There's so much more to the story, but bottom line is Jimmy and Nicole need our prayers and support. Lord help us to help him! I went from Jimmy's place to the Monday Night Prayer Meeting at Calvary Campus Church. Our church is very much a praying church, and God answers prayer – Phil. 4:6-7; John 15:7. Tuesday I spent the morning at home, stopped by the antique mall around noon and went to a doctor apt. at 2:00. After that I went to Jimmy's place, and he paid me back the bail money. Wednesday I left home early, had breakfast with David Winkleman and helped him with violin issues at his house for awhile, and then Paddy and I drove to Springfield, IL to visit Kregg and his trusty sidekick Buster the Shih tsu. I arrived an hour before Kregg got home from work, so I fiddled on his front porch for awhile. We went to his parents' house for supper. I hadn't seen them since playing for their 50th wedding anniversary about 3 years ago. After I quit playing in Illinois Symphony, I had less excuse to visit Kregg. We met at U of I about 1988 or -89. Since that time, whenever I played in IL Sym, I always stayed at his house or his parents' house at the beginning. Kregg visited us in Korea in summer of 1995 and he took a road trip with us to Disney World in about 1997, when we were home from Korea and traveled with a young Korean couple and Peggy's daughter and her infant son Zachory in an old borrowed conversion van. I have a lot of histoy with Kregg. Last Thursday he took off work, and we drove 98 miles to Hannibal, MO to bask in the atmosphere of Mark Twain's hometown. This year is the 100 year anniversary of Twain's death. We walked the downtown area, went into an antique shop, walked to the riverboat landing on the Mississippi River, walked up 244 stairs to the light house, ate at a restaurant overlooking the river one mile south of Hannibal, ate ice cream downtown, and sat in front of a cafe for their wifi before leaving town. We did not go on the tour; I was in a saving mode. But I'd like to take Peggy there another time for the antiques, the fantastic clock shop, and to take the tour at that time. Paddy was along on this day-trip, but not Buster. He is fine at home all day, but Paddy goes berserk if she is left at home for any length of time. She's going to have to get over that. We went back to Kregg's house, had pizza and played Scrabble. It is always a pleasure to spend time with our erudite friend Kregg, author of “The Marshall Miracle,” and master of all kinds of classic rock and sports trivia. I left when Kregg went to work on Friday - he's a librarian at the IL Supreme Court Library. Back home I waited for the ladies (and kids) to come in off the truck. God has put some remarkable friends into our lives!

injury healing

2010-06-06T00:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a very rough past two weeks. On May 24th as we were preparing to leave our house on the semi, in the process of loading our tractor, I fell backward off the upper step of the cab square on my back. My glasses went flying. I bumped my head a little. It was carelessness. I thought I was on the lower step. When I stepped backward to the ground, it was not there, so I fell... The wind was knocked out of me. I laid there for a long time, but finally got up and walked into the basement. Everything seemed okay, so I didn't seem to need a doctor. But I was sore, and there was one bad spot in my upper back on the right side. If that muscle got activated, it was excruciating. So I'd avoid it and move very carefully. Peggy had to do all the outside work that I would normally do. I didn't want to step down out of the cab if I could avoid it. Driving was okay the next day, but other than that I just laid on the bunk. Tuesday night I had a violent reaction to the chicken I ate. It was the first food I'd eaten since Sunday because I usually fast on Mondays & Tuesdays. I assumed I got food poisoning from the chicken, but Peggy ate most of that piece of chicken and had no reaction. The effect was that I totally lost my appetite. Almost all food was nauseating to me – the sight or smell of it. I threw up twice Tuesday night. Then I was really knocked out with a sore back and nausea for the next two days. If I did try to give Peggy a break from driving, I had no endurance and could not sit there more than a couple hours. Friday I went to a clinic in Urbana, IL. The doctor probed and asked questions and was satisfied that I would be fine. He said I had bruised, cracked or broken a rib, and there is no way to treat it and I'd be fine sooner or later, depending on how bad the damage to the rib. So I felt reassured. And the back pain was getting much better by then, and I was starting to be able to stomach a little food. Then we got home for the weekend. Peggy was doing most of the work for both of us; all I could do was sleep and maybe drive a little. Peggy remains focused on getting work done. She keeps a very positive attitude and forges ahead. She was a little merciless to me. Once I'd show a little sign of life, she'd try to put me to work. I was expecting sympathy, but no... I think she was trying to keep me from atrophy – do all that you CAN do... But especially at first, the slightest movement might send me through the roof with pain, so I ignored Peggy's request to reach above my head for her chips, or reach down to the floor or into the cooler or find the paper towels. Last Sunday, 6 days after injury, it was Memorial Weekend. We had picked up 3 grandkids in Urbana to bring home. I didn't mind. I just didn't get involved much. We had about 15 people at the house after church. I still was eating very selectively and had little endurance, so I'd visit a little and then go find a bed to lie down for awhile. Gradually since the accident, we began to realize that the “food poisoning” symptoms of nausea and zero appetite, must've actually been due to the accident, not bad chicken, because it went on far too long. Now I'm practically back to normal, except the rib is not done healing yet – though it's very much improved. It's amazing how the body heals itself. That blow affected my entire body and profoundly interrupted my focus, appetite, digestion, bowels... I had some of the best talks with God last week! Memorial Day morning, I still felt terrible and weak, so mentioned the possibility to Peggy that I should not go out on the truck with her that week. We were under a load already, bound for Lake Havasu City, AZ – on the CA border. And there was a lot of work to do before she could leave - getting the vendor checks ready for the antique mall, which is my job usually but Peggy had to do it this time. Finally by the end of Monday, I agreed that I needed to help drive the 1700 miles to AZ to get it in by Wednesday, so I did go out with Peggy on the truck. In fact I drove all through the night Monday while Peggy got some much needed sleep. We got to Lake Havasu City very early Wed morning! And now almost 2 weeks after the accident, I'm 87% healed and feeling good. Some think I may've had a concussion. I'm still going to get checked by my regular doctor next week when we get home. On the lighter side, en route to AZ, we stopped on Tuesday evening at Sky City, Home of the Big Rig – 50 miles west of Albuquerque. It's a casino that caters to truckers more than anyplace I've ever seen. CDL holders get 25% off at the restaurant, and there is a special Winners' Circle desk where drivers get $10 loaded onto a card to gamble with. This promotional money can only be used at certain slot machines. We had been at Sky City a few weeks earlier, gotten our $10 on our cards, but didn't use it at the time. So this time we got another $10, plus $15 because it was Tuesday – senior citizens day. We each had $35 to gamble. I grew up naïve about gambling – inexperienced. However, Peggy grew up in the gambling sub-culture. Her whole family would do this together – aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmother, all together to the horse track or casino. So I'd rather turn my card over to Peggy and let her do whatever she wants with all of it, and I'll just watch. She put my card in a machine and pretty quickly won $31.60. When all the money on the card was used, we quit. Wow - $31.60. Great! Then she took her card to a penny machine. Each press of the button cost $0.75. She went from $35. all the way to single digits, pressing that button over & over with no reward. But finally before she was all done, the numbers began to line up a few times. She won about $61. on that card. Cool! We walked away with over $90, ate at the restaurant for $10, including tip, and put $80 into our fuel tanks. But the real prize is still coming on June 13. We're counting on being the winners of a gorgeous 2009 Kenworth tractor, which is sitting outside the casino. We saw it this time and last time and began weeks ago to set our hopes on it. (jest – or half-jest) The drawing is June 13. Sky City gives away a semi tractor every six months. Generally, being in casinos is creepy to me. All the jangling & noise drives me up the wall – it never stops. It is not exciting. At least at Sky City I like all the round Indian people who work there. They seem nice & sweet, and they're all large men & women with round faces and smooth skin. I was very glad to get out of there with extra cash to drive through the night. I am writing from home. We went from Phoenix to Ft. Wayne and picked up a trailer on Friday near Terre Haute, IN bound for Jacksonville, FL. We are home now because it was not far out of route to stop here for a day, and this trailer cannot be delivered till Monday morning.

Bowed Psaltery in Spring!

2010-04-23T04:27:00.000-07:00

The winter has been hard. We have driven through some of the worst weather with our big truck. There was a full week of terrible weather in the East / Midwest, during which time we never got over 45 mph. We put chains on our tires three times in one day, which is more than some of our trucking friends have done in their lifetime. In February we had two minor accidents, which messed up the truck a little, but did not disable it. Glad this winter is behind us. The weather has been lovely the past several weeks. We hit one last snow storm south of Denver – the only patch of snow in the whole nation, and we were in it. Since then we've started to get longer loads out west. It was seeming like we'd never get out West again, but now we've had trips to Southern CA, Montana, and heading to Stockton, CA right now. The longest trips allow us to actually function as a driving team – keep the wheels rolling round the clock. However at the moment we are in a motel due to slushy snow in the mountains of Wyoming, not willing to risk bad weather at night. It should be better during daytime. The real highlight of our travels in the past few weeks was last weekend in Beckley, WV where we attended a bowed psaltery workshop. There were 20 psaltery players from Pittsburgh (a couple;) Ohio (another couple;) New Hampshire (1;) Cape Cod, MA (1;) Roanoke, VA (1;) Charleston, WV (1;) Illinois (4;) and the rest from Beckley & surrounding parts. Besides us from Illinois, there was a woman from Chicago area and a man from Decatur. Basically, we worked on tunes all day Fri, Sat and Sun. under the guidance of Tish Westman, artist in residence. Sunday morning we met at 8:00, opened with prayer and played & sang hymns. The venue for the whole event was 'TAMARACK' – a fabulous facility built and run by the state of WV to promote the best of West Virginia folk arts and crafts. The grounds are beautifully manicured in several gardens with many lovely sculptures. The building is circular with a court yard in the middle and looks like a crown on top of the hill. There are artisan studios around the outside perimeter. The floor space is filled with the finest products of wood, glass, metal, ceramics, fabric... – bowls, furniture, stained glass, pottery, art...including the psalteries which we are playing on, made at Tamarack by Tish and Greg Westman. One of the local musicians, Hunter, is a junior in high school and a very talented dulcimer player – state champion. The guy from Roanoke is a general surgeon who discovered psaltery on a visit to Tamarack, just as we did. Dr. Jim takes it seriously and has played his psaltery on stage in Roanoke theatrical productions. During an any-instrument jam session I played violin, and Jim heard Ragtime Annie, a song he knows and joined in, with Hunter on dulcimer. Donna recorded it and put it on You-tube. Everything culminated in our concert in the theater on Sunday afternoon. We played a one-hour bowed psaltery program of tunes with melody, harmony and drone parts. It was all positive! Peggy was inspired to work on psaltery. We did not prepare ahead of time as most of the participants did. We had music available by internet to print, but didn't actually work on it until a couple days before arrival. I did okay, being an experienced note reader, but Peggy had a rough time all the way through, which only made her want to be well prepared next time. She is not afraid to jump in, no matter how unpolished the result. But we need to be prepared to present a fine performance whenever the opportunity arises, as happened this morning in Omaha. We had breakfast with my mom, and Peggy wanted to demonstrate the psalteries. It was fine, but we could really only do justice to a couple of the songs – Amazing Grace, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and “Arron Boat Song.” Some of the other songs still need a lot of work, but we will have them ready for YOU next time we see you. We had to rush off right after the concert to make it to a pick-up by closing time 2 hours away. We slept in our truck for the weekend, showering at the truck stop nearby. We always have our two pups with us, so they were left alone a lot for 3 days. Peggy or I would go out to the truck frequently to let them out. Now we are in Laramie, WY – via Beckley, WV; southern VA; NJ near NYC; Philadelphia; Chicago; Stoughton, WI; back to Montgomery, PA; and then all the way across I-80 to northern CA. We should make it there tomorrow if the weather is okay. Thanks for your prayers! And we'll be thinking of you – prayerfully.
Ken

Fox & Fiddle, Ashville, NC

2010-03-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had a chance to stay at a B&B en route from Stoughton, WI to Raleigh, NC. We picked up Friday night and could not deliver till Mon morning. There is a B&B outside of Asheville, NC which we had been wanting to visit, but were waiting for our routing to cooperate as it did this past weekend. The ‘Fox & Fiddle’ is located 2.5 miles SW of I-40 exit 44 on SR 19 & 23, then a couple blocks to the south at Pallet Road. Right at the head of Pallet Road, before the railroad tracks is where we were able to park our truck & trailer. I had called ahead to the WNC Pallet Company to ask permission to park on their property. They were extremely friendly and willing to help. James & Joan, owners of the B&B, came out in the van to shuttle us to the house. They had moved here less than a year ago from Colorado Springs. They bought this big, old house and a few acres along a river, including a big, sturdy barn, which has an apartment built into it, and a small tool shed / chicken coup. This is the original farm house of a large dairy farm. Now most of the fields are subdivided into lots, so there are many homes next to the B&B property, but the most scenic part is still right around the B&B. Just google 'Fox & Fiddle, Asheville, NC.' James & Joan were very accommodating of our 2 little dogs, but they are not allowed in the house. They tried the barn but were barking too much, so were moved to the enclosed porch and were still barking too much. At 6:15 a.m. I took them for a walk and left them in the truck. Saturday night we had gotten in about 8:00. I went up to the room and immediately took a shower. When I came down the whole family and Peggy had popcorn and were just starting a movie – “Into the Wild.” Each B&B is unique. If you’re looking for an elaborately decorated house full of awesome antiques, you’d better keep looking. This is not that place. It is very neat, clean, comfy and nicely decorated. The 3 guest rooms are upstairs with a spacious bathroom at the end of the hall. According to Joan, they are going for the affordable B&B market. Prices are $55, $65 & $75. They seem famous already for providing a wholesome, family oriented, hospitable atmosphere. (Did they pick this up at ‘Focus on the Family’ where James worked for many years, or is this just the way they are?) Besides B&B guests there are usually church friends and musicians hanging out here. James plays keyboards and his kids all play piano plus other instruments – cello, violin, mandolin, penny whistle, accordion, ‘squeeze box’... I very much enjoyed fiddling along on Bluegrass and Celtic tunes on Sunday afternoon out on the porch while about 10 young people were clogging on the lawn, or building a tree house, or trying to walk across a cord stretched between two trees. We went to church with Joan that morning, but James had to stay home to help work on a VW Bug that their eldest daughter had just bought, which, when we got back home, was running. We spent the whole day with James & Joan, their kids and a group of young adults who hang out at the house every Sunday afternoon. There is, however, a profound reason that we chose this place. We would not normally spend so much extra time with B&B hosts. James is the youngest son of Waldo & Ruth Werning, and Waldo had mentioned in his Christmas letter about James & Joan’s move to NC; then I found them on the internet. When we called to make a reservation, I didn’t reveal my last name but just told Joan we are Ken & Peggy, truck drivers. We secured our reservation with a business credit card – still not revealing my name. After the Friday night movie – “Into the Wild,” I finally, nervously, told James, “I need to tell you who I am. I was married to your sister for 10 years.” He turned and said, “Ken! I’m shocked.” -or something like that, and we hugged. So this visit was about restoration. I hadn’t seen James & Joan since their wedding in 1983 in California, in which I was a groomsman. Divorced from Charlotte in ’87 but separated in ’85, it was the toughest time in my life. I couldn’t figure out what went wrong, and suddenly I was outcast and alone. Of course there were many signs before that, but I didn’t think I’d ever be divorced. Anyway, years later I have had no contact with anyone of that family except exchanging Christmas letters with Waldo & Ruth. Being married to Peggy has been a restoration for both of us. She is my true soul mate. I am so thankful for this marriage and for Peggy’s character and godliness that constrain her to love me with all my faults according to Biblical principles. But I had a close relationship with the whole Werning family – wonderful people, whom I respect and admire. So finally God has led me to reestablish contact with the youngest and most free-spirited of the clan – James. I don’t know if this will go any further, but at least it was healing just to be accepted and welcomed by this family, whom I had been a part of on their wedding day.

King George

2010-02-25T10:05:00.001-08:00

February 25, 2010

Last Thursday was the George Strait concert in St. Louis - much anticipated since Christmas by our Marion Antique Mall manager, Sandie Newbolds - a huge King George fan. Accompanying her were: Ursula Haug, Tom & Teresa Terri and us – Ken & Peggy. The four of them arrived Wed, Febr. 17 about 9:00 p.m. at Timber Creek Resort, south of St. Louis. They are all part of our core crew at the antique mall. There are several vendors who work over and above the call of duty to keep the mall running smoothly, of whom these are four major helpers. Peggy and I arrived about 4:00 a.m. on our truck. We had been routed from Columbus, OH to Romeoville, IL (west of Chicago) and then drove bobtail (no trailer) to the resort. Due to a couple delays, as must always be expected in trucking, we got in much later than expected. However, the girls and Tom had everything organized when we arrived – food mostly. We walked in and heated up our breakfast and went to bed for a couple hours. It was a leisurely morning – the day of the concert. We all had more breakfast – sausage, eggs, hash browns, biscuits & gravy. Everything was geared towards the concert. I looked up George Strait’s bio on the internet and turned what I was reading into a quiz. As much as Sandie knows about her hero, she didn’t know his birthday (May 18, 1952,) though she had his age right. We left about 1:00, took the dogs to Ron & Debbie Box’s house in Fenton and went to ‘Blueberry Hill Restaurant,’ a landmark place on Delmar in University City. Chuck Berry had just played there the night before as he does once a month. The place is large with many rooms, and the walls are lined with memorabilia. We sat in front of windows facing onto Delmar for great people watching, and near a free, modern jukebox full of CD’s rather than 45’s. I selected many oldies and quizzed the others about who the artist was. We left there about 4:30 and headed downtown to the Scottrade Center. We were very early, but we had planned to go up to the very high priced ‘Bud Light Zone’ restaurant as an excuse to get in before the crowds. More than 2 hours before the show, the parking garage was filling up fast. At the bar we each ordered something small just for the right to sit there. Ursula grabbed the tab, so I don’t know how high it actually was… The concert started at 7:00, so about 6:30 we headed for our seats. The arena is huge, used for ice hockey, stock shows and huge concerts. As high up as we were, it was perfect for seeing the show projected on 4 huge screens facing out above the stage. One could look back & forth from the ant-like figures to the huge amplification of them on screen. First was Leanne Womack. She was okay, dressed a little strangely, not as big a star as George or Reba, but she did good – climaxing her set with a duet with Willy Nelson, who wasn’t really there, but one would think he actually was there by the way he appeared on screen alternating with Leanne, singing in perfect harmony with him -don’t remember what song it was. After Leanne Womack, there was a break to redo the stage, and then came Reba McEntire. Wow! I’m no country fan, but maybe I could be a Reba fan. She takes charge immediately and has a mesmerizing stage presence. She makes a production of her singing. The stage had microphones at each of the four corners, so each artist would move from one corner to the next to play to the audience on the floor. Reba danced and strutted around the stage. She knows how to work the crowd. A comic guest, apparently from Reba’s TV show, was there. Stephanie Robertson was the name I think I heard. She was hilarious, playing off of Reba, the straight woman, the serious one. And there was a music video showing Reba in a taxi visiting her old home place after she had become a refined, wealthy show girl. Then an actual big plastic taxi pulled up the aisle to the stage, and Reba got out in a fancy red dress, pranced up onto the stage and sang “Fancy.” Then came another break to set up for ‘King George.’ (And Reba is the Queen of Country.) I was satisfied after Reba was done. George Strait has many awards for best songs. He’s been around 40 years and has stayed at the top through generational changes. He is great, and he is the main attraction on this tour. But he doesn’t put on the show that Reba does. He is down to business, singing one great song after another. His style is generally pretty mellow, so Peggy and I both dozed off during his set. I caught most of it, but it felt so good to sleep a little. Ursula, Peggy and I sat together; Tom, Teresa and Sandie sat in another section ¼ of the way around the arena. I bought all the tickets, but at two different times. Sandie was in hog heaven. She knows all the words to all of George’s songs and has all of his CD’s. Sandie doesn’t care at all about Reba or Leanne. The whole show was about 4 hours. We were all glad we went. We stopped at Walmart for supplies en route back to the resort. Peggy built a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting for the next morning. On Friday, Feb 19 we celebrated Ursula’s 68th birthday, which is actually on February 23. The cake was a monster. Too tall (7 layers) and not enough frosting to cover, it was frosted across the top and down opposite sides, but the other two sides were exposed so one could see the layers. It wasn’t pretty, and it was a challenge to cut it, but it was delicious. We spent a few hours Friday at two antique malls on Big Bend in St. Louis. Ursula found some good buys. Her buy of the day was an earring rack and about 50 sets of earrings – all for $25. No-one else was in buying mode, but Ursula got lots of stuff. We stopped to pick up the dogs from Ron & Debbie about 5:00 and headed back to the resort for a big roast beef dinner, and to sing Happy Birthday to Ursula and eat that cake. Then our very successful outing was over. The four of them packed up and drove back on Friday night. Peggy and I had the condo to ourselves for the last night and watched most of a Jackie Chan movie. We had our next load assignment to pick up in Paragould, AR – 164 miles south of the resort, and deliver in Oklahoma City on Monday morning. We left the resort at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, rested and ready to roll. We had a total of about 620 miles to drive to Oklahoma City. We took our time and got there just in time for church on Sunday morning at Cousin Trudi’s church, where we had just visited with her the previous Sunday – Valentine’s Day. She didn’t expect us on the 21st, but we showed up just as the service was starting, saw where she was sitting and sat right behind her in the dark. She was very surprised when we made our presence known. We spent the day and night with her. We watched “Crash” and “Fireproof” videos. She took us to our truck next morning en route to her work. A friend of ours from Goreville, Brian Schuetz, had just pulled in to deliver as Trudi was dropping us off. Our truck had sat there for a day, so it wouldn’t start. Thankfully, Brian was right there to give us a jump, and it started very easily with just a little help. Both of our trucks started heading towards Springfield, MO, but we lost track of Brian almost immediately and later heard he wasn’t feeling well so stopped to rest. We picked up in Springfield, MO, delivered in Kansas City, headed up to David City, NE to pick up first thing Tues morning, delivered in Princeton, IL, picked up just 60 miles away in Bettendorf, IA, delivered Wed morning in Minneapolis, picked up in Humboldt, IA, stopped for supper with Mom in Omaha, delivered in Keyes, OK, and that brings us to present - Thursday. We are heading for Oklahoma City to pick up a trailer bound for Little Rock. My nephew Jason Wollberg is at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City. We are hoping to visit him for supper this evening. God is good! The weather is getting better and better. We are seeing less and less snow. Our truck is running well, even after our off-road experience of February 13. I’ll tell you more about that – next time…

