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A Vacuum Powered Goat and More!

UP-DATE: A.R.M. 4000 XL Video below… Finally time for an update on our adventures! Bloggin’ on the train… The Amtrak ride was fun. There will be some more pictures and video later, but overall it was a good trip. It was relaxing, and fun to watch the scenery. The bumpiness was ok, though walking was sometimes rough, it was fine while sitting/sleeping. The bed was NOT very nice, planning a chiropractic visit upon my return! :) But, on the bright side, I found my retirement home… This is where I will retire…. if there is Internet, of course. 37 hours later, we arrived in Spokane. Contrary to online reviews, we arrived right on time… exept that ‘on time’ was 2:40am (4:40am Chicago time) so that added to an already rough night. We were greeted by Darth Vader, and Daniel Bigler. Our illuminated transport. The picture is blurry to capture the lights underneath that were also under the seats inside, the children’s pastor’s ministry vehicle. (see I’m not the only CP with a cool car to interest kids!) Non-blurry pictures coming in photo gallery. WOWIE! Fancy Schmancy! They surprised us by putting us up in the fanciest downtown hotel called The…

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Arrived in Spokane…

Rich Stafford anyone? We have arrived in Spokane WA after a looooong but fun train ride (pics to come, this is a Palm post). In addition to our visit at Shiloh Baptist, we are hoping to track down a college friend, Rich Stafford, who went to MBI with me and stood up in my wedding, but I’ve lost his contact info. Anyone know Rich and Donna Stafford? Let me know!!!! More later! Rich has been found! Check out his website: www.staffordstudios.com He now lives in Portland, and we are planning to see him NEXT WEEK! THANKS to those of you who helped, and especially to Pastor Rick who tracked his info down.

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On the Road Again, er, TRACKS

Or should it be ‘trackin’ with the Bastians? Well, we are off on the next phase of our sabbatical… I stopped by the office to grab a few things and was SHOCKED to see a new sign on my office door! Soon we were at the station… Sara booked us a huge comfortable room… With views out BOTH sides of the train! Soon we were leaving Chicago behind… We went from tall building to farmland within 40 minutes… I’m not sure how fast this train is, but it seems FAST – my guess at least 80mph if not overa 100 just trying to imagine a car going this fast… the train looks very old and worn, but is comfortable, and the ride isn’t too bumpy… we’ll see how it goes. Yes, I am bloggin’ from the train via my trusty cell phone which gets my laptop online. I was curious if I would get this post posted and not lose my connection, so far so good. Keep in touch! Post a comment below and say hi! Good Bye Chicago, be back in a few weeks!

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1000 MILES AND COUNTING!!

1000 MILES passed! Yes, on the road today we passed the ‘1000 mile mark’ on this sabbatical. Since there was no out-doing getting to see George Lucas, we decided to hit the road early and get home – much to do to prepare for this next phase of the Sabbatical Adventures – we leave on the train tomorrow. Laundry is going now and we are trying to figure out how to best pack for a 20+ day trip that includes train, plane and automobile!The highlight of the day was finding ourselves in the home stretch just around church-getting-out-time so we decided to drop by Culvers and see if any church folks would be there… Fun to get to see some of my kids before hitting the road again… Please pray for us as we travel – for safety, for schedule timing, for times to relax and refresh, to get all the reading done I want to do, and that we will find opportunities to minister to others as we travel. Next stop…. Spokane Washington via Amtrak! (or pray for no brake problems on our Amtrak train!!!)If you haven’t seen the online release of my novel, I’d love to have you…

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Star Wars Photo Gallery LIVE

Karl’s Star Wars Celebration Photo Gallery is LIVE with 8 pages!!There are 8 PAGES of pictures (click on thumbnails for larger images). There are a LOT of pictures (over 300) – most have been edited/cropped and the junk ones removed, but just put them all there so you can get a ‘feel’ for the event. A bunch of ’em have stories behind them… but you’ll just have to guess for now and ask later. There is no ‘order’ but in general they are in the order in which I took them over the whole event. (Though somehow the last picture became the first – go figure – when I did the automatic webpage export.) ENJOY!

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