November 15 and then some....

Hard to believe it has been 3.5 months since we left Alaska/California. The time has flown by and things have changed.

Tammy is now only 3.5 weeks(something about 3.5, huh) away from delivery of Kaci Lee and we are all excited. Her new room, ur corner, is almost done. Yes, our new little girl will not have her own room, instead she will have her own corner of our room. You see our little 2 bedroom, plus Kirkland's closed in porch that makes 3 bedrooms, is way too small now. Our house is up for sale, any takers(124 Poinsett Ave, 29671) just email or comment on the blog.

The time has changed here in SC and so darkness is upon us as soon as 5pm now. I can only imagine how our friends up in Alaska feel with darkness closing in on them virtually all day. I get depressed when the time changes here and it gets dark so early, no way I could live up there in the winter. All though a few days in the snow would be fun!

Yes, we did see Sarah Palin while in Alaska, although I must admit she was known as only the Governor of Alaska on July 4 when we heard her speak in Fairbanks. Too bad we did not know what the future would hold or otherwise I would have listened and not strolled around the park to find the worse tasting Caribou sandwich I have ever eaten.

I miss a'lot of Alaska and our family talks about our adventure often. We also miss the Becks and the times we shared with them.

I keep up with a'lot of the players, staff and families through Facebook and have enjoyed continuing the friendships that were created in what seems like a land so far away.

Well, enough for now...plus, I don't think anyone will actually read this since I stopped blogging back in August. I caught the "bug" to blog one more time when Travis sent me his uncompleted blog of his trip to visit with us.

Oh well, should you read this check back soon for some photos and videos that I will add later.

Mystery is over.....

Well, it took almost two months but the mystery is over. While at the Dodger game on August 3 we sat behind this guy that kept getting his photo taken with other fans......I talked with him throughout the game and he introduced himself as Bill.

He was a unique guy....rode his bike to the stadium, still had his bike helmet on until he sat in his seat, signed autographs, took photos with fans and even had a Cornell Bike Team shirt on. Very knowledgeable as well about the game and other things.

It was driving me crazy as we seemed to be the only people in the area that did not know who he was. In fact, as we were leaving the game this other fan came up to him and asked him to sign his ticket. The other man told Bill that "his son would not believe I had a chance to meet you".

Well, later that night and numerous days since then I have searched the internet trying to find out who "Bill" is..........no luck and I gave it up for never knowing who he really is until........

Travis(cousin) emails me last night and says he thinks he has figured out who Bill is. Travis sent me a link on Bill and I looked up the photos and BINGO!!!! We have a winner......Bill was(is) Bill Nye, the science guy.

Amazing, now I can rest.....

Check this link out for our photo of Bill Nye and what Travis had to go on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27419743@N05/2738233465/

Sweet Tea!!!!

Our final stop was in Atlanta as we arrived at the airport around 10:15pm Monday night. A quick nap at the local Holiday Inn and we were back on the road Tuesday morning heading home.

The photo on the left shows our last meal on our trip. For those following along the way, you may remember our last meal prior to starting our trip back in June was at the Cheesecake Factory in Atlanta. This time we kept it simple and hit the local Chick-fil-A. It was no ordinary Chick-fil-A though, it was the original. The first one, established in 1946 in Hapeville, Georgia is located right near the Atlanta Airport. I would highly recommend a stop next time you are there. It is actually a Dwarf House original as well and features the "new" style Chick-fil-A, but still has the old, original style complete with menu style orders. I had grits, eggs and a huge slab of Chick-fil-A chicken. The biscuits were good as well, but the highlight was my big glass of pure southern sweet tea!!

We made it home to Poinsett Avenue around 3:00pm. We already miss our new friends from the Alaska trip, but it was good to be back home as well. Many thanks to our families as they made our trip back in even better with some home improvements, cleaning and food waiting on us. Dexter was a bit sluggish from the heat and the fact that he is now closing in on 80 in dog years. He soon warmed up and gave Kaylee a big sloppy kiss.

Kirkland was glad to be home and see everyone. He has even started scheduling his next fishing trip. Kaylee was real excited to be back and has enjoyed just "being home".

Tammy is recovering from the trip, she picked up a late head cold the last day of the trip and is resting. As for me, I am anxious to get started with the school year and the new season that awaits.

The trip was great for all of us. We met new people, experienced life in other parts of the world(even though Alaska is a state, it seems like a different world), and we were all challenged and stretched in different ways.

Who knows, we may soon end up back in Alaska or California one day.

A BIG thank you to all that have read, prayed, and followed our trip along the way. We could not have done it without you. I hope you have enjoyed the blog and I hope I provided a small insight to our summer. There is no way I could have accurately portrayed everything. It was that big of a summer and we enjoyed it.

This blog thing is contagious and who knows.....I may keep posting. Not that anyone would really have an interest, but check back soon for more updates. We do have kind of a big deal arriving in December and we are all excited about that. By the way, we are taking names at this time. Any suggestions....just send away.

Until next time..............................

LA.......

Today(Sunday) was an early game at Dodger Stadium. We grabbed a quick McD's breakfast and headed out to the 101 for the Dodgers/D-Backs.

Once we got to the field it was off to Autograph Alley to see some of the players I grew up watching. We met Bobby Castillo, Jerry Reuss, Bill Madlock, Kenny Landreaux, Mike Davis and Bob Welch. Once we were out in CF on the warning track I noticed Bob Welch sneaking a peak at his old stomping grounds. Kirkland and I hurried over and asked if we could get his photo. He was very nice to oblige and Kirk got his photo snapped with a former Rookie of the Year in Bob Welch.

The game was a good one, Dodgers won and we even saw Manny go yard, along with a double. Easy to say he is a fan favorite. I am still seeing how he fits in. So far so good, hitting about .700 in 15 or so at bats.

Well, it's off to bed now. We have one more night here in LA before we leave tomorrow(Monday) for our flight to Atlanta and then home on Tuesday.

I have uploaded a few more photos. Click here to view and check back soon for some more.

A Long Night.......

We finally made it..........to LA that is. After a very long day/night that started Friday morning at 11am and ended just around noon today(Saturday). It has been a long time since I have pulled an all-nighter, actually back in college finishing a final paper.

Kirkland, Kaylee and Tammy are actually taking a quick "power" nap right now as I type at 2:46pm local time. I am wired, after all, it has been an unbelievable two months and we are in Los Angeles right now and only minutes from Dodger Stadium. Actually, we are more like an hour or more away. We quickly learned you avoid the 405(San Diego Fwy) as much as possible.

After their quick nap we are going to drive down to Malibu, Santa Barbara and then thru Beverly Hills. Hopefully, some good photos will follow, although the smog is everything you have heard it was. Hardly a chance to take a good aerial or long range photo, way too much smog.

The flights were good, no turbulence at all. We left Anchorage early this morning(Saturday) at 1:55am and got in to San Fran around 7:30am. We picked up our bags and jetted back to the Southwestern terminal for a 9:10am flight to Los Angeles. Yes, it has been a long night. We spent six hours in the Anchorage airport because our bus driver had another last minute duty to fulfill. No worries, we all shared some good memories of a great summer.

It was tough seeing the guys take off in San Fran. I know some will stay in touch and I will perhaps even see some of them one day somewhere else across the country. They all left....back to Oregon, Texas, Penn., San Diego, Alabama, NC, Illinois, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida and even Georgia. I wish them all the best this upcoming year and hope they stand tall in all that they learned and were challenged with this summer. Some left stronger in the Christian walk and one even left a brand new believer as of last week. The wins were few, but the memories, decisions and life lessons were numerous and will never fade.

I will try and update after our tour of LA tonight. Can't make any promises though. I am going to grab a quick "power" nap before we take off as well. Tonight will be a good sleep!

Quick note......the guys and Kirkland played the "dollar man" trick again in the airport. One guy actually dove for the dollar bill on the floor. Check some of the earlier posts to see the "dollar man" in action. I might link it next time, too sleepy now.

Last night in the last frontier..........