Extremes

2010-02-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

February 10, 2010

Greetings,

Extremes is the theme of the past 10 days since we left home. It has been a comedy of errors. First, we had trouble getting out of Marion because of the end of month work to be done at Marion Antique Mall. We had to organize all the data for paying vendors and then write the checks. So we left around midnight on Sunday, Jan. 31. We picked up in Brazil, IN & dropped in Cedar Rapids, IA on Mon; picked up in David City, NE & dropped in Effingham, IL on Tues; picked up in Gary, IN & dropped in Richmond, IL on Wed; picked up in Bettendorf, IA on Thu and delivered in Houston on Fri. The problem is that after every drop we had to wait overnight for the next pickup. As a team, we want to keep rolling, but our timing was off from the beginning to be able to make the pickups before closing. Then, in Bettendorf we picked up 3 old, very heavy low-boys, stacked. Just before Lincoln, IL one of our drive tires blew out (a retread,) so we stopped in Lincoln, IL for 3 hours at a small tire shop to replace that tire, slowing us down. Later that night we stopped in Matthews, MO on I-55 to fuel and switch drivers. Peggy’s turn to drive; I slept. I was rudely awaken about midnight. Peggy had pulled through a rest area in Arkansas because she wanted to stop and let me take over, but there was no space to pull in. On the exit ramp, which has a sharp curve and rather steep shoulders, she didn’t pull out quite enough and dragged the back of the trailers into the cab of a truck parked just at the curve. The Peterbilt’s mirror was broken, and the fender and bumper were damaged - very upsetting especially to Peggy. In a moment like this, we are thinking of the possibility that our career as a driving team could be cut short. But there was no ticket issued. The other driver and the policeman were nice about it. It was a low-level accident, but now it is on Peggy’s driving record, and someone has to pay for the damage, which our company won’t be happy about. RexDon has been wonderful to us, so they most likely won’t penalize or fire Peggy for that. We made it to Houston on Fri afternoon. Here’s where an extremely lousy week turned into lemonade from lemons.

Our next load was 700 miles away to pick up in Elba, AL, and could not be picked up till Mon. So we decided to call friends in Houston. We haven’t seen them for about 3 years. We first met Doug maybe 5 years ago when we had our truck in for repairs over a weekend. I fiddle when the truck is idle. That Sat afternoon I was playing on a bench outside the big bay doors, and I saw a guy walk out with a violin case over his shoulder. I ramped up my playing to attract his attention. He turned and came back to me. It was Doug, computer whiz, workaholic and very good violinist. He has a masters degree in violin as do I. At that first meeting we ended up staying the night at his house, and I played with him in the church orchestra on Sunday. Back to present, we called Doug and Martha and were invited to the house last Friday. He was teaching violin students till about 10:00, which I enjoyed immensely, and I had a little interaction with a couple of the students. Peggy had a bath and was out like a light. I rode with Doug to his office to fix something. We got back to the house at midnight, watched a couple old cartoons, and I went to bed. Doug left at 6 a.m. because his students were in a contest. Peggy & I slept in a little late, came downstairs, packed up and left about 8:00. We had a couple errands to do, then headed east. We stopped in Beaumont for a movie – Avatar, then resumed eastward. We decided to call friends in Mobile to see if we could visit them. Wayne & Elaine Wood were with Peggy in YWAM 25 years ago. They are retired and have a remarkably lovely home near Mobile. We arrived at midnight and parked the tractor in front of their house. They are wonderful folks. Peggy and they talked non-stop about YWAM. I was mostly an observer, but it was fascinating. Sunday I showered and dressed for church, but then learned we weren’t going to their Anglican church but would have church at home. That was pretty cool because just as we were about to start, Carl George called from Ft. Worth, TX. He’s one of their group from YWAM. He was calling after he and his wife had gotten home from church. He stayed on the phone for about a couple hours and joined into church with us. I was the outsider, but it wasn’t so bad. I just excused myself once in awhile to walk our dogs or play my violin. At the end of the day we all watched the Super Bowl, then Peggy and I packed up and left for Elba. So it was a serendipitous weekend, but then back to the other extreme.

We drove from Elba to Ft. Wayne, IN. We had been having a light problem for a couple weeks which was getting worse. We had to get it fixed. We had no trailer taillights and were running on flashers after dark, as we had done all the way to Houston. We stopped at a Petro in Glendale, KY. They found the problem but didn’t have the part (pigtail harness.) Someone knew though that the place across the street had it. Also the weather was getting very bad and the roads were terrible, so we had to stay put anyway. Next morning we drove across the street and had Quality Diesel do the repair. This delay put us into Ft. Wayne near closing time, but we got dropped and made it to our pickup – 30 miles away in Monroe, IN in time to hook up to the next load, a set of doubles – 2 trailers joined together by a dolly in between. That’s what we now have. It has been an awful trip from Monroe, IN. We arrived to pick up at closing, so no one was around when we left. We could not get out of the yard because of the snow pack. I kept throwing load chains under the tires for traction, which helped us inch toward the gate, but 1-1/2 hour later, we were almost out on the road when a handsome young man in a nice heavy duty pickup truck with a blade on the front, stopped to ask if we wanted some help. This is what he does! He pulled us out in no time and wouldn’t accept money but asked if we were married and said, “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Praise the Lord! Peggy wanted to pull the doubles because I had never pulled them before, and the weather was bad. Fine! We got to a Petro right at the Indiana/Ohio border where she pulled in to sleep. About 3:30 a.m. she got up to continue on the road. She got stuck on the Petro exit lane which slopes upward. We spent 4 hours throwing load chains under the tires and made little progress. Finally a policeman came to put some pressure on us to get out of the road before it got busy. Then we resorted to tire chains, which I didn’t remember we had, but Peggy knows about them very well (and hates them.) We chained up, and that’s what got us off Petro property. We resumed on across I-70 past Pittsburg, but when we got to the turnpike, we were turned away because of weather – no doubles allowed temporarily. Peggy turned around and took the first exit, took a right (mistake) and we got stuck going up a long hill. So we chained up again, and a young man offered to pull with his ToyotaTitan, of which he was obviously proud and wanted to see how it would do pulling a semi. And another guy stopped with a heavy duty Chevy pickup and hooked onto the front of the Titan, and both helped us to the crest of the hill. Praise the Lord! On the down side, we turned north on route 66 from New Stanton, PA. mistake. We got off 3 miles later to turn around. We were still chained up, so going up the entrance ramp was going well until we were near the top; then we bogged down and came to a stop. We had lost one chain; I think that’s what stopped us. Right behind us was a fleet of state plows clearing the ramp. If we’d been a few minutes later, the ramp would’ve been cleared – poor timing. But we got going to the top of the slope and removed our chains. We were heading down to I-70 and back west to Flying J – no need for chains. We fueled at the ‘J,’ were in search of a parking place and…guess what – we got stuck again and had to chain at Flying J. Then we moved across the street to a bigger truck stop and found a place to park, which is harder with doubles – no backing up. That’s where we are now. Tomorrow hopefully the tollway will be open, so we can deliver these pups – 160 miles to go to Hagerstown, MD. Then our next load is from Pennsylvania to Grand Prairie, TX. YEAH!

Elba, Alabama

2009-12-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

We are in Elba, AL and have decided to take up residence here... not really. Our trailer was not ready yesterday morning. It'll be ready this afternoon. Meanwhile, we have been living at the new truck stop. We ate Chinese across the street last night and made friends with Kenny - a 3rd grade boy whose mom owns the Chinese restaurant. Kenny loves to play with our pups. He looks Chinese but sounds exactly like any other kid who grew up in Elba, AL. Behind the strip mall where the Chinese restaurant is, there is a hill. Up there is a large flat field with electric fence around it. There are 2 beautiful horses and 3 goats inside the fence, and Kody decided to make friends with them - especially the one horse who seemed real curious about Kody. Kenny told us these horses are owned by Dr. Somebody... The weather is nice, a little cool, but we're heading for Hew Hampshire - not far from the Canadian border. Then we drive across Vermont to northern NY to pick up a trailer for northern Michigan. We are in for some snow the next few days. Fortunately, my younger brother's house is right on the way and not far from the Michigan drop, so we'll visit Jeff & Reni on New Years Day, which they don't know yet. I'm getting some good fiddling done here in our temporary hometown of Elba, AL. The receptionist at Dorsey Trailer Co. said her grandfather made a fiddle out of a kerosene can. Grandpa died but her uncle has the tin fiddle. I asked if he could bring it over, so she called him and he did. I played it. It was almost impossible to tune. I got the bottom 2 strings relatively in tune so I could play "Amazing Grace." I still like mine better.

3 Negative Events, Blessings Attached

2009-12-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

No. 1
60 miles out from picking up a trailer in Stoughton, WI on Dec 6, I called my dispatcher just to check in and found out this trailer was not fully cleared for delivery. So I pulled into an oasis on I-90 east of Rockford, IL to wait for word from Dale to either go on or take the trailer back. I waited for about 6 hours. The oasis bridges the interstate and has parking and fuel on both east- & westbound sides. Motorists from either side enter the same food court which is built directly above the freeway. I was on the eastbound side. About 1:30 p.m. I heard from Dale that the trailer was okay to deliver. But it was too late in the day to deliver in Cleveland before 5:00, so I was in no rush to get on the road. I resumed watching “Pirates of Penzance” on streaming video. Then at 2:30 there was a big ka-boom that could be felt. I thought my truck had been struck. I put my shoes on and jumped down to see what had happened. Across the freeway, next the oasis westbound parking, a 7 story building had blown apart. My truck was facing the building, so sitting in the driver’s seat I looked through binoculars at the explosion site. I could see flashing red lights of fire trucks arriving on the other side of the building. I didn’t stick around. Next day I googled ‘Belvidere, Il news’ and immediately saw an article from a Rockford paper. A truck driver was killed standing next to his truck right next to the blast. The building housed large containers for making synthetic quartz, owned by a Japanese company. Only one other person was injured.
No. 2
Tues, Dec. 8, I was in Cleveland to deliver and picked up another trailer near Toledo, OH bound for Philadelphia area. That night I was on I-80 in PA as the snow came down. It got worse and worse until I had to get off the road. Visibility got extremely poor, so I decided to take the next exit, which was Exit 111. It was a bad place to get off in the snow. It had not yet been cleared, and it sloped up-hill from the freeway. I got stuck part way up the ramp. There was nothing to do but go to bed. But soon a policeman knocked on the door to say I had to move. I’m stuck… Another truck was stuck behind me. He called a tow truck and was towed up the hill to the entrance ramp – a down-hill slope. I got to speak with the tow truck driver, Ken. He is a good guy and recommended I just wait till morning when the ramp would be cleared and I could get out without being towed. However, the police told him he had to tow me, so I got towed to the entrance ramp - $100. I went to bed. Next morning I was the only truck left on the ramp. The sun was up. The ramp was cleared, but I was on the shoulder, which was still snow-covered. I tried & tried, but could not get rolling, even though I was on a down-hill slope. My drives slid towards the ditch, so my truck ended up in a V-shape between truck & trailer. Finally I had to call the tow truck back. This time Ken’s son came in a different tow truck. He got me out – for another $100. The rest of the trip to Philadelphia was fine.
No. 3
Fri night, Dec. 19, Peggy and I arrived about midnight at a Flying J in North East, MD. ‘North East’ is the name of the town. It is at the top of Chesepeake Bay, on I-95, 5 miles south of the Delaware border, 45 miles north of Baltimore. We had driven 380 miles in lovely weather from a town north of Boston. But just as we arrived in Maryland, the weather turned bad. It was starting to snow and didn’t stop all through the next day. Saturday we were supposed to pick up 3 trailers from an auction lot just 4 miles from the truck stop, but they did not open on Saturday because of the weather. It was one of the worst snow storms in the history of the Washington, D.C. area. We were stuck at the truck stop for 56 hours till Mon. morning. It wasn’t so bad. I fiddled a lot in the restaurant. On Sunday, one of the waitresses brought us a Christmas card and gift – 2 celedon-green, “Chesepeake Bay” coffee mugs – very nice. The card thanked us for the music and said it helped them get through a rough night. They were short-staffed due to the weather. We got to know some of the other truckers – especially John & Karen from Florida. Sunday we tried to go to the Lutheran church – nearest one, but they cancelled due to weather. The snow had stopped by Sunday morning, but there was a huge accumulation – piles everywhere. We had the dogs in the truck and had to check on them frequently. Peggy went out about 7:00 p.m. Sunday night to walk the dogs and heard a scuffle going on in the fuel island. We had no trailer, so we were parked with RV’s & cars next to the car pumps. Peggy saw two guys fighting next to a white service pick-up truck with a salt-spreader on the back. A Bad Guy was trying to steal the truck from the Young Man. YM yelled, “Call 911, this is a company truck.” BG fought his way into position and got into the truck. YM still fought through the driver side window. BG pulled out and turned left towards Peggy, almost ran over our dog and plowed into the snow bank next to Peggy. YM fell to the ground and was run over by his own truck. BG got free and drove off. Peggy waited with YM till the ambulance came. She found out YM had seen someone (BG) beside the road and stopped to help. Then BG forced his way into the truck and tried to force YM out. A young couple who had been walking by saw the dogs running loose and put them into our truck. The police asked Peggy for a written statement. Peggy came in to tell me she was going to the police station, so I got up immediately and went along. There were 4 people giving statements – Peggy, the young couple who helped with our dogs, and another driver in the fuel island. Peggy dictated her statement as I wrote it down. North East is a town of 3,000 where nothing happens. The officer who drove us said it’s like Mayberry. He was like Barney Fife. En route back to the truck stop, Barney showed us around town and told us a little of the history of North East, MD. Peggy had asked the chief, Officer Wood, to let us know how the young man was doing in the hospital. Next day we heard he had a broken hip and a broken back. And the BG was caught. We got to our pick-up about 8:00 a.m. Monday – a large auction company that deals in heavy equipment and large commercial vehicles. Though they had spent the weekend plowing their roads, there was still a lot of snow where all the equipment was parked. We got stuck once and had to have the end loader pull our trailer to us. We had to shovel off our 3 trailers. We got hooked up to the bottom one, a low-boy. The end-loader stacked the other two smaller flat-beds on top of that. Then we had to secure the 3 trailers with chains. These are old trailers with some rotten & missing boards on the deck, tail light problems, bad tires… Because of the snow it took 5 hours to get loaded, and once we got on the road we kept stopping to tighten chains, air up tires and check lights. We found a shop near Pittsburgh to fix the tail lights just after they quit working. Finally we made it to Red Bud, IL to drop these trailers the Tuesday before Christmas about 4:00 p.m. The buyer met us at his property, guided us in and helped us unhook. Before we left, I fiddled for him. He wrote a check for the tail light repair and gave us a $100 tip – first tip we’ve ever gotten for this job.

Happy New Year 2010

2009-12-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS DAY 2009. This past year seems like it’s been 2 years long. 2 days after Christmas 2 years ago was our big truck accident - Dec. 27, 2007. Our truck was totaled in the accident, and we got a different one in Feb, 2008. Peggy drove solo till June, 2009. At the end of that time she was quite burned out on trucking. She made plans to start a program to host kids from Asia for English camp in our home. She had made a trip to Hong Kong and Korea to recruit in March, 2009. She stayed with friends in both places. A young Chinese woman, Kathy Sitt, from our church in Carbondale helped Peggy with planning the program. When Peggy traveled to Hong Kong, she stayed with Steve & Kathy Sitt and their two kids. In Korea Peggy stayed with Eunice Yoon, who graduated from SIU-Carbondale and had been part of our church. As a result of Peggy’s visit to Korea, Eunice’s 25-yr-old son Joey came to stay with us May-October. He helped with the English camp, mostly as cook. We had 4 students. Rose (18) from Hong Kong, was already in Carbondale staying with her Aunt Kathy Sitt. Hanna (14) came from Hong Kong. Twins David & Irene Kim (11) came from Korea. They all stayed with us in July/Aug. It was successful, but not as big as originally hoped. Joey was with us 6 months and plans to return to study cooking here at Rend Lake College. English Camp ended with a trip to Disney World. It was a good beginning, and Peggy is planning to do these camps every summer. However, this summer without the truck income, we were stretched to the brink. My disability checks were helpful but fell short of meeting our needs. Since the accident, as soon as I was able, I spent all my time at our antique mall, which we bought just before the accident. It was to be Peggy’s project and I was to drive the truck until the mall would support us. Marion Antique Mall has come a long way in the past two years, but is not yet profitable enough. We see great potential, however, and expect this business to provide for us when we are old – hmmm, that’s now isn’t it. After English camp we needed to get back to trucking. Solo is lonely, but teaming is fun! The blue 1997 Volvo which we had bought after the accident died in Virginia a couple months ago. Immediately our friend Floyd Schuetz offered us his 2001 white Volvo, which he loves, but sacrificed because of our need. He has another truck – a gorgeous Peterbilt. We got into our new truck so quickly, we didn’t even miss a paycheck. Since July, we have an excellent manager at Marion Antique Mall, allowing us to be gone most of the time. Sandie loves selling and is doing a great job at keeping things running and pulling people together to decorate and arrange the inventory. She does prayer walks around the building every day. We keep in touch with her constantly by phone. Our two small dogs KOD (Ken’s Other Dog – pronounced Codie) and PAD (Peggy’s Adorable Dog – pronounced Patty,) are always with us. We love to get through Omaha to visit Mom, who turns 90 the day after Christmas. A prime advantage of trucking is bouncing around the USA and being able to drop in on friends and family. You might be next! It feels so good to get home every couple weeks… I am playing viola in Paducah Symphony. My dream is to be able to teach and perform music full time, when the mall is viable & trucking is done… God has been faithful through this entire ordeal these past 2 years. Things are looking up as we move into 2010. Praise the Lord! Trucking is a great adventure, taking us to every part of the USA and allowing us to meet all kinds of folks. Music opens doors. I fiddle everywhere we stop – truck stops, rest areas, repair shops, companies where we pick up & drop, churches… We have a million stories about how God works in our lives.

Merry Christmas / Happy New Year!
Ken & Peggy

Surgery Odyssey

2008-02-21T19:19:00.001-08:00

Here’s the saga of our accident from the perspective of 2 months later.

Peggy and I and our puppy, Katie, were just 30 miles into Montana on I-90 about 2:00 p.m. Dec. 27. It was a lovely day but cold. The road was snow packed, but seemed good. Suddenly the trailer started skidding on the ice. I felt it, took my foot of the gas, didn’t touch the brake, and steered to the left. It felt like we were about to come out of it, but the trailer (stack of 3 flatbeds) tipped and pulled the truck onto the driver’s side. My elbow hit the ground through the broken window. The bone was sheered (not broken) where the triceps tendons are attached. Peggy & Katie were shook up but okay. I was in the hospital in Billings (70 miles NW of site) Thu night thru Sat afternoon. The wound was cleaned in surgery on Thu & Sat. Peggy ran errands on Fri to collect the violin and other essentials from the towing company. She took the pup to the vet, and she bought us a ‘95 GMC pickup to get home. It cost $3600, rather than renting something too small, one-way, for $2500. We had a lot of equipment and ‘stuff’ to pull out of the truck.

