Luke’s Notebook

This morning, the five of us (Grandma, Grandpa, Mark, Jude, and I) travelled to nearby SeaWorld. I had heard a lot of great things about the park, but I didn’t know quite what to expect. SeaWorld is another attractive park, with lots of palm trees, flowers, and very nice landscaping. The weather was extremely pleasant, and it was just another great day to be out and about.

We ended up watching a couple of shows — one at the Dolphin and Whale Theater, and the other at Shamu Stadium. The dolphin show was incredible! These workers/trainers put on quite a show, and they did some amazing “stunts” with the dolphins (riding the dolphins, “surfing” them, et cetera). It was very impressive! Later on, I had the opportunity to pet a dolphin. That was fun!

The other show we saw was the Shamu show. Shamu is a famous killer whale, for those who are unfamiliar with the name. Anyway, this show was also amazing! The whales would do all sorts of stunts, and they’re trained to even use their huge fins to splash water into the seats. Lots of audience members got drenched.

Aside from the shows, we visited a bunch of aquariums and different displays. We saw sea turtles, penguins, alcids, stingrays, sharks, jellyfish, and… even more! One of the highlights was when we visited the penguin building. We saw what must have been 60 or 80 penguins in their own tank, and it was just so cool to see them waddle around and then dart through the water. Those are some funny-looking animals.

We also had a chance to ride Kraken, the only roller coaster at SeaWorld. We all really liked it! It’s a floorless coaster, and they have some really exciting loops and twists.

So we had another terrific day. I was very impressed with SeaWorld, and I’m glad we had the chance to go there with Grandma and Grandpa. I think we came away with quite a bit of good video footage and also a bunch of photos of the entire visit.

This morning, Mark, Jude, and I left the campsite in order to spend the day at either Disney World or Universal Studios. We had a difficult time deciding where to go, but after talking with many people, we decided that Disney’s Magic Kingdom would be something we would want to visit. So after eating breakfast at a nearby Perkin’s restaurant, we began our journey west on Highway 192.

It wasn’t long until we saw all sorts of signs advertising Disney World and its different parks. We came across the exit for Magic Kingdom, so we took that and entered the parking lot.

We took a ferry ride from the parking lot over to the Magic Kingdom, where we saw the famous Cinderalla castle as we approached the park. Once we got in, we obtained a park map and tried to decide what different rides or attractions we wanted to hit.

They have some pretty elaborate and well-thought-out rides there! Surprisingly, I don’t think they have any roller coasters, but they do have a lot of unique rides. And, to their credit, everything seems to be extremely well-designed. All of the rides have their own unique theme, and they do a very good job of kind of putting you in the “mood” for that particular ride, whether it’s a space-age environment or jungle surroundings.

Some of the highlights from the trip were riding on the Space Mountain ride, along with Splash Mountain. Another one we really enjoyed was the Buzz Lightyear interactive ride. That was one of our favorites. Some other neat things were walking through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse and sitting through a show a the Hall of Presidents. If you’ve never seen that, they do a great job of portraying American history and the involvement some of the different presidents had. We also visited this really creative attraction called the Carousel of Progress.

All in all, we had a terrific time! The park was gorgeous, and it was kind of neat to see different Disney characters walking around the park. Magic Kingdom seems to be geared more towards little kids, as there aren’t a whole lot of big thrill rides, but we still had a good time.

I believe we’re going to try to visit SeaWorld tomorrow. I’m not sure what they all have there, but I understand that there are different shows with whales and dolphins. I think they might also have a couple of thrill rides, and even a roller coaster.

Wow, we’re having a great time! The weather is beautiful, and we are just having a lot of fun here with Grandma and Grandpa.

Today, we made the drive down from Lake City to Kissimmee, Florida. The drive only took us a few hours, and we pulled into this campsite around noon.

When I stepped out of the RV, I was pretty blown away with the beautiful weather! The temperature was somewhere in the low 70s this afternoon. It was so pleasant to be outdoors in it!

After we got settled and took care of some laundry, we took a drive over to the east coast of Florida, where we visited the Atlantic coast at Cocoa Beach. The ocean is still pretty gorgeous, with the white sand on the beach and the blue water as far as the eye can see. We spent some time walking around the beach, stepping into the cold water here and there. We also snapped some photos and got a little bit of video footage before we wrapped up the visit.

Tomorrow, we’re going to try to visit nearby Epcot Center. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it, so I’m anxious to check it out. We’re very close to all of the other Disney World parks, like Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios, and… I think there are other ones. I’m not really sure what each park has to offer. We found some pamphlets here at the campsite, so hopefully we can learn some more tonight.

This afternoon, we drove some 350 miles, and we arrived in the great state of Florida! The weather is very nice, even here in the northern part of the state. Tomorrow, we plan to drive some 150 miles south and end up in the Kissimmee area, close to Orlando. As I understand it, the weather there is even nicer! Highs in the low 80s and lows in the 50s. Pretty appealing!