Wow, seems like just yesterday we were boarding the plane in Atlanta leaving for sunny California. Now we will be boarding our Alaska Airlines flight early Saturday morning at 1:30am leaving for San Francisco.

Time sure does fly when you are having fun and this has been a great trip.

Our last game(s) was scheduled for today(Thursday) but the trip would not be complete without another rainout and that is what we got tonight. The game we were tied with the league leading Pilots could not be finished and our last regular season game was cancelled as well. The Chena River, the one that runs thru Fairbanks, is actually coming out of the banks in some areas. The whole state, yes the whole state, is actually under a flood warning. We are living history here during the summer of 2008 in Alaska.

The next few days will be a whirlwind and I will try and update photos and the blog as often as possible. For those following our travel here goes:

**All times are local**

Friday 11am: Depart for Anchorage from Fairbanks via bus/vans
Friday 6pm: Arrive in Anchorage
Saturday 1:30am: Fly(Alaska Airlines) out of Anchorage to San Fran(Yes, we will be in the airport for close to 7hrs)
Saturday 7:30am: Arrive in San Fran
Saturday 9:10am: Fly(Southwest) our of San Fran to Los Angeles(LAX)
Saturday 10:40am: Arrive in LA
Saturday spend the rest of day sightseeing in LA, Malibu, Santa Barbara, etc.
Sunday 1:10pm: First pitch in Dodger Stadium!!
Sunday evening spent in Woodland Hills, CA
Monday 1:30pm: Fly out of LAX(Delta) to Atlanta arriving local time in ATL around 9:50pm
Monday night spent in Atl then drive back to SC on Tuesday morning
Tuesday/Wednesday will spent adjusting to hot, humid weather and darkness for the first time in two months.

Things we are looking forward to back home:
Seeing family, friends and Dexter
Secona
Homecooked meals
A dollar menu that is actually a dollar and not $1.75
Cheaper gas prices, $4.49 last fill-up
Clean water
Birds(there are very few birds here in Alaska, unless you count the mosquitoes)
Sweet Tea
No Alaska Glaze looks on people's faces
Friendly people that actually respond when you nod your head or say "hello"
Seeing the stars at night
Drew(Kirkland)
Golf(Giddy up Cupsters!!) Yes, I am in next week!!

Things we are not looking forward to back home:
95 degrees and 100% humidity
Thunderstorms(Kaylee)
Darkness(I know it's listed above as well, it will still be weird)

Our time here has been great. Now, we must carry on what we have learned. We have lived in and around some great people for the last two months. We have experienced so many different lifestyles. It really is amazing how parts of this country are so different.

Our challenge will now be to take what we have learned and model our lifestyle in that direction. The challenges will be tough and the future is always unknown.

Rain, cold, flat tire....OIA

For those that have been keeping up with our trip this summer by reading this blog you have come to know two things:

OIA means "only in Alaska" AND it has rained almost every day this summer.

Well today was no exception. It rained, still is as a matter of fact, and it is cold AND we had a flat tire this evening. No worries......today was still a great day.

We had our final discipleship series today and it was a debriefing of sorts. The guys had an opportunity to share what they have learned and how they have grown this year in their walk with Christ. It was very refreshing to hear college student-athletes relay their thoughts about how their walk with Christ has been strengthened this summer.

We play a DH tomorrow at 5pm, provided the 100% chance of rain is inaccurate. It has become comical now, the rain that is. This has been a summer for the books.

Kirkland and I tried to fish this afternoon, however, the river has come to the banks and some flooding has even started in the interior. Very odd for this time of year. I do feel sorry for the locals. They thrive on their 2-3 months of summer. Construction is taking a beating as well due to the weather. They are talking about how this summer will be set them back for years.

Well, off to finish the The Shack. If anyone else has read it let me know, I would be anxious to hear your opinion of the book.

7 e's make for a long day.......

It's 10:40pm on July 28 as I type. We just finished up the day at the Duke's residence, host family coordinator for Fairbanks. They live in the North Pole, about 20 minutes from Fairbanks. The Beck's and our family, along with Todd Jeffress(Wayland Baptist), Nick Crawford(UAB) and Quinn Clair(Cuesta College) all had dinner at their house tonight. The meal was incredible and a first time, long time for a homecooked meal. The steak and halibut hit the spot and the keylime pie was just the right finish. I love seafood, but not a big fish guy. However, the halibut was extra tasty on this cold rainy night. Yes, I said rainy......AGAIN.

We played the first place Pilots this afternoon and trailed by only one run entering the 8th inning. It was a great game if you took away the fact we gave up two runs in the 8th, three runs in the 9th and committed seven errors in the game. Let's say we had a little talk after the game. It was the first time I saw the guys just go thru the motions. Hope we show up on Wednesday.

Tomorrow(Tuesday) we have our "debriefing" in discipleship. An opportunity for the guys to talk about what they have learned, how they have grown and how they can keep their walk strong as they head back to campus.

Chris shared an interesting note last week.....all though it is not factual, they(AIA) seem to think that close to 60% of the student-athletes that play/team up with AIA in the summer are not walking strong with Christ after five years. That is an astonishing number. I really hope our guys stay strong. I know it will be hard for them as they head back to the campus this fall. Let's face it, this generation lives by the "reset" button and does not always take consequences of their mistakes into account until it is too late. I guess we were all like that and perhaps still are at times. Campus life is tough and there are so many pitfalls out there for the college student.

Keep these guys in your prayers the rest of this week. It has been a long grind for them and they are tired, beat up and ready to get home for awhile. Many of them have not been home for any length at all since Christmas and before that it was last August(2007).

Last week.......

Today begins our last week here in Alaska. It has been a great trip and one that we have really enjoyed. So many of you are responsible for helping us make this trip a reality. We thank each of you that may have provided financial donations and prayed daily.

I have uploaded some photos, click here to view.

Check back soon for more updates.

Called due to darkness.........

What a comeback.......we were up in today's(Saturday) game 6-1 after scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth. Then we were down

8-6 after giving up seven runs in the top of the seventh. Fortunately, we came back to win in the bottom of the ninth 10-9. It was a good comeback and a good game.

The second game today was suspended due to darkness. It seems that the "summer sun" is slowly coming to an end and our game was "called due to darkness" around 11pm. We will pick it up tomorrow(Sunday) at noon leading 6-4 in the top of the fifth. Hopefully, we can hold on for the win and move up in the standings. We are 6.5 games out of first place, but only 2.3 to 3 games out of second. Most teams just beat each other up in this league.

The title of this post is "called due to darkness", ever thought about that in terms of your life? It would be a bad day to have your life end due to darkness. I have been reading The Shack, an interesting book to say the least. The jury is still out on whether or not I would recommend it to others. It starts out really good then takes a huge spin midway through. It did bring me to look at God's creation as we traveled back from Palmer to Fairbanks. We passed through the Denali Park area around midnight as the sun was setting and we ran across some incredible views. It really is amazing as to the beauty of what God created. I will have some photos up soon of the drive.

For those of you that may have read The Shack you will know what I mean by stopping and taking note of creation by God's hand. The mountains were huge and the clouds rolled over them with streaks of orange and purple. It was one of the most incredible sights I have witnessed.

Some people live in darkness all the time. They will never see the "light" and will one day have their life "called due to darkness". One of the things I have learned this summer is the power of living your testimony. That is hard to do and we will all fail at times. It's tough to live each day motivated and striving to show other's your Christian walk. Let's face it, it becomes tough to do if we do it right. We may think we are living for God, but we have to ask our self daily how focused are we and what can we do each day to become a better Christian.

This summer has really opened my eyes to many things in my life. It has allowed our family to grow stronger. I never realized how much my job takes me away from my family. This summer has allowed them to come into my world so to speak and has allowed me the opportunity to see that while baseball is my passion, it is not my life. I am blessed to be able to use baseball as a platform for Christ and I hope I can carry home some of the things I have learned this summer.

Well, it's after midnight here and 4am back home in sunny SC. Off to bed for a quick nap and then to the field for a "show and go" day at the park.