We drove to Omaha on New Years Eve and New Years Day, arriving about 9:00 p.m. at Ray’s house. Jason was home from Corpus Christi (Navy base.) Mom was there. Andy & Jeanne, Matthias, Alexis & Chelsea had waited for us but then had to drive 3 hours home to Kearney. Jan. 2 we hung around most of the day and spent a long time at the phone store to replace our lost cell phones. When we finally left in late afternoon, we stopped in Parkville, MO to visit Peggy’s Uncle Jack & Aunt Pat. They hadn’t heard about our accident because we couldn’t reach them. It was pretty late when we left, but we wanted to get home. We rolled in about 5:00 a.m. Thurs to our house on the Lake of Egypt.

I had a wound-VAC machine attached to my open wound for about 12 days from Billings till the first meeting with Dr. John Wood at Southern IL Orthopedic Center. He performed surgery for 1:42 min on Wed. Jan 15. He was very optimistic, but 9 days after surgery I tripped while entering our antique mall and fell hard on my bad arm, which was in a plaster splint (half cast.) Magnificent pain… The wound burst open, so it bled a lot. By phone, Dr. Wood seemed to think it would be okay. I saw Dr. Wood next day; he just changed the dressing. Feb. 4 he had me in surgery to close the wound I thought, but he didn’t like the look. He referred me to specialists in St. Louis.

I saw Dr. Keener the following Monday, Feb. 11. He had ordered an MRI. That was awful, 35+ min. inside a tube with my bad arm stretched over my head, not allowed to move at all. It was torture. I prayed & prayed and quoted Bible verses. Finally it was over, and I got my pictures to take to Dr. Keener at the Center for Advanced Medicine / Washington U. He explained that he would do a bone graft with tendon attached, taken from a cadaver. He arranged for a plastic surgeon to be there to close the wound afterwards. I met her, Dr. Fox, on Fri. Feb. 15. She explained what she would be doing - much more involved than I had expected. She has to provide a padding of flesh over the bone, taken from below the wrist. A flap of flesh will be folded around to the elbow, with blood supply intact. So my arm will be rather ugly in two places instead of one, but that’s fine, just so it works. I’m hoping to get back to playing violin asap. Finally Dr. Fox will close the wounds with skin from the groin. Surgery is tomorrow - Fri, Feb. 22. I’m told I will stay overnight and be released on Saturday, and Dr. Keener will see me again on Mon, March. 3.

Peggy has been out on our new ‘97 Volvo truck since Feb. 8. She is now on her way from Pittsburgh, PA/Columbus, OH. I’m waiting at a truck stop outside St. Louis - just 9 miles from the hospital. Peggy has had a tough couple weeks on Old Blue’s maiden voyage. She (not Peggy - the truck) is old and has many bugs to work out. We paid only $11,000., which came out of the $29,000. settlement from our old truck - we have no truck payments. Any truck will have issues. Peggy has had five repairs this first trip. The truck is getting better. Tonight we’ll sleep in the truck and take the car to the hospital in the morning. Then later in the day Peggy has to deliver her trailer 45 miles further south.

We have traded places for the time being. Peggy is driving; I’m tending the antique mall. I had no intention of getting too involved in the Marion Antique Mall. I want to drive, drive, drive, until the mall becomes profitable enough to support us. It will get there little by little. We bought the building Dec. 1. It had been an antique mall for over 10 years and was quite successful. The former owners have divorced and in the process the business went down until they finally closed Nov 1, 2007. We bought the building - not the business, so it was relatively cheap. Now we have to build again. Peggy is very enthusiastic and immersed in it at every level. It has grown on me since we’ve traded places. I’ve enjoyed being there, talking with many good people - venders and customers. It’s kindo’ fun, but I’m not pouring myself into it quite as much as Peggy does. It’s really her baby.

Last week we had the worst ice storm in the history of southern IL. It began on the day I returned from my first meeting with Dr. Keener in St. Louis, Mon, Feb. 11. I turned off the Tunnel Hill Blacktop onto Deer Ridge Rd, 3 miles from our house. After ¼ mile the pickup bogged down in the snow and would not move forward or backward, even with help from a ‘pusher.’ No-one gets around in our neighborhood at such times without 4-wheel drive. I walked back to a house of folks we know and sat with them for 3 hours waiting for a tow. (I enjoyed their Jack Russell puppy and big screen cable TV on the Hallmark channel.) The tow truck never came; I got a ride home from a county sheriff. That night the power went out. Tues morning I stayed under the covers till noon waiting for the power to come on. Finally I got dressed and walked across the road to Leroy & Nancy’s house. Another neighbor, Rick, was already there. Leroy has a propane heater. I sat with them for 3 hours. Then Leroy offered to take me to Floyd & Paula’s - 10 miles away. That’s where I wanted to be to wait for the power to come back. Paula’s a great cook! They heat with wood. They live in a big converted barn and have tons of space. They have 4 dogs, one of which is the ‘twin’ of our puppy (not the same litter, but close relatives - Katie is a couple weeks older than Peetie.) Actually the puppies are named P.D. (Paula’s dog) and K.D. (Ken’s dog.) Peggy got our Yorkie puppy from Floyd as my Christmas gift. Peetie acts and looks like Katie, so it was great having her to play with since Peggy took Katie with her on the truck. Floyd was out on his truck. Other refugees came and went - their son Raymond‘s family, Floyd’s sister Bertie. We had no power there either, but we had the wood burning stove and great piles of wood. Tues eve the power came on at Paula’s house, but my neighborhood didn’t get power till Wed. I kept in touch with a neighbor to know when I could go home. I was with Paula for 2 full days. It was fun. I played games, worked a puzzle and watched a couple videos with the grandkids. Paula put me in the master bedroom which is on the 3rd floor - a king-size bed with big wagon wheel head- & footboards from Texas. She slept by the fire to tend it. One of the dogs is a boxer, Dingpod. He is wonderful, full of energy and affection. It’s great fun to watch big Dingpod (6 mo. old) and tiny Peetie playing. He is gentle with her as she climbs all over his head & back and chews on his ears. The other two dogs are Chihuahuas. They have a few years seniority and are not happy with the intrusion of the two puppies - especially Dingpod. It was great riding out the storm with Paula and her family. Raymond took me home on Thurs about noon. I got off at my pickup, still where I’d left it on Monday, and drove it home.

Next day I had to be in St. Louis to meet the plastic surgeon, Dr. Fox. She rammed me through a quick meeting with a physical therapist for instruction about getting my arm & hand moving before surgery. Then I had a pre-op screening appointment. Total time at hospital = 3 hours. I got home from St. Louis after dark. Our yard is full of broken limbs & branches. The driveway was still a sheet of ice. The yard was frozen over. I parked at the bottom of the driveway and carefully walked up the slope. By the flagpole I slipped and fell on my bad arm, breaking the wound open so it bled more than usual. By morning it had stopped bleeding. Now I’m spooked about the ice! I wanted to go to the antique mall in the morning, so I stood at the top of the driveway and tried to plan the safest route to the pickup at the bottom of the hill. Finally I gave up. The mall was iced in all week anyway and was unsafe to open. A nurse came to the house to change my dressing. I watched how she got up & down the hill. I followed her steps after she left, and got safely to my truck. I’d planned to go to a funeral that afternoon but couldn’t make it up the hill out of our subdivision on the slush. Sunday morning was in the 40’s and all the ice was gone. I went to church.

Now it’s the following Thurs. This morning I was not sure I’d be able to get to St. Louis for tomorrow’s surgery. Another ice storm started early this morning. I could not trust my pickup. I called a neighbor, J.J. He quickly offered to take me to Carbondale where our car has been in the shop for a couple weeks. It was finished days ago, but I couldn’t pick it up without Peggy being here to drive both vehicles home. J.J. drove me to my car, and I drove onward to St. Louis. The roads were bad, but not as bad as I imagined. Now I’m at the Pilot Truck Stop, just 9 miles from the hospital, waiting for Peggy and Katie to arrive.

Your prayers would be appreciated. Dr. Keener only does elbows and shoulders. I trust him and Dr. Fox, but God is the healer. I want to be able to play violin again. It is in God’s hands.

MerryChristmas 2007

2007-12-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

BIG NEWS - we are new owners of Marion Antique Mall. It’s all Peggy’s idea. My role will be to drive continuously until our finances recover. Peggy is very excited; I am frightened - but supportive and willing to do whatever it takes to help get it off the ground. I need to generate as much income as possible from trucking to support the antique mall until it begins to support itself. Peggy is now done with trucking. She may go with me occasionally once she gets her business established with trustworthy volunteers to watch the store. Dec. 20 Peggy will be open for the first time. There are almost no vendors but space for at least 60. By this time next year, the mall will have proven how well it can provide income. If it does well enough, I will also quit trucking. I dream of starting a music program at our mall. More to come on that as things develop in 2008.

We now own our big truck, having made the final payment in November. Our house is now completely fixed up and ready to show. As soon as it sells, we will buy Peggy's brother Larry's farm and big house - six miles away, hopefully this Spring? Larry wants to be free to sail around the world. But he is not selling all of his property, so he will always come home to our farm. Peggy's daughter Racheal, her husband Eric and our grandson Zachory (6th grade) have moved to Tucson, about 1600 miles from our us. We’ve visited them a couple times when routed through Tucson. Peggy's son David and his wife Alicia and our other 5 grandchildren are in Urbana, IL just 3 hours from our house. Aspen & Jadyn are now in violin lessons. Jacy, the eldest, is in 5th grade. Treighton and Echo are not in school yet. David got a great new job this year with United Steel Workers. He is working very hard. My mom, Ione Wollberg, is 88 on Dec. 26 - still active and living independently in Omaha, NE.

May your Christmas be filled with wonder and the blessings of Jesus!

Ken & Peggy Wollberg

Attitude

2007-12-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

My word for the week is ‘attitude.’ It’s a very good word. It seems to be the key to many things in life. The wrong attitude can prevent one from getting the job, being content, achieving potential, accepting life’s challenges, making the grade. It is essential to maintain the proper attitude in life; otherwise we cannot survive life’s challenges. And besides all that:

Last night we played Scrabble. Peggy always wants to use an alternate rule where one may trade a letter from his rack for one already on the board, as long as at every moment there is a valid word in that place. Not far into the game, I switched my “F” for a “T,” allowing me to make the word “attitude.” The initial “a” was on the red square in the lower left corner of the board. There was already a “t” in the space to the right of that. The final “e” came to rest on the red space at the bottom, middle of the board. The beginning and end of the 8-letter word were both on red spaces. A red space means “triple word” score. The face value of the word was only 10, but that was tripled twice to equal 60, plus 50 points for a “Scrabble” (using all 7 tiles on one’s rack,) so “attitude” was worth 110 points, cinching the game. My attitude at that point was 110%. And that’s how I chose the word “attitude” as my word for the week.

Antique Mall on the Horizon

2007-11-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

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…

What a Weekend

2007-06-30T06:44:00.000-07:00

On June 22 I met Peggy in Urbana, IL for Jeremy and Bomina Otto’s wedding reception - the Main Event, but before that…

I had delivered a trailer in Chicago that morning. On the way up I-57 I passed Paxton and thought of when Zachory (grandson) lived there with his dad. Through Zach’s violin lessons I had learned of a man in Paxton who plays and teaches fiddle. I had spoken with Don Peterson several times by phone about helping Zach on violin. He seemed like an interesting and erudite person. I decided this would be a good day to meet him. I still have his phone number on my cell phone, so I called his answering machine. He runs the “Swedish Trading Co.” in downtown Paxton. I didn’t hear back from him until I was on my way back down I-57 from Chicago. So I stopped. An older couple were picking up a fiddle and mandolin which Don had repaired. Don played some Swedish fiddle tunes. I also took the chance to play on that fiddle, though no-one knew me at that point. After the couple left, I had a great time visiting with Don. He had just returned from Sweden, where he travels occasionally to play with a folk group. Don is a retired real estate agent from Chicago. His parents came from Sweden, so Don’s first language was Swedish at home. The shop is very neat and orderly. There is not much to buy, only a little - candles, pictures, moccasin type shoes - all from Sweden. Don said he doesn’t sell much. His main thing is teaching fiddle. He has 22 students. He has made a couple Swedish key fiddles and has another one partly done. Through the screen door dividing the showroom from the back of the shop, one can see a lot of woodworking power tools. This was a most inspiring stop. Don is a talented musician, though un-schooled. He’s industrious and creative. He has nice recording equipment in his shop and records his own music. Very impressive. When I was teaching in Urbana around 1993 I had met a young woman studying Norwegian and Swedish music for her musicology degree. Don knows Becky. I had forgotten her name, but he seems to know her well. On top of it all, I picked out a CD of Swedish fiddle music to buy, and Don gave it to me free! I have a new friend…

It was mid-afternoon when I left Paxton. I was to meet Peggy at the Round Barn Center, Champaign. Our life insurance guy’s office is right across the street from there. Peggy was coming up from the south in our car. We finally got to Craig Detemann’s office about 4:00. It took us a couple hours to do our business. We first met Craig before we left for Korea. He sold us our policies in 1994. He also bought Peggy’s 1976 MG Midget, which he still owns, though it’s in storage. We don’t know Craig too well, only through Allstate. But he is a cool guy, very smart and personable. He is in his upper 30’s - still single. He’s a super-jock - into all sports and always keeps in shape. He’s short and stocky. He’s generous, or maybe he’s just being a smart businessman… Anyway he gave us a nice book about the past 100 years of Illini Basketball. It’s apparently an ‘important’ book with autographs in it, but much of the significance of it is lost on us, not being sports fans. That’s alright. When we were getting ready to leave his office, Craig asked where we were staying that night. “In out truck,” I replied. He said, “No, I have a guest room…” So after the big reception, we went back to Craig’s bachelor pad - a very nice 2 BR house down the street from the Champaign Country Club on Haines. I’ll just finish with Craig and then get back to the reception. We got there about midnight. He has a 4 year old Sharpe (is that how it‘s spelled? It‘s a dog.) She has a wrinkly face - nice dog, but a little ugly. Craig gave us the master bedroom; he took the futon in the guest room. We had the greatest time. Craig is a fine host. He has some cool collections - hats, watches, wines, art… He travels quite a bit all over the world. This was amazing: Peggy almost immediately noticed a pottery vase on a stand at the end of the hall and said, “I made one just like that in high school.” She picked it up and looked on the bottom. It had her name on the bottom - P. Cavitt!!! Peggy could not get over that and kept repeating over and over - “You have my pottery! How did you get this?” and variations… Craig gave it to her. But Sunday on her way out of town she gave it back to him. It seems when we liquidated our household before moving to Korea in 1995, that vase was given away and ended up at a 2nd hand / antique shop which Craig frequents.

THE RECEPTION: We got there about 40 minutes late because it was hard to get away from Craig, and we drove to a wrong location (Silvercreek rather than Stone Creek,) but we got directions and found Kennedy’s at Stone Creek. Even after we arrived we found the wrong reception first and finally got to the right building. We were seated with Steve and newly-retired Jessica Shaw, whose son John was in my advanced violin group with Christopher. Now John is a computer geek in Chicago. Christopher and his girlfriend were playing violin and cello when we arrived. There were a couple hundred people there for a buffet dinner. The actual wedding had taken place two weeks ago in Korea. We had followed the family journey on John Otto’s blog. Nine Otto family members took the trip for Jeremy’s wedding in Seoul. Actually Jeremy and Bomina had 3 weddings: a civil ceremony a year ago to facilitate Bomina’s visa; a Catholic wedding on Friday evening, June 8, 2007 and the very next day a Korean traditional ceremony at a Buddhist temple. The reception on June 22 might be considered a fourth ceremony. The Ottos’ Menonite pastor spoke a blessing over them at the reception. John’s brother acted as M.C. He toasted the couple, John toasted his son, Christopher toasted his brother, Bomina’s dad gave a toast in Japanese, so that Jeremy’s aunt who is fluent in Japanese, could translate. And finally my wife Peggy stood up and gave a lengthy toast, which established our connection with the Otto’s through Christopher’s beginning violin lessons and told how it was by our influence that Jeremy got to Korea. I expected to hear more toasts or roasts, but noone else volunteered after Peggy. Hard act to follow I guess :-). After the meal it was time to dance. En route to the dance floor, we met a deaf man and his wife who are members of the Mennonite church. We had a very nice, long conversation with them. The man’s name is Mel I think. He does speak quite well, though he is totally deaf. He lost his hearing as a teen. He is an intelligent man, has a college degree, works as a cabinet maker and loves soccer. He and his wife first approached us because they had liked Peggy’s toast. That conversation just put off the dancing awhile, but finally Peggy pulled me out onto the dance floor. I was awkward at first but began to feel more comfortable after awhile. We had a very nice chat with Christopher and his girlfriend (Amy?) (I ought to carry a notebook or mini-disk recorder to record people’s names.) They are soon moving from San Diego to New York. Chris was my most gifted and successful violin student by far. It is so cool to keep in touch with him and his family. We also had good conversation with Jeremy. He is now preparing to be a massage therapist through John A. Logan Community College. God bless the happy couple!

Finally, I realized there was an opportunity here which I ought to pursue. I walked up behind Christopher as he and Amy were involved in a conversation circle - and waited to be noticed, which didn’t take long. I wanted to try out his Douglas Cox violin. Cox is one of the makers I’m interested in. In fact I first heard of him through Chris's dad. Chris has had this violin for 7 years. He and his parents went to Vermont to visit Cox’s shop. I will make that pilgrimage whenever it works out in the natural course of our trucking. So Chris was very happy to let me try out his violin. We had to get as far from the D.J. and loud speakers as possible, so we found a dining room behind closed doors, and I was able to test out the violin in all ranges and was able to hear Chris play a few passages of Mozart. So I was content. Thank you Christopher.

Then to top it all off, we departed Craig Dettemann’s house early on Saturday. Peggy was planning to take our grandkids camping in Indiana while I had plans to go to Springfield to play in a little concert organized by Jim Stieren at his house. He's a great guitar player. We play together whenever possible. Jim invited his coworkers (he’s an occupational therapist.) So there were home health folks and their spouses and kids in attendance. No young kids though. There were about a dozen people in Jim’s living room - a very appreciative audience. We played a variety of fiddle tunes (my specialty) and classic rock tunes (Jim’s passion.) This was a pot-luck, so as people arrived, more food was added to the food table. We had good feedback. And we got $22.00 in tips, which Jim and I split. After that event, I stopped over at Kregg Argenta’s house. He should’ve been at our recital but had a conflict with his niece’s birthday party. Finally I headed back to Urbana at the end of the afternoon. Our camping trip had been rained out. If it hadn’t been, the camping equipment was all in our big red truck, and Peggy had locked the key inside. I was to open the truck when I got back to Urbana. However, somewhere between parting with Peggy on Saturday morning and returning to the truck that evening, my keys disappeared. I only discovered them missing when I was parked next to our truck and could not find my karabiner. It’s a mystery. I looked everywhere. Finally I gave up and drove over to David & Alicia’s house to hang out with their 5 kids while their parents were out all night at a concert in Peoria. Treighton (4) and I slept in the RV in the driveway. We took the kids to early church, and Sunday afternoon, after all options were exhausted, we had a locksmith come out to open the truck for just $69.00. Then I went to Wal-Mart to make copies, of which one is now concealed under masking tape in a secret location on the outside of the truck. We have had emergency keys hidden under the hood in the past, but the one that was there is gone - maybe fell off? Finally I was able to depart to deliver a Publix trailer from Great Dane, Brazil, IN to Miami, FL and Peggy went home in our car. That was one extraordinary weekend!

The Hitch-Hikers

2007-06-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

I don’t usually pick up hitch-hikers, but last Wednesday (June 27) at the Flying J south of Vero Beach, FL, I was drawn first to the 2 guitars: “Can you play those things?” They had a sign saying they wanted a ride “north-ish” or to Tampa. “I’m going to Tampa…” - an immediate look of joy and relief. I took a quick shower. When I came out, Rama and Ashleigh came with me to Tampa. They are nice girls in their 20’s, planning to go to Africa to start a ‘sustainable orphanage’ but via Atlanta or maybe Canada, where Rama is from, to arrange her passport. Ashleigh already has hers. They say they want to stay in South Africa or Kenya indefinitely. Once they are there on a tourist visa, they want to get sponsorship to stay. Ashleigh has already been to Africa and has contacts. These two are good musicians. They sing beautifully together in harmony - original stuff and also ‘bluegrass’ - their own concept of it. They sang for me in the truck, but it was a little hard to hear over the engine noise. The girls both have shaved heads. Ashleigh wore camouflage. She is sweet, tall and slender. She grew up in a Pentecostal church in Tampa but seems to have had a bad experience with it. It was good at first but grew huge and became too restrictive, full of rules. She and her mom left. Ashleigh said she had prayed today to meet a trucker that would change her image of truckers. I was the answer to her prayer. Rama’s name is actually Barbara Marie, so Rama is from the end of her first name and the beginning of her middle name. She is very fat. Her mom practices Mormonism, and her dad does not. She has a sister in high school who is a very good cellist back home in Vancouver, B.C. A & R are into spiritualism and said they ‘respect’ Jesus. (Later, I was able to give a strong testimony of who Jesus is.) In Tampa their friend Natalia came to meet us and brought Rama’s dog. By the time we got to Tampa, I had mentioned I was going to Atlanta next, which was good for them because there is a Canadian embassy there.

