The Adventures of the Bray Family......

Travels During 2006

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1/1/06: Another Year.... "On the Road Again.... Still..."!

Sunday, 1-1-05; 75 and Sunny: Chores, Chores and more Chores—preparing to go to Atlanta

Happy New Year! Today was a very quiet day in the life on the road. We made it through last night without a scratch and went to bed around 1:00 am. Since we have no TV we just listened to our Chronicles of Narnia CD’s. We listened to A Horse and His Boy until well after midnight. We stopped to give one another a toast just at midnight when the crazy Floridians shot off tons of fireworks. They sell them everywhere here just as they do in Indiana before the 4 th of July.

We slept in late today and got up with the full intent of doing nothing outside the bus. We had breakfast and commenced doing our chores. Thomas and I climbed atop the bus to check the satellite dish to try to figure out why it wasn’t working. Unfortunately we could not determine what was wrong, but we were able to check all of the stuff on the roof to make sure all was well. It was, and Thomas and I climbed down. There was a peculiar sign we saw that I just had to take a picture of. I’ll let you make your own decision about the nature of the sign. It made me question the intelligence of both the sign maker and the people who visit this camp ground. It also made me want to leave for Atlanta as soon as possible.

After that we did laundry, went grocery shopping, ate lunch and dinner and kept up tabs on the Colts game. We were glad to see the Colts win again, even without the first string starters. The evening was spent listening to another Chronicles CD, this time the book called Prince Caspian. If you have ever read the books, we highly recommend you purchase the Reader’s Theatre series on Amazon. It’s the next best thing to seeing the movies. We sincerely hope they make the other six books into movies now that the first one was so successful at the box office. For now, we’ll be satisfied listening to the CD’s.

We did everything we need to do to prepare for our long journey to Atlanta tomorrow. We plan on driving the entire 6-7 hours in one shot, being that it is not a work day. It should be the longest drive we will make until June when we start our return trip from Montana back east to Minnesota. We were very fortunate to find diesel fuel in the station close to our current camp ground for $2.39 per gallon. This is the lowest price since the early days of the trip. We only need ¼ of a tank, but at this price, we’ll purchase as much as we can.

The evening was spent reading and typing, once we finished the Caspian CD. We hope we can get our satellite system working, but for now, we are doing without. That’s life! Especially life on the road! Happy New Year everyone. We all hope 2006 brings you much peace and abundance.

Monday, 1-2-06; 76 and Sunny: Daniel’s Biggest Goof, Drive Half Way to Atlanta

Yes, I said “Daniel’s Biggest Goof” of the trip thus far. As Stephen Covey says: “Let’s Start with the End in Mind”. We pulled into a wonderful Sam’s Club/Wal Mart combo parking lot in Valdosta, GA at about 9:00 PM. Not since we were “desperately seeking Streetsboro” at the beginning of the trip (when we were just pups) have we been so very happy to spy a clean, well lit, crowded with RV’s, Wal Mart parking lot than we were this night. We waved to all of our RV buddies, set up camp, closed all of the blinds, and went shopping if only to calm our stressed out minds a bit before bedtime. Never did the inside of a Wal Mart seem so inviting and “like home” as this one did. We were blessed by capitalism this night. We were glad, even nostalgic, about the sound that the parking lot cleaning machine made around our humble abode this night. We read a bit before turning in, and we slept like babies well into the morning. That was how the day ended.

Here’s how the day started. As every travel day, we were scurrying around the bus to batten down the hatches prior to departure from this very nice campground in Tampa, FL. The weather was perfect, the breeze was blowing, and my mind was crowded with about ten things I needed to do before pulling up stakes. One of the important maintenance items (according to a technician in Myrtle Beach, SC) was to check my diesel engine’s “fuel/water separator” mechanism on the back of the bus, at least once per month. Well, it’s the beginning of the month, and since we spent SO much time in Disney, I decided today was the day I would do it. I had all of my gear ready, and I turned the little screw thingy the way he told me to and emptied the contents of the device into my gallon jug as he instructed me.

Well, the little screw thingy is just a little different than most screw thingies. Normally screws are “righty-tighty, lefty-loosey”, as the saying goes, and that’s my mantra, being that I am not the most mechanically oriented telecommunications sales guy in the world. I’ve done my share of auto-repair early in my life (when I was 16 and my dad sat and watched me screw everything up to help me learn a lesson on my ’79 VW Rabbit) so this RV maintenance thing is a piece of cake, right? Well, not this time. This particular screw thingy is “lefty-tighty, righty-loosey”. How was I supposed to know this? I’ve got a million (actually about ten) things running through my mind, and in my imagination, I’m half-way to Atlanta by now. Well, due to the unusual nature of this screw-thingy, I left it wide-open after finishing what I thought was my small maintenance job for the day.

Needless to say, I was happy that I followed the Myrtle Beach’s guy’s directions to a T, and went and started the bus in preparation for leaving lovely Tampa Bay, Florida. Well, poor Bessy didn’t know what was wrong, and after about two or three minutes of happy idling, she died. She died, as in dead as a doornail. Traci just happened to be looking in the particular direction of the screw-thingy when Bessy died, and she pointed out that diesel fuel was spewing out all over the grass under the bus. I thought, “hey, I turned the screw-thingy the wrong way”, so I closed it up, and went back to start her up again (not knowing how stupid I actually was). That’s when the REAL fun started.

She was still dead, as in doornail. I was still stupid, as in, well, ignorant. I called Emerald Coast RV for some advice, and they were closed. In sincere desperation, I called Tom Raper RV, where we purchased the bus. The service guy groaned as he realized it was me on the other end of the phone. He immediately summoned a technician from the shop, because he didn’t want to talk to me any longer than he absolutely had to. After describing my stupidity to the technician he simply said “you need to call a professional”. He said “you can’t fix your bus”. Being that today was a legal “work” holiday, and that we were in Tampa, and not Orlando, I realized what this meant: smart money bet that we weren’t going to Atlanta today. Just as I was hanging up from my conversation, a nice lady walked over and started talking to Traci.

Once I went back in the bus to inform Traci that we were not leaving Tampa today, she said that the nice lady had a friend who wanted to help, but was afraid of offending me! I howled at that one and immediately went over to the 5 th wheel next door and asked for help. One of the guys said that we had “starved” our diesel engine of fuel. I explained what I had done, and after groaning for a bit he said “I’ll see what I can do”. To make a VERY long story short, his name was Robert and he offered to help. Four hours later, Bessy started up and we left Tampa. During those four hours, this poor man helped me tear our bus apart (I now know where our engine compartment is.), take part of the engine apart, refill the screw-thingy tank with diesel, and bleed air out of the lines until the engine started. I have to say, that I helped him do all of this, because, as you remember, I am stupid. He did all of the work, I just helped when he told me what to do. By the time he went back to his bus, he was covered in grease and diesel fuel, including the amount he actually got in his mouth trying to feed fuel back into the lines one drop at a time. We were all exhausted by the time we were done, and we thanked him profusely and offered to pay him money for his time and trouble. He refused, and was a perfect gentlemen, especially when I left to go purchase more diesel for the operation.

After the fact I learned that he was a retired engineer from Detroit and he lives in Tampa now and has a $750,000 Prevost Motor Coach a couple of slots down. This is his fifth bus and he has taught himself how to work on diesel engines. I had no idea when this started who I was inviting into my RV to be alone with my wife and child while the operation was going on. I had no choice but to trust him, and the Lord was certainly watching over us this day. For that I am very thankful, and to Robert, whoever he is, we thank him too.

After we got Bessy started we rolled out of Tampa and drove up I75 north as long as we could against a huge storm that was hovering over Gainesville. We stopped at a rest area for about 45 minutes hoping it would blow over. We ventured out again, hoping not to arrive in Valdosta, GA too late. Well, we left just a bit too early and hit a strong cell of the storm just north of Gainesville. We had to drive in very low visibility areas for about 30 minutes, but once we passed the area it was smooth sailing. This is where the story started above. We continued north on I75 to Valdosta, where a clean and inviting Wal Mart/Sam’s Club combo awaited us.

