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If you have been following this blog you may have noticed that road tripping has been a priority since retiring in May.  You may have also noticed that New Mexico has been a crossroads.   Don’t get me wrong, heading west to California and the left coast is pretty cool.  It just happened that heading east was on the agenda.

As July waned, Deanna and I made one last trek through southern and central New Mexico.  The goal?  See the bats.  We have talked for years about visiting Carlsbad Caverns National Park to see the bats.  Have you ever been there?  Are you scared of bats?  They say 300,000-400,000 bats make there way into the open skies at sundown to feed on insects before returning at dawn.  No vampires, no sucking of blood, just moth eating.

We sat quietly in the amphitheater anticipating the great cloud of bats.  We were a little disappointed.  The bats were late and we didn’t see the circular, whirlwind of bats that fly overhead.  There were many, many bats.  (How the bat counters count to 400,000 so fast is remarkable.)  The bats simply popped out of the cave, made a quick left turn heading toward the feeding grounds.  (Sorry, no bat pictures.  Park rangers are afraid the bats will get irritated with the paparazzi and not come back.)  Despite the show’s let down, we will be back at sundown another day to see the bats.

 Undaunted by the lack of bat drama, we followed that bat experience up by checking out the cave the next morning. It was a very nice walk in the dark.  

Next, we went to Roswell, the home to the International UFO Museum and Research Center.  We took our time going through the museum. Are you a believer? I looked at all the evidence.  I believe an “encounter of a third kind” happened just outside of Roswell.  Government cover-up? Maybe.  “The truth is out there.”

 

 

Tourism seems to make up a large segment of the local economy.   If you look closely you will discover that aliens are in abundance in Roswell.  Where else would an alien feel so welcome?  How else would you explain the interesting beings that walk the streets of Roswell?  Besides, their spies want to know what we know.

A local resident and author thoughtfully suggested that “there is a big difference between believing and knowing.”  He knows and I know.

Later, we enjoyed a beautiful drive thru Alamogordo, White Sands, Silver City, and Ruidoso.  Sadly, the fun had to end.  As we rolled out of the mountains and into Safford and on toward Globe we accepted that our little vacation was over.

New Mexico is enchanting.  But, things did get pretty batty.  I came home from New Mexico with a new job.  So much for retirement.  “Beam me up, Scotty.”

 

Today is National Hot Dog Day!    Did you know there is evidence that a hot dog like food made the trip during Homer’s Odyssey?  Did you know the town’s folk of Vienna claim to have developed the first modern hot dog in 1487?  Did you know little cans of Vienna Sausage paired nicely with the hardtack Christopher Columbus provided his crew on their voyage to the New World?  It is for good reason we honor the delectable treat!

My top 5 hot dog memories:
#5- My First Foot Long! Spending time with my family and Uncle Phil and Aunt Jane someplace in the Ohio boondocks! I was maybe eight years old. The idea that someone could eat that much hot dog was thrilling. It took a little while but I managed to put it down with the encouragement of my Uncle Phil and a little root beer.

#4- Two Chili Dogs, please!  During an outing to San Diego with my old friends the Jones family, the hot dog vendor pulled up near Mission Beach.  It was sometime in late July, 1974.  We all had worked up a bit of an appetite hanging on the beach. I had a taste for hot dogs, but I caught the scent of the chili.  How awesome the two would come together.  It was a beautiful day.

#3- Any Spring Day at Goodyear Stadium! First it is Spring Training with the Cleveland Indians.  Second, a round of golf is usually already behind us and I am hungry.  Third, Bertman’s Stadium Mustard is trucked in with the bats, uniforms, balls, and gloves from Cleveland! Sitting in the warm sunshine eating a dog dreaming that this season’s Cleveland baseball club will win a World Series championship. It is awesome.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it, can’t wait until next Spring!

#2- Nothing better than a Trojan Dog! The girl’s soccer concession stand at Paradise Valley High School offers the usual assortment of drinks and treats. But, the best dog in the middle of a cold, wintry soccer season is the Trojan Dog! Demand always exceeds supply so get it early. For only $1, it is perfect!