If Peggy had been on the truck with me this week, none of this could’ve happened. But I believe it was a divine appointment. First, on Wed. morning I was delayed a couple hours with truck problems. The transmission would not shift beyond 5th gear. I called our mobile mechanic Mike, who is based around Orlando. We’ve used him a few times. He is very good. He said he’d come out to me in a couple hours, so I wanted to get the truck off the side of the road. I nursed it 9 miles to the next exit at 17 mph. By then I had tried everything according to Mike’s suggestion. I had crawled under the truck twice in search of disconnected wires. As soon as I arrived at the exit ramp and was about to park, the problem evaporated. The truck shifted to 6th and all the way to 10th! So I kept on rolling to Miami and so far have had no recurrence of the problem. I called Mike to say I was rolling and would try to meet him on the way back up… This delay had put me in the right time frame to help the girls. Such evil events are in the news every day, that I am concerned about these two traveling this way all over the USA. Please pray for them - for their safety and that they will soon come to know Jesus personally.

At the truck stop in Tampa, after I had picked up my trailer, we ate and then ‘jammed’ in the restaurant. Natalia is the best guitar player of the three. She is a journeyman carpenter and a recent college grad - English major. She is Peurto Rican American, totally bilingual. We jammed only a short time. Then we headed for Atlanta, now with the dog. She’s a sweet, quiet dog and looks like a small wolf. Rama is looking for a good home for her. I had to say no thanks. The girls are planning to go to Arkansas for a Rainbow Gathering, which is going on now and lasts for many weeks. On the 400 mile trip to Atlanta, they slept like logs on the lower bunk air mattress. They had not slept in a couple days. These young women remind me of my step-kids, rejecting organized religion for a more free, love-oriented, pot-accessible, commune-style, some-form-of-spiritual, feminist life style. Please help me pray for Ashleigh, Rama and our kids and grandkids. I believe this is the reason God put them in my path. They need our prayers and miracles.

Big Truck Night

2007-06-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

On June 16 there was a big event behind the University Mall in Carbondale. I had been invited by Kathy Staff to bring our truck. The event was sponsored by a Children’s Services program. Sorry, I never caught exactly what the organization is, but it is community based, publicly funded I assume, offered to several surrounding counties. There were about 30+ volunteer workers, all wearing orange T-shirts. Mike & Kathy Staff were both there. Some were manning the food tent, some directing traffic, etc. Peggy and I washed our truck on Saturday, right up till time to leave. Peggy stayed home but came to meet me later with the car. I arrived about 4:15. The event was from 5:00-7:00. It was really great. Cathie Paull came at my invitation, to play music by my truck. I positioned the truck so as to be able to sit on the shady side of it. I had also let Ron & Karen Demmin know that Cathie and I would be playing, since they like to come out to hear us whenever we play. They came with Amma, Ramma and Ramma’s little boy. I was pretty busy signing kids’ cards. As they went around to all the different types of trucks, the drivers were to mark their truck on the card. There was a constant flow of kids and parents. They climbed into my nice clean truck, honked the horn and listened to our music when we had a chance to play. Mine was the biggest truck there. The kids loved climbing inside the trailer and running to the front. I had a brand new Great Dane trailer that day, bound for Ryder in Laredo, TX. There were maybe 10 trucks on the parking lot. One had a boom that stood about 4 stories high. There were dump trucks, one for digging trees up by the roots, one with enormous tires… The kids filled their cards and then had a drawing to win toys and prizes. It was the first Big Truck Night and was successful, so I believe there will be more. I saw two families I knew: Ed and Kira Benyas, conductor of the Southern IL Symphony, and their two girls; and I saw a family I knew from Goreville. And I had a long conversation with a young Indian physician who was there with his wife, small children and Grandma. He was very personable and had many questions about the truck. I enjoyed him very much. After the event, I had to wait for Peggy to arrive. Most of the trucks were driven away. The volunteers packed everything away. Finally, it was quiet and I was alone in this big parking lot - just me and my truck. I sat in the lawn chair and played my fiddle until Peggy arrived about dusk. We went inside the mall to eat, went to a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean,) and then we slept in the truck. I didn’t want to move the truck back to Goreville, so we stayed in Carbondale until church the next morning. Right after church I was on my way to Laredo, and Peggy went home.

From the Strad to Claude

2007-06-11T01:55:00.000-07:00

We are now under a load from Salt Lake City to Dallas. Only problem is it was impossible to get it into Dallas before closing time on Friday, so we are having to sit on it over the weekend. The result is that we have had a very leisurely trip from SLC to Dallas, which is where we now are on Sunday night. Really it worked out quite well. Peggy and I are together for 2 weeks and wish to run very hard as a team, so at first we were disappointed about the timing of this load slowing us down. However, it’s not so bad. Here’s what we did…

Even before leaving Salt Lake, I took the opportunity to visit a violin shop which I had heard about 30 years ago. The Violin Making School of America was founded in 1972. Sometime in the mid- to late- ‘70s, in Milwaukee I played string quartets with a cellist, who had studied violin-making briefly at the VMSA. The school is closed for the summer, but I still wanted to visit the ‘Peter Prier & Sons Violin Shop.’ Peter Prier is the founder of the VMSA, but has since turned over all oversight of it to others, so that he can concentrate on violin making. We parked our truck & trailer on the edge of downtown SLC, next to Pioneer Park. Peggy thought she should stay with the truck. I walked a mile through downtown to find the shop. It consists of 3 buildings: the school on the corner, the violin shop next to the school, and a recital hall next to the shop. Everything is neat and orderly, as one would expect of its Austrian proprietor. Of the many violin shops I’ve visited, this is perhaps the top most impressive. I had called ahead a couple times to make sure they were open. When I arrived, I met the son - Martin (I think.) Shame on me, I spent a lot of time with him but didn’t pay attention to his name. He was quite busy juggling a steady flow of customers, which he did with humor and grace. I like him. He’s quite knowledgeable about the violin market and about violins. At 13 he began making violins with his father. He went through the VMSA, and he went through the violin making school in Chicago, AND he worked for six years in the Carl Becker Shop in Chicago. (Carl Becker is about the biggest name in modern American violin makers.) As Martin was setting me up in a room to try violins, he let me know to take my time and try anything in the shop. I tried about 10-12 violins, including a Becker. Another young guy came in after me who was also shopping for a violin, so Martin was trying to take care of both of us in adjoining rooms. The young guy sounded incredible. He played major concertos flawlessly, making me feel a little intimidated, but still I was inspired and went on with my own process uninhibited. I’m not really ready to buy, but the shopping is very fun, and I learn something new with every shop I visit. Martin was a great resource and caused me to think more about getting a new bow as well… He’s smart. He said, “Let me show you my favorite bow in the shop…” It was an 1820 Picat - $70,000. Wow, it really does make a difference. That bow was fun to play with! So I used it the rest of the time I was there. Then a little later Martin said, “Do you want to try the ‘Firebird’ Strad?” “Uhhh, yeah!” He took it out of the vault and told me to have fun with it. I played it for a long time. I did the entire Kreisler “Praeludium & Allegro.” Wow, what a violin. I was in heaven. But of course I’ll never be able to afford a million plus bucks… It was fun though. Before I left, Peter Prier came in and started helping out with the young stud concert violinist, thus freeing up Martin to take care of me and others. Martin took me next door to the recital hall to see his and his father’s workshop. Martin has nearly finished a violin, which is already bought. I want to try violins made by Peter and Martin, but they cannot keep ahead of the demand. As soon as a violin is finished it’s already bought. Peter has 8 orders to fill. So how can I ever get hold of one to try? I’m hoping to get to SLC during the window of time after the violin is completed before it goes out of the shop, if he will let me know the timing.

I walked back to the truck and we were on our way to Texas. We drove through the night on Friday. Saturday we stopped for fuel and an oil change in Amarillo, went 22 miles further towards Dallas, and stopped for the night in Claude, TX, a town of 1300. We took a room in the motel, checking in about 1:00 p.m. After we got settled, we took a walk to explore the town. We didn’t get too far before we found a leather shop across from the town square, which had an “open” sign in the window. Tom Christian came to the door and let us in. He is upwards of 70, a native of Claude, rancher with 7,000 acres, former state representative, former travel agent, all around interesting guy who likes to tell lots of stories. We were there a long time. Peggy bought a few antiques from him. I ran back to the motel to get my violin to play for him. Before we left we asked him about churches in Claude. He said, “Why don’t you come to mine?” (Methodist.) So we agreed. We went back to the motel, went grocery shopping, slept a lot, and watched a movie in the middle of the night - “Richie Rich.” In the morning, we packed up the truck and headed for church, just 5 blocks away. Before leaving the motel there was a little alarm about my violin. Peggy had left it next to the ice machine while I took the last few items over to the truck. When I got back to her near the motel office, I asked where my violin was. She sent me to look in the room again, and then she found where she had left it. AHHH! But through this, an elderly woman asked Peggy about the violin, as I was approaching. So I took it out and played a few tunes for the woman and her family - there were about 10 people there. They loved it and wouldn’t let me stop for awhile. We did get to church on time, met many good people, and I was asked to play in the service. I played “Amazing Grace” and Peggy & I did “Touch of the Master’s Hand.” I also played a couple hymns with their excellent pianist. We very much enjoyed this service. The preacher is a woman - a gifted speaker/communicator and a very caring, loving, sincere lady.

Tom Christian and his wife took us to lunch afterwards, and their son, daughter-in-law and grandson were also there. This is the 14th day of a fast which our church is promoting. Peggy and I are participating, but we decided to make an exception for this occasion. We shared a chicken steak dinner with green beans, tater tots and a side salad, the first substantial food I’ve had in 14 days, except for yogurt, apple and vitamins most nights. Don’t worry, I have plenty of fat reserves to sustain me, and they are being used! The town of Claude has a general look of dishevelment. Most places one looks, there is trash or broken cars or ruts or disrepair, so the town does not look too appealing. Tom’s shop is most disorganized, and the floor is very dirty. But we met sweet people. It was surprising that these prosperous, good people don’t take care of their property better. We contrasted this to the typical German village, where all the shopkeepers and property owners are always cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I should talk. But for Peggy, there go I.

Now we’ve driven the last 300 miles to Dallas, where we’ll deliver this trailer first thing in the morning and will begin our next trip from Lufkin, TX to be in Haines City, FL on Tuesday.

Catching Up

2007-05-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

From my table in the Flying J Restaurant in Salt Lake City early on Friday of Memorial Day Weekend - I’ve been away from blogging for weeks now and have missed reporting some of our adventures. There was the trip to Disney World in March with two of our granddaughters during their grade-school spring break. We took them in the semi, delivered a trailer 15 miles from DW and stayed inside the park for 3 nights & 3 days. Then April was full of music - 2 Illinois Symphony concerts book-ending a Paducah Symphony concert. The great thing in April though was a long-planned trip to Chicago for violin shopping, joined by Jim Stieren (adventurous guitarist/friend.) I’m on a slow search for a great violin. We visited 6 violin shops. I took one violin on approval for 3 weeks but didn’t decide to keep it… The highlight of the search was the Carl Becker Shop. They showed me 5 violins: one by Jennifer Becker - $25,000; two from around 1950 by Carl, Jr. - each $40,000; one from 1918 by Carl, Sr. - not for sale, but - - - $100,000; and a violin made by Daniel Cox, who lives in Vermont. He had approached the Beckers to represent him in the Chicago area. That’s the violin-maker I have my sights set on right now. I’m also interested in Robert Clemens of St. Louis whom I visited a few months ago. The violin I took out on approval was from Petio Kostov, a Romanian maker working in Mundelein. I went from Chicago to Springfield for IL Sym. Kostov’s violin was passed around the orchestra. I got to try out several other violins in the orchestra - a couple Clemens violins and my stand partner’s Becker. I’d love to have a Becker, but am now favoring Daniel Cox. At the Becker shop, a salesman was available to play the violins. When he brought out the Cox, I had to mention that one of my former beginning students now plays a Cox. “Oh, who is your student?” I replied, “It was more than 15 years ago, his name is Christopher Otto.” And Colin Maki said, “I know him! We studied with the same teacher in Chicago.” Actually I studied with that teacher, Cyrus Forough, long before they did, in Milwaukee. small world…
Now we’re about caught up… The weekend of May 20 Peggy and I rendezvoused in Milwaukee for Angela Holdmann’s wedding - a fireman’s daughter marries a policeman’s son. I was routed into Milwaukee on our truck; Peggy took a train up from home. I got in early. Mark picked me up Sat. morning, took me back to the house and showed me our accommodations. Mark & Janet are highly neat and organized. They prepared their immaculate Jayco RV trailer behind the house for us. They also made their 2nd car available to us, so I picked up Peggy at noon. We went from the train station to UW-Milw to drop off a young woman who needed a ride from the train, then onward to the wedding rehearsal, and to the groom’s parents’ house for a nice dinner. Mark & Janet are our great friends whom I met 25 years ago, when they were just starting their family. Mark was my violin student - that’s how we met. He had inherited his grandfather’s violin and wanted to learn to play. Angie is their 3rd child to be married - only 2 more to go. Each of the 5 learned different instruments - violin, piano, clarinet, viola, trumpet - and each was quite accomplished at his or her instrument - especially the 3 boys. I played with Luke (violist, but architecture major at UW-Milw on a 4-year music scholarship) in the string quartet for Angie’s wedding. Tim (trumpet / HS soph.) played a couple solos accompanied by the quartet. Ben (great clarinetist, but now on the fire dept. like his dad & grand-dad) and his wife Sue sang in the wedding. Amazingly, upon meeting the other violinist and the cellist of our quartet, friends of Luke, we discovered that I went to UW-Milw at the same time as the cellist’s mom, Anita. She and I were viola majors at the same time, so I knew her well. Small world... Sunday morning was a flurry of ladies doing their hair, picking up food, flowers, all kinds of stuff for the wedding - I wasn’t involved, so I went to church alone. Peggy stayed behind to watch 2-yr-old Holly, Mark & Janet’s first grandchild. Angie is a striking beauty and was the quintessential lovely bride. Joe was in his Marine dress blues. (He is out of the Marines after 4 years and getting ready to be a policeman.) The wedding was at the Holdmanns’ church, but officiated by Joe’s childhood Lutheran pastor. The reception afterwards was at a large hall in Germantown. Wow! What a party. It was a huge, sit-down meal. We were seated at a table with Mark’s eldest brother, his wife and step-daughter, Mark’s uncle, his wife and Mark & Janet’s elderly neighbor. There was a DJ. Dancing followed dinner; that’s about when we left.
Peggy and I drove Janet’s car to our truck, parked it for later retrieval, and we took off for Cleveland. I had a really good load - 2500 miles from Albion, PA (100 miles east of Cleveland) to Everett, WA (north of Seattle.) Peggy and I delivered a trailer in Cleveland, picked one up in Albion and were on our way west Mon. morning. Our route took us back through Milwaukee about 24 hrs. and 1000 miles since leaving there Sunday night. We arrived in Everett about noon Wed. Peggy had promised to take the grandkids down to our house for Memorial Day Weekend, so she had to fly back to Champaign. We spent a relaxing afternoon in Seattle at the movies - Spidey3 and Shrek3. Peggy’s flight was 10:00 p.m. from SeaTac. I got her there about 8:00, accompanied her to the check-in, and was on my way to Boise, ID - 530 miles bobtail (no trailer.) With sleeping, it took me till Thurs. afternoon to get there, but the trailer wasn’t quite ready anyway - hot off the assembly line. Good timing. It wouldn’t have done me any good to have arrived any earlier. But I phoned ahead to Dallas about the logistics of delivering this trailer. Bad timing!--no-one will be around till TUES to receive it in Dallas. Normally someone would meet me on Saturday, but this is a holiday weekend, so everyone is leaving town. It’s okay. I’m having a leisurely 1700 mile drive to Dallas. There are relatives along the way, so we shall see what connections I can make once I leave Salt Lake City today… Meanwhile back home, Peggy has arrived with Jadyn, Treighton and Echo - our 3 youngest grandkids. Wish I were there! - but paradoxically I’m glad to be on this trip…
Now Sunday night. I had breakfast Saturday morning in Fort Collins, CO with Aunt Norma. Uncle Dave had already left for a hiking/camping trip. Norma picked me up from Wal-Mart and we went across the street to “The Back Porch Restaurant,” a place familiar to me. We had had a big family event there for Uncle Curly’s 80th birthday a couple years ago. My time with Aunt Norma was brief - only a couple hours, but wonderful. She gave me Cousin Judy’s phone number. I was able to connect with Judy & Rich in Denver on my way south. That was a great reunion. Judy is just 3 mo. older than me. She guided my by phone to a vacant store to park the truck & trailer. She drove me to their home. We sat on the back patio, under the 2nd floor deck. Judy & Rich were working on the yard that day, but there was plenty of time to visit and eat sandwiches. I played a few fiddle tunes while Rich & Judy worked. It was just great to see them and catch up a little on our lives. Now it is Sunday evening. I have been driving at a very leisurely pace, stopping to sleep, fiddle, eat, stroll. But tomorrow I have plans to park near in Allen, TX and will spend the day at Tim & Dana’s house (Peggy's cousin.) It would’ve been nice to be home for the long weekend, but I can’t complain about the way it worked out.

24 Hours

2007-01-27T15:59:00.000-08:00

God directs our steps. Last Thursday we picked up a stack of 3 flatbeds at Fontaine Trailer Factory near Boar Tush, AL (yes, Boar Tush!) and we knew the next 2 load assignments. With some phoning we learned we could not pick up the next load till Monday after 4:00 a.m., so it was no use busting our tush to deliver the stack on Fri. So we took it home. This delay slowed us down and allowed us to spend Saturday night and all day Sunday with friends in Carlinville, IL - Gary & LeAnne Glabe. We had to return their big red pickup truck anyway, so we drove that and the semi up to Carlinville and stayed almost 24 hours. We left after the season premier of “24 Hours.” Peggy has business with the Glabes - buying & selling antiques, so we loaded antiques into another pickup truck, which we are buying from them, and parked it in their garage until we can get back up there for it. Our ’89 S-10 has been parked at the Glabes’ for a month since it broke down up there, which is why we had their big nice diesel p-u truck. So they are going to sell our S-10 at auction, and we are paying the difference for their ‘92 V-8 Sierra. We did all our transactions and then visited into the night and all day Sunday. We went to their church Sunday. The Glabes live at Lake Williamson Christian Center. Their house is right on the lake; we ate at the LWCC cafeteria - good food! Gary taught us Sudoku - he and son John are brilliant at it. We now want to work on those game skills. We stayed much longer than we had planned and enjoyed every minute. The Glabes are gearing up for a MAPS trip (Mobilization And Placement Services) to Texas for a couple months. They are leaving in a couple weeks with their big red diesel p-u truck, pulling an RV. Then to Miami for more volunteer work and then to Haiti for a month of more - all building projects. They return home in April. If we had been able to do the trucking schedule we wanted - to keep moving through the weekend, we would’ve missed this special time with the Glabes. We left about 10:00 p.m. Sunday, knowing we could not deliver till Mon. morning north of Valparaiso, IN, which we did at 6:30 a.m. and were packed up and rolling by 7:15. Then we picked up a trailer in Elkhart, IN for Louisville. That should’ve worked to deliver by 5:00 p.m., even though we lost an hour to EST. But we didn’t make it in time so had to wait overnight. But here is where God showed his better schedule than what we had in mind. At 4:00 p.m. Mon., we were still 90 miles north of Louisville. We hung at the Flying-J for awhile and then decided to call Christian trucker friends whom we only meet sporadically - it’s been a little over a hear since last time. We called Joan, she invited us to the house (as hoped,) and we enjoyed a very nice visit. We watched the next 2 hours of “24 Hours,” arriving just after it had begun. We had met Joan & Gary (he’s out on the road now) at the USXpress terminal in OK City about 3 years ago. She heard me fiddling early in the morning and has become my most supportive fan - maybe my only fan come to think of it… She has quit driving semi and stays home. We met Gary’s son Rodney and his fiancee Sara. Joan is a very sensitive spirit, studies the Bible a lot, is very thin, smokes a lot, and is very interesting to visit with - smart lady. She wants us to read “Ragamuffin Gospel,” an important book to her, so I will. From the time we had first met them, she has spoken to us about a Chinese couple they know, who are Christians, frequent travelers to China for missions, husband is an accomplished pianist, and Joan wants us to meet them. Son Rodney took us back to our truck at 5:00 a.m. Under similar circumstances, last week we had delivered in Cleveland, TX about 5:00 p.m. on Tues and did not have the next load lined up. So we had to wait till next morning to get assigned. We thought of David & Shawna Horne, whom we’d met about 3 years ago at the Fr8liner dealership where David works. He is also a professional violinist, but works as a computer geek for Houston Fr8liner. We had not spoken with them for nearly 2 years, but with our new company, RexDon, we now get through Houston again. So we called David. He invited us to the house. They had just moved into a brand new house one week prior to our visit. It’s twice as big as the rental house from the last time we had seen them. We enjoyed 12 year old son Kyle and the cat B.B. (Big Black.) That was the night that David & Shawna, who have a huge T.V. and are NetFlix subscribers, introduced us to “24 Hours,“ which we had barely heard of, being so out of touch with T.V. on the road. David fell asleep in the recliner, and Peggy on a couch; Shawna and I watched the first 4 episodes of “24 Hrs” from last season, till 4:30 a.m.! That was after watching “Cars” (my first time.) Actually, I’m glad not to be tempted by T.V. in our current situation. At home we have no cable, just regular channels, and no time for it anyway, so we can’t get hooked on “24 Hrs” or any other show. Nice to drop in on the rest of western civilization once in awhile though. So it seems that when we mess up our schedule or when it is just impossible to make it work efficiently, God gives us divine appointments. It was great to renew relationships in Carlinville, IL; Louisville, KY and Houston, TX. At the moment we are picking up trailers in Boar Tush again and will haul these to Ft. Myers, FL. Let’s see, who do we know down there?

