Friday, January 21, 2011
Big Chill Adventure Race 2011
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Neches Wilderness Canoe Race
http://necheswildernessrace.homestead.com/RIVERRUNNERS.html
Haven't been training for a paddle, but Cliff asked and I haven't raced in three months, so I said "Sure!". If you want to follow our progress, you can click on the "SPOT" tracker logo to the right.
Thanks!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Team XMA in Slovenia
Team XMA in Slovenia, Missionaries: Shane Waites, Justin Reneau, Randy Pierce, Tom Zankowitz, Kim Dunkin, Walter Allen, Katrina Skyles, Rodney Skyles, Jada Adcock, Jay Adcock
Missionary in Slovenia are Joe Kelley and the JP Manley.
Traveling:
We met at the Atlanta airport on Saturday evening. Four of us left from Shreveport, 1 from North Carolina, 4 from Monroe and 1 from Dallas. After making our introductions and visiting awhile, Jay lead us in prayer, thanking God for choosing us for this opportunity, for safe travels and for God to open the hearts and minds of the people we would meet on this trip. Our plane for Madrid was scheduled to leave at 6:55pm, but was delayed until 9:30pm. After settling in for the 8 hour flight, most of us were able to get some sleep. As we were flying over Spain, after the sun came up, we were able to see snow capped mountain on the terrain below. We landed in Madrid at 11:00 am, made our way through customs and to the baggage claim. Some of our bags were not checked through to Slovenia, so we had to recheck them. We only had one scare, because Shane's bag took awhile to appear. We checked in, grabbed a quick bite and were off to our next gate to depart for Ljubljana, Slovenia. A bus took us to the plane, which was a smaller plane, and a shorter flight. This one was about 2 and ½ hours. Flying into Ljubljana, we saw more mountains. Seeing these mountains from that view was such a spectacular experience. We landed in Ljubljana at 5:30. When you stepped off the plane, the first view you see is mountains. More breathtakingly beautiful mountains.
Arrival:
We picked up our baggage and met Joe and JP who picked us up in the front of the airport. We loaded our bags into the trailer hitched to the back of Joe's Volkswagen van and headed out. Some of us, who get car sick, rode with JP in his smaller Volkswagen car and the all the others were with Joe. We stopped in a village called Kranjska Groa for dinner at a restaurant across from the local fire station. Inside this quaint building we sat on benches that surrounded a large wooden table. Joe and JP had recommendations for us to try. Some got the trout fillets, some got whole trout and others got the Weiner Schnitzel. It was different cuisine then we are accustomed to, but everyone enjoyed their dinners. We visited about the trip in and started to feel the effects of jet lag. We got to know Joe and JP on our car rides in and flooded them with questions about the area. Our trip into Bovec took us through Italy and up winding mountain roads, past villages that Joe told us we'd be visiting throughout the week. We arrived at the campsite when it was dark. We all got our tents set up and settled in for a good nights rest.
Day one:
After waking up early to a mildly cool morning, we had breakfast and began our trek into Bovec from our camp, Kovec. On the way into camp the night before, Joe showed us a trail we could take, to cut through to the town. Together, we made our way to Joe's house where we had a morning devotion lead by JP, a song led by Walter and instructions about the rest of the week from Joe. We asked any questions we had and chose our bikes for the week. Part of the money we paid, for this trip, will go to help pay for new mountain bikes for all future teams to use. We divided into teams of two: Jada and Jay, Rodney and Katrina, Justin and Shane, Walter and Kim and Randy and Tom. After we snapped a team photo, we biked into the town a little further to a bakery where some of us had pizza, some had hot dogs and some had cheese stuffed pizza. The cheese stuffed pizza was not what you would think of. The crust wasn't stuffed, but the entire flakey crusted pizza was stuffed with cheese. Ramsey, the owner, had just opened an ice cream shop next door, so we all had something to look forward to a long day of biking. We were to all meet back at camp at 7:00. We said our goodbyes at the tourist information shop, where we got our area maps.
