Just a bit of clarification

We’ve received a few comments from the previous post about hamsters being in the car. This was meant to be a joke about our car. It’s a plastic car–Saturn. We aren’t REALLY traveling with hamsters in the car; Andrew and I always joke about it because our car has so little power. So, here’s a quick translation of last night’s quick post.

Translation: Our car is doing well on this journey. I wasn’t too sure how well it would do or if it would break down along the way, but it’s done well. We’ve only filled the gas tank five times. I’m pretty impressed.

I chatted with Tricia this morning and she said, “The hamsters are running on horse power!”

If you were wondering if the cats are traveling with us, here’s a quick update on Sam and Max. I flew them to California a couple of weeks ago when I flew out for Mike’s graduation. They did surprisingly well on the plane and the ride to Reedley. My mom is taking care of them until early next week when I move into our new house. I’m planning on moving them into the house once all of the boxes have been unloaded. I think that will probably be on Monday and Tuesday.

Enjoy!
Lias

Life on the rolling sea

Life continues apace on the Coast Guard Cutter Bear. The crew is settling into a routine, eating, sleeping and working on schedule and conducting drills and training randomly. The seas are slightly larger than before, but still pretty calm. Last night I cut my head on something while I was asleep in the rack. With no hair to guard my head, my melon becomes an unprotected target. I counted about 4 sharp corners it could have been. It probably won’t be the last time.
The Chief’s Mess invited me to dinner tonight. The Chief’s Mess is an ultra-exclusive club for Chiefs only. It’s kind of a lounge area/dining room in which all the Chiefs hang out. There Chiefs are served their meals on fancy glass dishes instead of the plastic ones the enlisted folks use. On a Cutter, the Chiefs are the ones to go to to get anything difficult accomplished. The Chief’s network controls resources and moves around pieces synergistically to make things happen. More information to follow.

God Bless,
Andrew

Resting in Kansas City

We were traveling so fast today that we saw Dorthy flying ahead of us! For those of you who enjoy the wonderful world & treasures of Starbucks, we are sitting here enjoying drinks and their WI-FI connection. Oh, the joys of modern technology that keeps getting better!

This has been the longest day yet. We began around 8:30 this morning and have stopped for the night (8:35 Central time). Actually, we covered three states on HWY 70–Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. What a trek! The odometer on the car is 1513 to be exact. We will spend the night in Overland Park, Kansas, which is a suburb of Kansas City. Dad’s hope was to spend more time driving today so we would have more time to spend with his brother Greg’s family tomorrow (Wednesday). Their town is only about 3.5 hours away from Kansas City, so we will have a relaxing day tomorrow. We may not have time to update the blog tomorrow, but we’ll make sure to send an update on our way to New Mexico.

The only sight-seeing stop we had today was in St. Louis, Missouri. Miles away from the city we were able to see the Gateway Arch. It continued to get bigger and bigger as we got closer to the city. It was easy to navigate to it! 🙂 The arch is 630 feet tall, and we had a hard time getting the whole thing in a photo. There was a museum underneath the arch that housed a couple theaters and the tram to go to the top. We just walked around and used the facilities. This is the place in which Lewis & Clark are supposed to have departed on their Western Voyage. It’s sorta cool that we have now been to the starting place of their journey and we lived in the place of their final destination (Astoria, OR).

Driving along the Mississippi River we saw a tug pushing a huge barge that looked like it was carrying coal. This was our first look at the Mississippi River. I didn’t realize our journey was going to take us across this river but it was a nice treat to experience.

We’ve had a successful day and will have a couple more long days after we visit with family in Kansas.

Dad and Me

Indy here we come

We are on the road this morning and had a successful day yesterday! We start this morning with an odometer reading of 897.

Monday we enjoyed seeing Amish & Mennonite buggies as we drove through Lancaster, PA toward Intercourse, PA. It was intriguing to see a horse & buggy driving down the street alongside a Hummer. 🙂 We stopped at a quilt shop on the side of the road. It was owned by a family and the matriarch did most of the work with a couple friends. I purchased a wedding ring table runner to help remember the stop.

From Lancaster, PA we drove northwest to Hershey, PA to visit the Hershey Factory Museum. This ended up being a short trip but we were able to learn how chocolate is made and got our chocolate fix. The Hershey Factory in Hershey, PA is the largest chocolate producers in the world. They also use California almonds exclusively.

As we drive through the western part of Ohio, it is VERY flat and gas is VERY cheap. We just passed a gas station where gas was $1.93/gallon. Dad continues to be in awe of the prices here versus California.

We will update tonight and look forward to hearing from you. We have both Andrew and my cell phones and are checking email.

Dad and me

Day two has begun

… on the Coast Guard Cutter Bear. We’re underway en route to Spain and Africa. The ride’s pretty good so far. King Triton rocked me to sleep last night, and I slept very well. Everything about shipboard life is cramped and inconvenient, but I’m adjusting fast. It’s a rather spartan existence. I forsee a problem for myself: working in the same 270 feet that I live the rest of my life, I don’t quite know when to stop working. I guess I never fully stop, but I’ll be groping about for more balance for the next few days.

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams,
Andrew

Day One is done!

Greetings from Pennsylvania!

We’ve had a great trip so far. We drove about seven hours from Boston, MA to Lancaster, PA where we are staying with Jesse & Krista Casler. It was a treat to drive through Eastern Pennsylvania and we enjoyed the rolling hills all around. On the last leg of the trip this evening, we saw a horse and buggy crossing the overpass. It was amazing and we were reminded what part of the country we are visiting.

Our drive has been eventful ALREADY! Do you want to guess what happened? Oh, okay we’ll share. It all happened when we were “coasting” down the highway in New York. Yes, New York. All of the sudden, we saw a cop who had just come off the highway from the opposite direction. Ugh! A minute or so later, we saw the same cop. This time he was right behind us with his lights flashing red. Ugh! Of course, we followed appropriate procedures and pulled over to the side of the road. Dad was shaking and very nervous as the cop approached our little blue Saturn filled with STUFF! He recalls this moment in time, “My badge got me out of the ticket.” The cop was very nice and asked us to slow down for him. “Yes Sir. I will, Sir,” was Dad’s response. From that point on until I took over at the wheel, we obeyed his orders.

We will try to check our email as we travel if we can find a WI-FI connection. Please feel free to email us or comment on the blog itself.

Dad & Lisa

Shinn Photo

Shinn Photo update! Well, Shinnfans, it’s happened. No, I’m not talking about the Red Sox’s infinitely improbable 2nd World Series-in-a-row. I’m talking about the latest updates to the Shinn Photo web site! Be sure to click the link above to see the developments in our company as reflected on everyone’s favorite web site: Shinnphoto.com! Then come back here to Andrew and Lisa’s blog to leave your comments about the new samples, as well as leave feedback for the site’s re-design (to be unveiled next Spring).

Peace,

Andrew