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Day Three

So, good news. We are in North Carolina! The rest of the trip was not without its complications, but compared to the first day, it was kind of smooth sailing. We left the hotel and drove to the airport in Huntington, WV, which was the only place where we could rent a car. The guy working the front desk was less than helpful at times and I affectionately nick-named him Lurch as he failed to grasp that we were in a bit of a hurry and wanted to get out of the great state of WV. The largest vehicle they had was a 12 passenger van and we have 13 people and a large amount of luggage so we ended up getting that 12 passenger van and an SUV (random sidenote- I am loving the SUV and do not want to return it). Once we left there, we were off to the repair shop. I was once again grateful for my Droid as I used the yellow book app to find a car repair place and then used the GPS to get us to that place. The mechanic wasn’t in until today, but we left it there with the assurance that he could fix it by Friday.

We finally made it to Goldsboro late last night and everyone got settled in. We had a great first day of work and I’m excited for rest of the week. But mostly I’m just really glad to be here!

day one madness

So, I am leading my first ever mission trip and it’s off with a bang. Plan A was for us to leave at 6 am this morning, make a few stops, and end up at Orange United Methodist Church tonight around 10 or 11. Plan A was good until somewhere in Kentucky when the church bus broke down. As in, we completely lost power on the interstate. Thankfully, it lost power as we were slowing down anyway because there was a pile up of cars in front of us.

So, we were just sitting there on the interstate and the bus wouldn’t turn on at all. I called 911 and spoke to one of the most incompetent dispatchers alive. No joke. I had to tell him several times what had happened. He kept putting me on hold and asking me what the problem was. He gave me the number for a towing company and then put me on hold. He came back on and asked me what my concern was. I explained to him that we were sitting in the left hand lane on the interstate, unable to move and that this might be a safety hazard. He then hung up on me.

I called the towing company, but nobody answered. I used the YellowBook application on my Droid and looked up another towing company. They told me that they couldn’t help me unless the passengers were transported separately. He suggested I call the police. Ha!

I proceeded to call the police again, this time speaking to a slightly more competent, yet more irritated dispatcher. She asked me for the mile marker where we were and I told her that we couldn’t see it because there were so many cars in front of us. I told her that we figured that there had been an accident. She said, “Yeah, there are three accidents right now. It’s a really bad time for you to be on the road!” Right, because I knew that this was going to happen and timed it so that our bus would break down right then. Good grief. She said that she would have an officer come out and address the situation. Thankfully, traffic still wasn’t moving around us so we weren’t being a total hazard. Thankfully, the tow truck that had responded to the accident drove by us as they were towing the wrecked car and asked fi they could help. The guys assisted us in getting the bus off to the shoulder and charged the battery. We drove to a local auto place and they told us that our battery was dead and that that the alternator was shot.

Since it was Saturday evening there wasn’t anyone available to fix the alternator and there wouldn’t be anyone until Monday morning. So, I called to see if there were any car rental places, but we were in podunk town Kentucky and there weren’t any. So, we drove to Huntington, WV (well, just before it) and are now staying in a hotel. We will leave in the morning and drive to a care rental place (assuming that the bus will make it there. The guys at the auto place said that the battery was totally dead and that even though we charged it, the alternator would drain it again or whatever). We’ll hopefully be able to rent a car and then leave the bus somewhere where they will be able to fix it during the week while we are gone. Lots of ifs there.

Needless to say, this trip has been quite exciting already! Here’s hoping things calm down!

snow, tennis, and bloody noses

I’m very ready for Spring. Being in North Carolina for three years somehow erased my memory of winters in the Midwest to the point where I was actually kind of excited to see snow again. And I really did enjoy the first real snow fall we had. And the next was kind of fun. The next was alright and then it started to get really old really fast. Now it’s almost March and there is still a significant amount of snow covering my front and back yard. I have begun to despair that it will still be there come July.

Our first official practice of the season is this coming Monday (although we’re having a team meeting that day and won’t actually practice until Tuesday). I’m really excited to get started and see where everyone is at. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I was hired for the job this summer.

There’s so much more to say, but I lack the necessary motivation to actually write anything of significance so I’ll just end with a random story. I was vaccuming the house a few weeks ago and I managed to give myself a bloody nose. I don’t actually know what all happened, but I do know that I lost my balance and somehow my finger ended up my nose (seriously- I can’t make this stuff up) and my fingernail cut the inside of my nostril. It was one of the strangest things I’ve ever done.