#1- Ok, there is something better than a Trojan Dog and a hot dog during Spring Training. A hot dog at Progressive Field in Cleveland is heavenly. The first time was 1965 (at old Municipal Stadium). The Indians were playing a double-header with the Kansas City A’s. “Sudden Sam” McDowell threw one game for the Indians while “Blue Moon” Odom came out of the bullpen both games for the A’s.  The most vivid memory? That hot dog.  Talked into trying the “Stadium Mustard” by the teenage vendor, my taste buds have never been the same.  In 2014, the last time I was in attendance,  there was still magic wrapped in that aluminum foil.

I hope you have fond hot dog memories! Enjoy the day!

I want to be more fit.  Well, “more fit” would suggest I already am fit.  I’m not confident that is true.  I know that there are three key components to reaching my desired fitness level.  And my friend Fitbit will undoubtedly help me reach my goal.

First, sleep!  Okay, this seems like a simple thing to do.  I am retired now, so, naturally I will sleep longer.  I have reduced my level of stress and commitments.  I don’t have papers to grade nor do I have a standing 7:30AM appointment with thirty-five students.  My friend tells me I wake-up an awful lot at night and sleep nearly 6 hours per night.  That is better than the 4 1/2 hours I was getting a year ago.  Thank you, friend.  Maybe I will eventually get that 7-9 hours all the health articles recommend.  Maybe I’d sleep even better if I quit reading articles that made me worry about how little sleep I get.

Second, eat right.  This is a tough one.  Keeping track of calories taken in and calories burned off seems like a simple way to figure out if I’m leading a more fit lifestyle.  A more fit lifestyle would lead to drop in weight.  But hold the phone, not so fast.  When you eat, what you eat, how much you eat at one time, and a whole lot of other factors contribute to eating right.  Also, gaining weight could be the result of exercise and training, which would be better than gaining weight eating chips and salsa while watching NCIS reruns.  This all seems so complicated.  This may be where my friend and I just don’t communicate well.  My friend wants me to input everything I eat in a day so it can calculate the net gain or loss of calories.  Inputting all that information can be time consuming and tedious. Maybe this is another reason I am not sleeping well.

Third, do something.  My friend counts my steps.  Recently, my friend decided to not just count steps, but judge the value of my steps.  I felt better when it just counted and didn’t judge me.  My friend knows enough to differentiate between steps taken moving from the couch to the refrigerator and the steps that are much more demanding and rigorous, like the steps taken moving from the couch up the stairs to get that all important sleep.   I was surprised how many steps I take some days.  I just know that none of the steps are taken running.  I hate running.  Maybe my friend will help me adjust my attitude and I will learn to enjoy running in retirement.

I know fitness is the result of work and takes a strong character and fortitude.  It takes discipline and desire.  Fitbit, if a true friend, will help me get there.

 

 

 

 

Ten days ago I left Phoenix on a solo drive to the Quad Cities!  (Retirement has left me a little restless.)  The objective was to deliver a “new car” to our daughter in Rock Island, see her Quad City Eagles play a soccer match in Davenport, and get to the PGA’s John Deere Classic played in Silvis (not one of the Quad Cities) near Moline (the headquarters for Deere & Company), the third of the quad.  (Bettendorf is the fourth, but we only drove through it a couple of times).

Driving alone, and with orders from the boss to take it easy, I had time to think about all the places I’d still love to see some day.   The usual spots came to mind- Alaska, Hawaii, the Florida Keys, Vermont in the fall.  A trip to Europe is already planned.  Maybe an excursion to Australia?   The advantage of going solo was being free to make a right turn or left turn on a whim.  That is when I found sites and met people who told  pretty unique stories.  I may have a desire to head off to see distant places, but here are just a few of the encounters experienced between Arizona and Illinois.

First, there were the high school students working the counter at this little family owned restaurant.  Nice as could be and willing to talk about life in Farmington, NM.  They turned dinner for one into “a family meal.”

