Fat Boy Summer Road Trip

Day One

The Fat Boy Summer Road Trip started out with a day of flight from PDX to Kansas City. 

After my arrival we went to dinner at a local spot called Nick & Nino's Pub. I Continued celebrating the #OldFashionedFortnight with a strong but decent Old Fashioned made with Makers 46. For an appetizer we had the Fried Trio, a combination of fried pickles, fried zucchini, and fried green beans. Dinner was a 16oz Rib eye, served with mashed potatoes and fresh sauteed veggies. The rib eye was perfectly cooked and seasoned, in addition to being tender enough that I didn't realize I was using my butter knife until the second bite.

The atmosphere at Nick & Nino's was great, with friendly staff and live music from a decent band.  Not a bad start to the adventure. 

Day Two

Our second day started on base at Ft. Leavenworth for Maj. Michael Cooper's graduation from the United States Army's Command and General Staff College.  It was great to be able to be here and see Coop reach another milestone in his military career.

The keynote address was provided by Gen. Abrams, Commanding General, U.S Army Forces Command.  His address focused on the bonds forged by graduates with each other and with graduates from the 93 nations represented in this year's class, the threats they will face in a faster paced global environment than his generation of staff officers had to deal with, and the relationships that would change to the organizations graduates would return to or be joining.

After graduation breakfast was in order, so we headed to downtown Leavenworth to a restaurant that opened just a couple years ago in the old railroad depot, appropriately named The Depot. 

​My breakfast special included a biscuit with gravy, crispy and perfectly fried hashbrowns, two eggs, and two slices of crispy bacon.  The biscuits were flaky and amazing, gravy was peppery beauty.  One of the best classically dine breakfast Atos I've had in a long time.  Definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in Leavenworth, KS.

That evening we went out to celebrate before leaving town, and spent must of our​ evening at DraftCade in Kansas City's Zona Rosa mall.  Featuring 60 taps of craft brew goodness, classic pinball and arcade games, and a decent bar menu it was a fun place to hang out.

  From there we headed out to local dive Arthur's for karaoke and drinks with some old friends to end the night.

Day Three

Day Three dawned with a delay after finding that the Uhaul had been stolen from the parking lot over night.  After a three hour delay to file the police report and track down a replacement trailer we were finally on the road to St. Louis and a home cooked meal with the Golden family.  Bob worked for Coop in New York, and I met them on our last trip West three years ago.  Since then they have become good friends.

 We arrived to advance amazing meal and great time catching up with the whole family. We stayed up until after 3am laughing and talking around the fire out back.  It was the perfect end to a day that started out so crazy.

Day Four​

We woke up and had a light breakfast before heading out to see a little bit of the city.  We stayed at Anheiser-Busch's Grants Farm.  The historic home if general US Grant's in-laws it became the country home of the Busch family in the early 1900's.

 We expected to see the Clydesdale horses so famous for pulling the beer wagons.  We didn't expect to find camels, elephants, buffalo, and exotic birds.

 From Grants Farm we headed downtown to visit the Arch.​

 the old courthouse in St Louis

We were all hot and tired so headed back to Bob and Rinku's house for dinner.  On the way we grabbed pizza from local favorite Imo's.  Featuring a cracker thin crust and light sauce it is unique but a nice might take on a take out staple.

Day Five

We left St. Louis after a great time catching up with the Golden family and headed south to Memphis.  Along  the way we stopped at Stonie's Sausage.

Snack stix and sweet bologna were my favorite finds, but a great selection of meat and sausage aft decent prices.

Milestone days

There are days that are important in life.  Days that matter.  Days that stick out in our past that we will never forget no matter what else we experience in the future.  Today didn't feel like one of those days when I woke up, but as I'm writing this I know that it is. 

Some of those important days in my past I had to endure rather than celebrate, like the first time I celebrated a birthday without my dad.  Some of them I didn't know were important milestones until weeks or months after they had passed like the day I met my amazing wife.  Rarely but thankfully some of them I have recognized as special as they were happening, and that meant I could capture them in detail and save a piece of that day forever.

As I sat with my wife and family watching my son enter the gym of his High School in his cap and gown this afternoon the importance of the day hit me full force.  I experienced something that connected me to what my parents felt 22 years ago when I made a similar journey into a similar gymnasium 60 miles from here.  I flashed back in that instant to the moment eleven years and fifty-one weeks ago when my son walked with my daughter out of their foster home to our car for their first overnight visit to our home.  I recalled all the visits to school principals, counsellors, IEP meetings, and case workers.  My son has come so far from the lonely broken little boy we adopted that some of those memories shocked me to think about. 

When we met with his first grade teacher we were told our son had severe learning issues and radical social interaction problems.  We were cautioned that he was more than 18 months behind his peers academically and he might never catch up in a traditional classroom environment.  Carrie and I agonized over what to do, but after a lot of prayer and counsel decided we would hold him back a year but not let them give up and move him into special education classes. 

There are many of those moments from my past I'm proud of, and many more I'm not.  There is nothing that gives me more pride than seeing what my boy was able to accomplish today.   It wasn't easy for him.  He had to work hard and find his own ways to make sense of the world around him.  He had to study harder than I did at his age because things didn't come as easily to him.  He never backed down.  Never quit trying.  Never let anyone tell him something was beyond his ability.  And today that little boy they said needed special education graduated with honors.  

So it's one of those days, and I couldn't be happier.

Alpha Media has a deal for beer drinkers this summer - meet Alpha Pub and Growler 2015

Alpha Media, a company I have mixed feelings about usually (they own 98.7 "The Bull" and  Kink 103 but also killed off KUFO) has created a promotion that the Fat Boy's can get behind: The Alpha Pub and Growler Card. 

The card sells for $60 and gets your growler filled at eight local bars and brew pubs, including Bridgeport, Kells NW, and HUB among others.  You can find more information on their website here, but this one is a no brainer folks.

My thoughts on "A Letter To Christians In Indiana, From Jesus"

This is a great take on the way Christianity has become politically and radically motivated in recent years, posed as a letter from Christ to his church.  As we begin what the Christian Church calls "Holy Week" I thought this would be a great article to share with you along with my thoughts, especially given recent court rulings and laws passed in Indiana and proposed in Arkansas and Massachusetts regarding religious beliefs and civil law.

Regardless of your faith, the mixture of religion and politics is dangerous to our system of government.  We can't make laws based on Christian values and then yell about communities imposing elements of Shariah law. Separation of Church and State is an all or nothing proposition, and our constitution clearly calls for total separation.

Those of you that know me well are very aware of how my faith influences my life, my family, and our view of the world.  While that also influences my political views and how I vote on various issues, I have never been one to try and force my beliefs on anyone.  To me it is something personal, a relationship as important to me as my marriage to Carrie, and one I work just as hard to maintain.  

Just like my marriage, if people come to me asking how my relationship with Jesus is still so alive and vital I have no problem talking about it.  I talk about my Dad's theory of "Personal Theology" that helped me shape my faith and find peace and comfort in churches of all denominations.  I talk about being asked to leave the first bible college I attended and how theological differences caused that conflict.  Above everything else though I talk about the peace and joy I feel in those quiet moments with Jesus....from worship on Sunday morning at church, to quiet talks with him at 2am when I just don't know how to deal with my teenage daughter, and from laying in a quiet forest staring up at the tree tops to receiving communion.

Our faith was intended to be something intensely personal, yet so transformative that those around us couldn't help but ask about it.  It shouldn't ever be something we feel a need to force on anyone.  If it is, we are doing it wrong.

Loot Crate: May unboxing

This months Loot Crate arrived today, here are the unboxing pictures.