I need to get ready for bell practice. Never a dull moment!

coaching

One of the things that I knew I would really miss when I moved here from North Carolina was being able to coach (along with my friends, being able to watch almost every single Duke basketball game on TV, Chick-fil-A, southern accents, Duke Chapel, Sun Drop, corn bread, warm winters, close proximity to the beach, etc.). I hoped that I would be able to find a coaching job here in Galesburg, but I wasn’t too hopeful. But through a kind of crazy series of events, I did find not just one, but two.

During my first week or so on the job, I got a phone call from a woman who used to be a secretary for the District Superintendent (whose office is in our building). She apparently saw my little write up about myself where I mentioned that I play tennis. She is part of a group of women who get together every Wednesday night to play and she invited me to go. So, I did. The level of play was not what I had been hoping for, but the women were all nice and I figured it was better to play with people at that level than to not play at all. So, I stuck around.

While we were playing one evening, one of the women asked me about my experience. I told her that I had played in college and that I had coached a team in Durham. She asked me if I had applied for the coaching job at Galesburg High School. Apparently, an article had just run in the newspaper about how they were looking for a new coach for the high school boys’ tennis team. So, I applied and got the job!

Then, I played in a “Rally for the Cure” tennis tournament thing. I almost didn’t go because I just didn’t want to, but I did and I had a good time. While I was there, I met the head coach of the tennis teams at Knox College and about a month later, I got a phone call from her asking me if I would be interested in being the assistant coach at Knox. So, I helped out with their women’s team this fall.

It’s just funny how things work out. As much as I wanted to move closer to my family, I was hesitant because I knew it meant that I would have to give up my coaching job. And then I ended up getting two different coaching jobs here! It’s really nice when things work out that way!

driving in Galesburg

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted! Things really picked up with the fall programming, but I didn’t expect to be quite as busy as I have been. That being said, I really am going to try to update more often (I realize I say that every time, but one of these times it has to stick, right?)

Since so much has happened since I last wrote, I decided to just share a few stories about the adventure that is driving here in Galesburg. There are a lot of older people here, which makes driving an interesting endeavor.

Example #1- My cousins Bethany and Amy were visiting and we decided to drive out to the mall. On the way, I was telling them about how “exciting” it is to drive here. I pulled into the parking lot and found an empty spot to pull into. I started to pull into it and the woman in the car to the right of the spot opened her door to get out. No big deal. I stopped the car and we waited. And then I saw the cane come out and I knew that this was not going to be a short wait. While we are waiting for that woman to get out of her car, the woman in the car to the left of the space decided that she needed to leave. Well, I’m part-way in the spot, which left not much room for her to back out and I couldn’t back out because someone has pulled up behind me. That didn’t stop her. She backed out with gusto and then stopped. She turned around, made eye contact with me, and then proceeded to continue backing. I was driving Bethany’s car because it has the car seat for Lily in it and I was thinking about what a pain in the butt it’s going to be for her to deal with insurance companies and accident reports and all that out of state. The woman was not stopping!! Finally, I honked the horn and she stopped… and proceeded to scream at me as though there was something else I could do at that moment. Finally, the person behind me backed up and I was able to back up, but it was pretty scary.

Example #2- I needed to pick some supplies up at Wal-Mart and decided to make a quick trip. While I was on my way, I decided to change lanes because the person in front of me was going a bit slower than I wanted to go and there were two lanes. So, I put on my turn signal and moved over into the right hand lane. I had just gotten past the cars rear end when the driver decided he wanted to move over. So, he jerked his car over into the lane that I was occupying. I honked at him because I was pretty sure he didn’t know I was there. Nope, he knew. He gave me the finger and his passenger rolled down his window to scream at me. Because it’s my fault he’s a bad driver.

Example #3- This actually occurred on the same day as Example #2, but as I was walking out of Wal-Mart. I was halfway through the pedestrian cross walk area when a car came careening towards me out of nowhere. I didn’t know what to do because it didn’t look like I would have enough time to get out of the way. Thankfully, at the last moment, the woman saw me and slammed on her brakes. It wasn’t her fault, though. It’s impossible to pay attention to pedestrians in cross walks when you’re engrossed in your cell phone conversation!

So, these are just 3 of the countless examples I have of driving adventures in Galesburg. I’ve lived in several different place now and I can confidently say that this is the place where I am most afraid for my life when I drive.

Good times.