New Years / Christmas Letter

2007-01-06T00:25:00.000-08:00

Blessings to our family, friends and loved ones in the New Year 2007!

Christmas has slipped by so quickly with so little preparation on our part - no tree or decorations. We dashed up to Urbana (IL) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to be with David & Alicia, Jacy, Aspen, Jadyn, Treighton, Echo; Racheal & Eric and Zachory. We had only gotten off the road Saturday morning and spent the day shopping before we even went home. Sunday after church, we took a Korean friend to lunch and then drove up to Urbana. All the kids and Alicia were with the other side of the family, so Peggy and I took Eric, Racheal and David out to eat on Christmas Eve. David achieved Urban Legend status that night at ‘Crane Alley Pub.’ He ordered 12 hot wings. The waiter was excellent. He came 3 times to the table to ascertain how hot David wanted it. David made it clear he wanted the hottest possible result. The cook specializes in hot stuff and has a supplier of Thai and Viet Namese peppers. He pulled out all the stops and used up his entire store of peppers. It was entertaining for us all as David began to sweat and hallucinate, but he was determined to finish all of it (with breaks to go outside for fresh air.) Next morning was Christmas. The whole gang came to our hotel to open gifts by the indoor pool, and all the kids swam.
Jacy (who turned 10 Christmas Eve) was the winner of our drawing at Thanksgiving, to go with us to Orlando for 11 days. He left with us Christmas Day. We drove our car down home to the truck, jumped in and drove to Florida with a trailer to deliver in Orlando. We had planned for a long time to visit our friends from South Africa when they traveled to Florida. Isaac & Lillian Kekana were in our church in Korea with their sons Kitso and Sam. Peggy especially got very close to them the year she returned to Korea without me. She stayed with the Kekanas every weekend that year (2001-02) to go to church. Isaac is the S. African ambassador to Guinea Conakry. Lillian’s brother Bannet Ndyanabangi lives in Virginia (Washington, D.C. area.) He is a public health doctor and travels to the Congo every 4 months. Bannet and Margaret have 4 kids. We had a wonderful time with these families. Jacy bonded with the boys - all much older than him. We all went to ‘Arabian Nights’ - a spectacular dinner show with Arabian horses & riders in costumes riding formations in a central arena. We went to the Kennedy Space Center - us 3 plus Kitso & Sam. Jacy’s favorite new discovery is sky-diving. He saw an ad for $5.00 off, so we took him there. It’s a vertical wind tunnel to simulate sky diving. Very cool! Jacy is addicted - so he says. Peggy has promised to pay for him to jump out of a plane when he’s 15. We went two times to ‘Sky Ventures’ for Jacy. There was so much more to this vacation, but those are the highlights of our Christmas week in Florida.

Just today we got home - Fri, Jan. 5, relaxed and ready to get started on 2007, which for us shall include moving to a new house and 40 acres. We are buying Peggy’s brother Larry’s place. The past couple weeks including Christmas and New Years have been full, fun and relaxing. It seems we missed the traditional parts of Christmas because we have been constantly on the go. We are thankful for what God has done in our lives and in our world by sending Jesus to be born in Bethlehem. That message must not be lost in all the busyness and tradition of Christmas. We love the unlikely life God has led us into at this time - trucking. It has been an adventure, hectic, grueling and rewarding. The trick is to live every moment to the fullest on the road or off, to give God the glory for what He has done for us, enjoy the process, make plans, dream, work hard, always be ready to speak God's Word into others' lives - all for Jesus. I am not satisfied with how I manage my time or my life. Many New Years Resolutions come to mind, but God is gracious and faithful. Trust in Him!

Kissimmee, FL Vacation

2006-12-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

Dec 27, 2006
Grandson Jacy Puckett, Peggy and I are with the Kekana’s - Isaac, Lillian, K.K. & Sam, and Lillian’s brother Bannet’s family of 6. We arrived here at High Point Resort last night about 10:00. Backing up a bit, Peggy and I picked up a load in Lufkin, TX on Friday morning, bound for Orlando, FL. However, we took it home first, adding 530 to what should’ve been a 980 mile trip. We loitered in Shreveport, LA on the way home, slept in the truck a few hours and finally got to Goreville at 7:00 a.m. Saturday. We went directly to Marion for haircuts, errands and shopping, which took all day. At the end of the day, we stopped at Delaney’s Restaurant and the antique shop in Goreville. We finally got home about 8:00 p.m., built a fire in the fireplace and spent the next several hours till 3:00 a.m. wrapping gifts and getting ready for our trip to Florida. We were late getting up on Sunday - 7:30. We had to pack for Urbana into the Volvo, and for Florida into our borrowed heavy-duty, diesel p/u truck. We dropped off Gary Glabe’s big p/u truck next to our semi and unloaded it into our truck, then drove the Volvo to church. We missed Sunday School, but made it in time for church. We took Eunice (from Korea) out to the Chinese Buffet after church to celebrate her graduation. Finally we were on our way to Urbana about 3:00 p.m. We met Racheal, Eric and David at Crane Alley Pub in downtown Urbana. All their kids were at other relatives’ homes for Christmas Eve. David chose this restaurant. It’s a very nice bar with 3 pool tables. David ordered a full order (12) of hot wings. Our excellent waiter, Evan, came 3 times to make sure about how hot David wanted them. He wanted as hot as possible; “Kill me,” he said. So the cook, who specializes in hot spices and has a supplier for Tai & Viet Namese peppers, used up his entire stock on David’s hot wings. It was entertaining for all of us to watch. The cook came out a couple times to check on David. The two of them bonded over this. I think David became an urban legend at that place that night. Afterwards, Racheal and Peggy looked for an open Wal-Mart or other store while I secured our lodging. They did not succeed at finding anything open on Christmas Eve for last minute shopping. I booked us at Eastland Suites, next to I-74 on Cunningham in Urbana - very nice hotel with a big indoor pool. That is where we had our Christmas morning with all the grandkids and their parents. The kids and Racheal swam. I fiddled. We all opened our gifts in a corner of the hot, humid room. We still had to get Jacy ready to go with us to Florida. Alicia didn’t get the message that today was the day he was to leave. So back at the house, he got his hair cut and his bag packed, and we left. Several miles down the road, we suddenly realized noone had put Jacy’s suitcase in the car. No biggy. We’ll hit a thrift store, and we already had picked up socks & underwear for him. We got to our truck about 6:00 and had to take Gary’s big diesel p/u truck over to Floyd’s house for safe-keeping. We stayed long enough to eat and chat with Floyd & Paula. I took the Volvo home and got a ride from our neighbor Leroy to the I-24 entrance ramp to meet Peggy & Jacy. Finally we were on our way to Florida with the semi. Peggy drove till about midnight, stopping at a rest area near Murfreesboro, TN. I woke up about 2:00 CST and drove us to Atlanta, arriving about 7:00 EST. We spent about 4 hours at Petro Truck Stop. We tried to take an excursion to downtown Atlanta - the Underground, but the bus took so long to get there, we finally gave up. Peggy drove us the rest of the way to Orlando, arriving about 8:00 p.m. We dropped our trailer, bought groceries and arrived at High Point Resort to meet the Kekanas about 10:00 p.m. - just one mile from Disney World. In fact on the way in last night, we passed Disney at closing time - traffic jam the last mile. K.K & Sam are so much taller and more mature than when we last saw them. K.K’s in college; Sam’s in high school. We met Lillian’s brother Bannet and his wife Margaret. Their kids are Evon (16,) Bannet, Jr. (14,) Evett (11) and Laura (9.) Bannet is a public health doctor in Washington, D.C. The unpacking and visiting took till about midnight. Today, Wednesday, everyone but Margaret, Peggy and I went to Universal Studios Theme Park. Jacy took my cell phone for emergency and is in good hands. We have errands, cooking, washing and cleaning to do. We are renting a car today and will take Margaret to Tampa for shopping later on. It is wonderful to be in Florida with these two African families - the Kekana’s and the Ndyanabangi’s.

Enthusiastic Joe

2006-11-24T10:24:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago, Peggy and I were at a truck stop in Birmingham, AL. We had been taking a break at the Flying-J with a couple other drivers from our company. Brian, Tater and we had delivered 3 trailers in Birmingham when the place opened on a Mon. morning. Then we went to breakfast. I ate quick and moved over to an empty area near the pizza counter to fiddle as is my habit. That went well for awhile. I talked to one guy especially, Jeff, a flat-bed driver, who loves to play guitar but didn’t have it with him. He said he’d start carrying it in case we meet again at this truck stop. After awhile, Brian & Tater took off for Atlanta while we were heading west. It was Peggy’s turn to drive. As she was preparing her log-book, a black driver in the truck next to us got out and stared at the side of my door on the passenger side. Our logo is a heart-shaped violin next to our name - “Heartstrings Xpress, Inc.” So I offered this explanation: “I play fiddle.” Without skipping a beat, the black driver, Joe, said, “Well let’s hear it.” Of course I’m always ready to share if asked. So I grabbed the fiddle out of the case on the bunk, sat back down in the jump-seat and started fiddling. Joe stood on the running board with his face right next to my right ear. He was sincerely fascinated and wanted to figure it out. He watched my fingering and my bow and had a million questions. He is about the most expressive, enthusiastic person I’ve ever met. He had never seen a violin up close being played, except that he had been introduced to cello in grade school but didn‘t pursue it. He reached out and very gently touched the top of my violin. It was so cool! He said his wife had told him that if he had had the right teacher he would’ve been really great at music. In just a few minutes we learned that Joe’s wife is white, that he had known white girls in high school and liked hanging out with them more than the black girls because he learned so much cultural stuff from the whites as opposed to ending up in fights over the black girls; he had been in prison for awhile, etc… Joe seemed very articulate - a good communicator, loves to talk. He is around our age, tawny, tough, handsome… Peggy had to intervene and cut this session short because we had already spent a lot of time at the truck stop and wanted to get on the road. So we said goodbye to Joe. He really made an impression in those few minutes. I wanted to harness a little of his energy for myself. Then we were off and running to Oklahoma City. That’s another story.

We spent the whole day in OK City while having a storage box installed on the side of our truck - supposed to take “about 3 hours” but actually took six hours. We went there to deliver a stack of 3 new flat-beds, arrived at 6:30 a.m., saw some cool storage boxes in the office and decided to buy one and have it installed. Once our truck was in the bay and work had started, we called Peggy’s cousin Trudy, walked a couple blocks up to the truck stop and met Trudy for breakfast. It was the first time in a couple years we had seen her. When we drove for Clark Farms, we stayed east of the Mississippi. Now with RexDon, we get to go west again. Trudy is ‘bananas for Jesus,’ so we always have a wonderful time with her, sharing what Jesus is doing in our lives. After a great visit - the first in sooo long, we returned to our truck, expecting it to be ready, to find it was not anywhere near being done. By the time they finished it, our schedule was too tight to make it on time to the next pick-up in David City, NE, but as I slept, Peggy phoned ahead, bribed someone, and they agreed to wait another hour for us to get there. Another day/another adventure. Back in OK City we have another friend - Kim Kyungah. She has finished her masters and is now working full time for a Baptist church as administrative assistant. We could not get hold of her the day we met Trudy, but just a week or so later we came through again en route from San Diego to Columbus, OH. This time we met both Trudy and Kyungah at an ice cream store. It’s so great to be running western states again and to be able to drop in on friends and family.

Kang Ji Hoon in San Anton

2006-11-12T14:45:00.000-08:00

Just a couple days ago, Thurs. 11/9/06, Peggy and I delivered a trailer in San Antonio, TX. This is where one of my former Korean violin students is now going to high school. Kang Ji Hoon was one of my beginning students in Korea. He was one of the 3 kids plus Ji Hoon’s mom, who took a trip with Peggy and me to the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point, WI in July/August of 1999. We traveled in a van from Chicago through Milwaukee, Door County, and other parts en route to Stevens Point. We camped part of the time, stayed in a bed & breakfast one night and went canoeing on the Crystal River. At the A.S.I. the week focused on violin classes - 3 per day, lectures, concerts, recitals, food - but that’s another story. Now Kang Ji Hoon is 16 and a sophomore in high school.

Thurs morning as we were getting close to San Antonio after driving all night, I called Ji Hoon’s house. Rebecca answered the phone. She was very happy to hear from us and invited us to dinner. After delivering the trailer we spent the day cleaning our truck, took it through a truck wash, and we took showers. We got to the house a little after 5:00 p.m. Ji Hoon was still at school for orchestra rehearsal. He goes to a big international studies magnet school - the largest of it’s type in Texas. We went with Ben, Ji Hoon’s host dad, to pick him up after orchestra class. KJH is first chair violin in the orchestra. He says this orchestra is easy for him. In his school there is a more advanced orchestra, but he was too late to audition for it this year. He might audition next year. He doesn’t practice or have private lessons right now. He showed me his music folder - a variety of Irish, popular, light classical and jazz arrangements. I was really impressed when Ji Hoon brought out his music folder that I had compiled 6 years ago in preparation for our trip to Stevens Point. It’s a pink folder with plastic sleeves full of pieces we worked on back then. After dinner we played some of these together for Ben & Rebecca (host parents) and Masahiro (Japanese exchange student who also lives with Ben & Rebecca.) It was the first time the family had heard Ji Hoon play except in school concerts. He did great on Pachelbel Canon, Handel ‘Judas Maccabaeus,’ Amazing Grace. We tried Bach Double and a Telemann Canonic Sonata; …those are his assignments for next time.

We felt right at home with Ben & Rebecca. They seem to be the perfect host parents for international students. They are strict & fair, treating the 2 boys as they would their own kids. Dinner included kimchi and rice - very Oriental, and mint chocolate chip ice cream which Masahiro would not eat. It was good to meet Masa - he has made the local news several times as a track star; he gave us one of those newspaper articles. It was a wonderful visit, and it seems Ben & Rebecca would be willing to bring the boys out to our home in southern IL at spring break. And we hope they do.

We left about 9:00, drove through the night to Pascagoula, MS on the coast en route to pick up a load in AL which was not 100% confirmed. When we called in Fri morning, that load was off, and we were rerouted to Nashville but could not pick up till Sat. morning. We had 1100 empty miles from San Anton to Nashville and lost a-day-&-a-half. But it’s okay. We drove 1500 miles from Nashville to Roosevelt, UT in 26 hrs - nearly non-stop. We delivered at 9:00 a.m. Sunday and went to church at Roosevelt Christian Assembly. Now we’re on our way to Salt Lake City to pick up a trailer to deliver in Phoenix Monday morning. It’s been lovely driving through the mountains and the snow. No treacherous weather yet.

St. Louis Violin Shops

2006-11-07T03:45:00.000-08:00

7 November 2006
On Monday 16 Oct I went to St. Louis to visit four violin shops en route to Springfield, IL for IL Symphony. I stayed with friends in Fenton, Ron & Debbie Box, overnight on Mon. Monday I visited only one shop - Geoff Seitz Violin Shop, at this location 20 years. He has 3 store-fronts side by side, all connected into one big shop, next to a hair place on one side and insurance or something on the other side, in a mostly residential neighborhood of small brick homes. This is a lower middle class neighborhood with a very unique violin shop right in the middle of it all. First impressions of Seitz and his shop were - wow-violins everywhere. The walls are lined with them in various stages of repair, and there are boxes and piles of junk violins. Apparently he works on school instruments… He has several basses as well, one on a table with the top off being worked on. This place has a lot of character. I’m having Seitz touch up a couple spots on my fine viola and rehair two bows, and I‘m trying out his violins - especially the one he made. I want a better violin - a new one, so I’m visiting violin makers. Geoff was an apprentice to a violin maker in Washington state and eventually started his own shop and moved back home to St. Louis more than 20 years ago. I like his style and personality. His violins have an interesting inlaid design in the upper area on the back below the shoulders. At the end of the week when I picked up my stuff on Sunday around noon, I met Geoff’s wife and dog. Since they aren’t open on Sunday, they just came in to meet me. Sweet dog! This couple is around my age and seem like former hippies, but I could be wrong on that point.

After my first visit on Monday I went from Geoff’s shop to Fenton, but had a few hours before Ron & Debbie would be home from work. I had to practice my IL Symphony music anyway, so I found a church and asked permission to practice there. It’s a big church which Ron had pointed out to me in the past - it is where Joyce Meyer attends when she is home. I practiced my 2nd violin parts for R. Strauss “Rosencavalier” and “Till Eulenspiegel” - very tough. Then I went to Ron’s house about 6:00. We went out to eat and had a nice visit. Ron & Debbie are both teachers. They had to get up & out early Tues. I woke up early as well and practiced in the basement while Ron watched the news. I kept practicing after they left, took a shower and headed out to meet more violin makers. En route from Fenton up I-44, I got off at exit 282 - Big Bend Road, and right there was “Music Folk.” I had been there a couple times before - very cool place. I looked around at the huge selection of guitars, fiddles, harps, banjos… I saw a nice little selection of ukuleles - and bought one. I am under the recent influence of hearing Jake Shimabukuro on the radio and then ordered his CD, “Gently Weeps.” He is the best ukulele player! Onward up Big Bend to Clayton just up the street from Washington Park, near Washington U. is Clemens Violin Shop. I got there at about opening time. His shop was originally a big brick home. This whole area is rather up-scale in the heart of St. Louis near Washington Park. I heard about Clemens from Nathan Banks, a violinist in IL Symphony who has a Clemens violin. I had called Nathan for advice about where to go in St. Louis for violins. Robert Clemens came to the door. He is pretty young - maybe mid 30’s. His shop is real classy! Unlike Seitz’s shop, one cannot see Clemens’s work area. One enters into the instrument display room. Who knows what’s beyond those carved wooden doors to the rest of the house. On display are about 50 violins hanging in a glass cabinet - the more common instruments that were traded in. On one end of the room is a big, lovely string bass, the only one Clemens has made or will ever again make. Under the glass counter top are a few of the most valuable instruments, most made by Clemens himself. I tried 3 of these: 2 by Clemens, 1 by his teacher. Clemens is very personable and polished. He told about some of the renowned violinists who have bought his violins - very good stories. Of course the proof is in the pudding - I played his violins and was very impressed. Especially the 3rd one - one that he had built in 1999, which was played by John McGrosso of the Ariana String Quartet for five years. McGrosso exchanged it for a different Clemens violin. I think this will be my violin maker, but still am reserving judgment until I have met a few more. As I was leaving the shop, Robert opened a cabinet to withdraw a CD of the Ariana Quartet, picturing the players including John McGrosso holding the violin I had just played, and gave the CD to me. He also gave me a 2006 calendar with gorgeous pictures of some of his violins, violas and cellos. I have listened to the CD a lot in my car - Debussy and Beethoven quartets.

Next on my list was Dan Terry. He works out of his home. He was a little hard to contact and a little hard to convince I was interested in seeing his violins. He only had one available to show. I tried it…not so impressed.