Tuesday, 1-3-06; 70 and Sunny: Work, Drive to Atlanta, Work

I got up early today to make sure I was caught up with work prior to leaving Valdosta. By the time the family got up it was getting warm outside, which is our cue to leave. Fortunately this Sam’s Club parking lot was much bigger than the one in Tampa, so we were not surrounded by shoppers. We ate brunch in the bus and prepared to leave. We didn’t get out until about 12:30, which worried me slightly.

We continued up I75, and all of those stories of terrible Atlanta traffic were running through my head. I pushed Bessy a bit faster than I normally do all the way to Atlanta hoping to miss rush hour. Our campground was on the north west side of the city, and we were coming from the south, which meant we had to drive through down town to get there. Fortunately we made it in time, which was a huge relief. After our adventure yesterday, I didn’t want to spend a couple hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic today. We arrived to a clean camp ground, with a friendly staff and temps forecast to be in the lower 30’s tonight.

Once we arrived I caught up on work again and made sure everything was done before I shut off my laptop. During the drive last night and today, we listened to another Narnia book called The Silver Chair and we finished it as we were having dinner tonight. We caught up on Dirty Jobs and Mythbusters and had a wonderful night of peace and quiet in the bus.

Wednesday, 1-4-06; 65 and Sunny: Work and Family Time

Today was a very important day in the life of BrayTel. I got up early and prepared for a cut for one of my largest customers in South Bend. Overall things went very well, and we had very few problems with porting his numbers over from SBC. Traci and Thomas went to the new Atlanta Aquarium today and had a great time. I stayed at my laptop the entire day and caught up on emails and lent what ever assistance I could to the efforts of eGix employees in Indy. Business is just now ramping up after the holidays and the phone rang more. Although December was a banner month, January looks very promising, since many of the projects I had expected to close in December pushed to ’06. I’m working on helping those along, as well as starting new adventures for this year. I am really enjoying my job now, almost as much as I did when I first started at Moorehead in 2001. This time around I am working for my family, not the success of my boss’ family. I am excited that 2006 will be the best year of my career. That is a really good thing!

After work and the arrival of my family, we simply chilled out. We did some grocery shopping and ate dinner at Subway. It’s amazing how, even though we are in Atlanta, that doing the mundane things in life make any place we go feel like home. With the exception of weather and the accents of the people around us, there isn’t much difference between Indy and Bangor and Tampa and Atlanta. That is a comforting feeling.

Thursday, 1-5-06; 55 and Sunny: Work, World of Coca Cola and Winter

I got up early today and knocked out some work while Traci and Thomas slept. My mind is now waking me up earlier than it had been, and I’ve been getting on the old laptop earlier than I have in a long time. I don’t know if it is that I’m just enjoying my work more, or that I have finally caught up on my sleep deficit, but regardless of the reason, it’s a good thing. I usually have one or two hours of quiet time before Traci and Thomas wake up, and today was no exception.

I worked out some bugs from yesterday’s cut, and I’m sure we will get the issues resolved, and I am 99% sure it’s in the customer’s equipment. There aren’t a lot of variables with the service he purchased, so problems are usually traced back to the equipment. In the mean time, we’ll work it until everything is solved.

After work we left the bus and went down town to the World of Coca Cola. The place was really cool, especially if you are a big Coke fan. We watched two movies, one of which was the history of the company, and the other a 12 minute commercial shot in 1990. The whole time I was watching it I was thinking of college because of the clothes and hair styles. They had a replica of an early bottling machine (see picture 1) and a room where you could taste sodas from around the world (see picture 2). All in all, it was just OK for me, I’m a Dr. Pepper fanatic, but I like to study success, and since Coke is the #1 recognized brand in the world, it’s not a bad example to study. However, Thomas was a like a kid, well, in a soda store, and it was “all you can drink”. He had a blast, and got a stomach ache to prove it.

After Coke and walking around the “Underground” shopping area, we ate dinner at Johnny Rockets and went back to the bus. We watched TV and read our books and went to bed. Oh, by the way, in case you are keeping score, Winter has arrived in Atlanta. It’s supposed to be 35 tonight! We pulled our water hoses inside the bus and ran off of our tanks. We don’t want anything to freeze!

Friday, 1-6-06; 45 and Sunny: Work, Drive to Birmingham, AL

I again got up early and worked prior to shoving off from Atlanta. Work is going well, and I expect January to be a very good month. Some good things are happening, and some even better things could very well come to fruition this month. We left Atlanta at about 11:30 and pointed Bessy west.

Well, we can tell that we are now officially “off-off-off-off season” for RV’ing in this part of the country. Our camp sight in Atlanta was about $40 per night, which wasn’t bad considering what we paid in Key West and Tampa. However, when we called ahead for our slip in Birmingham, the rate was only $20 per night! We drove the 2.5 hours over from Atlanta and also enjoyed seeing the signs advertising diesel fuel for around $2.35 per gallon. I honestly can’t remember the last time I paid that low of an amount for diesel fuel!

It is very cold here now, so I don’t feel so bad about missing winter this year. It was 38 degrees around 4:00 PM. It’s supposed to get below freezing tonight, so we’ll have to run our faucet to keep the hoses from freezing! Fortunately, this could be our only night of freezing temperatures on the trip. Tomorrow it’s supposed to hit the high 50’s and Sunday it’s supposed to be in the 60’s and get warmer after that. As we head south and west we expect this trend to continue. One week of winter is enough for us this year!

We made it here OK with no issues. The campground is beautiful, except for the fact that it’s winter. Our slip is right on a beautiful lake lined with gigantic homes and marinas. However, it is January, so we decided to do a little shopping and retreat to the bus. We spent the evening reading and watching a little TV and doing chores. One of those chores was planning the next couple of weeks for the trip. We are staying in Meridian, Mississippi next, and on to Vicksburg. The camp sight fee in Meridian will be $14 per night, and the site at an RV Resort and Casino in Vicksburg will only be $17 per night! I like those prices. Since we are here in Birmingham all weekend, we’ll try to find something fun to do. So far, nothing has come to our attention. We will have to go out and find it.

Saturday, 1-7-06; 51 and Cloudy: Birmingham, AL R&R

Yup. It was cold last night. I think it got to the mid-30’s. People in Indiana don’t think the mid-30’s in January is cold, but try doing that in a bus with very little insulation. Our water supply is provided by a garden hose. It’s something we have to think about.

This afternoon wasn’t much warmer. The place we are in is very beautiful, but again, it’s winter, so it doesn’t have that summer luster. We’re glad to be here, but without much to do, we stuck around the bus most of the day. We did do some grocery shopping, and did some more research on the ‘net to find out what there is to do in Birmingham. We got Chinese take-out for dinner, and I’ll have to say, it was excellent. I’m certainly thankful for all of the Asian people who have immigrated to the US to start restaurants. No matter where we go, we love to get Chinese take-out. Thomas is now on board 100% on Chinese food. He especially loves the egg-drop soup. We relaxed and had a quite evening of reading and TV. We do have a game plan for tomorrow. They have a science museum in Birmingham and I think there may be a mall there too. Traci can smell one a mile away!

Sunday, 1-8-06; 69 and Sunny: ScienceMuseum and IMAX Movie, Galleria

Today was the highlight of our stay in Birmingham. We got up early and drove the 45 minutes to Birmingham to visit their McWane Science Museum. We arrived just as they opened, and were thrilled to hear that the Cosi membership we purchased in Columbus, OH entitled us to free admission. We did, however, have to pay for parking and we also purchased three tickets to the IMAX movie called Adrenaline Rush. More about that later.

The museum was on par with the other ones we have visited around the country, with a couple of highlights to report. As usual, Thomas zinged around from one exhibit to another, having a blast. He still hasn’t figured out that he is actually learning stuff along the way. He can’t help but learn after seeing some of the same exhibits five or six times over the past seven months. Each time it is explained, it makes its way to his long term memory a bit stronger. We did find a great way to keep him from rolling around in his bed at night. Would you want any of your children to have this bed?

One highlight of the museum was an interactive display that allowed Thomas and I to “play” one of four sports in front of the blue screen, and the results would show up on the overhead video monitor. We had to watch the small monitor to know when to hit the ball, or whatever the point of the game was. Traci was watching on the side lines, and I thought she was going to lose it. She was laughing so hard. She tried to take pictures, but it was a lost cause since the place was dimly lit.