I have a question for all those with experience — how warm does it have to be to comfortably swim in the ocean? I understand the water may still be chilly, but would 80-degree temperatures make it pleasant enough to swim in the ocean? The last time I swam in the ocean was April of 2000, when we visited St. Pete Beach, so it was a bit warmer then. Thanks for any input, guys!

Well, I’m going to run. Just figured I’d check in from the campsite.

Before I get any further, let me briefly touch on this weekend. On Saturday, a bunch of us went over to the new Columbia/Waterloo YMCA, and after that Paul and I went over to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things.

Saturday evening, I learned that I’d be able to join Mark and Jude on this RV trip to Florida, but that meant I only had about 24 hours to get everything ready! So I spent the remainder of Saturday and most of Sunday preparing for the trip, packing everything, tying up loose ends, et cetera.

On Sunday evening, Jude and I played volleyball. We actually played very well as a team, and we won all three games. It was a nice note to go out on! Now, on to the trip…

Well, last night, Mark, Jude, and I left for Grandma and Grandpa’s home in order to spend the night in the RV. The idea was to spend the night there so we would be ready to leave bright and early in the morning.

This morning, we got up around 6:45, and we ended up hitting the road around 8:00. We drove east on Interstate 64, south on I-57 in Mount Vernon, east on Interstate 24 near Marion, then south on I-75 in Chattanooga. We ended up at a campsite in Calhoun, Georgia, after a 480-mile journey.

The drive went really well. Right after lunch, we turned on the generator in the RV, and we started up a crock pot with chicken and dumplings. So while we drove the final four or five hours of the trip, we had the delicious scent of chicken and dumplings wafting through the RV. To be honest, I was a little bit surprised at first to hear that we were going to use the crock pot while moving. But we put it in the sink, and it all worked out very well. We may even use it tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we plan to continue south, and end up in northern Florida. The drive is supposed to be approximately 350 miles, so it should be a bit easier than today’s.

A couple of notes. It was very cold as we left Belleville, Illinois, and I think it has warmed up a few degrees. It’s still pretty chilly here in Calhoun, but I’m guessing that things will be much different tomorrow evening, when we arrive in the Sunshine State. As we crossed into Georgia, we entered the eastern time zone. So we’ll be here for most of the trip. This is exciting!

Well, we’re going to be hitting the road in the morning. Mark, Jude, and I are spending the night in the RV with Grandpa and Grandma, and tomorrow morning we plan on hopping on Interstate 64 as we begin the trip!

I’ll try to check in again when I can. Please pray for our safety as we cover all of these miles. Thanks so much, guys.

Well, yesterday I wrote about how I might be making a trip with John to Texas (Fort Worth, by the way), in order to cover a video deposition. Turns out that that wouldn’t work out very well, because I’ll be… in Florida at the time.

It turns out that it would work out best if Paul stayed back, so that created a vacancy on the trip that Mark and Jude were going to take with our grandparents. I happened to have done a lot of work this week in the way of scoping and things of that nature, and that has resulted in us being pretty caught up with our work — at least enough to enable me to join the guys on the trip! Wow! Thank God!

So anyway, I’ve been spending the past several hours packing and trying to throw everything together in a couple of suitcases, as we plan to depart bright and early Monday morning. As I type now, I’m in the process of getting my old laptop all set for the trip so we’ll be able to do some work while on the road.

So that was some pretty cool news. I’m really excited to be able to go on this trip with these guys and our grandparents. I’ve been to Florida twice before in my life. The first time was a brief trip the four oldest took in September of 1999 to Destin, where we met up with our Aunt Jane and Aunt Ann. Then in April of 2000, the four of us drove to St. Pete Beach and stayed for a week. It sounds like we’ll be heading as far south as Jupiter (the city, not the planet).

Well, I’d better run. I have a lot to do tomorrow to ready myself for this trip. I sure hope I don’t forget anything!

Today, Dad, Jude, Philip, and I went to the Columbia/Waterloo YMCA (it’s technically in Columbia, but it’s pretty close to Waterloo, so… there you go). Jude and I played some basketball for a little while, and then we worked out on the Cybex machines.

The rest of the day consisted of a lot of deposition work. As Mark and Jude prepare to go on a trip to Florida with our grandparents, I’ve been gearing up to shoulder more of the load in regards to scoping and other work with the business. It sounds like they’re going to have a blast, though! I wish I could go, but alas, I must be here. Besides, I got to go on a pretty awesome trip out west back in August and September. So I’m not really hurting.

Speaking of travelling, there’s a chance that John and I will be covering a video deposition in Texas next week. That would be kind of interesting, if we ended up taking a little business trip. We’ll see where this leads.

Today wasn’t nearly as exciting as my birthday was yesterday, but that’s a-okay. It’s a good feeling to get back to being productive and getting a lot of work done.