Next I went to Gene Bearden Violin Shop. This is a very established and famous violin making family. Gene is quite old and has slowed down considerably. His son Greg is taking over the business. They had nothing to show me. They do mostly restorations now. It was very interesting to hear Gene talk about the old days playing violin in Springfield (IL) Symphony in the 1950’s and in St. Louis Symphony before it became a major orchestra. Gene is a tall, skinny, white-haired, well-dressed, elderly man. Though I liked visiting and hearing his stories, I was not impressed by the ‘mystique’ he seemed to be trying to evoke. There was an aloofness in this shop which turned me off quite quickly. Finally I met Greg and discussed the possibility of my buying a Bearden violin. He seemed nervous and anxious to get back to work, and had nothing to show me. I wouldn’t consider having a violin built if I had never tried an example of the maker’s work. He could see my point and suggested I go to Chicago to the violin making school where he (and Robert Clemens as well) had studied. There I can see examples of many makers all in one place. Good idea. So I’ll do that next chance I get which will be in April.

Thus ends my violin shopping. I headed up towards Springfield, IL. Right in my path was Alton, IL. I stopped there to try a restaurant that Mark Rogers had mentioned a long time ago - Fast Eddie’s. It is basically a big bar. I got there about 2:45, and they open at 2:00. There were many people there, but it wasn’t crowded. I have heard from more than one source that this place gets very crowded. The food was cheap and very good. The sound system was too loud. I took a table with an outlet for my laptop. I didn’t stay too long. The place has character, but it’s not my style.

The rest of the week was spent with Kregg E. Argenta and the IL Symphony. I always stay with Kregg, which makes IL Symphony seem almost incidental. My time is focused on practicing the music for the concerts that week, but one can’t practice all the time, so I also end up reading a book from Kregg’s library (last two times it was Treasure Island,) fiddling with our friend Jim, going out to eat, finding special events for Saturday. We have in the past gone over to Indiana to meet Peggy at a covered bridge festival, visited Lincoln memorial sites, fairs, festivals, parks, antique shop, exercise at health club, etc… We always go to Kregg’s parents house on Saturday around noon for their regular family lunch meeting. This time it was to celebrate his mom Janet’s birthday. So it’s like a mini-vacation, and the orchestra concerts are really fun, though hard work. This time our big pieces were Richard Strauss “Till Eulenspiegal” and “Rosenkavalier.” Anything by Strauss is bound to be very challenging. There were also several short opera excerpts. The soloists were 3 sopranos.

At the end of the week I had to pick up my viola and bows in St. Louis, so I stayed over at Kregg’s on Saturday night and left early Sunday to go to church in St. Louis before going to Seitz Violin Shop and heading home. I went to the Vineyard Church in Clayton, just 3 blocks from Clemens Violin Shop. They meet in a movie theater. Then it was another 20 minutes south to meet Seitz. I got my viola and bows, and left him my violin to have the fingerboard dressed (it gets grooves in it from years of pressing the fingers down on the same spots millions of times.) He said it would take a couple weeks. 10 days later I was in the area in my truck, so I called to see of the violin was done. It was, so on a Thursday morning I parked in front of Seitz’s shop in my bobtail (that means truck w/out a trailer attached.) Geoff did a wonderful job on my violin. It looks like a different instrument. He polished it with special stuff only violin makers have, and he fitted new tuning pegs. It almost made me cry to see this transformed violin. When I walked in, Mark, who works there with Geoff, was working on a violin and playing it - wow he’s good. He’s a champion fiddler. He was playing some old time fiddle tune in a very cool style. Geoff is supposed to be very good as well, but I haven’t heard him play yet… He said he knows Tim Stokes, 95-yr-old fiddler from my neck of the woods, from playing at the same contests. Ed Fravel, who regularly plays guitar with Tim, has backed Geoff up in contests as well. I like this shop.

Hepzebah is Back

2006-10-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

Hepzebah Groshvenor is the name I gave to my excellent English viola which I bought in 1974 when I was a student in Milwaukee. Some people name their precious possessions - cars, boats, homes, musical instruments. Hepzebah is a wonderful viola. She is well liked by anyone who hears her or touches her. Her value has multiplied since I bought her. When we lived in Korea I had her along, but I did not use her at all. I always played and taught violin at that time and eventually was very tempted to sell the viola just because I didn’t use it. A violin dealer offered me $15,000. It was such a quick offer that I was suspicious it may be too low. So I didn’t sell. Then I met a Korean man retired from Baltimore Symphony viola section. He thought he could sell my viola to his student for $20,000, so he borrowed it to show to his student. That deal fell through because it was just at the time of the Asian money crisis about 1996 or -97. Suddenly all Koreans of necessity became much tighter with their money. Now I’m very glad I didn’t lose my viola. As soon as we returned to the USA and southern IL in 2000, I immediately found many uses for viola again - in orchestras, ensembles and teaching. Still violin is more versatile and a little easier to carry around, so when we decided to make a better living by becoming truckers, I did not want to tote my viola around the country on a truck. She is too valuable to be living on a truck with the possibility of anything happening to her. And it is not good for a fine instrument to be left at home in a cold house never to be played. The first few months, I left her with Larry, my brother-in-law, so that at least she would be in a heated house where people are living every day. At that time Peggy and I were out on the truck for 6-8 weeks at a time and only home a few days between trips. After seeing that Hepzebah was not really safe in Larry’s house, just sitting in a corner of the living room with who-knows-who passing through and perhaps opening the case to see what was inside, I decided to ask our very responsible, highly ethical, musical, Christian friends in Milwaukee, the Holdmanns to keep my viola. Their son Luke plays viola and could use my lovely instrument for the time being. Luke has his own viola to carry to school day to day, but would use mine for concerts and to play at home. He used it his last 2 years of high school and won a full tuition music scholarship to U.W.-Milwaukee. He is now a college freshman, majoring in architecture, living at home and benefiting from that scholarship - free tuition and free viola lessons from a music faculty member, and he plays in the university symphony. I finally got my viola back a week ago. It was time to have her back, since our trucking schedule and our lives have settled down to where I am back into orchestra playing, which I had to give up when we started trucking. Now I need Hepzebah for Paducah Symphony. Last weekend was my first concert with Hepzebah. I had asked our friend Floyd to pick up my viola in Milwaukee whenever he passed through there, since we seldom get up that way. I have a cheap viola as a back-up. I had been using that one as soon as I rejoined the orchestra last season, but it’s not the same. That viola doesn’t have a name. Hepzebah and I have been through a lot of music together. I will never leave her again, except that she will outlive me and will eventually move on to a new owner…

West Virginia Rest Area

2006-09-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

13Sept2006
Today we had an amazing meeting. First of all to set the scene, Peggy and I woke up in McKeesport, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where we were to dump our load of stainless steel scrap. There was some delay - our delivery no. was missing, which delayed us about an hour till 8:00. Fine… We picked up the next load just 6 miles away. As we started out toward Henderson, KY with the new load, I asked Peggy to stop at the rest area in West Virginia, just 35 miles away, to see if a young man who works there, whom I’d met once several months ago, might be there today. I had stopped to fiddle at this rest area once. The young man was moved by the music because his grandfather who had died within the past year, had been a fiddler. The boy had inherited his grandfathers instrument, because he was the only one in the family interested in using it. Anyway, I never forgot that encounter, so today was a good chance to stop by to check up on the guy. When we got there, I ran into the restroom and stayed in there a long time. When I left the truck Peggy was starting to replace a headlight. When I finally emerged from the restroom, Peggy was inside the building along with a couple of whom I did not take any notice. I was focused on renewing my relationship with the young man. He was there! But here is the amazing part. As Peggy was working on our truck, a motor home pulled in right next to us. Peggy noticed the woman in the motor home seemed to be getting very agitated, which immediately caused her (Peggy) some concern. The door of the motor home flew open and the agitated woman flew out. It was Terri Smith - Peggy’s ‘cousin,’ whom she grew up with but hadn’t seen for 18 years. They last met at Terri’s grandmother’s funeral in Dallas. I remember Peggy going there with her dad shortly after we first met. Anyway, this was just incredible to meet Terry & her husband Tom, retired from police work in San Diego, and now relocated to Paris, TN. Tom & Terri were traveling with another couple in another motor home. It seems so incredible that every circumstance came together in perfect timing to bring us together at this rest area. Peggy and Terri were weeping and hugging. We visited for maybe 1 hour. I fiddled for them as well as for the folks working at the rest area (welcome center.) We had the best time at this serendipitous meeting. Some other folks who just happened to be there, were also blessed by our music. (Peggy sang ‘Touch of the Master’s Hand’.) Just amazing that God cares for us enough to direct our paths in this way. The college boy who was my reason for stopping there in the first place, had been very moved by my fiddling the first time I met him. Today his coworker - an older woman, told me that he had been having a hard time getting over his grandfather’s death, and she had told him at that time that my music was a gift to him from God. Now the second time I stop to see him, God brings us an amazing reunion. I think we’ll try to stop by at this West Virginia rest area more often just to see what happens next!

9/11 in NYC

2006-09-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

Sept. 11, 2006
Peggy and I have just had a most inspirational experience. Because we are not allowed to deliver our current load to the consignee in Hatfield, MA until Tuesday morning, and having picked it up on Friday, we decided to run it out to the east coast and use our weekend to visit New York City. We couldn’t leave till Saturday morning from Mt. Vernon because we had some work done on our truck at Freightliner Friday night. Peggy and I teamed last week, but I dropped her off in Goreville on the way from Rosiclare, IL (on the Ohio River E. of Paducah) to Mt. Vernon, IL. Peggy went home for a few hours to work on the house and met me in Mt. Vernon about 6:00 a.m. Saturday. We drove almost continuously all day and arrived in New Haven, CT about 4:00 a.m. EST Sunday. My brother Jeff, Renita and the four kids picked us up at the Pilot Truck Stop promptly at 6:30 and took us to breakfast at a cozy diner. We had a nice visit. I fiddled while waiting for the food to come because I knew I wouldn’t have a chance for the next couple days. Though I seriously considered taking it along, I decided not to tote it on the train, and for all that walking around NYC. Jeff & family took us to the train station in New Haven about 8:15. We arrived in Grand Central Station at 10:30. The actual commute was about 1 hr. 45 min. We got off the train and bought a street map ($7.00 - and we found a comparable one later for free.) We walked west past the huge public library on 42nd str., past thousands of people speaking other languages, never getting out of the jungle of skyscrapers, to Broadway and discovered hundreds of police and many streets blocked off. We had hit the day of the once yearly ‘Broadway on Broadway’ show - how cool. Right in the midst of Times Square was a big stage set up on one side of the square. There were cameras and huge TV screens to project the actors’ images hugely, several stories tall, high up on the side of a building for the thousands of people to see from blocks away. It was wonderful. If we had paid attention for the whole time, we’d have heard excerpts of ALL the musicals being presented on Broadway this season, which is just now beginning. We heard a lot, but we did not stick around the whole time. In fact en route from IL, I had looked on the internet for tickets to a Broadway show; that would be one of my highest priorities for a trip to NYC - to see a Broadway show. But I was discouraged by the high ticket prices, and besides none of the shows had opened yet this weekend, so it’s a moot point. Someday we will go again with that purpose in mind - to see a show. If you want to see why I was so discouraged, go to Ebay - Broadway or NYC tickets. There are 49 pages of tickets including sports, music and theater. A pair of Streisand tickets are going for upwards of $2,000. Unbelievable. We passed the small B.B.King Theater & Buffet on 42nd Str. Hmmm, looked interesting, so we bought tickets for that afternoon. Then we walked up to ‘Broadway on Broadway,’ found some cheap T-shirts and postcards on the way, and walked back for the dinner-show at 12:30. “The Harlem Gospel Choir” performed! Wow! We had church! The place was packed. We shared our table with a young couple from Australia - Hettie and Don - jazz musicians from Melbourne. They had never heard gospel singing and they loved it. It was tremendous. Those women have amazing vocal range. And what energy! There were 6 women I believe and 2 men., plus a drummer, bass guitar and keyboard. The director, who started the group in 1985-ish, did not sing but acted as MC. He’s much older than the rest. He told us about the touring they have done lately and will be doing - Russia, the Vatican, South Africa, British Aisles… And these are overweight, black women & men who aren’t going for glamour and glitz, but who are aggressively pushing the gospel in the marketplace. It was cool. Only I’m sure many of the people were oblivious. Everyone appreciated the excellence of the music and the energy, but I got the feeling no-one caught the gospel that was strongly present. Sad. Afterwards we started thinking about where we might sleep. We had about 3 hours before the church service would start at Times Square Church, so we walked to the YMCA which is near Grand Central Station - they are sold out through November. OK. I called another place - $189./night. Uh, no… We walked over by the U.N. Building and saw a policeman on the corner. He gave us advice about looking uptown, north of Central Park for cheaper rates. He said the further north, the cheaper the rates. We stopped in at another place to ask rates - $219. Don‘t think so… But that place had a helpful concierge who looked up some places for us and found us the LaQuinta on 32nd Str. That is still pretty far downtown - way south of Central Park, but we took it - $100. That solved, we went to church. I had remembered that there was someone at Times Square Church who had belonged to our church in Carbondale when he was a student. I called Cathie Paull to ask who that guy was, because I knew it was a good friend of her son’s. She told me it was Warren Carr; I remembered him singing at Craig & Elisa’s wedding. So I went backstage before church to ask around. Unfortunately, he had been there in the morning services but not now. That church is great - meeting in an old, ornate theater from the vaudeville era. Very lovely. The gold-robed choir has about 70 voices - more black gospel. We loved it. There was a guest speaker from Canada. David Wilkerson was on the stage and spoke a little but not mainly. BTW, this was at the end of a long day of walking, so our feet were killing us. I took my shoes off and rubbed my feet during the service. The theater was nearly full and very mixed racially. When it was time to leave, a kind Indian man walked us all the way to the train and down into the terminal to be sure we got the right tickets and gave us detailed directions about how to get to our hotel on 32nd just across from the Empire State Building. He did save us a couple bucks by getting the $10.00 pass rather than per ride. We found LaQuinta in the middle of Korea town, which made us feel right at home, having spent 5 years in Seoul. We checked in, set our knapsacks down and went back out to the Korean market next door to buy some common Korean snacks - salty kim (seaweed,) Tin-Tin cookies, Yakult (drinkable yogurt) and ’Milkas’ (a soft drink that was my favorite in Korea.) Whoa, this stuff was much cheaper back in Seoul! We took our treasures up to room 1005 and settled in to watch a Jennifer Lopez movie on TV - “Enough.” Never heard of it, but it kept our interest through to the end. Underprivileged girl marries rich guy who beats her until she leaves with small daughter, learns self-defense, confronts thoroughly evil husband and must kill him or be killed… There, now you don’t have to see the movie. We were so beat at the end of this day, we slept like logs and didn’t wake up till 9:10 on Monday. We had planned to get out early, but needed the sleep. After our comp breakfast, we took the train to Ground Zero. Isn’t God good! We couldn’t have afforded to take off work for a trip like this, and this was the first time we had ever picked up this same load on a Friday. We have always picked it up on Monday or Tuesday. The Friday pick-up allows us to run out to the coast and use the weekend on that end in any way we like. We decided to take the opportunity to see NYC, and it just happens to be 9/11. President Bush was in town, staying at the Waldorf Astoria. We overheard that just walking around on Sunday. We were in the vicinity of the Waldorf, so we decided to walk through the lobby of the finest hotel in town - world class. There were FBI and police everywhere. It was intimidating. I felt afraid to enter the lobby, thinking our backpacks would be searched and my dirty underwear would be found! Peggy on the other hand is fearless. Embarrasses me sometimes… We also walked into a most lovely, old Anglican church next to the Waldorf. The church has tall stained glass windows, one huge round one, heavy stone interior with carvings at tops of columns. I told Peggy I wish our church could worship in such a lovely building. This beautiful place is wasted on a lot of prideful people. Sorry, that’s over-generalizing, but we did see some awful signs of pride and, well…wealth. At Ground Zero, there were thousands milling around, and of course plenty of political statements, placards and news media. It was just great to be part of this. We were awe-struck by the testimonials, flowers, pictures, mementoes, photo-journalism. Very moving. We heard this ceremony on the TV before leaving the hotel - the reading of the list of 3000 names. We had intended to go to the service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral which we had walked past on Sunday in uptown Manhattan, but that was too far since we had gotten up so late. We did happen across another service at a nearby St. Francis of Assisi Church. People were coming out; bagpipes were playing. It was for the firemen. The World Trade Center is near the river. After leaving the ceremonies, we walked along the Hudson River south to Battery Park, with a view of the Statue of Liberty to our right all the way along the walk. Lovely day. Near the old fort at Battery Park was an old man from Trinidad on a bench with his fiddle. I asked him to take it out and play. He is quite good. He reads music, had classical training from age 12, had played in orchestras, but now he plays all kinds of popular tunes, show tunes, national anthems of various countries… He was a neat old guy named Dave. I played “Jolie Blonde” for him on his fiddle. He didn’t know it or even identify it as Cajun, but said he likes that droning style - playing 2 strings together. Now it was about time to make our way back to Grand Central for the trip back to CT and our truck. We took our final subway ride, ate Indian food at Grand Central’s food court and boarded the train at 3:07, arriving back in New Haven about 5:00. We had a nice dinner with Jeff & Reni, Jessica, Trenton, Dillon and Ivy. And here we are back in our truck ready to start our work week. My excellent wife loves to mess with anything mechanical, so as we were doing computer chores, paying bills, etc., she was messing with my new digital camera which she gave me for my birthday a couple weeks ago. We haven’t figured it all out yet. We had taken lots & lots of pictures and some video in NYC with the new camera. Peggy was trying to edit and figure out how to download and view the pictures. Well…she deleted everything in an instant with one press of a button. She was much more upset than I was. It’s okay; we’ll get it figured out and will eventually be able to send images of our adventures on the road to you by email! Blessings Always, Ken & Peggy (Fiddler & Ladybug)

Summer's End

2006-09-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

The summer has flown. Amongst all the driving of our big red semi, there were a couple noteworthy breaks from driving. Fourth of July week we spent lots of time with the grandkids. We had 5 of the 6. The youngest, Echo, stayed with Mom & Dad in Urbana. But we took the rest to Branson after 4th of July in Goreville. Those kids would not me let out of the pool for about 4 hours that first day at our time-share. It was great - except that Aspen and I got sunburned pretty bad. Zach (11) was the only one to catch a fish when everyone (except me & Treighton who was sleeping) went fishing. We shot a few fireworks off on the waterfront just below our window. I practiced violin with Zach every day to help him get ready for Fiddle Camp a couple weeks later. We were at the time-share on Table Rock Lake only 3 nights, and we took the kids home to Urbana. The new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie came out that week. It was Jacy’s highest priority to see it. We tried to see it in Branson, but it was sold out. So we saw it in Rolla, MO on the way home. In fact that one was sold out too, but I had dropped everyone off at a restaurant and went early to buy the tickets. Peggy took Jacy (10) out with her on ‘her’ truck for a week, and then Aspen & Jadyn went with her another week. (She drove our friend Floyd’s Peterbilt for several weeks while he was getting over cancer treatments - he’s back on his own truck and back to his old self & excellent health.)

Zach has been taking violin lessons this past year in Urbana. I arranged it, and we are paying for it. His teacher has been Robin Kearton, whom I met about 20 years ago in Springfield Sym. and in the music school at U of I. Robin took some of my students when Peggy and I left for Korea in 1995. I got reacquainted with Robin through Zach’s lessons and am very impressed. She teaches in the Suzuki style, but quite a bit more eclectic than just straight Suzuki. She teaches lots of styles - Beatles, Klezmer, old time, bluegrass, blues, jazz… She runs a summer camp - the “Bow-dacious String Band World-on-a-String Camp.” I took Zach to it myself July 16-22. I was very interested to see how it was done, so I volunteered to help out in any way, and I wanted to be there to help Zach because he is at the very bottom of the heap. Truth is he has done little on fiddle in the past year but always says he wants to stay with it. It’s frustrating for me, but I do understand the ups and downs of kids learning violin. My highlights of the week were: making some new music-friends and reconnecting with old ones, jamming with good guitar players, playing in the faculty recital (East Tennessee Shuffle & Beaumont Rag with Will Hope on guitar,) and lots of good conversation with various folks in and around the camp. It was held at the Historic Lincoln Hotel (formerly Jumers.) Most of the kids were local, but there were some from St. Louis, Chicago and southern IL. One of my former students, Amber Bailey, was there on my recommendation. She was one of the most advanced students there. Some people slept at the hotel, but Zach & I stayed with a host family, which I arranged through our former church - Urbana Assembly. That was a separate, positive experience, though we didn’t get to see very much of the Breitenfeldts. We left early and got home late every day, spending about 12 hours a day at camp. There was an excellent bassist at camp, Alex McHattie, who was at U of I when I was there 20 years ago and is now back to do his DMA. Sometime during the week, Zach was drawn to the bass. He has kept up that interest ever since, so now he is switching to - cello. That’s just easier to do right now in school. In fact he has a cello provided at Liel School in Urbana. I had a wonderful time with Zach that week. It was special being able to spend so much time with him. Of our six grandkids, Zach is the oldest and an only child of Racheal, unless you count his step brothers and sister, as well his new ½ brother at his dad‘s house. But he lives with Mom. Our other five grandkids seem comfortable with hugging and saying “Luv U.” Zach doesn’t like to be touched - never has and seems nervous about the “L-word.” He is smart and comes up with very good questions. He’s a thinker. Of all the grandkids, I’m most concerned about Zach because he doesn‘t seem secure about being loved. The week we spent together did seem like a turning point for him though. He showed real interest in God, and we had some great conversations about prayer, baptism, salvation, Jesus, heaven - all that. On the last day of camp early in the morning Zach was baptized in a swimming pool in Urbana by a youth pastor of Urbana Assembly - the same day Zach’s ½ brother was born at Carle Hospital, and that‘s where I dropped him off after our final recital.

