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After a quick trip up to Chicago we’re back in Cedar Rapids.  We’re spending the week here poking around and packing up.  I’ve got one more week of class and then we’re starting our trip back to Oregon.  It’s going to be fun trip, we’ll have a great chance to visit friends and family along the way.

Like always, I have been on the move. But I haven’t updated this in quite a while. I spent the summer just outside of Portland, OR. I was home for the summer, working and recouping for my next and last year of college. But true to form I didn’t stay put for very long. It seemed that every other weekend I was running up to Walla Walla, WA, either with or for Beth. When we weren’t doing that we managed to find a week to go camping up in Canada. It was a beautiful trip and I sure didn’t want to come back after it.

At the end of the summer it was back to school for me, and I loaded up my truck to head cross country once again. I made a couple stops along the way to visit friends in Salt Lake City and Denver, and found a hermit living at a truck stop in Idaho to show me how to tune my CB radio.

It was tough to get off the road and sit still here at college for the term. Though I did hit the road again for Thanksgiving and headed down to Dallas, Texas with Ben and his family. That was a great time once again and I’m sad that it’s probably going to be the last year that I see those folks for the holiday.

For Christmas it was back to Tigard, OR for a month, where I relaxed, ate, and found some temporary work at a decent salary. Since then I’m back in Cedar Rapids, hopefully for the last time. I’ve got a couple more months of classes, and then I’m packing everything up and moving out west again. Boy am I excited to leave.

I had a great time in the Bahamas, but now I’m back and swamped with work. I only have about 4 or 5 more weeks till I’m done with school for the semester again and getting out of here for a few months. Boy will that be a nice change.

I’m taking a lot of small trips this week. I just got back Monday from a whirl wind tour of Iowa and Minnesota. My sister gave me a call Sunday morning saying that her computer was down for the count and needed help fixing it. So I hopped in my truck and drove up to St. Paul, MN, to give her a hand. After a tour of her school Monday morning I headed back down to Cedar Rapids, IA, but I guess I missed my turn off by about 100 miles because I ended up eating dinner with a friend of mine in Des Moines, IA, instead. If you’re not familiar with Iowa, Des Moines is about 2 hours west of Cedar Rapids. So, not really where I expected to be, but a pleasant detour. Thursday and Friday I expect to put a few more miles under my belt as I continue computer related travel and hit a few more towns in Iowa to visit some hotels and repair their wireless networks.

I’m back at it with a vengance. Maybe someone will make a movie about me? I’d probably be okay if Bruce Willis played me. School has started again and I’m kicking ass and taking names. My classes are going well, but I’m already looking forward to leaving for Florida in March.

I’m a little road weary these days. My bike could use a tune-up and my boots a good scrub. All told this summer I think I traveled upwards of 20,000 miles; 6,000 of them on the back of a motorcycle. It’s amazing how much the time with my own thoughts has calmed me. When you’re on a bike on the highway, the wind is so loud that you loose your voice after a couple hours of singing into your helmet without really noticing it. I can’t wait to get on the road again next summer; the black hills are calling.

I just flew back into Cedar Rapids last night after spending two weeks relaxing in Portland, OR. Okay, it wasn’t entirely relaxing, I was working during the day… If you can call playing video games and answering a phone every half hour or so working. I spent most of the time with my family, but I ducked out for two nights and went camping at Crater Lake, OR. It was the first time I’d been to crater lake and it was beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever see any piece of water that blue before, when the sun hit it I nearly went off the road. If you are ever in the area I definitely recommend stopping by.

As far as the plan goes for now, I should be here in Iowa until next Monday, July 19, when I’ll be off again, this time for Canada. Imagine that, me getting paid to travel now. The physics department (http://physics.coe.edu) here is flying me a couple places this summer to do some research for them. Next week it’s Canada, and then the first couple weeks in August I’ll be in England. I guess the only problem with driving might be getting the liquor back over the border.

Spring has sprung and the place is starting to get comfortable. Overnight it seems all the grass turned green and the leaves are starting to bud on the trees. It’s been sunny all week, and it was beautiful out for flunk day on Monday. The students have been flocking to the areas outside where they can lay on the grass. They bask in the sun as they do their homework and gawk at the freshly unbundled passersby. I think these biology people may not have it quite right in explaining why turtles lay in the sun, it just feels good. I have been loving my time out in the sun and breeze, juggling the afternoon away, and hey, my sunburn has almost faded from Monday.

Back. Back in Cedar Rapids against my will. It was a wonderful warm time in San Antonio, and now I’m back in the cold and rain.

I tried my damndest the whole way home to get delayed. Every flight was over-booked and I tried each time to get the free money by waiting. In San Antonio they were so over booked that they were offering $400 in tickets to anyone that could be re-routed. I jumped at it. They were oh-so-grateful to me for offering, but luckily they were able to get me onto my flight. I could have had $400, but no, I got first class for a 1 hour flight.

In Dallas they were even more over booked, I again went missionary and offered to wait. This time it would have been dinner, hotel, breakfast, and $250. Even with all of that I would still have been on time to my class the next morning. It would have worked out just fine. Again I got nothing but the last – little – tiny – cramped – seat available on the whole damn plane.

Why do they have to make it so hard on a person to delay coming home and make some money in the process?