We all made it back at different times and as we all came together there were so many wonderful stories to tell. Justin, Shane, Kim and Walter traveled together for part of their trips and found a little village where a man was yelling “Go! Go!” with a rake. Justin and Shane found a house that had a sheep bone scarecrow which was sitting on the front porch, with sheep hooves as feet and biked “literally in the clouds”. Randy and Tom had a man yelling at them “Bovec!” and pointing. They think he thought they were lost. The trail that Jay and Jada were on ended at a 250 foot waterfall spilling out of the side of a mountain and saw a deer stand along the trail. Kim fell off a stone wall in a village, knocking down two rocks and the rail. They attempted to put it back together. Rodney and Katrina found a house marked “Property of the United States Air Force” with a “Do Not Enter” sign and met a sweet Slovenia lady who gave them her email information so they could find each other on facebook. The villagers were quick to tell us all about the steepness and switchbacks of the trails we would encounter after visiting with them. All of the teams encountered many very friendly Slovenian and German villagers who seemed happy to have us here. There were some villages, and houses, marked “Privt”, meaning Private and do not enter. The majority of the country is public property, so those who do not wish to be disturbed by tourists, put up those signs. Some encounters with villagers who proclaimed that Bill Clinton is the best President American has ever had. Some of us were stung with stinging nettle that burns! The team as a whole found the trails to be quite difficult. Some single track mountain bike trails that required pushing your bike, some paved mountain roads that winded right along side mountains with steep climbs and rewarding downhills. Views of vast valleys, tiny villages tucked away at the base of the mountains and views of sheer rock faces that tower above. Trails that followed along side crystal clear, blue rivers, with locals kayaking. It is so easy to get wrapped up in this countries beauty while realizing how blessed we are to have the opportunity to hear the Word of God anytime we want. It was a truly amazing day, spent passing out literature in the Slovenian language hoping that it will touch even one of these villagers to reach out and want to learn more.
We ended day one with a few of us (the crazy ones) jumping into the river, that is 39 – 40 degrees this time of year and a trek into Bovec for dinner. We had Slovenian salad (which is lettuce, cold pinto beans and eggs. For the dressing they gave us homemade apple cider vinegar and olive oil) pizza, pork and polenta, gnocchi with meat sauce and breaded pork with boiled potatoes. After dinner we headed across the street for ice cream, then up the street to a coffee shop where we found an Internet connection and a few of us had coffee. Joe met us there and gave some of us a ride back to camp. The rest trekked back. We all crashed very soon after returning. It was a long, productive day and we were all exhausted, but went to bed feeling like we accomplished what we set out to do that day.
Day two:
We divided up into our same teams again today. We were all tired from yesterdays biking, but were up and ready for more. We split up sections of the area again and all headed out for another full day of biking. Teams were out for 4-6 hours. Stories from the front line:
Justin and Shane: Justin ate some bad milk causing some stomach issues, which caused a “one hour layover”. Joe taxied them up to Soca (some are calling this the “sissy ride”), where they biked through Trenta and ended at the Source of the Soca (Socia) river. Their ride consisted of a lots of climbing and included a 14 percent grade climb and 14 percent grade downhill. They said the place they ended, the Source of the Soca, which is where the water flows from the mountain, down into the valleys to create the Soca river, “so powerful, but the source of the power was hidden, which is just like Christ. You can see his power and a lot of the things he does, but the source of the power is hidden. It was clean and pure.” They met a man from Germany and had a good conversation with. Stopped at a Catholic church and prayed throughout it for the town and the people. In looking for a place to eat lunch, they were afraid they wouldn't find a place, but came upon a small restaurant that was open where they both ate sausage and sour kraut and spaghetti. They had Coca Cola and coffee.
Randy and Tom: They traveled to the town of Log pod Mangrtom and ended at Stmrec. They were passed by a road biker on their climb because they were climbing so slow. Their elevation gain was 740 meters and they traveled 34 kilometers in distance. They saturated both of the towns with literature and were able to see a few people who they were able to hand literature to. The language barrier was a little tough. They handed more literature to a couple at one of the forts who were riding motorcycles. They also saw lots of Catholic shrines. These are popular here and are placed along the roads. Tom says the trip today reminded him of the Tour De France with the way they bike through the mountains and come upon the little towns along side the road, then back to nothing but mountains. When they finished their day in Bovec at the coffee shop with Joe. After their coffee on the way back to camp, Joe was biking and when trying to show off his wheeley popping skills, flipped over the front of his bike but landed stealthy on his feet.
Rodney and Katrina: We started our day in the town of Bovec at the same bakery we went to on day one. Rodney had meat stuffed pizza and I had a sausage hot dog. From there we traveled to Log pod Mangrtom and up the mountain to the villages and stopped at the end of a gravel road in the mountains. We came across hunting lodges and a few houses. We left literature at all the houses and met one lady from Germany. The house belonged to her grandparents. She and her husband use it as their summer home, where they grow a garden. She shared more information with us about the mountains surrounding her house and the road we were taking the rest of the way up. The ride was a steady climb with some climbs as long as 70 feet. We stopped and drank water from a stream where the water was coming up from the ground. It was ice cold and refreshing. It was a challenging ride to the top, the kind that make granny gear seem hard, and a bumpy ride back down to the bottom. In the town Log pod Magnrtom, we stopped to pray and read some of the history of the town and enjoyed the mostly down hill road ride back to Bovec. It took us 6 and a half hours to get back to camp, where we were the first to arrive.