There was the motel owner in Garden City, KS who offered great customer service, and when prompted, shared how her family came here from India.  I met the director of the Coronado-Quivara Museum in Lyon, KS.  She had a skittish little dog (a rescued mutt) who didn’t take to strangers.  Apologizing for her dog’s behavior, she shared she was determined to upgrade the make up of the exhibit.  Discovering I taught history in Arizona, the director wondered aloud how I could help.   The barkeeper at the little barbecue place in Independence, MO poured a cold beverage.  After a little baseball talk while the Royals game played on TV, he shared he was  from Odessa, MO, and was, incidentally, a classmate of Arizona D-back’s relief pitcher Brad Ziegler.  (No, Brad didn’t throw side-armed in high school.)

I also met a man revisiting the site of the Sand Creek Massacre in southeast Colorado.  He came here as a child but was now in his late forties.  His Arapaho ancestors were some of the very few who survived one of the worst events in United States history.

Alaska is on my bucket list, but the Rocky Mountains will do for now…        

Finally, I look forward to seeing the sun come up over the Atlantic when we visit the Keys.  It will have to be pretty special to beat this sunrise on the Kansas Plains.

 

Oh, by the way, mission accomplished.

Where do you want to go?

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I love the Fourth of July!  The fireworks, the patriotism, the star spangled banner fluttering in the warm (or really hot) summer breeze.  Eating hot dogs, mustard potato salad, watermelon, and drinking my favorite chilled beverage (the one item on this menu that has changed with the times).

This year we celebrate Independence Day with our family!  A family, however, that has evolved in many ways since the last time we celebrated our nation’s birth.  But, isn’t that the way it is with all families?  This year we joyfully, happily, excitedly celebrate with our oldest son’s fiancé.  What a blessing she is for our son and our entire family.  Our youngest is celebrating in Chicago with the life-long friends she has made while attending college in Rock Island, Il.  We will miss her this weekend, but we know our family is blessed to have such a strong, loving, independent daughter.  (Is that the scent of another road trip in the near future?)  The most difficult challenge has been facing the changes in our parent’s health.  My mom and dad celebrated their 63rd anniversary this past year.  Both are 83 and have lived in the same home since 1964.  They are both upstanding patriots who have always honored our community and nation.

This weekend there are all kinds of exciting ways to celebrate:

1. Catch a fireworks show.  It is kind of hokey, but I enjoy the one’s synched to all those “America is awesome” songs.
2. Hang out with friends and safely(!) and legally put on your own little fireworks show. (You can buy, but don’t dare shoot them off!)
3. Take a few minutes to re-read the Declaration of Independence:                              http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html ).   It is a pretty good read.
4. Watch our United States Women’s Soccer team take on Japan.  Sunday is the championship match and will be shown on your local Fox station at 4PM Pacific time. Nothing says “I’m a patriot” better than rooting on our nation’s team to the  World Cup championship.
5. Have a picnic, but don’t let the stuff dressed in mayo get warm.
6. Drive a Chevrolet to a baseball game and then eat some apple pie.
7. Reach out to a friend, family member, or that someone special you have been dying to talk to for a very long time.   Maybe fireworks will happen because you took the risk… you know, just like Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and Hancock did back in the day.

By the way, here is an awesome hot dog!  Happy Birthday, America!

Father’s Day was this past weekend.  I kind of like the idea of my family asking and caring about what I wanted to do.  So, this post is dedicated to the top 5 sports thoughts I’ve had that readers have asked and care about,  maybe?

Number 5-  The NBA crowned the Golden State Warriors as their new champion.  The last time the Warriors won the title was 1975.  That next year Paul Westphal, Alvan Adams, Walter Davis, the “shot Heard ’round the world” Suns lost to the Celtics in the finals.   Here is hoping following the Warriors into the finals continues and the 2015-16 Suns win that elusive title.  For the Cleveland sports fan- which this Cleveland native counts himself-  another one got away.  The last champion in Cleveland was the pre-super bowl 1964 NFL Browns.  The last time the Indians won the World Series was 1948.  (Sadly, my birthday party came to a screeching halt when the 1997 Indians lost game 7 to the Marlins in extra innings. I think the presents are still wrapped up sitting in a closet somewhere.)

