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"In the spirit of being complete in terms of writing weekly in this my electronic journal, even though it is 3:45 PM on Sunday afternoon, and I am tired, it is my intention to write out two Thoughtlets this afternoon, in addition to going to a seminary meeting with Matt and Rachel. In the second one (0132.html), I will write out why it has taken me until now to sit down and write this Thoughtlet out, and maybe I'll even convince some of you it is alright for me to be tired. Maybe not. And that's OK.
This Thoughtlet will be about the High Adventure, which started on Sunday night, July 22nd, and went until Tuesday morning, July 31st. John Snideman started staying with us on Friday. We ended up with Adam Salt, Greg Stine, and, of course, Matt Nielson staying with us on Sunday night. We got up Monday morning, I worked for a couple of hours, then we finished packing, and left about 9:00. I wrote a song about the trip, and I'm going to use it's words as a summary:
I could write a book about the trip, and I won't. Partly because I'm tired, and mostly because I feel I bore many of you enough you don't bother to read these notes, with all of the words I write down anyway. I will summarize where we went, what Matt and I did, and some of my thoughts about past scout trips, this scout trip, and what will happen in the future.
We drove to Wichita Falls and slept in a handball court in the Gym, where we stayed on at least one of my three trips to Philmont. We got in trouble with the security for going out by the flight line, although we were told we could if we stayed on the grass. I don't work well in the military structured environment. It all worked out, although I felt bad our host got chewed out for my leading the guys where they shouldn't have been. Tuesday we drove to Capulon Volcano in New Mexico and most of us climbed around the rim as well as down into the crater. We slept at the the Great Sand Dunes National Monument. The Sand Dunes were fun, and once I get the digital pictures posted I think the pictures I took at sunrise will be selected as the best of the whole trip (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Scouts/HighAdventure23-31July01). Wednesday morning we stopped and climbed up to Zapatta Falls, except for Matt. Then drove to a Kentucky Fried Chicken and ate, up through Del Norte, across Wolfe Creek Pass, past Chimney Rock, and to Vallecito Reservoir. We got rained on pretty bad Wednesday night, and made a lot of jokes about the dam road at the reservoir.
Thursday was the Silverton Train from Durango to Silverton, which I would like to do with each of you. We then drove to Ouray, got supplies, and drove up to the base of Mount Snuffels, a 14,000 foot peak everyone but Matt and I climbed. Friday everyone climbed the mountain, and Matt and I climbed a couple of miles up the mountain. I'm certainly not in very good shape. John Snideman got transfigured, I mean, he fell 50 feet down a tallis slope and we ended up taking him to a hospital in Ridgeway, Colorado. We stayed at a KOA camp, and had showers. Saturday we drove to Mesa Verde. I really enjoyed this, and would like to spend a couple of weeks during the tourist off season exploring and learning more about the Anasazi. Possibly this could be where we have one of our familiy vacations Melanie was talking about. In the museum I met Jerry Fillebrown a geophysicist, retired from Hunt Oil. He has a midcontinent new exploration concept with the potential of forty billion barrels of oil equivalent. He is interested in Dynamic being involved with this deal, and it fits right in the middle of what I'm doing. $80 Billion sounds pretty unrealistic, considering where our finances are this month. Oh well! They guys had to pull me away from this conversation. We stayed in north Albequerque at a KOA camp on Saturday night.
Sunday was church a couple of blocks from the camp, and then we drove to Holleman Air Force Base. We got there after the dinning hall closed and so I had my first trip to a Golden Corral. No wonder American's are fat. You should have seen Matt's plates! We missed breakfast by 15 minutes, and ate at the Golden Corral in Alemagorda again on Monday morning. Then we drove to Carlsbad Caverns. What a wonderful place. I got busy talking to a guide about how much CO2 is generated from a cubic foot of calcium carbonate (limestone) and what the rate of erosion is, missed the guys who slipped past me, and ended up having everyone wait 45 minutes for me while I was waiting for them to catch up with me. Oh well! I enjoyed the time in the cave, and I got a lot of nice pictures. They will make great pictures for school reports, etc. We decided to drive straight back to Houston, and not to stay at Balmera State Park by Fort Stockton, where Paul hit the deer several years ago. We saw three deer by the side of the road, and had no problems. We got to our house at 6:00, and Andrea had pancakes and orange juice waiting for everyone that choose to come inside. It was a good, and yet a tiring trip and high adventure.