Jay and Jada: Traveled with Walter and Kim to Trnovo ob Soci. They started in the mountains on a single track trail and went over 3 suspension bridges. There were places they had to push their bikes because it was so steep and hills they had to ride their brakes to get down safely. They talked to a guy from Chec on one of the bridges, who took their picture. He was watching the rafters float down the river and they offered him some beef jerky. He found it spicy and they offered him water. He said “No, no BEER! Beer and beef go together.” They enjoyed the trails and the sites. Then Jay and Jada traveled to Zaga They saw an old cemetery from the 1800's and were impressed with how well kept the graves are. Each grave has it's own flower garden. The language barrier was a big hindrance for them. Especially with one lady who there were trying to teach to say “Jesus”. and then back to Bovec to para sail. They parted ways with Kim and Walter in Trnovo ob Soci where Kim and Walter finished that town, then traveled to Scenically. From there Jay and Jada went para sailing. They had a crazy drive up mountain, on a one way road, to the right was a wall of mountains, and on the other side was a huge drop off. The driver was speeding around corners and slamming on his brakes. The guides, Ivan and Joseph, were nice, and Jada and Jay offered them to join us for a burger at camp. Jada prayed for villages as she flew over the villages (they called it prayer gliding).
Kim and Walter: Picking up their story. Walter stopped a man with a rake while he was working and ended up having a long conversation with him. He told them that his children use the interment and he'd have his kids look up the site on the literature. At the very last house they visited were two men, Ivan and Rudy, who they visited with for about an hour and a half. They were Catholic and told them they put out alters all over the town, where they often stop to pray. The men had a lot of knowledgeable about the Bible, but didn't want to talk about Jesus. He was worried they were trying to take him away for the Catholic religion. He told them no one would listen to them in town or in any of the villages because of that. Then they offered them 50 liters of moonshine. They both pretended it was really good. Walter asked if Joe, the missionary, can come talk to him and the man agreed. Ivan, knew Joe because he works for the forestation. After their literature distribution, they also went para sailing. Three of the guides thought they ran over squirrels so they stopped the van and jumped out to make sure they didn't kill the squire ll! Kim got nauseated on the circles in the air, hut her guide, Ivan, was cautious of that. They sat down with the guides afterwards, since it was the end of the day. They offered Kim and Walter a beer and they shared one with them, then headed back to camp.
We all met back at camp after our grueling days of climbing. Jay, Jada, Kim and Walter went para sailing. The group grilled hamburgers and had dinner together at the camp. Joe joined us and we shared our days with him. Afterwards we discussed our activities for day 3. Some are canyoning, some are white water rafting some are hydro speeding. We finished our evening with a devotional with a reading from Mark 4:1-20, 26:29 and discussed how we are like the sowers who are sowing seeds knowing that some will fall on rocky soil but that it isn't up to us, it's up to God. How it's not our job to save everyone, only God can do that, it's our job to sow the seeds by spreading the word.
Day Three:
This morning, after breakfast and sleeping in a bit, we biked to Bovec to Joe's house. We were all a little sore from two days of mountain biking...up, up, up, up and down MOUNTAINS! : ), so we took it slow and some of us even pushed up the big hills, yes plural, from the camp to town. Okay, so if you haven't picked up on this yet, we bike and walk everywhere we go here. Our camp is on the river, so it's amazing how much speed you can pick up on a bike coming back to camp, but you certainly “feel the burn” on the way up! It's a blast, though. Back to the day, at Joe's house we prayed together and we divided up the town of Bovec into sections and we split up into different teams. Shane and I took Brdo, Rodney and Walter took Kot and Rupa, Jay and Jada took Klanc and Kaninska Vas, Justin and Randy took Dvor, Kim and Tom took Mala Vas and Ledina. Jay and Jada met a lady named Olga who invited them into her garden and gave them some flowers and asked them to come into her house, where she showed them around. She even invited them to stay the night. She knew Joe and he is going climbing Friday. Shane and I met a girl who was crying, as soon as we entered the city. We saw her with her friend and approached them before we realized she was upset. As we approached we could tell she was crying. We didn't pry, just asked if everything was okay and she said it would be soon. We gave them both literature and finished up the town. Tom met a lady named Elke, who cannot take part in the Catholic communion because her husband is an Atheist and he won't convert. He prayed with her and spent time talking with her about her history. Rodney and Walter met a man who told them he is an Atheist and refused to take the literature. Everyone had a productive morning passing out literature. The language barrier still seems to be a for us, but we are working around it.