By the way, it rained again today. It was just a few large spits of rain, but we are now on day 15 I think of consecutive rain. The locals were talking about reading where something about the jet stream had shifted and this could be their summer weather for a few years. Not sure if I heard that right or not but that could be bad for this area. Imagine your two months of good weather and sun being limited even more. Wow, that's "OIA", only in Alaska.

On the road again.........

We are now back in Fairbanks for the last week of the trip here in Alaska. We got in

early this morning(Saturday) about 2am. Our schedule did have us arriving Thursday afternoon but the weather decided to play havoc with the schedule. We played a doubleheader on Friday and lost another close one run game. These one run losses are adding up and becoming frustrating.

Last week or rather the last 12 days in Anchorage will be our last there until we return on August 1 for our flight back to San Fran.

The guys showed signs of wearing down this last game. You can see the bounce in their step is not always there and the frustrations of poor at bats or hanging curve balls is growing daily. It has been a long grind for them. Remember, they all started back in August last year with fall season, weights and conditioning. It is a year round grind that you have to love to continue playing.

We play a DH today against the second place team in the league at 5pm. Tomorrow will bring on a Church visit, game and then host family meal later in the evening.

The host families have been great for the players. They take these guys in for the summer and feed and house them.

The family is doing good although Kaylee is ready to go home. Kirkland actually said he missed home yesterday, which is odd for him. He usually loves going to the games and hanging out with the guys. Keep Tammy in your prayers. With all the traveling I hope she is able to rest as needed. She is a trooper and getting some good rest.

We finish up our discipleship this week as well. A recap to help keep the guys focused when they return to campus is in the works for the remainder of the time.

I have a'lot of stories left to tell and photos to update, but just got a call and need to run for the day. Check back later if you have nothing to do.

Alaska Glaze.......

It's Wednesday, July 23 and we all have the "Alaska Glaze" going on right now. The"AG" is that stare you see in people's eyes and that blank look they give you. It comes from the sun being out all day, except for the 12 days in a row it rains.

It's raining again today......actually, the weather has it raining in some form or another for the next 6-8 days. I know, the south is experiencing record heat and drought conditions and I should be thankful for the rain. It's just a little hard to play baseball in the rain.

We were tied 2-2 in the 7th with the second place team last night and it started.............to rain of course. The game was suspended and it is raining today. It now looks like we might be rained out tomorrow which will force us to stay two extra days in Anchorage, play a DH on Friday, leave Anchorage around 3am and play another DH on Saturday at 5pm in Fairbanks. What a cruel joke!

It is cool and not 100 degrees so I need to be thankful I guess. Plus I am here with family, friends and a bunch of Alaskans.........

Corwin(discipler) left today for Florida, his hometown. He will get back with the Miami Dolphins soon and start the NFL season in another month I guess. He did a really good job as has all of the disciplers. His last session was on worship and how Christians should approach worship. It was really good and got good interaction with the guys.

He talked about how our view of God must expand if we are to worship Him faithfully. He also provided four "must haves" for good worship:
1-reverence
2-public expression
3-service
4-sacrifice

The challenge set forth from our disciplers this summer(Bruce, Mike & Corwin) have all been met head on by all of us on the team.

Well, it's off to the stadium for another rain out. I will try and post some photos tonight when I get back. I think our team is going bowling if we do get rained out tonight. That should be fun.

There's no crying in baseball, just rain.....

There is no crying in baseball, just some rain, at least here in Alaska. We got rained out today and will now play one of the games on Wednesday. Since last Monday(15th) we have had rain almost everyday. Wish there was a way to ship this rain down to the lower 48, at least the Palmetto State. I heard it was closing in on 100 degrees today with no rain in sight.

I talked to a local today who has spent most of his life here in Anchorage. He said it is the worse summer he can remember since 1968. They got some snow in July that year, who knows, we may get a flurry or two before it is all over.

We will now play a split doubleheader against the Pilots on Wednesday(12pm) and then head down to Palmer and play the Miners(6pm). Talk about some creative scheduling. The bad thing is they are forecasting more rain for tomorrow(Tuesday).

The temps have been a cool 50-ish for the last 7-10 days. The low for tonight is set for high 40's. I know that would be a welcome relief back home.

Here is some catching up for all at home:

Kirkland: Is growing out of his windpants this summer. We had to look at buying him some new ones at Wal-Mart the other day. His jeans are okay, but his windpants are slowly shrinking on him. Of course, with all the rain those high waters come in handy. These rainy days are playing havoc with his "energy level". We have to remind ourselves he has cooped up for several days due to the rain. He has enjoyed being bat boy and hanging out with the players. He plays catch each game and gets to know the guys each day.

Kaylee: Has 23 big brothers to hang out with each day and she loves it. Being the only girl she is eating the attention up. Her singing has picked up as she entertains us each day. She is growing as well and getting taller each day. I still think she is going to be taller than Kirkland.

Tammy: She is doing good, getting some good rest and looking forward to meals each day. I can say that since she is pregnant, otherwise, I would be in some big trouble. The baby is starting to cut cart wheels now and wakes her up around 5 am each day.

One of our player's dad was up visiting and told us his family's tradition of naming children. They all start with an "R" and have the same initials. He thought we were doing that with Kirkland and Kaylee and asked what we were going to name our third. We told him we had not really thought of any names yet......he mentioned staying with the "K" name series and since we were in Kenai.........well, you get the picture.

That's all for tonight, going to try and get in bed before 11 tonight. That will be a first.

Good Day..............

Today was a good day.....it all started early in the morning as Chris(GM/Coach), Corwin(Miami Dolphins Chaplain/AIA Fire Discipler), Miles(Asst. Coach), John(Intern/Asst. to the GM) and myself met with about 100 youth from a large Church in Anchorage. We arrived at Anchorage Baptist Temple and Chris and Corwin spoke to the youth there in attendance. They both did a good job and relayed to them their testimony and what it means to be consistent with their walk with God.

We then stayed over and listened to Franklin Graham speak. The Church was packed and it was a good service.

After the service we headed to the stadium and Corwin met with the entire team for about 30 minutes.

We then prepared for our game and picked up a big 2-0 win over the second place Oilers. It was a good day.

We have a DH tomorrow(Monday) starting at 4pm. It will be a big test for our pitching staff and hopefully we can meet the challenge.

Less than two weeks remain and I talked with our team tonight about meeting the "grind" head-on. I really hope the guys can pull it together for the last few days and stay strong. They all have had a long year, starting back in August when we all started conditioning, weights and fall practice at our respective schools. The "year" will end August 1 and we will all head back to our schools in mid-August to start it all over again. Baseball is truly a marathon season. It is like no other sport.

Two Posts, One Day

Wow, actually making two posts in one day. Just providing the link for more photos. Added some from Kenai trip.

We have logged over 7,000 miles since we started this adventure back on June 2. Flying from Pickens, SC to San Fran, CA then on to Anchorage, Alaska >>Fairbanks, Alaska>>Anchorage, Alaska>>Kenai, Alaska>>Anchorage, Alaska. By the time this trip is over we will have logged over 14,000 miles......pretty cool, huh!!

Click here for more photos.

8th Inning and Franklin Graham

We got back in the win column today(Saturday) with a 3-2 victory. We beat the Anchorage Bucs in the MLB Showcase weekend, thanks in part to a big three run eighth inning. It was shaky at first but our guys hung in there and pulled out the win.

We have the remainder of the night off as we played today at 1pm. The rain stayed away and we actually had sun for most of the game, outstanding!!

Tomorrow(Sunday) we will go to Church here in Anchorage and visit one of the largest in the area. Chris and Corwin will speak to about 300 youth at 10am and then we will get the opportunity to listen to Franklin Graham speak at 11am. It should be an exciting day, especially if we can cap it off with a win over the second place team in the league later in the day at 4pm.

I added some photos and video to the flickr account. I will try and add more later.

Rain, rain go away..........

