- July 2, 2005: Voyage to the Center of the Earth (Tennessee caves)
- July 4, 2005: Deliverance (Rafting Trips)
- July 6, 2005: Bull Durham (baseball trip)
- July 8, 2005: Do You Know the Way to San Jose? (trip to CA or maybe not)
- July 25, 2005: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (getting back to El Salvador)
- July 29, 2005: Georgia on my Mind
(Atlanta detour)
July 2, 2005: Voyage to the Center of the Earth (Tennessee caves)
Did you know that Tennessee has caves? I didn't, or if I did I had forgotten.
Diane, Amy's mom, was trying to be a great host to Thomas, a relative who was visiting from Denmark. One of the activities she found was spelunking, or as it's better known, cave exploring. Thomas, Jette (Thomas' girl friend), Bob, Diane (Amy's parents), Amy and I took a trip into the Tuckaleechee caves, located just east of Maryville. I had expected to have to crawl and use a flashlight to find my way around. I also expected to find the caves damp and cold. Well, they were cold and they were wet, although not really damp, but there was a small stream running along the caves. There were also a couple of small waterfalls feeding this small stream. I would have like to report that we all got separated and had to get a search party with all sorts of tools and special gear to find the poor lost souls. And, that a couple of us almost starved to death before they search party found us. And that some big hairy animal started to chase us. But, no such excitement occurred, at least not to us on this day. The caves were well lit, and with well marked trails to follow into and out of the caves. Other than bat guano, we never saw any signs of wild animal life in the caves. Amy: for those of you laughing at bat guano, it's supposed to be good stuff. Great fertilizer. In case you want more info... The guide did turn off some lights to show us how dark these caves were. Good thing that none of us were afraid of the dark, at least none of us screamed like a little girl when the guide turned the lights off. The U.S. Geological-thingama-people use these caves to get seismological readings with very sensitive equipment to measure tremors (such as Amy falling off the ladder in the cave) and earthquake information for the east coast. They can actually register tremors in all the the States.
After we all exited the caves we all sat and had a really nice relaxing lunch near the entrance to the cave. Diane is always such a great host - and don't think that I am biased because she bought some chocolate fudge and shared it with me - she just always takes such great care of anyone who visits. I will go on the record and state that her putting Reese's Chocolate Cups down in our bedroom when we visit has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with any of these kind words. Diane, are your getting all of this? Back to the top.
July 4, 2005: Deliverance (rafting trip)
Disclaimers first: the only manner in which this story parallels the movie is the rafting on the water part. We did not see the toothless banjo playing kid (at least not on this trip, although we did see similar types at another event in Maryville, but that story will have to wait). The squealing like a pig was also not part of this trip.
As I said the water part was all. But, what a trip!
The six of us (Thomas, Jette, Bob, Diane, Amy and I) decided an adventure on the Ocoee River was worth the hour drive. This is the same river that held the venue for the kayaking events during the Atlanta Olympics of 1996. Fortunately all the judges had left the site when we arrived for our rafting trek. Everything seems low key - getting your paddle, your lifejacket, your helmet (did you say helmet? Why would you need a helmet for a "relaxing" trip down a river, I'm not so sure about this), and got a low key briefing about how to stay on the raft... (what do you mean how to stay on the raft, I thought this was supposed to be an nice easy going floating trip down the river).
They bused us up river where we met RJ, our raft guide. The bus unloaded us just above a "small" dam. RJ gave us a few last-minute pep-talk and reviewed our screams of horror for volume and pitch. This wasn't hard to do while looking at this dam. It might be small compared to the Hoover Dam in Nevada, but then again we were above it on our raft. To our great relief RJ led us along a path that bypassed the dam. Only then did we see the "gentle" path we would begin. We all tried to practice the scream again - without RJ's prompting - but were not able due to the lack of oxygen in our lungs. We would have to maneuver a three foot wide raft through a two inch gap in the rocks, followed by a 120 degree turn to the left to miss a mile wide boulder sticking out of the water and then for the hard part, we would have to make a right turn and squeeze the raft through a two foot gap. As my sister Kat would ask, who was going to change my shorts after we got through all this? Somehow RJ steered us through this as we paddled forward, when RJ told us to paddle back, and paddle backwards when RJ told us to paddle forward. I wondered if there was rope under the water attached to the raft, just as you might find in Six Flags.
I cannot remember who told us that we would get slightly wet. What a LIE! We were totally wet about two seconds before we even got in the raft. The saving grace was how warm and sunny the day would be. The water was also not extremely cold, just cold enough to get shrinkage. Amy: you mean like laundry (reference to a Seinfeld episode)?
