Father and Son

I would like to present you with the following photos. Friday night, Vance and I participated in a Father/Son Camp out. This is part one of a two part series. Vance is fond of photography and he stole my camera while I was sleeping. Yes, I let my son run around unattended while I napped. It was not intentional and the river was several yards away so I didn't have to worry about that. Anyway, he stole my camera out of the case on my belt and began a career as a photojournalist. I would like to explain the pictures, but I can't, even with my mad Art Appreciation Skillz from Carroll College I am at a stupor. Enjoy.

Here is the case on my belt, notice there is no camera.



Vance was very proud of this one, he asked me if I saw the picture of the people. Then he said it was a beautiful picture.




Me sleeping, thanks Vance!



When I woke up I looked out of the mesh window and Vance was standing there. I asked "what are you doing." He said, "I am peeing." Sure enough he was standing there trow down peeing on a tree. Good thing he didn't take a picture of that!

I am a proud father.

Purgatory

Well it is official, I am in Visa Purgatory. While I wait for my Official Passport to get stamped I am now working at Fort Belvoir. I am a couple hour drive from home, so I can visit on the weekends. In the mean time I am living in a much nicer room. Additionally, about 1 mile from my hotel there is a 15 mile bike path that starts at Mount Vernon, following the Potomac, ending by D.C. Pretty nice for a guy like me.

I sleep much better in this hotel. Check out the KING size bed. It also has a mix of pillows so I can choose my favorite firmness. I even brought my Salsa Las Cruces (for those that don't speak Spanish that translates to "THE Cruces"). If you can't have your family, you might as well have the most wonderful bicycle in the world.

It is a huge room and has a nice flat screen t.v. in the middle so it can swivel. The only problem is that my bike demanded the bed and I had to fold out the love seat bed. Then it occurred to me, sleep with the bike, either way I would have a bar in my back.

It is still less painful then Vance's elbows when he sneaks into our bed at night.

All was well until we started arguing about who got to hold the remote. I lost and we had to watch "Quick Silver" with Kevin Bacon.

Virtuous Friends

I had the opportunity to visit a friend, a great friend. I always believed that it was important to be around great people who would have a positive impact on my life. I always thought that greatness was equal to position, rank, or prominence. However, it was not until recently that I understood who “great” people are. The past few years I have felt a lot of loneliness, a personal isolation of sorts; a void, like an emotional black hole. I have never had many friends because I held certain beliefs that served as discriminators against people. Basically, if you had certain habits or qualities, I did not want to interact with certain people in any way other than a professional or minor social way. It was not that I was too good, I was just image conscience. The rank structure of the Army doesn’t help much either, as was the case with Alex.

However, after visiting Alex and his family this weekend I found that life experience has changed my views as to what constitutes "great." To begin with, Alex is a war buddy, the best kind of friend you can have. After all, we have been through some crap together. Friendship in the Army is tough. He was a subordinate (purely in rank only, as a person he is much better than I) and because of that it made it difficult to call him a “friend.” He was one hell of a Soldier and because of that we were always in the thick of it together and we have a bond; remember, always be surrounded with great people.

He is out of the Army now and I am proud to say we are friends. I wish that I could surround myself with more people like him. We stayed up late into the night talking about Mosul, Iraq and the Battle of Baghdad, as well as, the others we served with. Sure enough, every event he brought up, bad and good, we were there together at times right next to each other. We did a lot of laughing. Some things the average person, or mildly insane, would not laugh at; like the unique sound of brains sizzling as they dripped on the metal of a car after the fire had been put out and a friend of ours “Foots Mahoney” who I will not even begin to describe.

I was sad to leave since I do not have many friends and he is clearly one of the best. True friendship, since he knows the other side of me, and I of him. War changes people and the friendships that are developed are true friendships. I now truly understand Aristotle’s concept of virtuous friendship which is roughly “I will do for you for your sake, and you do for me for my sake.” We share common experiences that others have not and cannot even begin to understand.

Thank you Alex (and of course Megan for letting me invade your house) I feel as though some of the void has been filled. Most important of all, I am proud that he calls me a friend. I only wish we lived closer.

Ohio, need I say more.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to tour Ohio. While Ohio is one of the most populated and industrial states, it is also extremely flat and boring. Unless you like farmland and trees. I have forgotten how nice it is to travel without children. While I enjoy going places with my kids and seeing their eyes light up when they see something new and different, it is much more peaceful to go it alone. Anyone with kids knows exactly what I am talking about.

My trip began with the rental car, I violated my policy of driving something that had KIA (killed in action) on it and rented a Rio. Not only are KIA's surprisingly uncomfortable and really small, but they are absolutely the most gutless car in the world. I think I saw donkey carts in Iraq that accelerated faster. Anyhow, my destination was Toledo to visit a friend of mine. So I punched the address into the On Dash High Speed GPS (ODHSGPS). Hey, I am in the Army, everything has to be an acronym.

ODHSGPS. Come on, its a KIA Rio!

I cranked up my Electronica/Trance favorites (OK, I just came out, I like Electronica/Trance like Moby, Gabriel and Dresden, Armin Van Burren.....) and I hit the road determined to see all that the area had to offer. I was not disappointed, for the most part. It also turns out that Ohio is the unofficial official bicycle capital of America. Being the history buff that I am, I quickly discovered that Dayton, Ohio was home to Huffy Bicycles, possibly the worlds greatest bikes. With commercials like those, it is a wonder that Huffy ever had problems.

Bicycling was so popular in Dayton that the Wright Brothers built four bike shops and used their money and bicycle experience in the development of the first powered flight. I saw a sign that directed me to one of their shops. It was surprisingly boring. Seriously. But I took a picture anyway.