Wish I could send some of this rain back home to SC.....we are now entering our 5th day of rain and it has really been an unusual summer here in Alaska. At least, that is what the locals are telling us.

We left Kenai this morning(Friday) and drove back to Anchorage. The drive is a very scenic route, unfortunately, the rain and clouds were prevailing today.

Kenai is a very odd place. Right on the coast it is a fishing community and a good one at that. We arrived on Monday with rain and left Friday with even more rain. It rained virtually the entire time and we never really saw the sun, except for a few peeks on our last day. The guys stayed in the "Bingo Hilton" as detailed in the previous post.

We played two close games against the second place team(Peninsula Oilers) and lost a rain game 8-1. The two close losses were 2-1 and 3-2. The rain game was something I have never experienced before and I have been in some rain games before at The Con.

The highlight of our family's trip to Kenai has to be the fishing trip to Moose Passage. Tammy and Kaylee stayed back due to the weather, but Kirkland and I ventured on. It was worth it!! We started out down a gravel road and ended up on a fishwalk off the Kenai River. We started fishing and soon learned we were doing something wrong. Kirk would cast out and bring nothing back in. Meanwhile, four guys up stream and four more down stream were casting and reeling in monster salmon each time. It was incredible!! One older guy had to bring in about 50-60 fish. Of course, due to fishing regulations you could only keep your limit of 10 and they had to be "caught" in the mouth, you know, the traditional way of fishing.

Well, I soon learned that Kirkland and I were fishing the wrong way. You see, when the salmon are running you don't really fish, you snag. In fact, you can put anything you want on the hook as long as it has something on it. The local we talked to only had an orange piece of yarn tied to his hook. It was a large hook as well. You simply cast and snag......the salmon then fight to the bank and you start over again.

Kirkland and I caught two the real way and it was fun. Those salmon really fight. I have uploaded a video below of Kirk's adventure with his first salmon. Be careful to watch his face when he turns to the camera, it is priceless!!

The rest of the Kenai trip was uneventful, except for the coastal view which I will put photos up on flickr. Click here to view some updated photos.

Corwin Anthony joined us this week as the discipler for the remainder of the Kenai/Anchorage trip. To read more on Corwin, click here.

Corwin has met with us twice and has done a great job already. He is getting to know the guys and opened up his series with "an all or nothing" approach to being a Christian. He did a great job asking each of us where we stand on a scale of 1 to 100........it was eye opening.

We made it into Anchorage around noon today(Friday) and was to have our game at 1pm. The next few days is the MLB Showcase where all the teams play each other here in Anchorage and about 20-25 scouts are in attendance. Only problem is that the rain followed us. Our game was postponed until Monday so our next game will hopefully be on Saturday at 1pm.

Click below to watch the video of Kirkland catching his first salmon, keep an eye on his face when he turns around to view camera. Make sure sound is up....enjoy.

Long roadtrip, tough loss and Kenai

It took close to 11 hours but we finally made it to Kenai yesterday(Monday). We had three stops in, but the drive was still a long one.

The drive down was great once we turned down to Kenai from Anchorage. I have posted some photos on the flickr site....click here for photos. The Seward and Sterling Highways are really beautiful stretches of land.

Once we arrived in Kenai the guys got settled in to the "Bingo Hilton". The "BH" is a bingo parlor that is operated by one of the teams in the Alaska League. The guys stay in "rooms" in the back. What a setup!! Four guys to a small cubicle with two bunkbeds. The ceiling is open so any loud snorers are easily heard thru the building. The guys actually got some sleep, surprisingly enough and seemed to enjoy the bonding time together.

Today's(Tuesday) game was a tough loss. We led 2-1 entering the bottom of the ninth and gave up a run that tied the game 2-2. The Oilers then won the game in the bottom of the 10th and defeated us 3-2. It was a tough loss. Hopefully, we will battle back tomorrow night.

Earlier today(Tuesday) we traveled down to a family's home just off the Kenai River. It was kind of like an Alaska river subdivision. Once you entered the gate you were just off a river and surrounded by water, fish, bear, moose and some of the best and only spaghetti with moose chili. For a minute, I thought I was back in SC eating at Sardi's. It was really good.

A'lot of the guys were prepared to fish, along with Kirkland and Myself. However, we soon found out that the river was fly fishing only and the salmon had not run yet, thus making the trout that eat the salmon eggs not in the area yet. Another odd fishing regulation here in Alaska.

The river is an incredible turquoise color, made that way from glacier runoff. Just one more beauty here in Alaska.

Kirkland and I are heading out to another section of the river in the morning(Wednesday) for about three hours of fishing. We have to catch a salmon before we leave.

Speaking of salmon.......once we arrived in Kenai we went to an inlet where the locals were using large dip nets to catch salmon. It is for two weeks out of the year and only locals are allowed to fish. They stand in the water(video coming soon) and catch the salmon in the dip nets. They run to the shore and beat the salmon over the head with large sticks. This kills them instantly and "preserves" the taste of the salmon. You see, once salmon are caught their stress level goes thru the roof and they produce a toxin of sorts, not deadly, but it does get in their system and it starts making the taste of the salmon go bad. You hit them over the head for an instant kill to make them taste better. It's a wicked sound, but I guess it works.

Well, it's midnight again.....off to bed for some early morning fishing. We also have another discipler coming in tomorrow. Corwin is with us here in Kenai and then Anchorage. He is a chaplain for the Miami Dolphins and I am anxious to hear him tomorrow. More details later.

Two wins and a memory

Amazing.......we just picked up a win in one of the ugliest, twilight zoneish games I have been involved with. We were trailing 4-1 entering the bottom of the 7th and rattled off eight runs to take a 9-4 lead and eventual win.

We played really bad baseball for 6 1/2 innings and then out of nowhere took a commanding lead. I do have to say I was expecting a win. After all, we were 2-0 with commanding wins after sharing with the other teams in the league. We can now up our record to 3-0 after sharing and all three wins have been convincing. Odd how that works, huh. Here's the plan...........

Just after we take Batting Practice our guys go over to the other teams dugout and we have three guys share with both teams. One guy introduces who we are and what we are about. Another guy shares his testimony and a final guy goes over the AIA brochure in sharing the Gospel. I never get tired of hearing these college guys share with the other team. It is amazing to hear their testimony and how calm and collected they are.

The times we share with the other team is just one of many memories I will carry with away from this summer.

Well, our first trip to Fairbanks is nearing an end. We are all anxious to get on the trip to Kenai as we have been told by so many the scenery, stadium and fishing is great. We leave out Monday morning at 8 and arrive some time late evening. Yeah, it's a long trip. Will be interesting traveling with an expecting mother and two kids that long in a mini-van. Pray for our entire team as we travel.

Travis left yesterday(Saturday). I think he had a good time and hopefully Kirk and Kay did not drive him crazy. Hr made several tours and I have posted some of his photos on the flickr site. Click here to view updated photos.

I have been able to get to know a'lot of the players really well this summer. That is a difficult thing to do as the head coach. Often times the head coach is the guy you really don't get to know too well form obvious reasons. It's just the nature of athletics. It has been nice establishing relationships and I hope it will carry over for me into the 2009 season back home at SWU. I will be entering my 13th year at SWU. Never saw that one coming. I wanted to be there about 5-7 years and get the program up and running. Wow, a'lot of losses, some wins and many players later it has been 12 full years.

Big shout out to Kenneth and Sherri Wagner on their marriage this past Saturday. I know they had a great day and I hate I missed the wedding. Kenneth played four years for me at SWU and was a great team leader. He is a youth pastor in Delaware, great to see him going where God leads.

Not sure what type of internet access will have in Kenai, so might be a few days before next update. We are going to miss the MLB All-Star game and HR derby. Kirkland is bummed out about that. Expecting some text updates from Joe B. Tuesday night.

A big "hello" to everyone back home at Secona. We miss you all and thanks so much for the financial donations you provided for us on this trip. We were so blessed as to the outpouring support from a'lot of people.