RJ worked his magic down the Ocoee avoiding rocks, but making sure we always hit the biggest rapids to make sure we didn't get dry. About half way we made a stop at a rock which the guides called the Jumping Rock. We tied the rafts, about four or five, down river from the rock. One of the guides demonstrated how to jump off the rock into the current to get some additional adrenaline (as if we needed more). At first people were a bit timid about trying it, but when they saw Bob and Diane, you read this right, jump off, everyone had to try it. Even Amy and I could not let two old fogeys show us up. The current created a natural whirlpool just below the rock which brought you back to the rafts. So it really wasn't that scary. Yeah, right! Tell that to my shorts.
RJ did an outstanding job in keeping all of us safe, including the two old fogeys on the raft. He steered us in front of a camera for a great photo op (which you can see in our album pages) and showed us some great sights along the river.
We had such a great time that Amy and I returned a couple of weeks later to do it all again. Including the screaming like a little girl part. Back to the top.
July 6, 2005: Bull Durham (baseball trip) 35°57'51.23" N, 83°35'36.38" W
Being part of the Brandsborg family means going to all of the great Americana activities. We saw a great 4th of July Fireworks display in Knoxville. And how could we not go and watch a baseball game? The Atlanta Braves were on an extended road trip during this time, and a trip to Atlanta would have been a bit far, so we did the next best thing: We went to watch the Tennessee Smokies, an AA baseball team which is part of the Arizona Diamondbacks farm system. These young players are so eager to make it to "The Show" as Amy would say, that they hustle and try their best at everything they do on the field. The park atmosphere is also really great. You have the small town feeling, with all sorts of activities going on in between innings. Three legged races by 10 year olds, base running races with toddlers, even an event where they had frozen two t-shirts and had a race to see who could put on the shirt the fastest.
We ate the traditional hot dogs, peanuts, ice cream, cokes. Americana at its best!
Back to the top.
July 8, 2005: Do You Know the Way to San Jose (trip to CA or maybe not) 38°32'29.66" N, 89°51'33.07" W
Have you ever dreamt of trying to get somewhere and no matter what you do you just don't seem to make any progress. If you have, then you know what we felt as we tried to get from Tennessee out to California. We rented a car in Maryville, Tennessee to drive out to St. Louis, Missouri and stayed the night at a hotel near the airport. A Limo (just a Lincoln Towncar really) drove us to Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Amy: we're not moving up in the world, the Space A travel book had just said this was one of the ways to get to base. Once I called taxis and this company, I realized they were cheaper than a cab. So we took it.
I remember Scott AFB being a hub for the old Military Airlift Command. We arrived with plenty of time to check-in, but as we entered, I noticed that instead of dozens of schedules flights, the schedule board only had two or three flights out of Scott. What the .... Being the headquarters for MAC, it seemed that all cargo planes stopped at Scott, but that was at the time I was in the military (about nine years ago). There have been a lot of changes, and one very critical one, at least for the Oros's plans to fly Space-A to California, is that there a just a small handful of flights that stop here. And those only have a couple of seats available for Space-A, and being retired we have the lowest priority for those seats. We were toast! The flight to Travis AFB on Saturday only had five seats available. A family of four, a couple, and a single female had higher priority that the Oroses. The next flight was scheduled for Monday. We thought about waiting, but couldn't find a hotel room for under $90 per night. We thought we might just rent a car for the long drive out, but with gas prices so high, it would have cost and arm and a leg. We called Southwest and other airlines to see if they had any last minute deals. Nope. We had no way to get there for a week for a reasonable price. So,we decided to drive back to Tennessee, To do so, we would have to get back to the St. Louis airport to rent a car. The folks at the Scott Passenger Terminal were kind enough to drive us to the gate where we could take a small commuter train to the airport (and much cheaper than the limo - too bad we didn't know about the train going to the base). We jumped onto the rental car shuttle at the airport where they preceded to give us the same exact car to take back to TN. Amy: The bad part is that it was an Ugly Car! We don't care for the looks of the Chrysler PT Cruiser. We think it's ugly. And in our world of Punch Bug, the PT Cruiser is the Ugly Car. The worse part is that this car was incredibly comfortable. The Horror!
- Rental Car to St. Louis - $70.00
- Hotel by St. Louis airport - $60.00
- Limo to Scott AFB - 40.00
- Commuter train - $4.00
- Rental Car to TN - $70.00
- Back in the comfortable "Brandsborg Lodge" - Priceless
July 25, 2005: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (getting back to El Salvador) 32°54'11.26" N, 80°02'56.49" W
We took a great deal of care in packing all the things we had bought while in the US. While we "only" had six loosely filled bags when we arrived to the States, we now had four fully loaded bags, two backpacks (one with a brand new computer), and the "old" computer in a Pelican case. I knew we were fortunate in having only 7 bags and confident that the Air Force would allow us to have these bags on our trip. I thought we might have to pay some for the extra weight, but we would get all our things back.