Number 4- The NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.  Awesome for Chicago.  So, how about our Arizona Coyotes? After overcoming all kinds of difficulties and battling hard to develop a loyal fan base in the Valley of the Sun, the City of Glendale cancels the lease agreement at Gila River Arena.  How does the city council’s vote help local business development,  the local labor force, the growth of tax revenue, not to mention the success of our hockey team?  Kudos to the Blackhawks.   Will Lord Stanley’s Cup ever make it to the Valley of the Sun?  Time to stand up and howl!

Number 3- The US Open is America’s golf championship.  Hard to imagine that 21 year old Jordan Spieth would hold on to win as he watched the last player with any hope of bettering his score three-putt from twelve feet.  Great things were destined for Jordan as his first career win came as a teenager at the 2013 John Deere Classic.  (By the way, the classic is my favorite tournament played on my favorite course, TPC Deere Run in Silvis, IL- a little Father’s Day side note.)

Number 2- Triple Crown Winner American Pharoah (really, that is how they spell it) is the horse race lovers have been waiting for since 1979.  Winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes seemed to have become an impossible task.  However exceptional a thoroughbred American Pharoah is, Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown Winner is still the greatest.

Number 1- Okay, the Women’s World Cup isn’t over yet.  But, here are a couple of thoughts.   The two teams  that didn’t get out of the group stage I hoped would were Mexico and Costa Rica.  (Both teams had three great efforts and goalkeepers that were spot on, and I am partial to goalkeepers.)  The game that I thought was the most fun to watch in the group stage was The Netherlands v. Canada.  (So it ends in draw, but to see The Netherlands battle back in front of the hostile Canadian crowd was impressive, and you know Canadians can be quite hostile!)    Lets all stand up and howl for the USA women.  I don’t think their lease will be terminated anytime soon.

 

As the sun set on Day 2, we rolled into the outskirts of Kansas City, KS.  What would be better after a nice meal than enjoying the company of friends we hadn’t seen in quite some time?  Club soccer was what originally brought our families together.  It turned out we would form a car pool, sit and cheer for our girls at games,  hang at tournament hotels, and even attend elementary and middle school activities that had nothing to do with soccer.  They were a good family to connect with.  After graduating in 2012 from sister high schools, relocating to Kansas was in our friend’s near future.

For many, dreams are born in college.  This was true for Quincy, our daughter’s club teammate that attended MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS.  Quincy took advantage of an opportunity to participate in a mission trip supporting a rural Haitian community in need of economic and medical aid.  While there, her eyes and heart were opened to the dream of establishing a soccer facility in the community she was serving.  Sadly, Quincy was unable to pursue her passion as she passed from this world unexpectedly over the winter break.  Her family, in honor of Quincy and as a product of their unwavering faith, is working hard to make her dream come to fruition.  Check out www.LQVE.org.  When completed the soccer field will be a true blessing for the boys and girls in Haiti.

Day 3 started with the sun rising in the east, a cup of Starbucks, and a slice of cinnamon coffee cake.  Our goal? Give our daughter a hug by early afternoon.  Leaving Kansas on I-35, we make our way through northwest Missouri…

…and then pushed onward through Iowa.

With a big right turn in Des Moines we are only a couple hours away from Rock Island, Illinois.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Road trip over!  We do some shopping and help our daughter and her roomies move into the house she will live in the next twelve months. After a couple of days, we leave the car, a full tank of gas, and food in the pantry for our girl.   The road trip was nice, but we are flying home!