My favorite game was called Shark Bait. Thomas and I were bait, and our job was to collect floating stars while sharks and electric eels swam around trying to eat or shock us. It was very hard, being that the only way to guide us was to move in the general direction of what we were trying to do. As we “swam” around, betting eaten by sharks and shocked by eels, Traci almost fell off of her chair with laughter. By the time we were done playing, we were exhausted and sweaty. It was time for a movie.

We got in line for our showing of Adrenaline Rush, in the attached IMAX theatre. The movie was about a group of base jumpers and parachutists who love what they do. They were fascinating. As an avid rollercoaster fanatic, I could just barely understand what they were all about. During the movie I decided that when we return to Indy I am going to do a tandem jump somewhere in Indiana. I can’t wait. I don’t think I will ever base jump, but I could see myself skydiving some day.

The group of parachutists also uncovered a theory by DaVinci on a rudimentary parachute, which had never been tested. He theorized this over 500 years before anyone would think to jump out of a plane. They assembled the parachute exactly how he designed it, down to the type of cloth they would use for the ropes and the parachute itself. They put everything together and attached it to a hot air balloon. Once they got to 10,000 feet they let it go, and it worked! It was incredible to see this primitive square parachute weighing 200 pounds floating through the sky, all on a bigger than life IMAX screen.

After the movie, we decided to bug out and find the nearby Galleria mall. It didn’t take us long—the museum had printed directions—and we were pulling up the parking garage. I got my hair cut and Traci and Thomas did some shopping. We don’t have room to buy lots of stuff, but sometimes we enjoy walking around civilization for a while. We had lunch in the food court and then went to Barnes and Noble.

After our return to Bessy we did our chores and prepared to leave in the morning. We know our way around this area, so it’s time to go!

Monday, 1-9-06; 76 and Sunny: Work, Drive to Meridian, MS

Today was a light travel day. I got up early as usual, and got caught up on work and ate breakfast. We prepped the bus for departure, and (since I didn’t try to do any extra maintenance work) we left on time. The drive was only a couple of hours, and we found a really nice camp ground for only $14 per night! We actually got lost on the way in, and had to make a U turn (not easy in Bessy) and pretty much stumbled into the place by accident. Thank Goodness for those little blue camping signs! They are kind of like the blue H signs indicating a hospital nearby. One gal I worked with at MCI said she never got lost because all she had to do was look for the blue H sign. (She was the medical vertical sales rep.)

Tuesday, 1-10-06; 70 and Raining: Work, School, and Quiet Time

The title pretty much sums it up. Today was one of work, school and quiet time. Not all days on the road are exciting, and especially in this part of the country at this time of year. We expect as we hit the west coast and do all of the national parks in Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah and Colorado, we’ll have lots of fun things to talk about and a lot more pictures. For now, we are just making our way from Atlanta to Dallas. We just fit in like the locals. We work, do school, do laundry, go grocery shopping and generally live life. Everyone is doing well. We all had just a touch of a cold, but it is now past. Thomas only had it for about two days, Traci for one and one for me. Back home with the more hectic schedules, colds would last 7-10 days. I guess the extra sleep we are all getting has improved our constitutions. We did catch the season premere of Dirty Jobs. It was gross and funny as usual. We highly recommend it.

Wednesday, 1-11-06; 64 and Sunny: Work, School, Prepare to Leave

Not much to say for today. I worked all day. School was in session for Traci and Thomas and things are going very well on that front. Thomas has shaken off the rust from his month off and they are rolling once again.

We did the normal stuff that we do the night before leaving for a new city. We also caught up on our favorite Wednesday show, the Mythbusters. They started a new season this week and it is better than ever. They spent most of the show showing that a prisoner could actually build a crossbow out of paper and underwear elastic. The weapon shot a bolt made out of either a whittled down plastic knife, or a piece of plastic food tray in the shape of a dart. It was incredible. We just love that show. I think somehow it counts as science class for home schoolers! We highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in urban legends and/or science.

My parents gave us a gift card for O’Charley’s and we actually ate there twice this week because this is the first time we have seen one since Christmas. When we sat down and ordered, the young server asked if we wanted “sweet or un-sweet” tea. Traci and I both responded “un-sweet” because I like the pink stuff and Traci likes the yellow stuff in our iced tea. He looked at us for a moment and said “You must not be from around here”. We laughed and told him we were from Indy. He didn’t know this because of our accent or our clothing, but by the kind of iced tea we ordered. We thought that was a hoot.

Thursday, 1-12-06; 67 and Sunny: Work, Drive to Vicksburg, MS

 I got up early to get ahead on work prior to leaving for Vicksburg. The drive is only about 2.5 hours, so I didn’t miss much today. The drive was easy—we are driving across several states following I20—and Vicksburg is on the very western edge of the state, at exit 1C. The roads in this part of the state were good about 65% of the time, but the other 35% reminded me of Indiana in the winter. They were very bumpy, and at times I had to drop back to 60 MPH in a 70 MPH zone just to keep Bessy from bucking and jumping up and down.

We finally made it in, and were pleased to find the Isle of Capri RV Resort was very easy to find, and since I promised I was going to the casino, they gave me an additional discount, down to $14 per night! For a full hookup that can’t be beat! We got set up quickly, and found all to be in good order. The park is small, but clean, and has everything we need. It’s the next best thing to boon docking at Camp Wal Mart!

Work is going very well this month. I was able to close a good piece of business in the first week of the month, which is a bit of a shock to some people, and I’m working on more. Thanks again to everyone in Indiana who is helping to make this possible.

After work we went exploring, just to see what we could find. I felt like I was back in Ellettsville. Most of the town is simply in bad shape. Even the area around the casinos is kind of dumpy. They have a “ Scenic Drive” that they promote with literature and signs, so we decided to follow it. I guess their idea of scenic is a bit different than ours! We couldn’t even find a grocery store, so we went back to the bus, ate dinner, read and watched TV before bedtime.

I have to take a moment to brag on Thomas. We have implemented a program where I pay him anywhere from $1 to $6 to read new books. For all of you who have children, especially boys, you know how challenging it is to ignite the love of reading for your kids. One of my friends told me about the idea that he implemented with his children when they were Thomas’ age. He said it cost him a bit of cash, but it was the best investment he has ever made. Thomas has taken the bull by the horns and has been reading up a storm! Since we started this, he has read the first four Harry Potter books, totaling over 2000 pages. He has made some cash along the way, but he has also realized he loves to read, and fortunately he takes after his Mom in the speed department. I just finished reading my George Washington book and have now started on Ben Franklin. It’s taken me 7 months to read four large books. Thomas, 3 weeks. That’s the way I want it.

Friday, 1-13-06; 65 and Sunny: Work, Work, Work, Isle of Capri Casino

What a day! Early this morning Traci and I were awoken several times by a severe thunderstorm. The weather man said we could have hail! He said there was even a chance of a tornado. This is certainly the first time we have heard the T word on a weather forecast on this trip. We were on guard when we went to bed, and each new wave of rain that came in woke us up again. I even got up at once point to make sure we hadn’t sprung a leak. It was very violent, but fortunately there was no damage done.

Traci and Thomas are back in the swing of school. Thomas actually woke up early, and wanted me to help him do his math assignment before Traci got up, so he could surprise her. For some reason he gives her the most grief during math, so this little gift would certainly make Traci happy. I had to re-learn “annexing of 0’s” but I picked it up quickly and we got through it rather well. He even did his two story problems without much trouble.

On the work front, one of my customers installed some new services and one of my carriers has been working on the customer’s quality problems for an entire week. Today was pretty much spent occupying my time with other details and emails while I await word on the corrections to his problems.

I absolutely hate it when one of my customers is having trouble, and this one is particularly sensitive. I have been uneasy for the entire week waiting for good news from the engineers. Little did I know that the carrier actually had three engineers working on it all day Thursday and Friday. I finally took a break from working and grabbed a shower late in the day and tried to relax. While I was in the shower, I realized that I needed to get outside help on this one. There was just no explainable reason why this customer’s circuit wasn’t working correctly. I called a friend and got the number of his friend who is an expert in the type of phone system that this particular customer purchased to facilitate these new services. After 16 years in this business in Indianapolis, I know someone I know knows someone who knows what I need to know. Say that 5 times fast!