Greetings to the cupsters......I hope Butch, Mook and Ice Man are doing well. We need to have a mini-tour when I get back. By the way, thanks for all the emails guys.......you are really burning up the cyber airwaves.

Until next time...............

Finally.......fish!!

We hit the big time today.......Kaylee led the way with fishing today as she pulled in five, including the one "prime time" Artic Grayling she caught in photo to the left. Kirkland reeled in three and I hooked one and waited......yes, waited.....I was wanting Travis to film me finally landing one so I let the line out to make it dramatic and you got it!!!! The fish got off. Oh well, so much for my Alaska Fishing Documentary.

We had a fun day at Chena Lakes Recreation Area. It started off with a three hour jon boat adventure that yielded some early rainbow trout and ended up off the Chena River with some nice Grayling. Worms were the choice of menu today and it was a fun day.

We also took a look at the Salmon Watch site at Moose Dam. We actually saw a Chinook Salmon heading up stream for the July spawning period.

Tomorrow begins our last two days in Fairbanks before we head off to Kenai and Anchorage. Two games(Sat/Sun) and departure set for Monday.

As always, not sure what the accomodations will hold in Kenai so it might be a day or four with no internet access.

Please keep our team in thoughts and prayers as we travel and wind down the trip. The guys have become a close knit group and we will be sharing with some more teams next week.

More photos and videos were added....click here to go to the Flickr account

Elliott Hwy and then some........

Today(Thursday) was the first of two off days for the team so our family hit the road. We took off around 9am and traveled North up the Elliott Highway. It was a very scenic drive as all roads are around here in Alaska.

We went about 100 miles and stopped by the Artic Circle Trading Post and then traveled as for as the paved road would take us. Once we reached the junction of Elliott and Dalton Highway we had to turn back. You see, the next 415 miles on the Dalton Hwy would take us to Deadhorse and the upper region of the Artic Circle. One problem with that traveling, the roads are not paved and very rugged. That stretch of road was created for the pipeline and private vehicles are not recommended. In fact, most rental agencies only have 1-2 cars they allow to be driven on that highway.

Once we turned around we started the trip back and stopped off on three areas to fish. We hooked a couple of trout, but nothing more to show. In fact, once again there were no sightings of moose, bear or anything of the sort. Wait, we did see on porcupine, that was an interesting creature.

Tomorrow(Friday) is an off day as well, in fact it will be the last "off day" we will truly have as the other days are travel days. We play Saturday evening at 5:30pm and finish a game that was suspended due to darkness(strangely enough) and then pick up the regular scheduled game at 7pm. Our final game for awhile in Fairbanks will be Sunday night at 7pm. We then take off for Kenai on Monday. A fun 11-12 hour trip awaits us. I have been told the drive is really nice and I am looking forward to it. The fishing is said to be the best as well. Kirkland will be happy. He now has five trips and one fish.

I bought my fishing license yesterday. Finally broke down as I was getting tired of "helping" Kirkland. The state really sticks it to visitors. Alaska residents get a yearly license for only $24 while out of state is $145, I think. I only got the 7 day to get me thru the Kenai trip. Does SC stick it to out of state people wanting to fish?

It is around 8:15pm and the earliest we have been in the apartment in a long time. My daily routine is up around 8:30am or so and some time checking email, voicemail and spending time with the family. A quick lunch around noon and then off to discipleship with the team at 1pm. Discipleship usually lasts until 2:45pm and then we are off to the field for clean up/field prep at 3:30pm. Our pre-game and early outs take over at 4pm and then batting practice at 4:45pm. The game begins with first pitch at 7pm. By the time the game is over, players are fed and the field is closed down we get back to the apartment around 10:30pm. Then the fun starts.....I can't get to sleep. The sun is beaming and it's usually around 1am before I hit the sack. Back up the next day. I now know what the term "Alaska Glaze" means.

I can't wait for some food back home......don't know how Alaskans make it. The food here is rough. We even found one of the Top 500 North American restaurants yesterday and it was bad. Now I an not a picky eater and I will eat most anything. Just can't figure it out.....maybe it is the shipping process are something, just has no taste. Perhaps we got spoiled in California for those first two weeks......the dirt even tasted good there.

48 hours..........

It is amazing what can change in 48 hours:

weather....on Sunday it was hot here in Fairbanks with temps trying to hit 80......48 hours later and one hail storm later is currently around 50+, overcast, windy and rained almost one inch in 20 minutes yesterday.

baseball......on Sunday we put a'lot of effort in on getting the field ready after a torrential downpour and then proceded to get our rear ends handed to us. Tonight(Tuesday) we played a great game, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first and ended up winning 10-4. We also won last night to grab a modest two game winning streak.

recruiting back home......big thanks to Brian Swords for handling all the recruiting duties while I am away. He gave a good report tonight after I heard back from two recruits yesterday that they were not intending on enrolling at SWU in the fall. Those back home need to check out the Chaos as they wind down their summer season in Central.

Other items to occur within the last post includes Kirkland getting his first fish!! He was pumped. We went back to Chena Lake and he pulled one in this time. He said it was a brown trout while I called it an Artic Grayling. Either way, it was his first fish in Alaska. We leave on Monday to go to Kenai for about 3-4 days. The fishing is really good down there and the team will have a chance to wet some hooks on a day prior to a game. Should be fun.

We shared with the Anchorage Bucs today prior to the game. It still amazes me how college baseball players can give their testimony to guys they have never met in that environment. Normally, when you talk about Jesus in a college sports environment people will question your man card status, but our guys go at it. Mike(UNC Campus Crusade) leaves tomorrow. He has done a great job discipling the entire team for the last couple of weeks. We will have another discipler join us on the trip to Kenai/Anchorage.

Some links for fun, click below:

photo update

Fairbanks Online(baseball results)

Interesting fact: Use salmon eggs while fishing in Alaska

Video

I have posted some video of some areas we have visited. I tried to condense it to speed uploading, hope it works.

First video is of Kaylee on the Nenana River. The river is roaring from the last snow melt and the wind is howling from the distance above the river we are standing.

Click the video screen below:

As promised............

Okay, as promised in an earlier post I will insert portions of an email that Travis(1st cousin) sent out to some friends and family. To recapture.......Travis is our(my) first cousin and is visiting from Alpharetta, Georgia. He is spending some time with us and also touring the Alaska wilderness. He leaves tomorrow(Monday) morning at 4:15am on a flying/bus tour up north. He will spend the night somewhere up north and return Tuesday evening.

Travis is very detailed, as you will see from the inserts. So sit back, take two hours and enjoy his viewpoint of Fairbanks, moose, fish, Denali, etc. Just kidding.............enjoy:

Travis writes:
(I've skipped Wed & Thu, no typing time yet.)

Started Friday(July 4) morning at 8am with a half blueberry bagel and half a honey nut Power Bar, chased down with some cranberry juice. After I donned my "Life is Good" running shirt, ASICS Landreth IIs, ASICS socks, and RRS shorts, (cousin) Michael drove me to the registration spot for the race. I was running (uh.... jogging) in the 24th annual Independence Day 5k in Fairbanks, Alaska. We had scoped out the parking lot the night before, near the Ice Alaska RV campground. For the 10am race, registration was from 8am until 9:30 I think, and he dropped me off around 9am. Having fallen off the running wagon, and not being trained up for a fast 5k, I was prepared to just make this my weekly 3mile (5k) run. However, upon seeing that hardly anyone was there with just an hour to go, I was thinking I would actually have to run fast, because I certainly didn't want to finish last in my age group! Furthermore, at the registration I received bib number 16 (I was the 16th race registrant) -- wow, a 2-digit bib number! Too bad there was no T-shirt to be given away or even available for purchase.