We all had lunch in Bovec, some of us at the same bakery we've been going to this week, with Ramsey. Jay and Jada were invited to have a lunch with him, which they accepted. Others had lunch at the coffee shop. After lunch and snacking on fresh strawberries from the bakery we all went to our separate water excursions. Rodney and I went white water rafting with Kim and Tom, who were hydro speeding (which is kind of like body boarding down rapids). Our guides were Betty and Roli. While we rafted, they were hydro speeding. It was a great adventure! All the other team members went canyoning. Canyoning is a sport where you walk, slide or jump down a shallow creek, flowing down a mountain, into a canyon. Randy and Justin's guide was Primos, who shares the name with the man who translated the Bible from the original languages to Sloveinian. We all met back at camp to decide where to eat for dinner.
A German man walking past our camp after taking a kayak rescue training stopped to say “Hello”. Randy introduced himself. The man's name was Wolfgang and told Randy during their conversation that America was having so much trouble with oil that everyone should start riding bikes. Randy told him he liked riding bikes, but not everyone in the US does. Wolfgang responded “With cars you need oil to fuel it, but with a car, you just need beer and wine.” So even in camp we're having a blast meeting and interacting with everyone here.
We headed to town, hiking back up, up and up the mountain. We ate at a different restaurant then previously. We had pizza, spaghetti bolagnese, spaghetti with seafood, risotto with seafood, turkey with gravy and polenta, beef tarter, vegetable soup and trout with garlic and potatoes. We headed to the coffee shop for cappuccino and internet access.
We ended day three back at camp. After showering we settled in for our evening devotional. Tom lead us in an opening prayer and Jay lead the devotional. He opened by saying he knows we're all tired by now, because on all of the mission trips he's been on, mid-week is usually the point everyone starts losing steam. He discussed suffering for Christ and that when we get to comfortable we don't seek the comforter. He read from the Forgotten God from Francis Chan. He then asked any of us to share what are feelings or experiences have been so far and Tom shared with everyone his story Elke. Jay shared how he didn't understand how the people who live here can't believe there is a creator because they live in one of the most beautiful places in the world that He created. We closed in prayer and all headed to bed.
Day four:
We woke up and headed up to Joe's house where we all later seperated into different groups to do different things. It was supposed to be our "down time" day.
Kim and Shane went kayaking with Joe. It was Shane's first time and he enjoyed it very much. They said the water was cold! Jay, Jada and Justin went kayaking with Nejc (Nate). They had a great time, too. Walter sat on the steps of the church and read the bible. Then he and Randy went on a treasure hunt with their guide Marco. They collected bullets and a grenade from World War I and hiked into Italy. Tom hung out in town, praying and reading the bible. Rodney and I hiked up to one of the largest waterfalls here in Bovec.
For dinner, everyone, except Walter and Randy, ate at a resturant closer to our camp. We enjoyed catching up with each other after our days spent doing different things and meeting different guides. All of the interactions went well and Justin got a friend request on facebook from his canyoning guide. That's very exciting news for the team because it means that there is potential to build a lasting relationship with a person here who needs the Lord. We had one of the better meals we've had here and soaked up the view of the mountains surrounding us. Most of us had the ravioli. Some with meat sauce and Rodney had his with gargonzola sauce. It was not cheese filled ravioli, it tasted more like it was potato stuffed, but it was extremely tasty. I had a tomato salad with cheese, which was slicec tomatos on a plate of olive oil and some spices, topped with sheep cheese (YUM!) and parmesan. Kim ordered a tomato salad, but hers was a bowl full of tomatos and onions : ) She also had a meat plate that she said was very good. Jay had spaghetti. It ends up that Walter, Randy and Marco were at the same resturaunt and we didn't know it. They were inside and we were outside. They all shared a pizza. Marco had invited them to eat with him there.
Afterwards, Jay and Jada headed back to Joe's to get some more ice for our cooler and everyone else headed back down to camp for Rodney's devotion. We all showered and settled in with our headlamps and bibles. Rodney's devotion was Luke 5:1-11, John 21:1-8 and 15-22. In summary it was Peter, James and John owned a fishing business, they had aguably their best day of work ever, but they gave it all up to follow Christ. Their best days of fishing were the days when they fished when and where Jesus told them to. Finally, between Peter and John, everyone has different gifts and roles in the body of Christ, but we all have the same calling, at that is to follow Him. We said good night and headed to bed.
