ok

whew. I finally made it to the raddest spot on the internet

Lovely couple takes a new path....

So you all know, Seth i s now in Germany at Bramstad Army base. I've talked with him a few times, and he's very excited about being in a new country. He seems to love the food and the countryside. It is a very beautiful area. See it here:

http://www.bamberg.army.mil/sites/local/

We were sad to have to say goodbye, and it was especially hard to know that Rachel would be without him until a later time. We did have a great visit with her family. Mom Elaine and Dads Randy and Les were really very warm and caring people. They LOVE Seth, and that made me especially happy.

Please keep Rachel and Seth in your thoughts, and give Rachel a call to remind her we are here to support her. I'm trying to talk her into coming up for Thanksgiving here at Buxpond.

chenders finally decides oil prices are too high.

OK... 80 bucks a barrel, and we're not talking 55 gallon drums, the oil industry redefined the "barrel" as 42 gallons. Fooled us idiots though, didn't they? Hell, it takes half a barrel of oil to fill my truck (21 gallons), but that costs me 60+ friggin dollars. Not sure if they make GMC pickups that run on crude oil, but i'm looking. That would save me 20 bucks a tank. Where the hell is all this free oil from Iraq? I mean half the people I know say we went there for the oil, so if that's true, start shipping the stuff dammit. If the Army can't handle it, then turn it over to UPS or FedEx. I'm fairly sure we went there partially for oil, but not just Iraqi Oil, we're there for any oil within 1500 miles of Iraq. Hopefully that microwave - burning saltwater engine is for real and not a poorly conducted experiment. I better sleep a bit as I have a nice trip to Springfield tomorrow.

be good

los chenderos

Chris and Joy in Alabama Holiday Inn....

So, after driving for 9.5 hours through beautiful Southern Illinois, Indiana, Tennesee and Alabama, we arrived in Huntsville and went directly to our hotel, the Holiday Inn. It's the only 'dog friendly' place in town, and actually turned out to be fairly nice. We were on the 'executive floor', which meant we got free drinks and appetizers along with breakfast.
We were really tired, so we asked Seth and the lovely Rachel to come to the hotel and have dinner. We drug ourselves down to the common area, pretty comfie - large oversized chairs and a wide screen television. It was there we met Carlos, a Robin Williams look a like if Robin Williams was a Spanish guy. He was our 'host' and set out to make us as happy as possible. With all the Jack Daniels one could drink and other beverages, let's just say we were soon very happy.
The amazing thing to us is how we ended up hearing this guy's life story, and just had a really great time with him. He bent over backwards for us, getting us dinner and treating Rachel and Seth like royalty. We have a new friend for life.
The next day, we were both paying for the night before with terrible hang overs. Serves us right...We drug ourselves down to the breakfast, and there we met Angela. Angela was our 'host' for breakfast. Once again, we bonded with Angela, sharing stories of raising kids, divorce, loss, courage and how we've all survived. Another friend for life!
I guess the point of this post is how we really are a very blessed (or fortunate, lucky, cool, wonderful - insert your adjective) family. And for this reason, we need to stay open to ways we can share that with people around the world. Everyday each of us comes in contact with humanity that needs an ear, a friend, or just a common opportunity to share life's adventures. It's easy to just stay to one's self, deciding to close everyone off. After all, we are ON VACATION DAMMIT! But you know what? That's not just not the kind of people we are happy and comfortable being. When we do that, we miss out on some really wonderful interactions, and sometimes, they are gifts which just make the time even more special.
Here endth the lesson....