Fortunately, more racers rolled in, and by the end of the day, the organizer told me that 79 had registered. That's probably less than even the Duluth Merchants' Stars & Stripes 5k (Memorial Day) that I ran several years ago. I was surprised to see Michael, Tammy and the kids arrive to help send me off at the starting line. I was thankful that Tammy offered to hold my water bottle too. The "official" start went something like this: one of the Running Club North organizers came up to the blue chalk line on the pavement and said, "Ok everybody, runners get ready and toe the line, or whatever you want to do .... runners on your mark, get set, go." (My omission of an exclamation point after "go" is intentional, and accurately reflects his tone of voice.) :)

As expected, I was immediately passed by several, but unexpectedly, throughout the 3.1 miles I only remember passing about a half dozen runners. The first mile was a clockwise loop along the main road circling the Ice Alaska RV park. I clocked an 8:11 pace, though the race director said the 1st mile mark was approximate, so who knows exactly. After the loop, we duplicated about 100 yards of the first loop before branching off along a paved bike trail, then crossing a bridge that led to the same road that has the baseball field. I ran past Growden Memorial Park where I'd seen two of Michael's games the previous 2 nights. The mile 2 marker was somewhere near, but I never saw it.

At the end of the bridge, I saw a large brown head on an animal swimming in the river, carrying a small log or tree branch in its mouth. Cool -- a beaver!!! But when I rounded the corner for a better look, I noticed a man on the bank loading up one of those plastic tennis ball throwers for his golden retriever on the bank, and it was his other dog in the water at the moment retrieving the large stick. No beaver.

Taking a left turn rejoined the bike trail, which then looped back and retraced our tracks over the bridge again, and past the same water stop, and about 100 yards to the finish. Michael & Tammy were providing simultaneous video and photo coverage using my camera & his. The clear sunny sky made for a warm run, but the lack of humidity was great. I'm sure my counterparts in Atlanta several hours earlier weren't feeling as fresh. What the race lacked in T-shirts, it almost made up for in watermelon, oranges, and homemade cookies & brownies at the finish line. I quickly downed a couple of watermelon wedges, an orange wedge, and picked up a cookie for later. I wanted to grab a brownie too, and a cookie for Kirkland & Kaylee, but I didn't want to horde at the small refreshment table. Michael told me later an older guy was there loading up on multiple items, so I shouldn've taken more than I did. Afterall, didn't my $10 donation count for anything? :)

Back to the apartment (the kids weren't quite excited about Pioneer Park yet), I showered and we all then headed to Pioneer Park for the big Independence Day festivities, chief among them the flyover of the Air Force jets, or so we thought ... (to be contined. it's 1:46am now, and by the way, it's still completely daylight, the sun has only been below the local hills for an hour. In fact, we made a super Wal-Mart grocery run at midnight, in basically broad daylight. 'just weird).
We're planning on a 2-hour drive south to Denali in the morning, Michael has the day off -- no baseball game. 'looking fwd to seeing something outside of Fairbanks (a.k.a. "Squarebanks").

Saturday July 5th, 2008

Up at 8:05am as my watch alarm was on "weekday" mode, so I missed the intended 8am alarm. Tammy had already risen, and so had the cinnamon buns she made, but she, Michael & I quickly got ready before getting K&K up. We hit the road in the minivan for Denali National Park and hoped for a glimpse of Denali, or "Mount McKinley" as it was known before Alaska changed its name back to what the original inhabitants called it. Leaving Fairbanks we followed the lone highway to Denali, taking about 2 hours to get to the park entrance. Spruce (?) trees lined the highway for most of the drive, with various mountains not far off. We glimpsed snow-covered Denali several times for most of the drive.

We hit the visitor center and toured the life-sized models of various wildlife: moose, bear, birds, lynx, owl, rabbit, pika, dall sheep, hawk, ground squirrel, frog, etc. Kirkland found a chart describing what parts of a moose could be eaten, and how the early people used the various body parts. For example, the nose should be boiled and eaten, the brains could be used for tanning skins of other animals, etc. Immediately after this, we ate lunch in the Alaskan Grill. Michael said he thought we were in Disney World, based on the lunch prices. Burgers & panninis were good, but Kaylee had trouble with her somewhat firm bread, since she's still waiting for those two front teeth for Christmas.

We walked off lunch along the Spruce trail and the McKinley Station trail, meandering through the ... Spruce ... trees, and we're not sure what or where is the Mckinley Station. We saw a chicken-sized pheasant (a quail-like bird) in the woods, and enjoyed a bridge and a couple of stops at a small creek and a fast moving river.

After the trek, we returned to the car to drive as far as allowed along the park highway -- 15 miles. Be you tea full scenery, with green large hills (or small mountains) to our left, and ones to the right that had mostly rocks at the top. Kaylee wants to be credited with being the first to see the moose in the small pond next to the road. We saw that a few cars had stopped to make photos, but the moose was out of film. (Sorry.) It was too crowded to stop, so we drove on. The highway ran along the valley between these hills. At the end of the public-accessible road, we crossed the bridge and asked the ranger if we could park on that side, since the existing lot was full. She said we probably wouldn't find a spot, but allowed us anyway. Michael said the truck behind us she turned away, and he thinks she let us in because Michael was wearing his CTU t-shirt. :) (CTU = Counter Terrorism Unit from the "24" TV show). Kirkland said he's worn that shirt 10 days in a row.

It will take too long to decribe the scenery [as I'm typing now in the middle seat of the minivan as we head back to Fairbanks]. We parked along the Savage River (though it didn't seem too savage at that point) and marveled at the steep hills on both sides. No trees, just grassy shrubs and outcroppings of rock. Michael, Kirkland, Kaylee & I headed up the steep climb to the largest outcropping of rock, while Tammy and baby-in-the-oven enjoyed the lower level seats. We carefully walked up the rocks, and only at the top did we use our hands. Nice view, and K&K enjoyed the experience as well. On the way back down, Kirkland & I found evidence -- lots of it -- of the small animals that live in the area, or at least, poop there. 'Looked like rabbit droppings, but not as perfectly round. Maybe ground squirrels, but I'm not sure if they're on the rocks.
After descending, we followed the trail almost a mile down river with the river on our left. Along the way we stumbled upon a mother pheasant similar to the one earlier, but it seemed to have a different pattern. She was leading at least 6 chicks across the path when we met them. The loop path continued down river for almost a mile, then a bridge connected us to the other side. It seemed like the valley continued on forever, but we couldn't. On the return up river Kirkland & I had a ground squirrel (not a chipmunk) jump on the path ahead of us and lead us on a chase for 30 yards or so. It even performed the classic maneuver of standing upright on its hind legs for a moment before ducking off the trail again.

We met up with Tammy again, loaded into the minivan and headed out of the park. We stopped at the Wilderness Access Center, but realized that it was really just the spot for arranging for shuttle bus travel throughout the park's restricted roads. Outside the Denali park, we stopped at a bridge and observation area over another river, possibly the Tanana, 'can't remember. We then made a stop for ice cream and souvenirs (me) at the busy little area not far north of the park's entrance. After another an hour or so on the road, we stopped at a public access pond stocked by the Alaska Fish & Game Department, much to Kirkland's delight. The high wind didn't make for great casts though, and unfortunately the only things he & Kaylee hooked were weeds. As far as we could tell, the only things living at the pond were two ducks and a huge seagull. On the final return leg of the journey though, Kirkland & I managed to finish his second Lego-to-photo project, wherein we had taken photos of his Lego spaceships he made, then digitally added them to a background image of an outer space scene, and added laser fire and explosions.

The tired travelers returned around 9:30pm (still bright daylight of course), and some enjoyed a dinner of chicken nuggets, rice-a-roni, green peas & bread. Unfortunately, some also had to endure some careful "behaviorial instruction", but otherwise it was a fun day for all.

Sunday morning will bring church with the Becks and if all goes well, my car rental for a drive north.

Denali and then some..........

Yesterday(Saturday) we toured Denali Park. It is about 2 hours away from Fairbanks and a very scenic drive enroute.

We arrived at the visitor's center around 11am and found our way through some short hiking trails. All the while hoping to see some moose, bear or something that resembled wildlife here in the last frontier. As has been the case for weeks now, nothing in terms of wildlife. I am starting to think Alaska has one big marketing ploy to get people up here and then they see no wildlife. No fish either, Kirkland and I have been three times now and no fish. Maybe one day.......