Day Five:
Blaz, our rock climbing guide, was taking a train as far as he could from Ljubljana then hitchhiking the rest of the way to Bovec. Joe informed us that hitchhiking was a perfectly normal means of transportation here. He also had already told us, yesterday, that we would need to decide which three people were going to bike to the climbing place. Rodney, Randy and Tom elected to bike. Hitchhiking was another option, since it's safe and normal here, and Jay, Kim and Walter were considering doing this. A great argument for hitchhiking was that it could potentially make for a great winessing opportunity. After some discussion and consideration, biking was chosen as the other means of transportation. So, we headed out from camp, some biking to the climbing area and the rest of us biking up to Joe's to leave by vehicle.
We split up after we got into town and all got some lunch to take with us, since we'd be climbing all day. We met at Joe's where Blaz, a 20 something year old attending university in Ljubljana, met us a little bit later. We took two vehicles. Jay, Jada rode with Blaz and the rest of us rode with Joe. It was a pretty short drive for us and the bikers were already there when we arrived. We hiked a short distance to the rock and sat for a few minutes to eat a bite before starting our climbs. Blaz set up the first rope as a lead climber. This means, he climbs while attaching the rope to the rock using preset anchors. Joe belayed him as we all watched him scale the wall, making it looked so simple. Justin, and a few others, made their way to the opposite side of the wall to set up a couple of other routes. Justin was the lead climber for those set ups.
So, what you need to know about some of the religious beliefs in Slovenia is that some of them believe that we are all "one with the earth" and there is no God. They don't judge us for believing, they feel we all have a right to believe how we want. Kind of "you do your thing, I'll do mine." Our guide Blaz, is one of those believers. We prayed before we started the climb, thanking God for the day and praying that he would continue to work on the hearts of the people. Blaz stood with us, but did not pray. He was respectful of our time with the Lord. We all climbed at least once and some several times. We enjoyed some fresh cherries, grapes, bread and sheep cheese together. *Can I just interject that I LOVE cheese. My new favorite is sheep cheese. It's a slightly mild flavored, smooth, creamy and totally delicious cheese! Okay, sorry, back to the story : )* We spent the entire morning and afternoon there, climbing and fellowshiping with each other. It was a beautiful way to spend the day. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining down on us, there was a nice cool breeze and we were in a rather shady area where we could relax and enjoy our surroundings. After everyone had their fill of climbing, we made our way back down the trail and to our vehicles. Joe was explaining to us about the hay bail that the farmers across the street had in their fields. He asked if any of us had our "Got questions" cards with us. We gave him one and he headed down to talk with the farmer and his family. He made his way back accross the street and we all decided to meet at the resturant where we had eaten the night before. We invited Blaz to meet us there, too.
On the way back into town, we passed Tom, Randy and Rodney on their bikes and Rodney even gave Kim a high five as we drove past. We made it back to Joe's and split up again. Shane, Justin, Walter and I went to the souvier shop in town to do a little shopping. I think the others stayed at Joe's. Some of us went to a different coffee shop in town because our favorite one now faced the sun. The boys enjoyed their typical cappuccino and espresso shot, while I had some tasty icecream. It was a nice treat after a long day of climbing. We snapped some photos, paid our tab and made our way to the resturant. We met up with everyone else, so we all biked there together. Joe met us there a little later, and Blaz never joined us. We would have all liked to spend more time getting to know him. We spent the evening enjoying our dinner and each others company. We headed back to camp for Walter's devotion. Since this was our last night at camp, we all started packing up, but had a set time for devotion. We joined Walter in the center of camp, around our camp tables, where we had all our meetings. He discussed how two are better than one, form the book of:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (King James Version)
9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Day six (Race day):
We woke up, all slightly more tired than usual. A group of people had moved in next to us late in the night and stayed awake until 2:00 a.m. We continued to pack our things and headed out for another climb into Bovec. We all signed up to participate in the Bovec Trek. Most of us signed up for the 10K. Walter and Kim signed up to do the Epic, or the 40K. They tried all week to convince us all the join them, with no avail. We made our way to race check in and met Joe there. Race start was at 9:00 a.m. The night before, at dinner, Jay checked his email and found the pre-race letter to be a little more intense than we had planned for. We interpretted it as saying we all needed a compass, an emergency blanket, a whistle and a light. Joe later told us those were "recommended" gear and not "mandatory". We had a tiny scare that we may not be able to participate, but the race director said "No" for us to just come! So at race check in, we all received a map and a passport. The passports were laminated cards that we hung around our necks. The 10K had only 5 checkpoints to punch. We contemplated staying together as the navigation may be tricky. We had learned already, from being here a week, that the trails markers a slightly difficult to read.