The third party listened carefully to the symptoms of the problem, and he said there is one of two things wrong. Both had to do with the phone system. I was relieved! He gave me advice to give to the customer, and the customer thanked me profusely for my assistance. I ended the day knowing I had done everything I could to help in this situation, and I was ready for a relaxing weekend!

So, after work I Googled a grocery store in Vicksburg, and discovered that they do in fact have a Kroger on the other side of town. We finally did some grocery shopping, which was long overdue. After we finished putting everything away, I did something I have never done before: I went to a casino! I have played poker at friends’ houses about a dozen times since moving to Noblesville, but I had never been to an actual casino. I was in for a treat! Well, I thought I was. I set a limit on how much I was willing to lose (It happened to be $90) and I took along my license and my Amex card for safety’s sake. I had gotten extensive advice from my father-in-law, who is one of the most successful slot-machine gamblers I know, and I was ready to roll—well, to do what ever it takes to activate a slot machine these days.

I have two words to describe this casino. Are they bright and shiny? Are they fun and exciting? How about big money? Nope. They are: ash tray. I don’t remember how long I was actually in the place, but I was gagging so badly on the cigarette smoke of all of those people sitting around me puffing and pushing buttons that I could not take it any more. I ended up losing $44 in about an hour, along with about 2 years off of my life from all of the 2 nd hand smoke! I was actually happy to finally finish off the cash so I didn’t have to go up to the counter to get my cash back. I brought home my cash out slip as a souvenir and to remind me of something I never want to do again!

After I got back we relaxed in the bus and Thomas and I played one of his video games until bedtime.

Saturday, 1-14-06; 60 and Sunny: Exploring Vicksburg, BattlefieldNational Park

Today was a beautiful day in Vicksburg, MS. Since we determined that there really isn’t much to do here, we did the only thing we had left on our list: we hit Battlefield National Park. Since this is our forth driving tour of a major battlefield (2 Revolutionary War, 2 Civil War), we pretty much knew the drill (so to speak). We hit the visitor center and watched the obligatory 20 minute film on Vicksburg and the importance of the battle in the civil war. We purchased the driving tour tape and hat pin and hit the road.

It was amazing to us as we drove around this town how difficult it must have been to take this place by force. The entire town is perched on a huge bank south of the Mississippi (I didn’t need spell check for that one!). Being that the defenders on high ground always have the advantage over the attackers on low ground, the victory was certainly a testament to the sheer will and talent of US Grant and his men. I read about this battle in his memoirs but until you see the place, it just isn’t the same. Fortunately the tape of the driving tour was much better than Gettysburg, so were not at all annoyed. It took about an hour to drive through the place, and to get out and take pictures of the stuff we thought looked important. This tour was not dramatized, but it gave a thorough review of the events. In our book, the highlight of the tour was the recovery of a huge gunboat that was sunk in December of 1862. They brought it back to the surface in 1964, and it is now enshrined under a huge tent in the middle of the battlefield. (See Pictures 4 and 5) By the time the tour was over, we pretty much had enough of monuments and cannons for the day, so we went to one last overlook to take a couple of pictures of the Mississippi river. (See picture 6).

I must take this time to make an observation about the roads in this part of Mississippi. I have no clue who designed them, nor how long it took to do so, but so far, in our trek across this state, (we are one exit away from Louisiana) they have been extremely confusing. Any time we left I20, and tried to find something normal, like a grocery store, Wal Mart or gas station, we had to work very hard not to get lost. Very few of the roads are straight, and they have U Turn lanes all over the place, so I guess I’m not the only one who feels this way. It seemed like when the Feds came in and built I 20, all of the rest of the roads were whipped like a snake and they all landed in a random pattern in all different directions.

On one occasion in Meridian and one in Vicksburg, one road would literally split into four different directions. You had to know exactly which lane you needed to be in ahead of time, or you were sent way out of your way, needing to make a U turn to go back and try what was behind door #2. They have strange one way areas here, and if you want to go back you have to make a U turn around I20. It’s all or nothing in most places, and for folks who don’t know, it can be very intimidating. I read in Men’s Health on more than one occasion that it’s good for your brain to take new ways to your every day destination, because the more ways you know to get some where, the more pathways are built in the brain. I figure by the time we get back, my brain will have twice as many pathways as when we started!

After we had our fill of history, we went back to the bus for a quiet evening of games and TV. Tomorrow we are leaving for Shreveport, LA on our way to Dallas. We had some very interesting experiences in Vicksburg, some of which we will probably never have again. We are glad we came, but as usual, we know our way around town pretty well, we have seen what we wanted to see, and it’s time to leave.

Sunday, 1-15-06; 65 and Sunny: Arrival in Shreveport, Chores

We slept in and ate breakfast in the bus, preparing to leave to go to Shreveport. We packed everything up, unhooked and hit the road. The drive was smooth, but the wind was very strong. If there is one thing Bessy doesn’t like, its crosswind. Some day I would like to study the physics of air and wind to see why she reacts like she does when big 18 wheelers fly by. It’s predictable, but confusing.

We arrived at the Isle of Capri RV “Resort” in Shreveport early in the afternoon. I like to drive on weekend days because I don’t have to worry about what is going on back home with my customers. Today’s drive was smooth and eventless—just the way I like it! The RV park was nothing more than a parking lot with electric and water. The casino was in a rough part of the city, which made us a bit uncomfortable.

We set up camp, and hit Wal Mart and Blockbuster and simply did chores and lived life. By now I feel like “home is where you are”. Shreveport felt more like a big city than the last three places we stopped. People drove like maniacs and everyone seemed to be in a hurry. We fit right in and went about our business.

Monday, 1-16-06; 64 and Rainy: Work and Movies

I don’t know if there is an official link between campgrounds and train tracks, but in 90% of the places we have stayed, we have been visited by our historic friends. It is something we actually look forward to. The sound of a far away train whistle has become part of the trip, and we welcome them as part of the ambience of being on the road. Well, this time we have had way too much of a good thing. The RV park has a train track no more than 100 yards away from the bus. There must be a train yard somewhere close to here, because the trains go by very slowly, and often times we can hear the train cars slamming into one another. You haven’t lived until you have been jolted by the sound of a “wave” of train cars slamming into each other as if there are fifteen car accidents happening in succession outside of your vehicle. It was quite the experience.

After waking up groggy from a rough night of train demolition derby, I managed to get some work done without telling everyone I talked to about last night’s experience. It rained all day, so Traci and Thomas stayed in the bus with me and did school. Work is going really well right now, but I’m in a bit of a quiet spot, so I am going through all of my old email directories to revisit customers with which I have done business in the past. It worked very well, being that I re-discovered several contracts that are going to expire this year. That’s a good thing.

After work we hung around the bus and watched movies. What better thing to do when the weather is yucky?

Tuesday, 1-17-06; 56 and Sunny: Work, Getting Lost Driving to Texas Roadhouse

Yup, today was another day of living. I worked the entire day, and Traci and Thomas went shopping. They were out to purchase clothes for Thomas, the first such trip planned in the next week. He is growing up so quickly! I’m sure all of you parents feel that way about your kids. He is ten now, and I have to say I could not be more proud of him. He may spend a bit too much time playing video games, but he has a heart of gold, and he is really embracing this trip for all it’s worth. We have had some really awesome father-son talks lately. There is nothing like being together 24/7 to strengthen an already great bond! He actually participated in picking out his clothes this time, and Traci was thrilled. He went into the dressing room to try on a pair of jeans, and he didn’t realize that Traci couldn’t open the door from the outside. When she told him to show her how they looked, he hit the floor and stuck his legs out under the door. It was a magic moment. She helped him get out so she could see him standing up. What a great kid!

After they returned, and I finished working, we enthusiastically went out to find a Texas Roadhouse restaurant that we had seen just off of I20 on the way to the camp ground. We knew exactly where it was, so how hard could it be to find? Well, for two people who are rather adept at finding their way in strange places, our overconfidence got the best of us! We started out at the exit near the restaurant and drove in the correct direction. Somehow we missed it, and decided to get back on the highway and hit it from the other side. That didn’t work either, as we arrived back at the first exit. Needless to say, we drove around for 45 minutes and were no further than ½ mile from it the whole time! I finally stopped to ask for directions, and a very nice lady at the 7-11 told me I had to take a back road and turn on an unmarked alley and go through a parking lot to get there. There wasn’t a single sign to point the way. I was amazed. We hadn’t been that lost in a LONG time, and we were just trying to find a stinking restaurant!