Boring!!!!!!

Unlike some people, probably most, I like to drive and see where the road takes me. Well it took me into a not so nice part of Dayton. While searching for the interstate on my ODHSGPS I encountered an area that would frighten the average person, but being slightly above average and having a very strict policy on crying (I was in a Rio not the shower) I punched the accelerator and nothing happened (I was in a Rio).

Once back on the interstate I headed north. At one point I got so bored I started counting grain elevators. Boring!!!!! Then I saw a sign pointing out the Bicycle Museum of America. Not having a kids or wife I made the turn and drove thirteen miles off of the interstate to New Bremen, Ohio. This museum was pretty cool, the guy who owns it bought out Schwinn's collection when they went out of business.

I also got the opportunity to eat a Tony Packo's, a Toledo specialty.

The return trip was equally uneventful. My ODHSGPS works just as well going the other way.

There was only one major issue that left me unsatisfied. I kept seeing advertisements on Billboards for a special beverage, yet when I stopped at convenience stores and asked, they looked at me funny.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho......I am stuck in Ohio

I consider myself to be an accomplished world traveler. Even though I have never set foot in California (proudly) I have been to numerous other exotic locations. I am currently in fantastic Fairborn, Ohio. I have been here for two weeks. Long weeks. Well I have about one week left and I have gotten tired of sitting in my room. So tomorrow I am going to rent a car for a couple of days and see Fabulous Ohio.

Like any great hotel, the Wright-Patterson Inn has a great display of things to do. I have selected a few of the brochures of interesting things I would like to see.

The first is Tecumseh! Really who wouldn't want to see this show. The brochure states:

Tecumseh! The Ultimate Outdoor Drama Experience

Witness the epic life story of the legendary Shawnee leader as he struggles to defend his sacred homelands in the Ohio country during the late 1700’s. “Tecumseh!” has been labeled as one of the most mesmerizing dramas in the nation.

I agree there is certainly nothing more epic then a half naked dude with a burning loin cloth. I am just surprised that I have never heard of this wonderful play.

Somewhat taken aback by the image on the flier, I was quickly comforted by Jim Knippenberg from Cincinnati.... who swears to the fact that this is the best ever.

Still, I am not sure if a bunch of half naked dudes is the answer to my boredom.

The next flier I grabbed was for the "Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill." Seriously folks, nothing says fun and adventure like a shaker village. As I looked at the brochure I noticed that the guy making what appears to be a chair is surrounded by women. I was unaware that Shakers were also chick magnets.

I guess most of the women were turned away from a guy with a burning crotch and found him to be less threatening. On the back of the flier it suggested I spend the night.

Wow, I thought my current room had crappy accommodations, at least I wouldn't have to sleep on the floor. Apparently Shakers make great chairs but have not yet discovered beds.

At this point I was beginning to run low on options, but being the historian that I am (I did graduate with honors from the University of Montana) I saw the Ohio Frontier Land.

They even have an Indian museum that would no doubt rival the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.

1984 called....they want their crappy museum back.

Balance: I think I need training wheels

It is a rainy day in Ohio and I am sitting in my room feeling sorry for myself. I don't want sympathy, I am the one who puts myself into these positions. Life is challenging sometimes. Especially when trying to ballance what you need with what you want. I think that this is the difficult part and drives people to do foolish things like buy a Corvette, Harley, or in my case a Specialized S-Works. Ok, I didn't buy that bike but I am still 6 years from being 40 so I have a few years to save up for a $8,000 bike. Which kind of makes the $7,000 Harley Sportster look like a deal. I digress.

As I prepare for the next journey I have had to take a couple of courses. The first was a week and wasn't bad. I was authorized a rental car, the only problem was that I was in the middle of Missouri with nowhere to go. This time I will be gone for a month. I have only been gone for a week and I miss my family tremendously. My family is the need. I need to be with my family, I am probably one of few who actually enjoys the chaos. I love to play with legos and star wars toys with the kids. Who doesn't love pla-doh (it bothers me when the kids mix colors, which shouldn't because it gets dry and full of hair and food bits and gets thrown out quickly anyway).

Now I am stuck in a place where there is a ton to do and no way to get there. I am like a bicycle in many ways. I need someone to hold me up. I need someone to keep me balanced. I love to move and go places but like a bike it is difficult for me to do it alone.

I love adventure, I crave it. I get anxious if I stay somewhere too long. Especially if they don't have good bagels, which turns out to be most places. Here again, I want adventure, I don't need it. Heck, the last big adventure lasted 16 months and at one point (the "highlight" of my life) I ended up in the middle of a gun battle in Baghdad, trying to figure out how I was going to maneuver my platoon. What makes it worse was that we were in an animal pen of sorts, surrounded by sheet metal. With bullets cracking by I notice that one of the donkeys was apparently enjoying it and his junk was fully extended. Why would I notice that when we were getting shot at, all I could think of was GEN Patton and his parting words "what a hell of a way to go." Once again I digress.

The point is that somewhere in life there is balance. I know where I need to be, it is also where I want to be, but yet I struggle to find that balance. I just got off the phone with my wife, I have always loved to hear her voice, especially when she says, "I think you should hang your amazing deer mount next to one of your amazing bikes in the family room, let me take down this family portrait to make room for you." So here I sit, unable to sleep, excited for the opportunity to return to adventure (hopefully they won't have donkeys in the country I am going to). Yet what I really want is to get a pile drive from Simon as Vance kicks me in the ribs (Emily tells me to quit whining and that is what I get for laying on the floor).

Like the bike, I want to go the distance. I want to go forever. I want to take risk and ride the rough and technical routes. Unfortunately, my balance and drive don't get to join me. Maybe it is time for a career change.