The Park was a great trip. You are only able to drive about 15 miles into the park and then you have to either hike, bus or shuttle in. No private vehicles are allowed beyond the Savage River trailhead area. This is for safety and to help preserve the natural areas in the park. According to Kirkland, the Denali Park is bigger than our home state of SC. The Park has incredible views. I have uploaded some photos on the flickr site. Click here to view more photos.

We had fun at the Savage River Trailhead as hiked this huge rock formation. I have to admit I was very proud of Kaylee climbing along. It was a high peak and one slip would be costly. Actually, one slip and death is on the menu. No joke, we were high and it was rocky. Travis, Kirk, Kay and myself made the climb. Tammy stayed back for obvious reasons.

Saturday was a long day and we are all tired. In fact, I think today will yield a nap for us all. It's hard sleeping in the middle of the day because you feel as if you are missing something, but we are all tired and we have the Bucs coming in for a four game series starting tonight at 7pm. Hopefully, our guys will be ready to go and get a winning streak going.

We went to Church this morning at Bethel Church in Fairbanks, close to the Univ of Alaska @ Fairbanks. It's always good to visit other Churches in the area and see the people in the area.

Travis is searching for places to visit while in the area. I think he will be traveling to the north if he can find a rental car. There are only certain rental agencies that allow cars on that particular stretch of roadway. The roads are just too rough.

Travis has also added some blog material. I will be including a link of his travels today/tomorrow. For those of you that know Travis, you will expect a very detailed report. Plan on about an hour of reading time, just kidding.

I hope everyone enjoyed the 4th. We had our first fourth of July without fireworks. Just too bright for them.

A quick funny story for you involving the sun around here.....it was really bright last night for some reason. In fact, Jackson(Beck's middle son) woke up later in the night after going to sleep around 9pm and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He thought it was morning. The sun was really bright last night. It is going to be odd getting used to darkness in Los Angeles on August 2.

Catching up.......

Ok, just realized I haven't updated in a few days. For the audience of four out there I apologize. Okay, well here is a quick update.

Some things you can't leave home when visiting Alaska.

1) Mosquito spray and net, the "state bird" is huge up here and all over the place.

2) Extra spare tire, the roads are rough.

3) sunglasses, for the never ending summer solstice.

4) black trash bags, to cover your windows at night.

Many thanks to the Craig's from Gilroy, California. Mr. Craig gave us some blankets from his company. They have already come in handy for a couple of the cool nights in Anchorage and for covering our windows at night!!

Today(Thursday) we slept in a little and got going around 10am. Travis Mauldin(cousin) arrived Wednesday afternoon and will be visiting until July 12. He hung out today with Kirkland and Kaylee while Tammy and I went for her monthly doctor visit. Everything went great at the doctor. We heard our baby's heartbeat and it was strong and healthy. I have to admit, it was great hearing that incredible sound again. To know our third child is growing each day is simply another example we serve a living God. The doctor here in Fairbanks was great. He was extremely nice and even offered a free ultra-sound before we leave to find out whether we will be blessed in December with a boy or girl. If anyone is pregnant when visiting Fairbanks and need a referral let us know, we know where to go.

We won tonight, let's here it for the Fire. This summer has been a struggle for our guys on the field as of late. We have just not put it together, but got a good win tonight. Hopefully, we can carry it over tomorrow night(Friday) before our day off on Saturday.

Tomorrow is July 4 and we will be heading to Pioneer Park around noon for a local parade. Fort Wainwright is nearby and a fly-by is scheduled, should be a good day.

Travis will be running in a 5k on the morning of July 4. He flew all the way up for the local Independence Day run sponsored by the North Pole CC team. Ha, just kidding. He is running, but is up for more than just that. He will be taking a few days and exploring the area. That should be a fun trip. He will have to take a day and blog away after his experience.

The last few days have been really good in terms of weather. It has been up to 75-80 for the highs and brings new meaning to air condition at night. By the way, you will need a fan up here in the summer.....no AC in Fairbanks. Reminds of nights back home growing up and having the good ole attic fan roaring away.

Well, once again it is almost midnight. I will be adding some photos to the collection, click here to view. The last ones are from Travis, he was the "Fire Photographer" tonight and also "resident babysitter" today during the doctor appt.

I will try and be more consistent with updates, until next time.....

Here is some video of Kirkland playing after our game. After each home game the kids have their own game, an AIA tradition.

Another rainy day...........

Today was another rainy day in Fairbanks. The locals are saying the weather has been a little "weird" this year, go figure that one. Anyway, most of them are saying it is usally a little warmer and not quite so rainy at this time. The rain usually comes later in the summer.

Kirkland finally got to go fishing today, in fact, we just got back from the Chena River. We only stayed about an hour and had no bites. Unless you count the ones he thought he had from the rocks. At least he got to go, something he has been looking forward to for a long time.

We had discipleship and practice earlier today after having Saturday/Sunday off. A'lot of the guys went rafting, biking, fishing, hiking and up to the Hot Springs. They took advantage of the time off.

Tomorrow(Tuesday) we get back to our routine. Discipleship at 1:30pm, pre-game at 4pm and first pitch at 7pm. We play the Miners for four days and look to get back on a winning track. Most of the teams have been beating up on each other so we are still right in the thick of things even though we struggled last week. Hopefully, we can get back on a winning streak soon.

Gas is still just $4.45 a gallon, that's good news.

Anyone just now checking out the blog can click on any of the links to the left of the screen and catch up on the previous posts. There were also about six done in May I think.

We will meet with the Miners on Wednesday and share with them after batting practice. It will be the first league team we will meet with since arriving in Fairbanks and I am interested to see how they respond. The routine will be the same. One of our guys will give their testimony and another will go over the brochures we hand out. This will give them a day or two for follow up if any of the players have some questions.

Well, that's it for tonight. I made a deal with myself to try and get asleep prior to 10:30pm tonight. Last night was tough. I hit an "energy wall" about midnight and finally crashed around 1:30pm. These sunny nights are rough.

Rest..........

Today we rested.....it's amazing how tired you get here in Alaska...even though you compensate for going to sleep late by sleeping later the sun drains you in an odd way.





We stayed closer to "home" today. Took a quick ride up the Steese Expswy to view the Trans Alaska Pipeline. It's amazing to learn how much oil transfers through the pipeline each day and then to fill up your gas tank for $4.45 a gallon!!! Actually, you can't fill up here as you are limited to $75.00 per visit. Just incredible to know all the crude oil needed is flowing 8 miles from our apartment and prices are that high. The Alaskans are mixed.....some are upset and some want to keep their land untapped. They are more upset with the govt spending millions of dollars "counting salmon".




We visited a local park and threw the football. It's weird to see Kirkland and Kaylee enjoy throwing a football at a local park more than anything else we have done.




We have tomorrow(Monday) off again. An early discipleship at 10am and practice until around 1:30pm will lead into our first day of fishing. You can pick up some really good prices on fishing rods here, they get you on the license. It's $20.00 per day, but you do have some 3-5-7 day options and also a yearly pass as well.




It's kind of neat as you drive down the roads and see people everywhere just fishing.

We finished the day off just walking around Fairbanks and playing down at the local river park. We miss Sundays at Secona and lunch at Grandmas............been a long time since we had some roast beef and mac/cheese.

I told myself I would be in bed tonight by 11pm, missed that one again. Going to bed with the sun up is just too difficult. I can only imagine what darkness will feel like when we get back home in August. Our sleep patterns will be all messed up I bet.

Got bit by a mosquito today, lost three pints of blood!

Butch, here is your shout out you requested......"shout out". Wow, I am tired.




I also added some more photos to the site....click here to view and don't forget to look at all the pages as about 60-70 photos have been added.

Here is a video of Kirkland's new hobby....skipping rocks:

I got Moose..........

It only took two weeks but we finally saw a moose in the wild. I think I was the last one on the team to see one.