As the race began, we decided not to all stay together and broke up into smaller teams. Justin, Shane and Rodney. Jay and Jada. Randy and myself. Of course, Walter and Kim were sticking together for their long race. The boys were in race mode as were Jay and Jada. Randy and I started off with a faster paced hike and ended that way. We decided to make it a prayer walking race, and that's exactly what we did. I have to say, that I truly enjoyed the pace and the company. It was quite a grueling hike up the steep mountain. After quite a while of climbing, we had mostly downhills left. Check point one was near a water trough and a small home. This is where the 10K racers took a left and the 40K racers continued climbing up the mountain. It was also the last place to get water, so as Randy and I left, we saw Walter and Kim filling up their packs. Check point two was down a pretty steel hill, next to a sparkling, clear, calm pool of water created by springs of small, beautifully flowing waterfalls. We stopped to snap a quick photo and made our way back up the hill. Check point three was along the trail. Check point four was on the trail past the resivoir, which was a really neat place to see. We walked along a trail around it. It was a huge tank full of clear water used for storing clean water. Check point five was the last, it was in town at the entrace of the ski lift. We made our way to the finish line where the others were waiting. We heard how Joe finished first, and the boys all sprinted to the finish line and finished seconds apart and how Jay and Jada were only a few minutes behind them. We all made our way back down to camp for a shower. Joe met us down there with his van and trailer so we could load up everything. We packed up Kim and Walter's things for them, since they would be racing awhile. Shane, Justin and I went down to the river one last time before showering to soak our soar legs in the cold, rushing water. It was refreshing! We snapped a few last photos and headed back up to camp. Jada did the same thing later.
We made our way back up the winding, mountainous road one last time from camp to town. All of us, sad to leave, but ready to be home. Some of us met at the coffee shop for cappaccino and sandwiches. Others went to the race finish line where lunch was being served at 3:00. It wasn't quite that time yet and we were hungry : ) Randy joined us to let us know that Natasha, who was going to be driving some of us into town, was going to be early. We decided who would ride with her, finished up our snacks and headed to join everyone else. By the time we arrived, they were serving lunch, so we ate again. They served spaghetti and potatoes with fresh cheese. As we finished up our lunch, Joe told us the news about Walter and Kim. They arrived at the second check point an hour behind the next to last team, so they told them to head back, because they wouldn't be able to finish. We watched them run in and chatted with them about it. Kim wrote a blog about their experience. We enjoyed some music from a local act. The band consisted of a young boy playing a acordian and an older gentleman playing a make shift base. It was built out of a stick, an upside down bucket on a board and a piece of rope. It was quite enjoyable. Some of our team members won awards and the race director presented Randy with a large book of photos of the Alps throughout Europe. It was an amazing way to end an incredble journey.
We made our way back to Joe's, where Natasha later arrived. We all left at the same time and headed to the hotel in Ljulana. Rodney, Justin and Kim rode with Natasha. They were unable to get onto the major highway, and had to travel through villages the entire way. In Slovenia, you have to have a pass to drive on the highway and she didn't have one. The rest of us rode with Joe. We traveled through villages most of the way, but got onto the highway later. We all admired the mountains, scenery and conversations with Joe for the last time. With Joe, we were always learning things about the places we traveled through. We met at the hotel near the airport, checked in and said our goodbyes to Joe and Natasha. We had our final dinner together at the hotel buffet and remeniced about the trip. Randy took time to thank us all, since the morning would be hectic. We all said our goodnights and headed to sleep in real beds rather than our therma rests and sleeping bags.
Departure:
In the morning, we met at 5:40 a.m SHARP, as instructed by Randy, and loaded into a bus that transported us to the airport. We checked in, checked our luggage, made it through security and headed to our gate. As we approached the gate, we heard a lady over the load speaker call for Shane to go to the information desk. After being gone for awhile, he returned telling us about his encounter with security. They had found the bullets that some people took as souvenirs. The bullets that Randy and Walter found on their treasure hunt. These were OLD, rusted bullets from World War I, but lead to tons of questioning and were removed from his possession. The guards told him he wouldn't be able to get in the United States with him. Sounded intimidating! There wasn't much time before the plane left, so we didn't have to wait around long. We flew into Munic, Germany on a 45 minute flight. Once at the gate in Munic, we grabbed something to eat and waited for the plane. We returned any euros we had left, along with all of our receipts from the trip, to Randy. We waited again for the plane, but not long. This would be our longest flight. Ten hours and 45 minutes to Atlanta. It was an uneventful flight, were most of us slept some and watched lots of movies. As soon as we got off the plane, we could feel the Atlanta heat! A far cry from what were had experienced in Slovenia. We knew we were back in the United States. South, for that matter. We made our way through customs and to baggage claim where we all said our goodbyes. We had different flights. Rodney, Justin, Shane and I would be heading to Shreveport. Randy, Jada, Jay and Walter heading to Monroe. Tom was off to North Carolina and Kim to Dallas. I got a little choked up saying goodbye to my new friends. We experienced such an indescribable trip to a country more beautiful than pictures can show. We prayed together, suffered together, served together and lived together for a week. A week full of memories that will last a lifetime. We will all continue to pray, and ask that you do as well, that God will give Grace to the people of Slovenia and they can come to know Him as we do.