As we loaded the rental car, Amy's was saying to her mom and dad that we had our driver's licenses, and military IDs (we would need these to get on the military flight). Anything we had forgotten would just have to wait to be picked up next time we were in the States. All four of us just laughed at the idea of leaving something behind and waiting till next year to get it to the boat. I was confident I had packed everything we had bought, all our clothes, books, etc. We left with the typical screams of "Love You!" (driving out the driveway screaming this has been a Brandsborg tradition for as long as I have visited the "Brandsborg Lodge.")
The drive was uneventful (if you don't count Amy's driving at ninety miles per hour down the interstate through the Smoky Mountains). I think all the police felt us coming and got well out of the way since I never saw one when Amy drives. Then again you really can't see much when she drives - it's all just a blur. We got to Charleston with plenty of time and decided to have a memorable last dinner in the US of A. Unfortunately all we found was a Chinese buffet getting ready to close. It was not very satisfying at all.
I dropped Amy off at the passenger terminal at the base and went to drop off the rental car at the airport. As I tried to get a taxi back to the base I was dumbfounded to find out that taxis cannot go into the base. I understood due to security measures, but had no idea how I was going to get back to base. Only certain taxis can do so (those drivers that have a military ID of some sort - retired and so forth). I had to wait an extra half hour for such a taxi to come by. I ended up sharing the taxi with two other folks that were going to the terminal as well. This was just not as easy as it should have been.
They have two really nice lounges at the terminal with TV's running all night. Our flight would be called up at three in the morning so we settled in for the six hours or so we would have to wait. Neither Amy nor I could sleep and so at about midnight I went to check-in for the flight. The Sergeant behind the desk said we could check-in - all he needed were our military ID's and our passports. I knew exactly where our ID's were, but I could not visualize where I had seen our passport during the packing process. I went to ask Amy about them and her response was not what I expected. You know what you feel when you realize that you left your toddler in the shopping cart at the grocery store? No? How about leaving the bride at the church steps as you drive away in the Limo after the wedding? No, again? Try this: you realize at the airport that your passports are tucked away safely in the fire safe at home six hours away as you are getting ready to fly to a foreign country where you know they will not even let you on the flight without them? Get it? So did I, as Amy told me immediately she knew exactly where they were. In the fire safe at her parents house tucked away safely. Amy thought for a brief moment of calling her Dad at 1 a.m. and asking him to meet us halfway with the passports. That wouldn't have worked even if we'd still had the car and could leave immediately. We only had 2 or 3 hours before showtime for the flight. I have no idea if I was just too tired, too shocked, too glad that we would be staying another week in the good ol' US of A,or the idea of eating more American chocolate ice cream, but I just started laughing. I went to the sergeant and told him that we would see him the following week (since the flights to Honduras are scheduled only once a week, on Tuesdays). Amy: thank goodness the flights aren't once a month like some military flights!
We picked up another rental car at 7 am and drove back to the States. Amy had e-mailed her folks telling them what had happened so they were expecting us. As we walked back into the "Brandsborg Lodge," I just laughed and said, "this is the next time!" Well, it was the next time we were back in Tennessee. We never said how long it would be before there was a next time. We just assumed it would be 7 months before being back in the States. Back to the top.
July 29, 2005: Georgia on my Mind (Atlanta detour) 33°44'05.51" N, 84°23'19.88" W
Seeing how we would not be able to leave for El Salvador till a week later, we decided to make a detour on our way to South Carolina. I bet you didn't know that you went through Atlanta when traveling from Knoxville to Charleston, South Carolina, did you? We stayed at Ft. McPherson's Visiting Quarters. It brought back memories of when I was stationed there during the Atlanta Olympics. And where Amy and I met back in 1996.
Amy and I are big Atlanta Braves fans and we could not pass the opportunity to go watch the Braves play. We had an absolutely great time cheering with a stadium full of Braves fans. While living in San Francisco, we always went to see the Braves, but had to contend with Giants fans.
We got treated to Smoltz pitching for the Braves and watching the Braves beat the Pirates. What a day. It doesn't get much better than this.
Amy here: by the way, we have the ability to check the statistics for our website - number of hits in a month, average hits per day, number of pages viewed, etc. We noticed a huge drop in statistics while in the States. That tells me that the people viewing the website primarily are people that weren't looking at the site while were there because they were looking at us (i.e. family). So I'm thinking that I need to quit sending e-mails to family telling them what's going on. Instead I'll just make them wait until I take my sweet time to update the website and they can find out what's going on that way. But I appreciate that they love us and support us to the tune of checking the site every day! Back to the top.