Day two started by quickly putting Tucumcari in the rearview mirror as we head northeast, destination Kansas City, Kansas.   We left the interstate and by lunch have crossed three state lines following US -54, having bypassed the drive thru Amarillo. (Maybe we will talk about our last visit to Amarillo sometime.)  As we drove through the Texas panhandle there was lots to see, like clouds and a couple of antelope off in the distance…
  … and cattle at a roadside feed lot.Then it was on thru Oklahoma, which looked a lot like what we saw in Texas, just no antelope.

 We then found ourselves in Kansas, which surprisingly, still looked like we never left Texas.  It is no wonder some folks crossing the plains by wagon wondered why they ever left home.But not us!  We aren’t wondering why we left, only where we were going to find lunch.

Why does the road trip capture our imagination? What is it about heading somewhere, anywhere, even if it is someplace random, that seems such a part of our  nature?  There is just something romantic about traveling the highways and backroads and seeing how Americans live.  It is so ingrained in us, I’ll bet you can name three songs off the top of your head that you love that have something to do with being on the road!   Anyway, by the end of the day we make it to Kansas City.  Why Kansas City and what does that have to do with dreams?  More on that next time as we make our way to Rock Island.

My three?  Lobo’s Me and You and a Dog Named Boo,  John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads, and Arlo Guthrie’s City of New Orleans.  

Friday morning, off to work to drop off my keys.  Saying good-bye again the morning after the commencement exercise is difficult. Graduating is so bittersweet.  Fact is, nearly everyone I have worked with and nearly everyone who graduated with me- I will not see again. That is the thing about teaching twelfth graders.  The young adults grow so much, but then they are expected to move on.  That is it.  What is different this year?  In the past, there was always the hope that accompanied the next class of students. I’m going to miss that.

What won’t I miss?  Education becoming a numbers game, a data driven laboratory. The school business is a people industry.  I believe the relationships are the key to success. Sure, implementing good lessons with sound objectives based on the results of a wide variety of assessments over time is a prerequisite for a solid educational experience. But, the key involves classroom management and the development of strong, healthy, positive relationships between teachers and students. Teaching is “relational.”  That teacher-student relationship is the fuel that drives the piston that makes instruction work.

And now, it is time to hit the ignition.  Trip is on!   First stop? The neighborhood Circle K to pick up bottles of water, Chex Mix and Red Vines.  Driving north on I-17 takes us past Camp Verde and the weather cools off as we reach Flagstaff. Look snow in May!

Now we are eastbound on I-40 with the pedal to the metal. Past old lumber, ranching, and railroad towns like Winslow and Holbrook.  As we approach New Mexico we cruise past Ft. Courage- the “trading post” modeled after the fort on the old tv show F-Troop.  (Too bad time has past it by, too.  It has closed.)  Soon after we hit the Land of Enchantment.

The end of the first day’s travel takes us to Tucumcari, NM.  Wish I had a really good picture of the KFC that stood next to our motel. Its classic.  Oh, well. Expect to be up early in the morning; looking forward to more adventures.   Hope you put your seat belt on and join us as we head to Kansas City!

Let me introduce myself.  The name is Chew and I have spent 32 years teaching history and economics and coaching swimming and soccer.   I have finally graduated with the Class of 2015.  Here’s the proof–

This blog is intended to share random thoughts that may be entertaining,  a little humorous, deeply insightful, and always in good taste (you know- appropriate for general audiences).  After teaching for so long, I must have learned something of value to finally share with an audience.  Hope you enjoy this… and so we begin…

Fellow graduates, where do we go from here?  Here is an idea. Let’s go do something to become productive.  Our communities need well educated, highly trained, tech savvy individuals to keep our economy growing.  Don’t think about it anymore- it is time for action.  Finish up the college admissions, sign on with a branch of the armed services, head to tech school, or get the job of your dreams.  Learn a trade.  Whatever you decide to do, get the education you need in order to produce the goods and services I want.  And, hey, don’t discount a strong liberal arts background.  Learn to think.  Learn to write and communicate effectively.   Just like I’m doing right now…

Me?  Now that I’m out, I am going to take a road trip. More on that next time.   Please feel free to invite all your friends to join in.  This trip is going to be lots of fun.