The last special event of the summer was a 50th anniversary of a friend’s parents in Springfield. on Aug. 26. Kregg asked me and another friend, Jim (guitarist extraordinaire) to play for the event. So Jim & I had to get together a couple times and make some plans by phone to prepare for the event. Jim came to my house for a weekend to practice, and we played at the local restaurant in Goreville - Delaney’s on Broadway. Our core music is my fiddle repertoire, but we added some of his stuff, including a couple songs and a strange arrangement of ’Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.’ It wasn’t strange to him, but I had to figure out what bars to cut out and what sections to repeat to fit with him. It was worth it though. We want to keep building on this experience. I play regularly with a guitarist back home - Cathie Paull. We play at least once a month at Delaney’s on Broadway in Goreville. I can’t make a regular schedule with Jim, but we should be able to get together occasionally - when I play in Illinois Symphony or when he comes down to visit.

Those were the summer highlights 2006 of ‘The Trucking Fiddler.’ Now orchestra season is upon us. The first concert of Paducah Symphony is 9/16, and 9/23 is the first concert of the Illinois Symphony. I have stepped up my practicing lately to get in shape for the heavier repertoire. Every day I’ve been doing 3-octave major scales and arpeggios in every key. That is the least I do, and then move on to new tunes to internalize. Now Cathie and I are working on Texas Swing Style using a book & CD set by Matt Glazer. Lately I’ve been playing through a book of Telemann Solo Sonatas for violin. I’ve had them for a long time and just dug them out a couple weeks ago. Very fun! I’ve only read a couple of them just a little in the past. Now I’m really digging into them. I guess I’m a Late Bloomer.

I dream about getting back into teaching music. Along those lines I’m thinking about how music should fit into my and my students’ big picture. As important as music is to me, I don’t believe it should generally take 1st priority. There are several things that should come first, before giving time to music. The list may not be quite the same for everyone, and if someone has become hooked on music as I have, he might neglect the higher things on the list to get to the music. A couple of the obvious top priorities are - taking care of the body & health, relationships with people & God, working to support self & others (which may involve music…) The reason I’m thinking this way is based on a life-time of being around serious musicians, some of whom seem to ‘sell their souls’ for the sake of art. I’ve been there myself. As much as I think it’s so worthwhile to work hard to be the best musician possible, it’s not worth it if it means losing one’s soul. Lots could be discussed on that, but - time to say good-bye, and may God bless you and keep you.

"Red" @ 'International'

2006-08-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday as I was driving our big, red semi from Valparaiso, IN to E. Alton, IL, it became clear that an air-leak problem was getting worse. The truck's brakes and other systems are operated by air pressure. I phoned a friend in Springfield, IL to help me find a repair shop. Jim found the International truck dealer and gave me the number. I called ahead and went there. I got in about 8:00 p.m. Red is the manager. He was a littel gruff on the phone and also in person. He seemed like a guy not to mess with, so I didn't. I just gave him the info - what I wanted done and pretty much stayed out of his way. Two guys came out to the the truck to diagnose the problem. One was a bright-looking, young Mexican (my first guess was Phillipino) who speaks unaccented English. The two mechanics found a part to replace and then just disappeared without any word to me. So I went about my business in the truck, organizing things to get ready to go home for the weekend. After some time, I decided I'd better go inside to check on progress. Red was there and said the guys were having dinner and I was welcome to sit in the lunch room. I did and watched the end of an Austin Powers movie which I'd never seen - not my cup of tea, but what I saw was funnie. Then sports came on & I was outo' there - not a sports fan. I asked Red if I could borrow a ladder to do some work on my tarp, so he showed me where to get a ladder. In & out of the shop a few times, I finally asked Red if he knew a good place to park my truck for a couple days. He looked strangely at me, so I had to explain that a friend was going to drive me home to southern IL and I would return to the truck on Sunday night. Somehow this started a conversation. Red is not such a gruff guy after all. He has roots around St. Louis and relatives in Carbondale. I heard his work history - how he came to be manager of this dealership and would like to manage a dealership in the St. Louis area. This led to my part of the conversation, "You'll never guess what I did before trucking..." I told him I was a professional violinist and that I play in the IL Symphony in Springfield. He was really impressed and our relationship changed from that point. I wandered back out to the truck. When I was messing with the tarp the Mexican guy seemed like he would like to have a conversation. He asked me some leading questions, so as he was working under my trailer, after I had put the ladder away, we chatted. He's studying computers at Lincoln Land College and has a wife and a little daughter... He thought I didn't look or talk like a trucker. I've heard that before. He guessed I was a teacher. Then Red came out. He said to the Mexican, "Did he tell what he did before trucking?" About that time is when I finally offered, "I have it right here if you want to hear it." So I played fiddle tunes for them right there behind the trailer. It was cool. Red was phoning people and saying things that start with, "You won't believe..." And he called other mechanics over. I played "Back Up and Push," "Beaumont Rag," and "Maiden's Prayer." Red seems really enthusiastic about me now! So the work got done, I parked the truck on the street right in front of the shop where Red told me I could park, and another mechanic came out to say, "Red says bring your violin in." So I did. there were five mechanics waiting to hear it. The one new arrival wasn't believing what Red was telling him. So this time I played "Amazing Grace" an excerpt from Kreisler "Praeludium and Allegro," and "Wish I Were a Rich Man." Red was promoting me to all his buddies. It was a little embarrassing. Anyway, the bill was still $170. No discount for baring my soul to them. Of course I don't expect discounts, but I wonder if it would've cost more if I hadn't made friends? Jim picked me up. We left early next morning for Goreville. Jim & I had rehearsing to do for our gig on Aug. 26 - a 50th anniversary celebration of our mutual friend Kregg's parents. Jim was coming down anyway this weekend. It just worked out nicely to park the truck in Springfield, which is exactly in route to where we were to deliver on Monday. Our weeked with Jim is another story...

Kert & Joy

2006-06-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Peggy and I were driving through Goreville on the way to church, and we noticed a long-distance bicycler checking her map. So with Peggy's agreement, I turned around to see if they needed help, or just to give encouragement. After a brief chat, we invited her to breakfast at Late Bloomers. She refused a couple times but finally agreed. Joy and Kert are on a coast-to-coast bicycle ride. She is a doctoral candidate in English lit. at Purdue. She is from Iowa. She is traveling with Kert, who is the strong, silent type. In fact he didn't say two words. Joy is the communicator. Kert is obviously not. He's not antisocial or angry; just private and focused on their trek. He did not even come into the restaurant with us. But he was in the line of sight outside as he dozed or meditated. He seemed to attract some attention from the elderly folks who left the restaurant. He does look impressive - not large but very strong and hard. He doesn't wear a shirt. I wouldn't either if I had his body - perfect definition and no fat! We had an excellent visit with Joy. She seems quite devoted to Kert and takes good care of him. He in turn is extremely supportive of her. They seem to have an ideal relationship, not at all romantic. I am certain they will have a pure, life-long relationship, even after one of them gets married to someone else. Joy told us she was heading to Carbondale to the bike shops - last chance for bike maintenance for a long time; and to the library for internet access. The library is in the same block as our church, so we thought we might see her again after church. We did. She was there talking with an eastbound biker. (She is westbound.) The bike shops are closed Sundays, and internet access is too expensive at the Carbondale Library for non-residents. Since Joy wanted to wait for the bike shops to open on Monday before going any further, we invited her to a big church picnic at 5:00 on Sunday. She spent the afternoon at the SIU Library to use the internet for free. We went home to mow the lawn and came back for the picnic at Evergreen Park. It was a surprise party for (Pastor's wife) Jan Crall's 50th birthday. It was a big event with tons of great pot-luck food, a special song composed by Linda Seiler and sung by 6 women in honor of Jan's life, and there were tributes and speeches... Joy and Kert were made welcome by many of the students and church members. We were trying to find someone to be hospitable to them that night. As it turned out, a couple of the students suggested that she stay at the Sunday School house of our church. We checked with Pastor Dale; he was agreeable, so they had a nice, dry, indoor place to sleep with plumbing. Peggy and I took off after the picnic and let others take care of Joy & Kert. Now we have been able to check their progress on a website. She posts her journal and digital photos on www.crazyguyonabike.com. Then enter "cirumtrektion" in the 'search' place. If you look at her segment '...to Carbondale' (June 4,) you will read about her first day in IL and see photos including me & Peggy. By the way, Kert is Joy's Trek bicycle. She gave it a name for security reasons in certain circumstances.

Master Works 4

2006-04-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

Illinois Symphony does the following 5 categories of concerts: Master Works, Pops, Chamber Concerts, Sneakers & Jeans, and Education Concerts. I have only signed on for the Master Works series, because those are the most challenging concerts and need the largest number of musicians generally. I am placed at the back of the 2nd violins, partially because I play on such a limited basis I think. Might also have to do with that all the other violinists around me are really good. I’m avoiding saying I’m the worst player in the violin section. Really I’m just happy to be on the stage and doing this great music with such good musicians. I do hold my own - except for a very small percentage of very difficult passages which I fake. Faking is a necessary art for orchestral musicians. I don’t think anyone actually plays all those notes perfectly unless it is the concert master and maybe a few of the front row players? During a concert week, I typically arrive at the first rehearsal (Tues or Wed) without having spent much time studying my part. I do make an effort to go through the music, but don’t usually get very far. The problem is that when I get home off the road the Friday before the first rehearsal, the envelope of music is waiting, but I don’t feel I can jump right in and work on the music as a first priority - too much other mundane stuff or planned activities to do first. Maybe next time I’ll try to make it a higher priority so I can be better prepared ahead of time. It is also just easier to wait till the first rehearsal to discover the worst passages and how fast they go. I work very hard after the first rehearsal, so by the concert I have most of the problems worked out.

It seems to me I’m in a unique position among members of the IL Symphony. Everyone there is very focused on the concert. This is a professional gig; we’re here to do a job and do it well. So in the dressing room and back stage there is a lot of talk about the music we’re playing, or other concerts, or instruments, or who got a new bow, or evaluations of this & that - all interesting stuff to us, and there’s a lot of material there to talk about. Of course that is why we all come together from far & wide. There are musicians from Chicago, St. Louis, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, Decatur, Peoria, Carbondale, Springfield (of course) - even from as far away as Arizona and Toronto sometimes. There is certainly a social element at this coming together. These are relationships built on music. Most of those who don’t live in Springfield are hosted by Symphony Guild members in their homes - some pretty fabulous places I hear. BUT…

I may be the only one who comes to Springfield for other reasons. I don’t stay in the housing provided by the Symphony. I always stay with my friend Kregg. I actually go HOME to Kregg’s house after rehearsals. I know him. I feel comfortable and at home. I don’t have to be polite or tip-toe around in Kregg’s house. We always do special things - try a new restaurant, hang out with other friends, play bluegrass music with Jim (a newer friend whom I met through Kregg,) visit Kregg’s parents’ home-on-the-golf-course, and really VISIT. I have a history with Kregg, which started when we were grad students at U of I and met at church. He was at our wedding. He visited Peggy and me in Korea in 1995. We visited the largest church in the world together - Yoido Full Gospel. He took a trip to Florida with us (total of 7 people I think) in an old conversion van in about 1997, when Zack (also on this trip) was just a baby. So even though I am in Springfield to play the orchestra concert, that is not the main reason for me. Or at least it is closely tied with being able to hang out with Kregg. For me this is like a working vacation. I do work hard on the music, but one can’t practice all day. I spend about 3 hours each morning and then I’m finished until the evening rehearsal. It is a most relaxing week. I love the music, and I love being able to get away from the ‘symphony sub-culture’ which can be rather superficial.

The orchestra was in shock last week over the death of one of the best violinists in the orchestra. Peter committed suicide the week before last. He was Romanian, a few years younger than me, married, very handsome and always well-dressed, very smart and outspoken. I think I only chatted with him once backstage, but his presence was impossible to overlook. He lived in Chicago. Details and reasons why this happened were not discussed. At the first rehearsal last week, the conductor, Karen Deal, announced ‘as you all know, we lost Peter.’ I didn’t know that. I had seen an email just a couple days earlier that the orchestra manager Kamen had gone to Chicago to say his final goodbyes to Peter. I just thought Peter was going back to Romania, and since Kamen is also Romanian, he went to see him off. Maybe I am just naïve, but no form of the word ’death‘ was used from the podium all week. I turned to my Romanian stand partner, Teodor, to ask what happened to Peter. He told me Peter had died. There was a collection taken for Peter’s wife. She still played violin in the concert, though she was obviously having a rough time emotionally. We played a special piece for Peter in the concert : ‘Nimrod’ from “Enigma Variations” of Elgar. I only knew Peter superficially. This is the 2nd encounter in one week that I have had with someone’s untimely death. A young man near where we live who ran a gym out of his basement where I worked out for awhile, died of injuries from a car accident last week. I can only hope these two men had made peace with God and are standing in the presence of Jesus. I hope their lives served to bring others to Jesus. I hope mine does. Life is so fragile. No-one knows which day will be his last. What could possibly be more important in life than knowing God and accepting the free gift of salvation. Probably some will read this statement and think me simple-minded & childish for responding that way to these encounters with death. When I take the time to dwell on these lives that were cut short, it bewilders me. I don’t know what to think. By the grace of God we walk through each day. I know I could live each day more fully and could contribute much more to the lives around me. I pray that God will use my life! I am willing.

OK… During Master Works 4 week, on Thursday, I got to visit my grandson Zack’s violin lesson in Urbana for the first time since he started violin. And Zack’s mom brought him over to Normal the next day to hear our concert. Zack and I went to visit the Muirs, a very musical family I had known in Urbana but lost track of for the past 10 years. What a wonderful reunion. I took Zack to the Muirs house before the concert for dinner. I brought 5 comp tickets. Zack sat with them during the concert. Over dinner we resumed right where we left off 10 years ago, but so much has happened since we’d last met. There’s a whole lot I could say about that but won’t. Trying to close…

Peggy and I decided I should stay over till Monday to take care of business at the Secretary of State’s office - had to pay for another year of truck license - could not move the truck till this was taken care of. We had mailed a personal check, but they wanted a certified check. So I had an extra day with Kregg. We went to church at Hope Evangelical Free. It’s modeled after the big, famous Willow Creek Church in Barrington, IL - user friendly, very casual, contemporary, artsy. I could see the similarity immediately, having visited Willow Creek a couple times. Then it was confirmed to me later that ‘Hope’ was very much modeled after W.C. I really enjoyed the experience. The theme was about dancing to your own beat or something like that. So 8 youthful dancers did a very excellent routine to open the service. During the offering, a video was shown of a movie clip which neither Kregg nor I recognized. It showed a tall skinny guy going onto stage to do a really great solo dance. He had on a T-shirt which said “Vote for Pedro.” By now you may know what movie that was from. We were clueless. But it just so happened that evening I rented “Napoleon Dynamite,” which was recommended in a blog which Kregg and I both read. We thought it was very funny that we had just that morning in church unknowingly seen an excerpt of the movie we chose to watch that evening. We both agreed it was a very stupid film. But in just one day, I have been made aware of several people who seem to like that film. So…whatever… I thought that dance scene was excellent, and all the more because it comes as such a surprise, having been conditioned through the entire film to see Napoleon as a hard-core nerd, uncoordinated, clumsy, gangly, gawky, un-cool…but then he does the coolest possible, most graceful, highly coordinated, solo dance routine and gets a standing ovation for himself and his friend who is campaigning for student council. Almost the entire movie was goofy so as to accentuate the transformation of the nerdy characters at the end.

It was a great MW4 week all in all. By the way, on the program was the “Sea Symphony” of Vaughn Williams - over an hour long, big chorus, two soloists - soprano and baritone from New York. Almost all our rehearsal time went into this very big and complicated work. It was wonderful! The first half of the concert was very light: : ”Victory at Sea” by Richard Rogers and “Titanic.” The last week of April is MW5, so I get to go back for the last time this season for another fun week at Kregg’s house.

Zachory

2006-03-31T08:16:00.000-08:00

...is my grandson in Urbana. He’s 9. He is using my first violin - ¾ size. He seems to have a real, permanent interest in violin, but like most kids I’ve ever taught, he just doesn’t practice. If not practicing and his mom were paying for the lessons, he wouldn’t last long. But we are paying. That’s a different issue & we aren’t going there. I don’t mind paying for lessons as long as Zack wants to play. It’s just that he will take forever to learn if he doesn’t do something at home in between lessons. He even sees that himself when he hears the other students, often younger than himself, who are way ahead of him. He says there are Korean kids there who play “better than you, Popo.” Fine; I wouldn’t be surprised, but I doubt it.

Since I’m staying with a friend in Springfield this week, so as to play in the IL Symphony this weekend, I went to Urbana yesterday to pick up Zack from school and take him to his violin lesson. It was the first time I’ve seen Zack since before he started violin last Fall. I thought his teacher was doing a wonderful job working with him. I just felt a little sorry for her, not getting very good results for her efforts. I knew her from when I lived in Urbana and we were both students at U.I. at the same time. In fact when I left Urbana to move to Korea, she took some of my students. I feel she is the best teacher for Zack, and she even lives very near Zack‘s school and house. So, I quietly observed Zack’s lesson. His mom showed up at the end. We went to eat Chinese. I took them home, but before leaving, I played violin with Zack for 20 minutes and gave him a little pep talk. I wish I could see him more regularly to do just this. We played Twinkle - var.1 a few times in a row. I worked with him to get the bowing more correct, and in several repetitions, it was evident the tune was not securely in his head. Hmmm. And then we learned a little pattern from “Batman,” assigned by his teacher, involving low & high 2nd finger. That was not hard to learn, but can’t say he’ll still remember it tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow (which is now today,) just before I left yesterday, Zack asked if he could come to my concert. So I got it worked out with his mom & dad, who live in two different places, 30 miles apart. Mom will bring him to me in Normal after school. I will take Zack with me to visit some old friends in Bloomington for supper. That family is going to the concert and can sit with Zack. After the concert I will take Zack back to his dad’s house in Paxton. Then I will drive ’home’ to Springfield. So today I will have another chance to work with Zack on his violin homework. I hope the concert is not way too heavy for him: Vaughn Williams “Sea Symphony;” but also “Victory at Sea” by Richard Rogers and “Titanic.” Zack will be worn out by 10:00 I think. I don’t mind all this driving if I can have some positive influence on him. (I figured out that I’m driving 478 extra miles so that I can see Zack these two days. If I had stayed strictly with the IL Symphony agenda and skipped seeing Zack, I’d ride the orchestra bus up to Normal and back twice - about 200 miles total commute.)

Besides the side trips to see Zack, all I have to do is practice my 2nd violin part, go to the gym and hang out with my friends here in Springfield. Peggy is just now arriving at home with our big red truck, loaded and ready to deliver to Wheeling, WV on Monday. Next week we will drive two trucks, so as to help out our friend Floyd who is recovering from chemo and can’t drive for a couple more weeks. So tune in later for more notes from the road, from the Trucking Fiddler!

BOOK REVIEW - MY BIG FAT GREEK DIET

2006-03-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

I finished this book and loaned it to a friend. This is a most engaging read. It’s not just another diet book. The story is written journal style, very personally (and with the aid of a ghost writer, Mike Yorkey.) In our increasingly obese American culture, Dr. Nick does the near-impossible - loses weight and keeps it off. Very seldom do dieters keep the weight off for very long. Dr. Nick is not trying to sell another diet system. In fact he has tried them all and realizes that diets don’t work. He recommends people to “choose a diet and stick to it.” However, diets generally don’t work! The book is divided into two parts. 1) Dr. Nick tells his story, and 2) he discusses his “Seven Pillars of Weight Loss,” which are principals that, if followed, will greatly increase one’s chances of success. First, one must change the way one sees before changing the way one looks: eating as nutrition, not recreation - that sort of thing. Another pillar is that one must be accountable to one or more other people. Maybe you get the idea - very common sense stuff, put together in a powerful way to facilitate losing and keeping weight off.