The food was as good here as it is in Indy, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We have been eating on the cheap lately, mainly because there hasn’t been anywhere nice to eat. So, after stuffing ourselves, we took boxes back to the bus and got ready for bed. Tomorrow we leave to drive toward Dallas, although we don’t know how far we will get.

Wednesday, 1-18-06; 74 and Sunny: Work, Drive to Tyler TX, on to Arlington, Abuelos Restaurant.

What a beautiful day! We were actually hot in the bus! We had to put shorts back on, which was a welcome change to the past couple of weeks. Winter sure isn’t lasting long for the Bray bushold this year. We expect as we go south and west that it will continue to warm up. It was awesome!

I got up early and got caught up on work. One of my small carriers (affecting three of my customers) had a massive outage today, due to the irresponsible actions of an upstream provider. One of my large long distance customers is down hard, with no inbound or outbound long distance. It was a disaster for them. Fortunately the problem was not with eGix, or I would have had to be hospitalized. I helped push the issue the entire day, and that activity sort of dominated everything that happened today. My customer knows it is not my fault, but it still doesn’t make it any better. I hope they get it fixed tomorrow!

After working part of the morning we hit the road and drove to a Tyler, TX Wal Mart Supercenter. The place was newly completed, and it was hopping. There were diesel trucks everywhere, and the parking lot was not level. We put down the jacks so we could level out a bit and I went back to work and ate lunch in the bus. We spent a few hours in the parking lot, and after much soul searching, we decided to move on to Arlington, TX where we had a camp ground reserved for Thursday night. There was a Super Target near the campground, and that was good enough for us.

We drove into the night, with Traci navigating the entire time. She is so good at that! As we pulled into the greater Dallas area, we saw diesel fuel on sale at a station nearby for $2.30 a gallon!!! I can’t remember the last time when we paid that amount for fuel. I think it must have been in the first month of the trip. Needless to say, the place was packed, and we had to wait in line. The joker in front of us pulled up after fueling and left his rig parked right there. I thought no problem, he’ll be back by the time I finish…NOT! We waited a good 15 minutes after fueling to pull out. After that we quickly found our Target and set up camp. We went shopping to stock up on household goods and came back to the bus. While checking on the car and tow equipment, it appeared that someone in the previous few days attempted to steal Thomas’ bike off of the back of the bus. The bike rack performed flawlessly, preventing the theft. They must have wrenched his bike up and down, because the bracket was bent and the bike was scratched. I got the keys and tightened the bracket down again. Later on when the weather gets warm I’ll have to take it apart and straighten it out a bit. I wish people would leave our bikes alone!!!

We have been looking forward to some killer Mexican food for weeks now. With each leg of the journey, we just know we’re getting closer to our favorite type of food. We saw tons of restaurants on the drive here tonight, all lit up like Las Vegas. Our favorites are within a couple of blocks of here, as well as some places to which we’ve never been. We were so geared up after shopping that we threw caution to the wind and went and had dinner at Abuelos restaurant at 9:30 PM! That’s 10:30 Indiana time! We NEVER eat that late, but we just felt like celebrating. We have spent days and days driving through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana just to get here, and now we’re here!

The place still had some patrons in it, so we were not alone. We had never heard of it before, but the prices looked reasonable, so we went in. We were our server’s only customers and he took very good care of us. The food was awesome! I tried a Santa Fe Enchilada, complete with two eggs over medium right on top. I wanted to eat that meal until I exploded! Everything was excellent. Traci and Thomas both loved theirs as well. I tipped him big and we took a huge doggie bag home with us. It was a great celebration dinner, and we look forward to eating many more such meals while in the south west.

Thursday, 1-19-06; 74 and Sunny: Treetops RV Resort, Work, Shopping

I don’t think we’ll be doing any more boon docking for a while. The temperature at night has been dipping down into the 30’s and 40’s, and the bus just isn’t insulated enough to handle that. We all slept in our jammies last night, and were still cold. The only alternative would be to run the generator all night, which would have been more expensive than a camp site. We are learning every day!

I got up early and hit the laptop while Thomas and Traci slept. My one carrier is still down today, and that’s causing quite a fuss for my customer. I pushed all I could, to no avail. They expect to have it fixed tomorrow. I hope so!

Other than that, work is going really well. Several new projects popped up this week, and I am frantically putting together quotes and proposals. Three of them include phone equipment, which is not normal for me, and I promised to get them back by week’s end. I would much rather have too much to do than not enough, and it seems I’m in that boat right now.

At around noon, we decided to depart from our temporary home at Target and move Bessy over to the campground, only two blocks away. I don’t know how much this land cost and how long they have had it, but I could only imagine what it would be worth if they sold it. It is right in the heart of Arlington, TX. Its two blocks from a gigantic mall, and retail thrives all around it. I would imagine it won’t be hard for the owners to retire when they get sick of the campground business, that’s for sure.

I finished up work, and we went and did some overdue shopping. We’re flying back to Indy next week, and I need some clothes for the meetings I’m attending while we are there. Camp ground clothing is just not cutting it any more. Traci has been at me to dump some of my older clothes for some time, and she is finally getting her wish. There is a Goodwill donation box near by, and I think we’re going to make some deposits before we leave this Mecca of retail.

Friday, 1-20-06; 76 and Sunny: Work, Grapevine Mills Outlet Mall, Hoodwinked

Did you catch that temperature? Yup! 76 and Sunny. What a beautiful day in the Lone Star State! I got up and worked while the family slept in. I’m finally getting all of my projects lined up and putting final numbers together. I hope next week will be a strong finish to the month. That would be icing on the cake after such a strong December.

Traci and Thomas did school while I worked and we ate lunch in the bus. I finally got all of my quotes out the door, and I look forward to working them to fruition next week. At the very end of the work day, my wayward carrier finally got my three customers back in service. It was a huge relief when I got the last phone call right at 5 giving the all clear. Wow! What an unfortunate and crazy situation. I’m glad it’s over.

Traci had found a HUGE outlet mall about 30 minutes away from the bus called Grapevine Mills. It’s a lot like Gurnee Mills outside of Chicago, and may actually be bigger. The purpose of our trip was to find a couple of light coats for Traci and I and to go see a movie Thomas has wanted to see called Hoodwinked. It was made by the same folks who made Shrek. We hit the Levi’s store and found exactly what we needed. Everything was on sale, which is always a good thing! After that we grabbed dinner in the food court and hit the movie theatre. Well, the only thing I have to say about Hoodwinked is that I was so by being sucked into seeing this film. It was terrible. I don’t know what happened to the Shrek people, but they were off of their game on this one. Had my chair leaned back, I would have taken a nap. Please don’t let your kids talk you into paying good money to see this movie.

After that, we began the drive back to the bus. Now for the drive to the mall earlier, the directions Traci got off of Mapquest were very confusing. The roads in the directions continually took us INTO the airport parking lot. We knew that couldn’t be right, so we just kept navigating around the airport until we found the correct road to the mall. Well, on the way back, we were not quite as good at “driving improv” in the dark so we ended up—you guessed it—at the airport. We quickly found that in order to get in the airport, you have to pay a $2 toll. We figured as long as we had to pay a toll, we would get some advice as to how to get back. The gal at the window said (like, duh) “yes, go through the airport and you can get back to Arlington”. We were perplexed, but we drove on. Yes, we had to decide which terminal to go to, and ended up choosing B for no other reason than it wasn’t the first nor the last. We chose the “airport exit” sign just as we approached Terminal B and tried to hightail it out of there. We drove around and around, trying to find out where we should go. I stopped to ask another gate attendant and she directed us to our correct exit highway. It turns out that the airport in Dallas is actually a hub of the Interstate system in the area. People go there ON PURPOSE, not to go to the airport, but to get to other places! We were shocked. I actually called one of my friends who lived in Dallas, and he confirmed it. From a National Security standpoint, that just can’t be a good idea. We finally made it back to the bus and hit the sack.

