Our Article

After exchanging e-mails with the reporter who wrote our story, I learned that our article hasn't made it to the web because certain individuals were on vacation last week. Now that it's been brought to their attention the situation should be rectified.

Camping at Otter Creek

What a fantastic experience! To Craig's great pleasure we played 36 holes of disc golf with the youth who quickly were throwing the discs with great power and accuracy (well most of the time!). At night we told terrible ghost stories around the fire, played Mafia, went hiking in the dark and ate way too many marshmallows. The youth continue to impress with their maturity, intelligence, and wit. We definitely have to repeat this excursion but for a longer duration next time.

Another Camping Trip

In addition to collecting grease, Craig & I are youth leaders at our church. That concept still makes me chuckle but I suppose stranger things have happened although I'm at a loss to actually name anything more bizarre. I'm convinced that various anonymous members of the church were somewhat envious of our leisurely childfree lifestyle and decided to rectify the apparent injustice. Fortunately, the youth who attend our church are beyond remarkable who bear no resemblance to the teenagers Craig and I were many years ago. For the past year they've been suggesting the idea of a camp-out - well actually one of them put forth the idea of a spring break excursion and we countered by proposing an overnight camping trip to Otter Creek Park.

After loading up our cars at the church, saying good-bye to parents, and making sure everyone possessed each other's cell numbers, we were off on our grand adventure. Before we escaped Jefferson County, Craig signaled that he was exiting the highway and pulled into a gas station. Seems the Jetta was loosing power while burning oil and he thought it would be wise to replace the fuel filter. While everyone else went into the convenience store to purchase wholesome, nutritional snacks, Craig put on his leather gloves and exchanged the clogged filter for the spare we keep in the car. Unfortunately, whenever the oil filter is changed air (I suspect) enters the fuel line and the car's performance is compromised for a period of time. This time there was no debate as to whether the car "stalled" or "coasted" for the Jetta simply stopped dead when the traffic light turned green causing our caravan to sit for several minutes with hazard lights flashing. As in past situations, once the car is mobile again it only takes a few minutes for everything to return to normal, and the remainder of our trip was wonderfully uneventful. Nevertheless, I suspect there is a better system for changing oil filters and plan to visit the forum at Greasecar for advice.

We're Famous

Today is the day our article is being published in the Louisville Courier Journal. This morning as I'm rushing around the house, discombobulated and behind schedule as usual, it occurs to me that I should stop what I'm doing and search our driveway for the latest edition of the paper. I'm still a few months away from a second Lasik procedure so my vision is less than optimal, but I locate a plastic newspaper bag filled with paper outside our house. Craig (poor guy) is still enjoying some slumber until I jump on the bed in an effort to share my enthusiasm and empty the plastic bag's contents onto the comforter. All too quickly it becomes apparent that what I've brought into the home is not a newspaper but a rather large collection of store circulars which cover our bed. Now I'm really late for work in addition to being supremely disappointed. Fortunately, Craig is a great guy - not to mention a pleasant morning person - and he quickly runs to the local convenience store where he purchases all of their available newspapers. Unfortunately, the Courier-Journal hasn't placed our article on their website yet but my completely biased opinion is that we make a really cute couple.

Pictures

Last week we met with the reporter who interviewed us for an article in the local paper. Tonight Dave the photographer came to take pictures of us, the homemade fuel station and our grease mobile. Of course we discussed the merits of WVO along with some of the reasons we decided to pursue alternatives to the status quo. Fortunately there weren't any random pieces of mushroom affixed to my teeth during our photo shoot.

Natural Bridge

This morning while I was packing our belongings Craig filled up the car with the extra oil we brought (and Mark & John changed their flat tire). That's our three-room tent in the background. For lunch we stopped at the fabled Miguel's for hawaiian pizza before heading to Natural Bridge, a 65 ft high natural sandstone arch. In consideration of the heat as well as our aging bodies we decided to ride the sky lift up to the bridge and then hike one of the trails down the hill.

The view from Natural Bridge was phenomenal but I was somewhat worried that Craig would trip over his feet, stumble and fall right off the edge. He of course didn't share my paranoia.

The hike back to our grease mobile was "all downhill", with a welcome breeze and easy paths.

It's a good thing our camera isn't equipped with smell-o-vision because we were both rather rank by this point in the journey.

On our way back home we stopped in Lexington to eat dinner and visit with Shannon, Jason and Aidan at my favorite co-op. I thought it might be fun for Aidan to pour vegetable oil into our fuel tank but had second thoughts when I envisioned him pouring various liquids into his parents' vehicles. Perhaps when he's a few years older.

Camping at Red River Gorge

Every Labor Day Weekend our church schedules a camping trip to a private residence near Red River Gorge. Thank goodness for the storage capacity of the Jetta Wagon for we packed an awful lot of stuff for a two day trip. Of course in addition to our tent, food, clothes and reading material, we brought along our funnel and an extra 5 gallons of WVO. We spent Sunday afternoon hiking in the gorge while I regaled everyone with tales of survival and potential mishaps garnered from Deep Survival. On our way back to camp we drove through the Nada Tunnel which measures 13'x12'x900' and is open to one-lane of traffic.