I just want to take this moment to thank everybody for the kind birthday wishes! Thanks, Nellie, Carolyn, Tammy, Ashley, Becc (nice to meet you, by the way :)), Salomé, Emily, and Micala for the comments in regards to my birthday post and then the follow-up entry about the scare on the roads.

I’ve found myself being so grateful today — thankful that we’re simply all here as a family, safe and sound. The reason for this is because I was sobered up by yesterday’s near-accidents, and I find myself just constantly thanking God for protecting us from so many potential dangers or accidents.

Then it struck me, why can’t I be like this all the time? I really should constantly be thankful for these things, but it seems like it’s so easy for me to quickly move on and start worrying about something else, forgetting to step back and realize just how much I have to be thankful for in everyday life. It’s so easy to have a tendency to take things for granted, as if it were a given that my family and friends would always be around, that this house would always be here, that we would always have food in the refrigerator.

I just need to constantly bring myself back to Square One, where I just humbly approach God and thank Him for all of these everyday blessings. When there are power outages, I am so thrilled when I’m able to simply flip a switch and light a room. When we have problems with our water, I’m so thankful when it’s possible to walk a few steps, through the carpeted hallway, and into the bathroom to drink as much purified water as I want. More seriously, when a family member or a loved one has been in the hospital, I’m overjoyed to simply talk to that person, to see them walking, talking, and living a normal life.

So I’m realizing more and more that it’s all about my attitude. There is such an incredible amount that I should be thanking God for every single day. If I spent my time approaching God with a thankful heart for all of these everyday blessings, I wouldn’t have any time to complain! Additionally, when we get in a thankful attitude and we realize all of the blessings we have, there is simply no room for bitterness or discontentment to develop in our hearts.

As I mentioned, the plans Paul and I had to go to the YMCA were quickly done away with, as we had some problems with the slippery roads. We initially left the house around 7:30 in the morning, and the roads were pretty well untouched, meaning they were left with a layer of snow, causing them to be very slippery. Paul and I pulled out of the driveway and proceeded with caution.

Well, a few minutes into our drive, we were merrily making our way along a quiet, snow-covered country road. All of a sudden, the bed of the truck started fishtailing to the left, to the point where we were perpendicular with the road. Paul was attempting to steer out of it, and we rotated 180 degrees, to the point where we were facing the ditch on the left side of the road, and the tailgate was facing the right.

After a little more steering and skidding, we started sliding towards the right edge of the road, to the point where it was evident that we were about to leave the road and head down the small hill. Thankfully, Paul was able to steer the truck in order to make it so we slid down going forwards, perpendicular to the road, as opposed to having the truck cocked or going sideways or something, which would obviously put us at risk for rolling or landing on the side.

So we ended up coming to rest down in an open field that was approximately eight to 10 feet lower than the road. The field was covered with snow as well, so there wasn’t very good traction. We were having a very difficult time trying to generate enough momentum in order to get the truck out of the little valley we were in in order to ascend the hill and get back on the road.

Paul would try to creep forward a few feet, then as we stopped the forward momentum, he would shift into reverse and go back as far as he could before shifting back and trying the same thing. We were slowly making progress, and after about 15 or 20 minutes, this approach finally worked, and we were able to creep back onto the road, with the two of us and the truck unharmed.

It goes without saying that this was alarming. We weren’t even driving very fast or making any kind of extreme movement, and all of a sudden the truck started sliding out of control. What if there was a car in oncoming traffic? What if there was a big drop-off where we went off the road? What if there was a tree? A mailbox? A house? A person?

Thinking back, if I had to pick a place to go off the road in such a manner, this would really be one of the choice spots. If it happened a little earlier, we would have landed near a bunch of trees in a big ditch. A little bit farther down the road, and we could have easily hit a mailbox, a car, a tree, or have gone sliding (or rolling) down a hill.

As I sit here, safe and sound at my computer, I’m just so grateful that we weren’t hurt. If that had happened somewhere else, on a different road, or even on this same road but with different circumstances, there might have been a serious collision. As we were sliding, we took up the entire road. If there was a car coming the opposite direction, we would have hit, for sure.

I don’t mean to dramatize the whole ordeal, because we did escape without a scratch. At the same time, I realize how something like this could have easily have been a tragedy. What if that happened on a nearby road, where the speed limit is 55 miles per hour and there are often big 18-wheelers whizzing by in oncoming traffic?

It’s just… wow. It really doesn’t take that much for something awful to happen, for a day of joy and celebration to quickly turn into a disaster. In a case like this, it wouldn’t have even taken carelessness or driver error. A simple patch of ice or extra slick spot could have been enough.

You know, the past couple of months in my daily prayer times, one of the things I have been specifically praying for is that God would protect us as we drive. Aside from the incident that Paul and I had, Mark and Jude had a similar instance today where they fishtailed into the other lane. That was not too long after a truck had passed them in that lane. God has protected us. Both of these instances could have led to lots of damage, serious injuries, or even worse.

Thank You, God, for Your protection.