Saturday, 1-21-06; 58 and Sunny: BSANationalMuseum, Papacitos Restaurant and Lunar Golf

We slept in until 11:30 today! Traci wasn’t feeling well, and being that we are an hour behind Indiana, I haven’t been getting as much sleep as usual since we drove into the Central time zone. We were very refreshed when we woke up, so we bound out of bed, got ready and went in search of some fine Mexican food for breakfast—er—lunch.

My Dallas friend had recommended Papacitos Restaurant, a locally owned chain of stores. Traci knew the general area where the restaurant was, so we ventured out without exact directions. It is near the huge (Bray Family Favorite) Six Flags over Texas. We had come here a couple of years ago for Fall Break, and we really loved the park. Thomas wasn’t yet 54 inches tall, so he had to sit out the largest coasters. Traci and I rode most of them, and we sincerely look forward to coming back. They closed a few weeks ago, to our chagrin.

I stopped to get gas near the park and asked the other patrons how to get to the restaurant. They all told me—in stereo—and we were there in no time. The food was wonderful—I had fish tacos and Traci had their famous fajitas—and we were well stuffened by the time we left. We were unfortunately not headed back to the bus, so we could not bring the leftovers (there were a lot of them) home with us. We had to say adios to the food and we were off to the Boy Scouts of America National Museum. As you may or may not know, I was Thomas’ Cub Master for Pack 190 back in Indy prior to leaving on the trip. I am officially an Assistant in the pack now, and will be until Thomas officially crosses into Boy Scouts next year. The museum was half history and half fun. They had lots of talking mannequins describing different parts of the Scout experience. They also had a Pine Wood Derby track set up, which was Thomas’ favorite. They had a laser shooting gallery (my favorite) and a virtual reality ATV game. Along with the fun stuff they also had lots of pictures of famous scouts and lots of old uniforms from around the world on display. Traci’s favorite part was the Norman Rockwell gallery they had, with a score of original paintings that have become part of our national identity. (Traci said it is the largest in the country.) Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera along, so I have no pictures for you, but I highly recommend you visit this place if you are in Dallas. It was outstanding.

After that we went back to Grapevine Mills and Thomas and I played glow-in-the-dark mini-golf while Traci attempted to shop for herself. Of all of the courses we have played on this trip, I would say this was the most unique. I would also say it’s a gold mine for who ever came up with the idea. They charge $8 per person, for up to 54 holes of golf. The two courses are all built with 2X4’s and metal tubing. The only ongoing cost is rent, electricity (for all of the black lights) and $6 an hour to pay the teenager at the front desk. The place was packed. Thomas actually got through 36 holes of golf, which was truly a first for him. He usually quits after about 13 out of 18 holes, but he made it through with a good attitude. I was thrilled.

We rejoined Traci, who had struck out in her attempt to shop, and we came back to the bus. This time she was prepared, and we made it back very quickly without going through the airport. We ate dinner in the bus and rested. She was still not feeling well, so she hit the sack early. I stayed up and answered emails while Thomas slept. It was a very quiet night.

Sunday, 1-22-06; 45 and Raining: Glory Road and Shopping

Yuck! What a miserable day. I have said many times that I would rather it be 28 and snowing than 45 and raining! We slept in again today—a very good thing—and got ready and had breakfast at the bus. We ventured out to the nearby mall where Thomas and I saw the movie Glory Road while Traci shopped. It’s not that she didn’t want to see this movie, but she wanted to shop more. Thomas didn’t want any snacks, so we just hit the theatre and got ready for goose bump city.

Needless to say, it was a Disney movie, so there was no bad language, and just a little kissing. They were able to go through time and re-create the environment from the 1960’s when a small NCAA school from El Paso, TX won the National Championship. Thomas was confused by all of the issues the folks had about a coach starting five black players on a basketball team. I was able to explain to him that this was long before the days of Michael Jordan and Jermaine O’Neal. This coach and these players opened the field for black players in both the NCAA and in professional basketball as well. It was an incredible story, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it to everyone who likes sports stories. Disney did it again!

We hooked back up with Traci after the movie, and well, I’ll have to say, she succeeded in her quest for nicer clothes! I won’t go into all of the details, but she certainly won’t look like she lives in a bus, that’s for sure. She even got a very nice pair of brown cowgirl boots. She was thrilled, and so was I. She even did me a huge favor by buying her birthday present for this year. That’s one thing I don’t have to think about come February 20 th. She is the nicest wife!

After leaving the mall several bags heavier, we retired to the bus for dinner and video games. We look forward to the next few days here and the good food. We are flying back to Indy on Wednesday and returning to Dallas on Sunday. This time Traci and Thomas are coming too. I just couldn’t stand leaving them behind again. Some of my friends’ reactions to this trip were something like “I couldn’t stand to be with my wife and kids 24/7 for an entire year. I’d go crazy.” After seven months on the road, I feel just the opposite. Even for four days.

Monday, 1-23-06; 59 and Sunny: Working in the United RV Dealership Parking Lot

 We had been waiting for this day for some time. We were FINALLY getting Bessy worked on. We made reservations a few weeks ago to have her evaluated today, and if necessary, would leave her here while we travel to Indy later in the week. The deal Traci and I made was that we would split up (something we NEVER like to do) and she would take Thomas to Barnes and Noble for school and then shopping while I took the bus to the dealership.

I pulled up at my allotted time of 9:30 am, ready to have technicians tramping through the bus while I worked. I was prepared for that, simply because this was to be THE time to get the bus fixed, and Traci would be happy. That would be a great thing. Well, I checked in with the service guy and told them I would be working in the bus while they worked on the bus. He looked at me with tired eyes (remember, it was only 9:30) and was taken aback about the fact that I was going to wait. I asked what was wrong, and he pointed to a downtrodden looking couple in the “waiting” area (which consisted of lawn furniture around a wicker table next to a Coke machine) and said “they have been waiting since Friday”. I thought wow! They slept here? Oh, well. What did THEY have to do with me? I had an APPOINTMENT. Fleetwood made that appointment. I confirmed it when we arrived in town. I’m not just coming in off the street. This was planned in ADVANCE. Doesn’t that mean something? Well, I was about to find out…not.

The guy said they would not be out to look at the coach for a while. I grilled him on what that meant. He avoided the question, so I suggested a time frame. I said how about three hours? He looked deliriously at me and said “that sounds good. Three hours”. So with all of the optimism I could muster I turned around and returned to the bus and began working. For the first three hours I worked like a busy little bee and paid very little attention to the clock. Work was going well, and time was flying. At about 1:30 PM another bus just like Bessy pulled up and a guy hopped out. Since we have seen only a half dozen Fleetwood Expeditions like ours on the road in seven months, I had to get out and have a chat with him. It turns out his bus is a lemon. He bought it right around the same time I did and he has literally not been able to use it since. For all of you out there considering the purchase of a motor home, do NOT buy a Fleetwood. Run as far and as fast as you can from a Fleetwood dealership. It turns out he has had massive electrical problems among other things, and he has not even been able to take it out for a peaceful week of camping for almost a year. He has brought it to the dealership seven times for the same issue. His problems certainly made mine look tiny in comparison. However, I have had electrical problems, so I joined him and we marched in to demand justice! Well, this guy also knows the owners of the dealership and since the head mechanic was “on his way out to look at my bus” this guy took my spot, and I was left in the parking lot for another hour. 2:30 rolled around and I went back in to find out when the dude was coming out to look at Bessy since the other guy had pulled out 15 minutes earlier and he actually came up to me and said I was next.