The author, Dr. Nick Yphantides (pronounced ee-fahn-tee-dees,) is a Greek-American physician in Escondido, CA. Having had a bout with cancer in his early 30’s and having come through it successfully, he realized that though he had dodged a bullet, he was still on track for early demise because of his weight. He had let himself get fatter and fatter through high school, medical school and a busy career in the public health system. In his mid-30’s he weighed 467 lbs. However he didn’t know exactly how much he actually weighed because the scale only goes to 350 lbs. He thought he was a little over 350... He spent a year making plans to go on an 8-month weight-loss odyssey. He was head of a public health facility and gave notice one year in advance of quitting his job. On April 1, 2001, Dr. Nick began his war on fat. The night before, he went to a favorite steak house to have his Last Supper, celebration style with family and friends joining him. Then for eight months he lived exclusively on protein shakes. He felt he needed a most radical program since he had so much weight to lose and didn‘t want to do it too gradually. He bought a YMCA pass and began to exercise faithfully. He was supervised by his brother, also a physician. At the first weigh-in on April 1, 2001, he had bought a second scale, so he had two professional quality doctor’s office type scales. He stood with one foot on each scale. That was the first time he knew his actual weight - about 100 lbs more than he expected. His brother photographed him from all angles. Dr. Nick bought a used camper-van and spent the next eight months indulging his passion for baseball while losing weight and exercising. He criss-crossed the USA, attending major league baseball games. After 3 months, by July 4, he had lost 103 lbs. But he could not tell any difference in his appearance - depressing! Over July 4, he and his brother and a couple friends were on a fishing trip in Canada. Nick could not partake of the buffets and special food that was part of the package. His mood was at its lowest ebb. Out on the charter boat, he was mean and surly to his buddies, but then in the deep water he caught something enormous! It took 45 minutes of fighting to haul it in - a halibut weighing 103 lbs, the exact weight he had lost to that point! It was a sign from God and a turning point. He could see and feel the weight of that fish, a tangible way to grasp the extent of his progress in losing that same amount of weight. Then he knew that he could finish the course to attain his goal!

The trip was documented with lots of photos, which appear in the book, and with a website which was updated weekly. There was mushrooming interest in Dr. Nick’s project in the local and national media. He was accountable not only to his family and friends but to his whole community and fans throughout the nation. He had to succeed or return home in shame and humiliation. In the end his lowest weight was 197. He had lost 270 lbs. Then he gained back 15 lbs of muscle as he worked out at the ’Y.’ As he was working on his book, he was introduced to Despina - a friend of a friend, who became his wife. He refers to his marriage as ’gaining 120 lbs.’ HA! He has maintained his ideal weight ever since 2001 and seems to be an entirely new person, exercising 7 days a week and working a lot less than before.

So this is a practical book for people like me who need to lose weight. But even for skinny folks, it is fun to read because of the baseball angle and events of the journey. Here is an intelligent man - a pillar of his community, who has gained control of the one most out-of-control area of his life. Dr. Nick is on a mission to help guide and encourage overweight and obese Americans to lose weight and keep it off. You may see a series of photos of Dr. Nick from fattest to skinniest on his website “www.healthsteward.com.”

Michelle

2006-03-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, on Sunday afternoon at the Urbana Middle School, where our church was celebrating its 18th anniversary (which is another story,) 7-yr old Michelle turned to me, when I happened to be standing behind her, and said her parents had talked about asking me to teach her violin. Hmmm… interesting. I responded something to the effect that she should talk to her parents about it, and I’ll just wait till they ask me. She went directly to her dad, and just a few minutes later he came over to ask me. How to make that work has been strong in my mind and prayers ever since then. By God’s grace, I want to do it.

How to structure my next studio for teaching violin is constantly on my mind anyway. Since Peggy and I joined a company that gets us home weekends, I have thought about starting a program on weekends. To do it right would present special challenges and commitment. What I have in mind is a group setting in which fundamentals of music would be taught using psaltery, recorder, singing and rhythm instruments to begin with. Psaltery and recorder are very accessible and would yield quick results. Anyone can make music almost immediately on these instruments. Singing is the most natural way to make music. Rhythm & beat provide the framework on which to “hang” the music. So - I want to use these various ‘routes’ to build a foundation before ‘graduating’ to violin. The fist few songs and rhythms we would work on would be the same songs that would be learned on violin but in a different key, by the time we add the violin, many aspects of the music would be accomplished already. That’s the plan…

Logistically, because our time off is so limited, I can’t commit to traveling anywhere regularly on a Saturday, so it would be necessary to meet at my home. Generally, in this season of my work-life, I expect to be home only 3 weekends per month, so I can only offer lessons 2 or 3 times per month. The other advantage to meeting at home is that I have many resources collected in my music room. I’d like to get started teaching Michelle if we can work out the logistics. So, I will have to talk to her parents about these parameters. I had thought of the possibility of meeting sometime on Sunday in Carbondale, since we are there anyway on Sundays. I don’t rule it out, but I suspect it would not be the most conducive time for learning because Sundays are already so full. Still open to discussion…

I feel like a scientist doing experiments. It is not certain that all these plans will ‘take.’ That’s okay. With every new student I hope (s)he will catch the vision and fall in love with violin or great music in general, which seems to happen less than half the time. I see part of my job as provider of inspiration. I have seen many kids quickly identify with violin, get professional studio photos made with the violin, etc. But it may very well be that after learning fundamentals of music, a child may be fascinated by some other instrument - piano, brass, woodwind, percussion, cello, string bass… That’s great! Concerning beginners, parents and teacher should be on the lookout for indications of what the child may be naturally drawn to. I’ve known of students who got pretty far into violin and then switched to cello or guitar or singing - could be any other aspect of music. In that case the experience on violin is not lost; much of the violin experience transfers to any other instrument. It’s common for musicians to learn piano and 1 or 2 other instruments.

Another idea I have is to send home listening assignments every week - CD’s loaned from my collection - various styles of music for violin,/fiddle, orchestra or any other great music. I like to set performance goals, so we should be on the lookout for places to perform the songs being learned on psaltery, recorder and violin - nursing home, church, home-recital… This is most effective if done only when the student has prepared well and is confident of being able to make good music - in a group situation at first. One other part of inspiration is finding concerts to attend such as Paducah Symphony. Of course SIU Music School produces a constant stream of performances.

Next step is to discuss how and when to get Michelle started - one on one.

Fishing for Help

2006-02-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

Being very new to blogging, and not much of a techy, I tried to figure out how to add another blogger's page to my Links list. I clicked on "Template" and found lots of 'Computer-ese.' I scrolled down to where I could see the place that has to do with links. I pasted in the name of the other man's blog, but it didn't work. I searched all over in all the different areas - more than once. I don't have a lot of patience for that kind of thing. I'd rather have someone show me how or do it for me so I can get on with other more enjoyable things - writing the blog, playing fiddle, eating :-)... Same with the counter (for counting how many people visit the blog,) that Someone told me about. I tried to install it on that same 'Template' page, but it didn't work. I'm pretty sure it can't be all that difficult to manipulate the software. I'm just missing something. It has been at least a month since I first started trying to figure these things out. It is pride that has kept me from airing my ineptitude thus far, but I want to solve the problem, so here is my plea. If any more expreienced blogger reads this, can you give me some feedback about how to add someone to 'Links,' and how to install the counter... Thanks In Advance, Trucking Fiddler...

Ouch!

2006-02-03T21:10:00.000-08:00

Up till now I had never broken a bone - not once in 55 years. It was Jan 14 in Sylacauga, AL (30 mi. east of Birmingham.) Peggy and I were picking up a load of reject engine blocks from ‘Teksid.’ (They make cast aluminum engine blocks with steel sleeves for the pistons.) We had been in & out of this same place several times in the past few weeks. It is a good load - pays well, but it is a pain in the tush to drop the in-coming empty trailer on the scale, hook up; drop same trailer in back of the plant; pick up the loaded one, unhook from it; move the empty into place, drop it and hook up again to the loaded one… This company does not have its own tractor for moving trailers around, so we have to do it. We have done that about ten times in the past few weeks, so we’re getting good at it. To tarp this load, one has to climb around on top of 900 engine blocks to level them out. When they are dumped in by forklift, there are peaks and valleys. I did the leveling by hand while Peggy did other stuff on the ground. Those blocks are rather unstable to walk on. They each weigh about 50-80 lbs, depending on size. I had to lift some of them and heave them into the valleys. On Jan. 14, the trailer we took out of there was slightly narrower and shallower all the other trailers we’d pulled. So the load was piled higher than usual so as not to sacrifice too much weight. It was harder than on previous trips to get the blocks below the level of top of the trailer so as to swing the bows in so as to roll the tarp across to protect the load. Well, that day, Jan. 14 at 2:30 p.m., I had been working hard and long on this puzzle atop the load of 900 engine blocks, when suddenly my left hand middle finger-nail got smashed between two of them. The tip of my finger immediately was swollen and turgid. (But I didn’t say any bad words!) I let the pain settle down a bit and finished my job so as to be able to pull the tarp over the load. Once we were done, I decided I’d better have this injury looked at. Using our handy laptop with Sprint card, after a couple phone calls, we figured out where to go - Coosa Valley Hospital E.R.

Peggy parked at Auto Zone, very near the hospital. (She was on a mission to solve a truck problem.) A nice guy from Auto Zone drove me the 4 blocks to the hospital. It was about 5:30 - 3 hours after impact, by the time I was actually on the examining table talking with the wise, white-haired, large, black doctor. I liked him! He showed me the X-ray. The small bone under the nail was broken. It never was painful, only sensitive to touch and swollen. The Doc drilled a hole in my finger nail for ‘blood-letting,’ which saved the nail from falling off and having to grow a new one. He prescribed a pain-killer and an antibiotic, neither of which I had filled - there was no pain! The nurse wrapped my finger in a splint. After one day I quit wearing it. No pain! I just have to avoid that finger and be very careful not to bump it. Now 2 weeks later, it is mending well. I did go to our regular clinic last Monday when we were home. That doc gave me a different, shorter splint, which I wore one day and quit also. I have come to the conclusion that my finger is mending well, so I’m not going back for any more useless check-ups. It’s fine!

The biggest problem is that I cannot fiddle till the finger is healed. The estimate I was given was 4-6 weeks. Today I feel the healing is almost to the point where the finger tip will withstand a little pressure. Now is the first time since the injury that I have used that finger for typing! So I’m sure I’ll be ready to caress the fingerboard in another week or so. This trip is the first time I have not brought my violin along on the truck - 2 weeks with no fiddle. The circumstances do provide cause for me to evaluate my priorities. I have not stopped dreaming and planning what to do next with my music - pieces to learn, plans to get back to teaching - I think these thoughts a lot. But I am not as obsessed with violin as I have been in the past. It has taken its proper place in my life, very important, but not most important. I believe God has a plan for my life. This unlikely and somewhat hazardous job we’re doing is allowing us tons of time together and is providing the means for us to fulfill some of our big dreams, but that’s another subject… In brief, this spring we will get our house on Lake of Egypt ready to sell, so we can buy Peggy’s-brother-Larry’s farm - 6 miles from where we now live. Then we’ll have 50 acres to play with, and that is the focus of lots more dreams. I have never been busier than this past 3 years as a trucker. It feels excellent to be busy. I am mega-thankful to be married to Peggy who is a tireless ball of energy. She has changed the course of my life, and I love the path we’re on. I love being able to bring my music to the trucking world, all very spontaneously. If we are kept as busy as we like to be, there is little opportunity to fiddle. Fiddling must be done! It is a lovely gift to spread as an offering among my circle of influence. But it must be kept in perspective. Am I just showing off? Or does my music have power to encourage, inspire, instruct, heal…? After 46 years of striving to perfect my violin skills, I know how music can become too important, too closely entwined with the ego, competing with God for first place in one’s heart. I still have big dreams centering around music and the farm, and it’s becoming urgenter and urgenter to ‘Git ’er done,’ as some of my trucking buddies might put it.

Missions Summit

2006-01-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

Peggy drove our car to Champaign on Dec. 29, the same day I drove the big red semi to Champaign en route from Henderson, KY to Chicago. We met there in time to go to a reunion party with 3 of my former beginning violin students of 12 years ago, who are now young adults and well established in music. (See former posting, “Last Thursday.”) The load on the truck was not due till Jan. 3, so the truck was parked in Champaign over New Years Weekend while we attended the much-anticipated World Missions Summit in Louisville.

We stayed at the luxurious Downtown Marriott. Our 3-yr-old grandson Treighton came with us. There were about 4,000 people attending the conference at the Kentucky Convention Center. About 400 missionaries were brought in from every corner of the world to speak or present or recruit or inspire us. This was mainly an event for college students, but there were many older folks like us attending as well. The leaders of the Assemblies of God missionary organization were there. It was a very unique and special event. My understanding is that this was a first to bring together so many resources all in one place to promote world missions. I can’t say what similar event may have ever taken place before, but this one was phenomenal. The booths and displays were excellent. There were separate rooms set up for various nations. Spokesmen who have been working in those nations for years and even generations, were there to speak of the need and to report on the progress. It was very cool to see a missionary on stage in the assembly hall introducing a main speaker who was his father; that happened at least 3 times. Many of the speakers up front had grown up in missionary families, lived in other cultures and were fluent in other languages.

There were two main music groups that seemed to alternate during the 3 day event. One was a
Christian rock band. They were okay - not too ‘hard rock,’ but for my taste bordering on inappropriate for the event. That is my taste; I assume the main population of college students in attendance would disagree with me, judging from the way many of them seemed to be enjoying it, knew the songs and danced to the music. So - I can deal with it. The other group was the worship team from our own church, Calvary Campus Church, Carbondale, IL. Wow! They were fantastic. We were so proud of them. I guess our worship team was chosen because it is so racially integrated. Our church is very international, which is reflected in our worship team. We heard so many comments about our group. People assumed they were professional and wanted CD‘s! They did a great job, led by Pastor Juan (Chinese.) Our worship team at home actually rotates personnel from Sunday to Sunday, but at the conference they were in full force - choir of about 10, drums, congos, piano, bass guitar, lead guitar, 3 or 4 lead singers. They had put together special costumes, not uniform, but those from other nations each wore their own native costume, and Americans wore nice, subtle Hawaiian shirts. It looked great altogether. Of course it’s all about Jesus, not about us.

We had such a great time that weekend, but now - what will we DO about what we learned? We want to be involved in mission efforts, and we certainly will be. Our church organizes mission trips frequently. So many folks from many nations of the world have been through our church. so Pastor Dale has more contacts around the world than he can possible keep up with. So we will go on some of those trips when we can, or support them in other ways. Right now we are driving a truck, which is far from what we ought to be doing according to our education and experience. But we are actually enjoying this season of our lives - the trucking sub-culture, the people, the travel… We know God directs our paths and has led us down this road for now. We have ambitious dreams for the future, involving missions and travel to other countries. There are mission fields everywhere, including right where we live and work. We don’t take full advantage of the opportunities around us every day to tell people about Jesus. It’s amazing how many people in America these days have no idea who Jesus is, what the Bible says about Him, what God has done for us and what He wants from us… It is hard for me to fathom that, based on the set of people I associate with, but I know it’s true. A great portion of the younger generation in America has grown up with no religious training, no knowledge of Bible stories. I think that's sad, because what people believe and act out concerning truth, wisdom, morality, sets the stage for their entire lives and their place in eternity.

Anyway, the last event of the conference, Sunday night, after the session ended at 10 p.m. was a showing of a movie that will hit theaters at the end of January - ‘The Point of the Spear.’ It’s about what happened after 5 missionaries, including Jim Elliot, were killed in the mid-1950’s by a violent, murderous tribe in the Amazon. The film was introduced by the grandson of Jim Elliot, who came from California to Louisville just to give a 5-minute introduction to our conference about this movie. He said half the proceeds will go towards helping missionary efforts. I stayed till midnight to watch the movie. Peggy didn’t see it because she had to take Treighton up to bed.

We were somewhat distracted from the conference by having 3-yr-old Treighton with us, but it was well worth it. He did really well, with only a couple problems about missing his mom, but we got past that pretty quickly. He was generally a happy boy all weekend. I had been ‘assigned’ by a friend back home to check out a special guitar store in Louisville, so I did that on Monday morning before leaving town. On the way to the music store I saw a street musician just a few blocks from our hotel. I drove around the block, put a dime in a parking meter, and played with this guy for a few minutes on an original song of his. He was very appreciative towards me. He took my business card and invited me to play on his recording session in Chicago. We’ll see… I had left Peggy and Treighton behind at the hotel and drove about 12 miles south to First Quality Music, which is primarily a mail order business, but the showrooms are beautiful. One room in particular had the high-dollar guitars behind glass. One guitar in there costs $195,000. - new, not antique. I never knew guitars could get that expensive. That price would not surprise me on a violin. I picked up a few things for Cathie, looked around the store, played the 6 fiddles on the wall, and went back to pick up my family. We drove north from the hotel across the river into Indiana, ate McDonalds and then stopped to visit a trucking couple we had met a year and a half ago - Garry and Joan. We visited for a couple hours I guess. They are strong Christians and were very interested in the missions summit. That Monday night I was back on the truck, and Peggy was on her way home with the car and a different grandchild - Jadyn.

Last Thursday

2006-01-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was the last Thursday of 2005. My wife and I had been invited to a very special event. It was my first reunion with 3 of my former beginning violin students, hosted and organized by the parents of one of the students. There was also a 4th family that was invited but were out of town that day. We had kept in touch to varying degrees with the families of these students over the past 1o years. The students were Christopher, John, Katie, and (absent last Thursday) two sisters Anita and Sarita. They had all started violin around age 6-8. Now Katie is a junior at West Virginia Wesleyan, voice & violin education major; John is a senior in computer science at U of IL; Christopher graduated last May from Eastman with a triple major in composition, violin and mathematics; Anita is out of medical school and beginning her residency; and Sarita graduated from U of IL in political science. My goodness, I almost felt like a proud papa - ALMOST. My input into these lives was quite limited, but of some value. As kids, once they had gotten past the fundamentals of violin and into intermediate/advanced technique, they were all in the 'advanced group' - the ones who had earned the right to be most challenged and to perform as much as possible in public. So we played at county fairs, summer park programs, weddings, recitals, picnics, summer camps and camp-outs - any event that seemed like a good, stimulating musical experience. They even sometimes got paid a token amount if it was a paying gig. All in all that was a remarkable group of kids among the hundreds I've taught in 28 years of teaching Suzuki violin.

Fast forward 10 years since my wife & I left Champaign, IL: John is a computer major and casual violinist as well as guitarist (I haven't heard his guitar.) He played respectably well at the party last Thursday when we all played together. Katie is a vocal and violin major. Her voice is tremendous, and she has the singer's personality - extremely outgoing. Violin seems to be a close 2nd to her singing. She plays at least as well as I do at this point, given her youth and lack of experience. What she lacks in experience, she makes up for in moxy. She attempted her Mendelssohn C0ncerto, which had been shelved for a few months. That takes guts. It was not a perfect performance, but she did express herself well, including some interjections of commentary. Funny! Her boyfriend Adam was with her and brought his trumpet and a Fake Book. BTW both Katie and Chris have perfect pitch. Christopher is the star by far of this group. He is a natural musician who early on caught the vision to dedicate his life to music. Doesn't hurt to have perfect pitch and a touch of genious. His accomplishments in music already are prodigious - composer/concert master/performer. Last Thursday Chris and his high school buddy Jim (pianist) played Ravel 'Szigane.' Everyone was transfixed and in awe. Chris had learned his part in 3 days, and the two young men played a perfect, artistic performance of this virtuoso piece. It was wonderful! Jim is, like Chris, a gifted musician and obviously touched by genious - now studying at Stanford (?) as PhD candidate in German literature. Besides the highlights mentioned, all 3 young violinists and I, accompanied by Jim or Adam, spent hours reading a wide varienty of music together: Baroque duets, a Bach concerto for 2 violins, Christmas duets, songs from a Fake Book, Kreisler 'Praeludium & Allegro,' 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring.' What fun! It was such a joy be together again to play music like in the old days. Some of the pieces they'd loved to play 11-12 years ago, such as Fantomen and Pachelbel Canon did not make it to this party. I didn't bring the sheet music. But now we know how to be better organized next time.

Though I was the teacher of these young violinists, I feel humbled to know where they have gone since I last saw them. They each have unique gifts from God and are on quite different paths in life. And studying violin at a young age seems to have influenced each of them in a positive way. I wouldn't have traded that evening last Thursday for anything. It encouraged me very much. I was in a daze the next day trying to process what my role may have been in these kids' lives, and then try to reconcile it with the path my own life has taken. I'm thankful to God to have some skill for shaping kids' lives with music, and I am anxious to get back to doing more of it in southern IL. I believe God is directing me in that way.

This first posting comes from Louisville, KY on New Years Day, where Peggy and I are attending a huge missions summit at the Kentucky Convention Center, and staying at the Downtown Marriott Hotel. We have our 3-yr-old grandson with us. This should be the subject of my next posting.