We are looking forward to the next ADVENTURE WITH A PURPOSE!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Next race... Slovenia
Our next big adventure lies thousands upon thousands of miles away in a small town called Bovec in a small country just north of Italy called Slovenia. We are thoroughly excited about this race as this is one of our main "Adventures with a Purpose" through our partners Extreme Missionary Adventures.
There are several different distances to chose from and while this is a "trail run" or better a mountain run, I will probably be walking a good chunk of this event. I have prayed and now humbly I will accept humility from these mountains that we are about to face. Bovec is at the base of the Julian Alps in eastern Europe and we will be working the week before with an IMB missionary there who has an incredible calling on his life from our Creator.
You can check out more about this event and probably even track us on the spot tracker. http://www.treking.si/en/bovec-trek-race-2010/info.html
You should join us next time!
And if you want to read more about what God is doing through XMA stay tuned to my other blog.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Team SteelSports -- Big Chill 2010 Race Report by: Rodney
Mystery Event:
When we boarded the bus at 7:55 am, the 24-hour teams were taken to McKinney Roughs Nature Park (http://www.lcra.org/parks/developed_parks/mckinney_roughs.html) While on the bus, teams had to complete an 18 question trivia quiz. The team with the most correct answers would start the race, followed by the next team about a minute behind, an so on. Team Superbad was first and to our surprise, we were second :)
We ran the trails with full packs, paddles and PFDs and picked up three checkpoints, on our way to the boat start. The boats were on the shore of the river at Hyatt Lost Pines Resort (http://www.lostpines.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp ). Nice place, from what I recall.
Paddle 1:
Lorinda and I paddled together and Justin and Chris paddled. Before this race, we have had a tough time getting used to the fast, new kayaks we purchased. Lorinda showed us some things we could do to improve our paddling and stability and BOY did it help! We were much more stable and secure in our boats with no fear. We knocked out the 20 mile paddle in about 3.5 hours. Last year, the 27 mile paddle took us 8-9 hours. We finished the paddle in Bastrop and ran back on the roads to the TA for the next leg.
There were a couple of strainers that almost knocked us out and one big rapid section that turned the stern of our boat around, but for the most part, it was a nice paddle.
Mountain Bike 1:
After transition, we headed out on the bikes to get seven CPs. The route started with riding the NorthShore trail at the park and then getting the first CP at North Shore park. We then headed out on the road FM 1441. We had a nice pace line going here and made good time. We crossed Hwy 21 and continued on an old road into Bastrop State Park (mixed in with some private land on the sides).
The CPs were not difficult to find, but some were off of dirt roads and/or utility lines. Most dirt roads are not on maps, so you take them at your own risk that they may or may not end up where you want them to. This brings us to the only real problem we had in the race. After getting CP 8 off of a pipeline in a ditch, we needed to get to CP 9, which was South of us. On the North side of CP 8, we noticed an old road that was running in the direction we needed, so we took it. After about 40 minutes of chasing various "trails" and hitting dead ends, we went back to CP 8 to take a LONG pipeline ride out of the way to hit a paved road that would take us back to the park. As we hit the pipeline and started heading Southeast, we noticed ANOTHER dirt trail/road that had been freshly bull-dozed. We decided to try it, instead of the long way back. We passed a HART team going the opposite direction and quickly confirmed between teams that we were all 24-hour racers. Uh-Oh. Is this going to be another dead end? Luckily, we kept riding and watching our direction. It ended up taking us to where we needed to go. Justin commented how dumb we were for not noticing that THIS was the path we came OFF of to hit CP 8. Why didn't we notice it continued past the pipeline after getting CP 8?!?!?!
We started seeing more teams around us and I think we all became a little frustrated that we had wasted so much time and lost momentum (more on this later in "The Big Transition" section).
Anyway, we wasted nearly an hour trying to "save" time. We lost a little more time trying to avoid using private land to get to CP 9 (if I remember correctly). The TOPO map only showed one old, dirt road leading to CP 9 area, but it was gated on the way with a private land sign. We bushwhacked and crossed a creek (carrying/passing bikes to each other) along side the land, but ended up hitting a fence again. Ugh! We decided to head back up the dirt road and see if we saw a road heading left/West. We did! We wasted about 10 minutes, or so doing this, but when we found a road (not on the map) that was going in the right direction, we started making good time again.