The guy at the service desk mumbled something and I said I at least needed the new handle to our screen door that had broken, and that I would do my best to put it on. He found one and handed it to me and said good luck. I did my best to take the existing broken latch apart and replace it with this one. It turned out that what seemed like a four screw operation ended up being a major headache, and when Traci arrived the screen door was in about 20 pieces and the new latch was sitting on the floor of the bus. For those of you who know my wife, you know that she is very impatient, especially when she feels like an injustice had been committed, as in this case. She asked me a few questions, grabbed the new latch and quickly made her way to the counter. She asked for my service guy, and it turns out he was having lunch, and he would be back in 10. She decided to wait. When he arrived, they pointed him out, and with a smile and a look up and down he said “hey little lady, what can I do for you?” She gave him the “death look” and that pretty much wilted his enthusiasm for having met her. She introduced herself as my wife and asked him why he just gave me this part and expected me to install it for him. He stammered and really didn’t have an answer. He gave lots of excuses while she was drilling into him. She finally got so frustrated that she said she at least wanted the screen door to be fixed and that we were done with this dealership. She proceeded to lambaste him in front of about eight guys who were standing at the counter and told him that they were no better than the other twenty dealerships we had been to around the country. We have a new Bray Bushold joke: how many RV dealerships does it take to fix a Fleetwood motorhome? We don’t know yet. If it ever gets fixed, we’ll let you know!

We pulled out around 3:30 and went back to the camp site. We set Bessy back up in her slip and went out to On the Border for dinner. We just can’t seem to get enough Mexican food at this point in the trip. We love it! After dinner Thomas and I played video games while Traci wrote her book. More good stories to tell!

 Tuesday, 1-24-06; 69 and Sunny: Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Preparing to go to Indy

I worked in the morning hours today and then we left to do a very “touristy” thing. We drove out to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth, TX. This time I was determined to bring my camera, so ya’ll could see some pictures of the place and I could add some pizzazz to my blog. Well, the first thing you hear when you get there is a message blared over the loudspeakers saying that we could not bring in any cameras or cell phones. Dang! Oh, well, maybe next time.

After checking in and going through metal detectors, we hopped the shuttle bus covered in a huge $20 bill. I would have loved to take a picture of that bus! The gal in the building told me that they had printed a special group of $50 bills that were not cut (called a 12 character sheet) with half “old” $50’s and half “new” colorful $50’s. She said only 500 were made, and that there was a huge waiting list in DC for them, but they had ONE left here in Fort Worth. I don’t know if she was compensated for telling me this, but it sure got my mind to thinking about eBay and how I may be able to recoup my $1200 investment! Yes, you read that right! The face value of the sheet was $600, but the cost of it was $1200. How does that happen? Supply and demand makes that happen. Collectors love those uncut sheets, so they snap them up like crazy. I pondered my decision for about a half an hour and decided I would make the investment, since they had such a HUGE waiting list in DC.

As we checked in, the guy at the front desk was going through his drone of rules and regulations and what to do and when---blah, blah, blah is all I heard. As soon as I could get a word in I asked where the bank—er, the gift shop was. He pointed the way, and I left Traci to handle the details while I bee-lined it to the counter. Once I entered the shop I dropped to a slow jog, trying not to look desperate. I played a bit dumb, and mentioned something about the gal in the other building and $50 bills. As soon as I started, the guy smiled really big and said “sorry sir, we sold the last one ten minutes ago”. I almost cried, because in my greed, I had already decided to buy and sell that sheet in a matter of hours to maybe double my money on eBay. Sold out? What? No way!

Needless to say, that brought me back down to earth so I could enjoy the rest of the visit. They showed us a film on how money is made, and it was very informative; so informative in fact that the actual tour was kind of lame. The movie was close-up, and the tour was looking down from the second floor—about 20 feet away. The cool thing was that they were printing off the first group of new Alexander Hamilton $10 bills. They will be red, orange, yellow and green. They will be the most colorful of the group. Each bill gets updated about every seven to ten years. They are making them progressively more colorful and intricate to try to stop counterfeiters around the world. It was a fascinating thing to see, especially since my profession has always been to find the best thing to sell to generate as much of their product as possible.

A huge portrait of Bill Gates hangs in the lobby so everyone visiting the place will know where most of the money is headed after it is printed. Not really, but I just had to say that. Any time you look at your bills and find a little FW that means it was printed in Fort Worth, TX. No FW? It was printed in DC.

After the trip to the house of money, we went back to the bus and caught up on work. After dinner we did chores and packed for our trip to Indy.

Wednesday, 1-25-06; 69 and Sunny/38 and Cloudy: Drop off bus, fly to Indy

Some of the feedback I’ve gotten from friends and family regarding my blog is that they love to hear about the frustrating parts of the trip. Whether they admit it or not, they love it. Most of the time they think the trip is an exciting adventure, and that with my upbeat personality, I think that it is a perfect life and that nothing goes wrong. Well, the last time you got a taste of it we had a strange man in our bedroom feeding diesel fuel into a hole with a straw. Fortunately this was nothing like that, but it was still an interesting goof on my part…well, sort of.

When I arranged for the storage unit to house Bessy during the five days we were going to be in Indy, the first thing she asked was how long our rig was. The manual says 38 feet, and that’s what I told her. She said great. That will fit just fine. We agreed on a time and a price and the deal was done. We showed up just on time and we were pumped. The unit was second to the end, and when we inspected it, the place looked HUGE! I thought it would be NO problem. Well, I had never actually parked Bessy in an enclosed building before. At first glance, since it was so close to the end, I thought “hey, I’ll just pull it in straight since we have a plane to catch”. Traci agreed, and we were on our way.

Unfortunately, Bessy didn’t agree. No matter how many times I tried to straighten her up, I could not get the bus lined up enough to pull her in. The proximity alarms in my head kept going off and I lost my nerve and froze. Traci was at this point ready to scream at me, because we were going to miss our flight. She told me to bag it and pull out and back the bus in. I did that, and with just a few minor modifications, I was able to pull her in with no problem (huge lesson learned). Traci did a fantastic job guiding me in, and it worked like a charm, or so we thought. As the bus closed in toward the back wall, Traci quickly realized that the bike rack hung too far off the back and that we would have to take the bikes off to complete the operation. I quickly got out and disassembled the bike rack and rolled the bikes to either side of the bus. That worked well enough and I was back in the cab and in reverse. As the bus approached the back of the unit again, Traci yelled stop just as the bus was within an inch of the back wall.

Again I got out of the bus to survey the situation. The main cab of the bus was in the building, but the right front mirror was still sticking out of the unit by more than a foot! I called the dealership and they said I needed special tools to swing the mirror in to fit snug against the bus. I said the heck with it, let’s leave it the way it is. At least it will be out of the rain. Traci concurred until she realized the unit to the left of us would not be able to open their door because they were hung vertically and slid left to right on tracks. If our neighbor had to get in their unit they would be unable to do so.

I was furious by this point and I went to visit the nice lady at the office. She said I could just pull the bus up along side the building wall and park it outside. We agreed on that, and we locked the three bikes and the bike rack in the 40’ X 14’ X 20’ storage unit. Once we got in the car and on the way to the airport, we realized we had used up way too much time on the bus and were only 1.5 hours from take off, and the airport was about 30 minutes away. Needless to say, we were stressed. I hit Speedy and we were making our way down to I20 to the airport. After about ten minutes of nail biting stress I realized that both the clock in the car and my watch were set for Indiana time, which was an hour AHEAD of Texas time. We had over two hours to spare. Whew!

The rest of the trip to the airport, parking, shuttle service and check-in were eventless, thank Goodness. We settled down in the food court to have some Chinese take-out, and as we were digging in, an announcement came over the loudspeaker that our flight had been changed—to another terminal! Suddenly we were in another hurry and we had to wolf down our food and hightail it to the tram and over to a different gate. We had about 30 minutes of leeway by the time we settled at the new gate. I would hate to really be late to that flight!

The flight was almost full, but really quiet thanks to about 40 kids from the Indiana School for the Deaf. If I knew sign language I could “listen” in on their conversations, but I don’t, so it was just quiet and peaceful. We all read and the flight was smooth and quick. Once we arrived in Indy we took the shuttle to the Enterprise building and were treated to the fastest and easiest rental car check-in in our lives. We were there no more than three minutes and we were in the truck and on our way. We were shocked with delight as we hit the Airport Expressway and through down town Indy.

We next went and picked up Traci’s car at her folks’ house and went to the home of our previous neighbors who were hosting us for the weekend. We had dinner and lively conversation, and just relaxed.

Thursday, 1-26-06; 42 and Cloudy: Meetings, Meetings, Meetings!

