End Trucking/Begin Teaching Violin

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.