Sunday, August 11th, 2002

Sunday morning, I decided to go downtown and check out the JFK museum. John F. Kennedy was assasinated in Dallas on November 3rd, 1963. I wasn’t alive then, but I can imagine and I believe that it was a day that affected America even more than September 11th. Here was a president that many people admired and looked up to. Shortly after he was assasinated the decade of the 60’s went into full swing and changed America forever. Vietnam, the assasination of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, race riots, the drug culture. All these things occurred and much more. America was never the same.

Wednesday, August 13th, 2002

I met my friend Marc at his house and we headed off to the game. This game is kind of a milestone in my quest to visit every major league ball park. It will be my 20th team. Just ten more to go (barring expansion or contraction).

The Ballpark at Arlington

August 8th - August 14th, 2002

Thurday morning I drove up to Dallas. It took about 4 hours and I checked into another extended stay motel. Originally, I had planned to stay in Dallas for a week, just like in Austin, but my Austin experience changed my plans. I was going to leave on the 14th, after the baseball game.

Again, the idea was the same. To just be there and experience Dallas. However, there were a few things I wanted to do. There’s an Apple Store in Plano, a town just north of Dallas. Apple has been opening stores all over the country, but none yet in Utah, so I had to go check it out. Also, I wanted to check out downtown and see some JFK stuff, and of course the Texas Rangers are in nearby Arlington.

August 4th - August 8th, 2002

I spent Sunday through Thursday morning in Austin. Austin was the main reason I came to Texas. I wanted to get a feel for it and see if I might want to live here. Austin has a lot of high technology companies and has a lot of culture and art. Basically a lot of creative people. Fortune has ranked it in the top 10 for the best cities for singles.

Monday, August 5th, 2002

Today was my first full day in Austin. I decided to take a drive down to San Antonio, which was just about an hour and half south. I wanted to see the Alamo, and my friend Laury had told me about the cool river walk there. So off I went.

The Alamo

For those of you who are not familiar with the Alamo (miss a little school, did we?), here’s the deal. The Alamo was a fort in Texas when Texas declared their independence from Mexico. Santa Ana brought his troops into Texas and the Alamo was the first line of defense for Texas. Texas was not ready to fight Santa Ana yet and the Alamo had to slow down Santa Ana enough so Texas could get ready. Some legendary figures were at the Alamo, including my boyhood favorite, Davy Crockett. Every last man who fought at the Alamo died there, but they slowed Santa Ana down enough and they inspired the rest of Texas, who cried “Remember the Alamo”! Eventually Texas won her independence from Mexico and became an independent nation and of course joined the United States not long after. Some say Texas never officially joined the U.S. and is still an independent nation, but it is not recognized as such.

Saturday, August 3rd

From Albuquerque, I decided to go half way to Austin, and stay the night with a recent friend of the family and her family. I had just met her when I had been up to Montana this summer and she had offered to let me stay with her and her family when I went to Texas. In the directions she gave me to get to her house she mentioned that there was a steel house that I couldn’t miss. She was right. However, she didn’t mention that it was their house that her husband had been building for 27 years!

Tuesday, July 30th - Friday, August 2nd

Today, I left for my trip to Texas. On the way though I stopped in Albuquerque. I was born there and my parents currently live there. I stayed until Saturday. I was a nice relaxing time and it was nice to see my parents. We went out to dinner one night at a New Orleans place and we saw K-19: The WidowMaker and Signs.

July 1st, 2002 - Gardiner, Montana

This week I went up to Montana with my parents. Today, my mom and I decided to take a raft trip down the river that flows through Gardiner and down Yankee Jim Canyon. We’ve been on rafting trips before. Nothing tricky, just nice gentle trips with a few small rapids. We asked around and were pointed towards an outfit about a mile down the road. A place called Big Sky Whitewater.

I always like to see the Dodger’a AAA team when they come to Salt Lake. Last year, that team, moved from Albuquerque to Las Vegas and became the Las Vegas 51’s (51 being a reference to Area 51). After my trip I checked the Salt Lake Stingers’ schedule and saw that the 51’s were in town. I further noticed that Thursday night was Steve Garvey night!

Steve Garvey was my favorite player when I was a kid. At first it didn’t seem like much of a big deal. I thought I go down and get his autograph and it would be no big thing. But, as the game got closer I got a little more excited. I went to Gart’s Sporting Goods and bought an official major league baseball in a little display case.

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

The trip home was uneventful. Got back about 2 pm. Once back, I felt strangely alone and isolated. On the road, I hadn’t felt like this at all, despite the fact that I had been alone most of the time.

But, it also nice to be back in my nice house, with my own bed. Later that night I played softball on DSW’s team. DSW (Dahlin, Smith, and White), was the company I worked before I took my sabbatical.