There isn’t much more to say, but that I had six back-to-back meetings with customers, prospects and future partners. Everything was positive, and I expect several contracts to come out of them in the next month. It was a very nice change, and I enjoyed seeing everyone and talking live instead of on the phone. The only piece that bugged me was that several people had bad colds, and I was afraid I would get sick.

After my appointments, Traci and I had dinner with the folks who are hosting us this week. The wife is a wonderful cook, and her cooking was as awesome as ever. After that we just chatted until bedtime.

Friday, 1-27-06; 50 and Sunny: Meetings and Pacers Game

Today’s schedule was not nearly as hectic as yesterday, but I was able to get a few good meetings in before the quarterly eGix meeting. The eGix meeting went well, and I was thrilled with their latest developments on the telecommunications front. After the meeting, I had another appointment on the east side on the way down town. That meeting again went really well, and it has already produced a contract.

After that meeting I hit Conseco Fieldhouse to see the Pacers play and to chat with different eGix employees and distributors. I was a very good boy and didn’t drink a drop, so I was able to get home and rejoin my family after the game with no problems! It was late, and we were exhausted after a very busy week.

Saturday, 1-28-06; 58 and Sunny: Hanging Out with Neighbors

Today was mainly spent hanging with the folks who hosted us in their home on this trip. They are Brad and Deb Rusk. They are the kind of neighbors everyone wish they had. They are fun, smart and very successful. They welcome us into their home like family and they feed us as much food as we want! I’m not telling you anything more about them, because there will be a rush on homes in the area, and I don’t want that to happen! We may move back to the neighborhood when we come back to Indy.

Sunday, 1-29-06; 58 and Raining/74 and Sunny: Time with Family, Flight back to Dallas

 We slept in today to try to catch up. Spending lots of time with friends and co-workers shortchanged our sleep this week. After breakfast we picked Thomas up and drove to the east side of Indy to Traci’s parents’ house. We spent the afternoon celebrating multiple pending birthdays, new babies and the like with her family. Her nephew is in the Army in Iraq, so we made a video for him to watch over the net. We enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up.

Once we left the house we ran a couple of errands and went back to the airport. The back end of the car rental experience was stress-free. Great job Enterprise! As we were sitting in the airport waiting to board, we reflected on our few days back in Indy. The family consensus was that we enjoyed our time with friends and family, but we were still excited and glad to be going back to Part II of the Bray Family Adventure! We really enjoy our life, and each other’s company. That’s the way it should be.

The flight was flawless and we found both Speedy and Bessy just where we found them and unharmed. However, Bessy was not happy that we left her so long. There was some item in the bus that took a drag on the primary battery array, even with the solar panel on the roof designed to counter this drag. When we arrived in the bus, the lights hardly lit at all. Fortunately the engine batteries are on a separate system, so Bessy started in a snap! This situation changed our plans a bit. We had originally planned to stay at the local Camp Wal Mart for the evening, but we decided to venture on to Waco, TX in order to recharge the batteries while driving.

By the time we arrived I was a bit tired, and it showed. I attempted to try to find my way to the Sam’s Club that was clearly visible from the highway. I took the appropriate exit and headed in what I thought was the correct direction. At the last second we realized the twisty roads of Texas had fooled us again. Needless to say, I had to make a last minute turn through a parking lot in search of our sleeping spot. Being that it was midnight, we had no traffic patterns to guide us. If you combine those factors together, you can probably guess what I did next: went the wrong way on a one way street! Once we realized it, we really could not correct our mistake, so we just continued down the street until we were able to turn into the parking lot. It was worth a good laugh as we were collapsing into bed.

Monday, 1-30-06; 65 and Sunny: Work and Nanny McPhee

It’s the Monday before the end of the month. Things were pretty quiet today, mainly due to the fact that I don’t want to lean on my customers who are due to sign some contracts today or tomorrow. We’ll see!

When we were in Indy Traci took delivery of her new “Vicariously Yours” laptop, so while I worked I also loaded tons of software on to her new machine. I had to figure out how to move her email information from my laptop to hers, as well as re-load our financial and other software. It took forever to get it done, but I was able to do so. She is excited to be able to write even when I am on my machine. It should aid in her ability to finish her book without interference from my work. Well, I went through the entire day and no one signed a contract. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

After work we hit the road in search of a gigantic 16 theatre mega-plex that was showing Nanny McPhee. The directions that came out of Mapquest gave us a fifteen step process to find the theatre. I guess Mapquest is confused by the roads here too. The real directions were “take a right and drive until you see the theatre and turn into the parking lot”. That did it, and we ascended into the theatre # 10 to find that we were the only ones there. The movie just came out last weekend and we were alone! Before the movie started two others joined us to remind us that it wasn’t a huge movie rental.

Fortunately, the movie was indeed a 41/2 stars out of five on the Bray family scale. If you like Marry Poppins, this movie is for you. If you like Emma Thompson, this movie is for you. If you have children, this movie is for you. If you are thinking about having children, this movie is for you. If you are breathing, this film is for you. As you can tell, we loved it. We highly recommend it. We are still confused as to why the theatre was empty, considering it was the #1 movie at the box office over the weekend.

After the movie, we went to a new grocery store called HEB. What does that mean? We found out that it means “Here Everything is Better”. Original, hugh? We were impressed. The store was nice, and was packed to the gills with Hispanic people. In all of our travels in the south, we haven’t seen many Hispanics. This was the highest concentration we had seen in almost 8 months. We had to come all the way to South Texas to see them. I said hola to as many as I could. Just kidding.

After grocery shopping, we retired to the bus and watched Mythbusters on DVD. Yes, I purchased the entire first season of Mythbusters since we didn’t watch during that time and have seen few reruns. We are having a ball watching it. We recommend it to everyone who has school age children.

Tuesday, 1-31-06; 70 and Sunny: Work and Dinner at Taco Xpress

Yup. It’s the end of the month. If you don’t already know what that means for a sales guy, you will now! This month has been fraught with tussles between my carriers and equipment vendors, and I have been smack in the middle. I’ve handled threatened disconnects and billing claims. I’ve signed new business, and defended existing business. It has been a rough month. Well, today was the last day of the month, --kind of. We may end up “encouraging” my customers who sign contracts tomorrow to date them for today. Shhhhhh. I won’t tell if you don’t!

Overall, it was a productive month, but not exactly what I had in mind. I initiated several projects, some of which I expected to close by now. Hopefully they will continue and end up closing tomorrow and later in February. We are going on our 8 th month of this trip! So far, the trip has been a huge success. The appointments I had with customers in Indianapolis this past week were very productive. I look forward to helping them all to install the best telecommunications services they can buy!

Today a huge opportunity came on to the radar, about which I am very excited—I’m sure that’s a big surprise! However, it will be a lot of work, but I’m up to it! We need to bring our “A” game that day, that’s for sure!

After work and school, the Bray family headed out to take advantage of Rachel Ray’s advice. Traci has her book called Best Eats In Town for $40 a Day. She gave two thumbs up to a local joint called Taco Xpress. We found the place—after much confusion—and we were rewarded greatly for our confidence and sense of adventure.

May I take a minute here to tell you about the roads of Texas? Oh, thanks! I appreciate it. You are so kind! Well, the best way I can describe the roads of Texas is: Italian. Italian? Yes. Can you say spaghetti? The only serious spaghetti bowl in Indiana is down town Indianapolis. From any direction, you have a maximum of four choices, if that many. Well, here in Texas, even in smaller town, everything is a spaghetti bowl! Even in smaller towns, the highway choices include huge arches of roadway going ten stories in the air just to get to the next area. We have logged lots of miles on this trip, covering no less than 20 states, but we have never seen this kind of construction. It’s like Texas has pinned their state ego on the size of their roads. Needless to say, in Speedy, it’s a blast—powering through those curves at 55+ MPH. However, thanks to what seem to be natural occurrences in Texas, the cross-winds of Texas cause large amounts of stress while traversing these 20 story loops around even the smallest town. I’ve managed it well, but would much prefer NOT to endure these in the bus for very long. We’ll see.

Back to dinner at Taco Xpress. We navigated through the maze of roads in Austin and finally made our way to the restaurant. Although the large statue of a gal named Maria was missing from the roof, we did find the restaurant. If you don’t know who Rachel Ray is, please look her up on the Food Network. She is a very famous and personable cook who