We had a day off today(Saturday) and our family took off exploring. The day started at Denny's. Wait, before you say "Denny's" and ask yourself why the day would start there let me give you two reasons.

1: The number of restaurants in Fairbanks is limited and they were the only one we knew that would provide pancakes(at least good ones).

2: It is the northern most Denny's in the world....cool, huh.

Okay, b-fast we headed to the North Pole or least Alaska's version of the North Pole. The town is located about 10-15 minutes from Fairbanks and we actually have some of our players staying there with host families. Bobby Randall(former MLB player with Twins) is one of our coaches and he shuttles some of the guys back and forth each day. He told me one morning he just took some turns off Donner road, onto Blitzer and then Kris Kringle Way. True story.

The North Pole is small, but has candy cane light poles and of course a post office. The actual post office where letters are postmarked from the North Pole.

We then traveled to Chena Hot Springs and Chena Lake Recreation Area. It was a neat drive and we finally saw a moose. I have added a video below of the moose bathing in a river. A cool sight.

I have also added some photos, you can see the updates by clicking here.

Hard to believe we are almost a month in to the trip. It just seems like yesterday we took two trips through the Atlanta security before boarding a jet for San Fran. One month down and one to go. I am sure it will be August 4 before we know it.

On our way to the Chena Hot Springs we took the "roller coaster highway" or at least that is what Kirkland named it. It seems that the vast difference in the seasons here takes a toll on the roads among other things. In Fairbanks along they have recorded summer temps as high as 90 and winter lows around 30 below. You will be driving down a road at 55-60 and all of the sudden hit these dips in the road.......let's just say it gives you a weird feeling in your stomach. Construction is all over the roads as well since the winters don't provide much sunlight or warmth to work outside.

The stretch of road leading from Fairbanks to the Chena Hot Springs is a neat adventure. A 15-20 mile stretch is parkland and provides numerous pull offs. RV's and other campers are able to pull off right on the river beds and camp overnight. There is no law that prevents people from camping at the pull-offs or on the river bed unless marked.

We pulled off one area and saw a young couple getting ready to hike an area. They had the full hiking gear and seemed experienced. They even had a "hiking baby stroller" complete with baby. It was an odd sight, especially the gun strapped to the man's leg. In case of mosquitos of course. Remember those creatures are bigger than the bears.

Gas is up to $4.45, just thought I would throw that out there. What are the prices back in good ole SC? And by the way...no such thing as a dollar menu at McDonalds.......they have a $1.79 menu. No sweet tea either, going crazy on that one.

I have an official "peanut gallery" at the games. The fans here are great. They really get into the games and are brutal. I have been called "Yogi", "23", "idiot", "genius" and hired and fired by the Mariners all in one game. It's all by this one guy, too. He just sits in the stands behind 3B and gets on the coaches and players. He has some good one-liners. It's funny, one game we had a hit and run play work and he yelled out I should manage the Mariners, the next inning one of our guys got threw out stealing and he yells out how I coach like I am managing the Mariners. He is at all the games, yelling away.

If anyone would like some items postmarked from the North Pole let me know. It's kind of neat.

Okay, enough for tonight. The sun's out, time for bed.

Moose video below:

Back in the win column........

It's almost midnight here in Fairbanks and I am sitting in the living room area of our apartment eating a chocolate covered donut and drinking a wild cherry pepsi. We just picked up a win and I am wide awake. I guess the donut and pepsi might have something to do with that.

Earlier today I was trying to figure out what to say to our team as we were reeling off a five game losing streak. We met and talked about taking the initiative. This is simply having the courage to make decisions and take action. Seems simple, but often times very difficult to do. I was able to relay it into getting the most out of our early work(practice time before BP). The guys did a good job and seem to buy into for that day. It's funny, I bet if we as Christians took the initiative more often we would see a difference in our life and the lives of others. I am going to "practice what I preach" and give it a whirl tomorrow.

Our guys played well tonight. We had been struggling for the last few games in a phases and finally put it together tonight. I have to admit, playing for AIA takes a'lot of dedication and inner strength and our guys play the role. Other summer league teams here in Alaska play a game, stay up late, sleep late and probably partake of other activities common to college students. Our guys report to a local Church each day at 1:30pm for a 1 1/2 hour discipleship time then off to the field for some early out work before batting practice. They easily put in 10 hour days by the time the van shuttle drops them off after the game and dinner. You have to be dedicated and love it.

We play our final game of the week tomorrow night(Friday) against the Goldpanners. A win will get us back in the middle of the pack and prepare us for a good weekend. We actually have our longest break coming up this weekend. We are off completely Saturday/Sunday and then get back to discipleship and practice on Monday before playing on Tuesday. It is an odd three days off, but we are all looking forward to it. Some of the guys have fishing trips planned. Our family will try and take advantage of the local tourist attractions and maybe even wet a hook as well. Kirk has been looking forward to the fishing for months.

Well, the sun is setting as it should be at 12:18am and I am getting tired. It will be off to bed and another day tomorrow.

Update from Kaylee.............

This post will give Kaylee's view of the trip so far. Should be interesting......

Q: What have you enjoyed most about the trip so far?
Kaylee: "hmmmm...., what have we done so far momma? Playing with Neji." Neji is the Craig's pug, our host family in Gilroy, CA

Q: Did you like Gilroy, Anchorage or Fairbanks the best and why?
Kaylee: "Gilroy.....we went to Gilroy Gardens." Gilroy Gardens is a miniture theme park.

Q: Who is your favorite baseball player on the team?
Kaylee: "Cody" Cody Brown plays for Liberty Univ and plays 1B and P for us this summer.

Q: What do you like best about the baseball games?
Kaylee: "being the mascot" Kaylee bought a moose hat on the trip from Anchorage and desires to be the team's mascot and hand out candy at the games.

Q: What do you want to do in Fairbanks?
Kaylee: "going fishing"

Mid-Week............

We have now settled in to our apartment and life here in Fairbanks. It is a little different than Pickens, Gilroy or Anchorage. However, that is what makes this trip so interesting. We have experienced three unique types of lifestyle while on this trip so far.

We have not faired too well on the field lately. In fact, we have really played poorly the last two days here in Fairbanks. Too many walks, hits, hit batters and errors. Offensively, not enough walks, hits, hit batters or reached by error. We are in a phase right now that hopefully we will snap out of soon.

I know it has to be tough on our guys as well. They are on their third week of sleep away from their normal bed and are on their third host family as well. The guys are frustrated on the field as well, but hopefully they realize they are experiencing something unique in Alaska and AIA.

A'lot is expected of our players and Chris Beck does a great job of staying consistent with them in terms of the overall experience. He just finished his "LSD" session that last about 8 days. It really got the guys to thinking about their choices in life and what will happen when they get back on campus in a month or two. Peer pressure will hit them square in the nose. We start a new session today with Mike who is with Campus Crusade from UNC. He has worked with the Tarheel baseball team and should provide a great discipleship session.

Speaking of college baseball.........here's to the Dawgs taking the CWS. I know Joe B will be rooting for his beloved team.

The fam is doing great. Kirkland and Kaylee played with the Beck kids on the field with some of the other players. It was fun to watch them have so much fun and realize that baseball is just that......a game. Sometimes we get so caught up in our work, I know I do. I am really blessed to call my "work" coaching baseball for a living. I came into this summer experience knowing I am blessed, but also wanting to find more of what I can do in terms of helping others. Chris has said several times....."be strong, stand for truth and live for eternity."

Well, it's 11:43am local time and time for family. We will have about two hours before I leave for discipleship and then off to the stadium for some early work, bp and the game.

By the way, Tammy is on the phone and just told someone we are on a four game losing streak....ouch....that one stings a little.

For those praying for our trip, here you go:

Pray for our 23 players as they learn the Word, the game and life in general.

Tobias, Frank, Cody, Dave, Kevin, Nick, Quinn, Jonathan, Ryan T, Caleb, Kendall, Ryan E, Brint, Jason, Mitch, Tim, Eric, Alex, Brett, Derek, Shawn, Todd, Jeremy