We got CP 9 on a pond and headed down more dirt roads to an old barn. There we saw LazyManRunning, a two-man team that we had been around all day. Nice guys, so it was good to see them again. As they were getting ready to bike back out they said, there's no barn around here (as they were standing in front of the barn). That's one of the things I love about adventure racing.
From there, we hit a power line and were riding along with LazyManRunning for a while. We then came to a gate that blocked some of the power line. This could lead you to Hwy 21, from where you could continue on to CP 11. OR, you could ride the park fence line, which was basically a fire lane bull-dozed a while back. We decided to trust the fence line. I think LazyMan decided to go the other way, since we didn't see them anymore. While this route was pretty hilly, it took is right to the CP we needed. From there, we just crossed the Hwy, and headed back to TA.
Big Transition:
Okay, here is where something happed that usually doesn't happen. I thought it was just me, but Katrina said our whole team was DOWN. All of us usually take things in stride and push on, but this was different. I think it was obvious to Kip, too (he was volunteering for the race, but usually races with Vignette), because he and Katrina started really pouring on the encouragement by telling us how great we were doing and that we were in 4th place. They also said we were pretty far ahead of the other teams behind us. At first, I thought they were just saying we were doing well, but they really seemed to believe it, so we felt a little better :)
So what was the deal?? We usually don't get too bummed about messing up, because 1)it's a long race and 2) that happens all the time in adventure racing. On the way home, I think Katrina diagnosed the issue perfectly. She said she thought we were down, because of our history with the Big Chill. Ah, that makes sense.
This was our 3rd year to race in the Big Chill. For various reasons, we have been unable to finish the race, meaning, we did not collect all of the CPs. While you CAN officially finish a race by collecting at least one CP on each leg, we are not a team that likes to skip CPs.
This year, we really thought we could collect all the CPs. After having that dirt road issue, I think the harbinger of not finishing was whispering in the back of our minds again. None of us liked that, so I think were were just keeping our mouths shut while dealing with that negativity, hoping it would go away and we would not spread it to the rest of the team.
Trek:
The next leg was a pretty short trek inside the South Shore park. We ran a little, but walked much of it as we got these CPs and headed back.
Paddle:
A short, one CP paddle in rented Canoes on Lake Bastrop. No problem, but we did see a bunch of teams going out as we were coming in. At this time, I started feeling really sick! Not in a "I'm going to quit" way, but in a "I wonder when I'm going to throw up" way. I asked Justin if he would handle the nav on this leg and I would try to recover. I took a little extra time in TA to eat and drink a little.
Bike:
This bike section was an Urban Bike Orienteering course. I started feeling much better about 3 miles into the bike and biking around Bastrop to collect CPs was actually very cool. Justin got us to all the CPs with no problem and we hustled back to the TA. Oh, Justin also picked a route that had very few climbs, so I was able to recover very nicely. Thanks, Justin!
Trek:
Now for the last leg! We had a long leg that took the two top teams 3 hours complete. We still had plenty of time, before the race cutoff, so we were feeling pretty good about achieving our goal. Chris started feeling a little sick now, so I recommended some things I did in the last TA that helped me.
Heading out on the last leg, we knew we would probably walk most of it, so we told Katrina it would probably take us 5 hours. Justin did the nav on this leg and I mostly tagged along and threw in my two cents when he asked. He took us straight to most of the CPs, but the last two were in very difficult draws. The last two CPs were in draws that were tricky to read. Kind of clover-leafed, so when you are in them, it's hard to know 100% that you are in the right one.
The night was perfect for racing. The bushwhacking at Bastrop State Park is really not bad at all. It was just a nice last leg; however, the road walking part always seems to go on forever there.
Finished:
We finally did it! Not our first 24-hour race to finish and will not be our last, but this was the one that kept frustrating us. Not anymore! We had a good time together and pushed ourselves. Chris, Justin and I really enjoyed racing with Lorinda for the first time too. She was a great teammate and contributed tons to our success.
Thank you AGAIN to my wonderful wife for letting me play in the woods and for helping the whole team. I would list all of the things you do for us before, during and after the race, but the people who read this would ask why you married me. I love you!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Big Chill 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Countdown to the Big Chill 2010!
Chris, Justin and I are excited to welcome Lorinda Putter to the team for this race! We've never raced with her, but did some training together and we think she's going to be a great addition :) We will miss Lesley, but she's in her first year of residency after finishing medical school. You can imagine how little time she has!
We plan to have the SPOT tracker running during the race and Katrina will be blogging, so feel free to follow along!
Race site and info: http://www.toocoolracing.com/bastrop2.html
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