Matt and I spent quite a bit more time together than we have the last several months. I have been working too hard to get Dynamic Resources started and off the ground. Matt was the youngest man on the trip, and he did great. We watched a lot of movies, many of which I wouldn't rent or watch because they are "R" rated. They were TV versions, which the kids assured me had been edited. Some were interesting, some were violent, some were sick, and some were funny. We spent a day hiking Mount Snuffels with just the two of us, and this was fun. Got some beautiful pictures of wildflowers and waterfalls. What a pretty place! Matt got a lot of beard-burns, only when he asked for them. We cooked and we cleaned up together, and all in all it was a very good bonding time, and time to get to know each other. Matt likes to talk, and I enjoy listening, so we make a great pair. I just need to learn to put aside my work more, as each of you know.
One of the most interesting things to me about the High Adventure 2001 was all of the memories it brought back. I had stayed at Shepherd Air Force Base a couple of times with Roice, Ben, and Paul. Chris Schmidt and I drove the scouts down to the Sand Dunes when we went to Pacard High Adventure. I had visited Mesa Verde and Carlsbad on family vacations. I recalled when the new van Lyle Rowbury bought blew a head gasket, and we were towed into Amarillo the first time I went to Philmont. Alan Peterson and I were sitting in the cab of the van, being pulled backwards by the tow truck, cars would come up to us to pass us, and I said, `Want to see something funny?' and would pull out the switch turning the van lights so they shown directly in their faces. We passed the hotel which is like a castle where we all stayed in the honeymoon suite in Amarillo. There was the time the tire blew out on Chris Schmidt's Suburban, and we had to stop on the freeway by Raton and fix it. The last time we went to Capulon Volcano Chris Schmidt's car alarm went off and the ranger went ballistic with the noise invading his retreat. I already mentioned passing where Paul hit the deer, the restaurant where Rob spilled his root beer as a delayed response to being scared about almost being killed, and the hotel we stayed at in Ft. Stockton. It was just down the street from the Subway where we ate on the way back.
Again, I could go on and on, and I won't. I will just say that I hope you all have some of the good memories I have. On the last day of our trip my mind wandered to family and I wrote a song I call `My Family,' with a chorus and 12 verses. Andera is not sure about some of the verses, and so I will wait a few years to share it, unless someone asks me to sing it to them when they visit, and then we can talk about it one on one.
I just talked to Paul, and a couple of related things came up. First, I apologize to those I offended last week with my open discussion about finances (0129.html). I was told by one of you that the Thoughtlets are no longer as pointed as they used to be. If that is true, I'm sure it is because Andrea edits them. Sometimes we both miss something which might be offensive. I am doing my best to treat each of you kids the same. I do feel it is more important to teach someone to fish than to give them a fish, and I consider transportation a fish and education to be teaching them to fish. And lastly, Andrea and I have figured out a way we will be able to keep Melanie's and Paul's car payments up until the balloon payment in March. If something doesn't break loose with Dynamic in the next few months, we will not be able to make the balloon payment, which is one of the things we have been struggling with right now with regards to the balloon payment on Ben's car, which I am now driving. Along the same lines, if we have knowledge one of you receiving support is lying to us, about anything, we will not feel an obligation to continue to provide support. Lying is unacceptable, under any conditions and for any reason. This includes little `white lies,' which thankfully I haven't seen much of the last couple of years. I realize I am more open than many others are comfortable being, and I hope when any of you are asked a question you can follow my example and say what you are thinking.
I'm not sure if there will be any more treks like the High Adventure 2001. I realize $250 for Matt and the same for me is a lot of money, in a way I haven't before. Also, Andrea and I have not had a family vacation since we got married two years ago, and we could have had a nice vacation with the kids who are home for the $500 and the 10 work days I spent on this trip. I have been a strong supporter of major summer activities for the scouts. However, I am starting to recognize how my efforts, as well as the efforts of the other adult leaders, are taken for granted by the kids who participate. And other than Matt Reynolds, and Jay Deford, I can not point to specific spiritual experiences from all of the trips I have led, which have changed lives and brought kids closer to the gospel. They are good training for the world, and what we need to do is help kids find a better relationship with God, and learn to rely on the spirit to help them make it through the challenges of these latter days. It is like Sarah was talking about to me yesterday. It isn't the psychologists, and it isn't the schools, it is the morals and values which are taught to kids by example, by attendance at meetings where they can learn from the experience of others, and by their personal relationship with God. (Sarah, I apologize if I have extrapolated what you were saying about raising a child to be Jewish too far.) Matt, I'm glad I was able to take you on, and do hope you enjoyed High Adventure 2001."