They handle the snow a little differently here in Tennessee than they do back in Wisconsin. It would have to snow pretty hard in Viroqua for the schools to close. It was not unusual at all for it to snow 3-4 inches, but school started on time and went all day anyway.
Last week, we got about a half inch of snow here in Tennessee and school was closed all day. Today, the weather report is calling for a total of 4 – 6 inches starting tonight through tomorrow afternoon. Even though it hasn’t started snowing yet, school ended an hour early because they didn’t want to take a chance that the snow would move in before the schools closed. The kids got a good laugh out of this, although they were more than happy to leave school early.
Kim called a few minutes ago from work and said that a lot of the people at her office are planning on going to the store to stockpile food for the weekend. They are afraid that they won't be able to go anywhere until at least Sunday. Even then, they are not sure any stores or restaurants will be open.
By the way, Canoecopia starts today in Madison. This is the first time we have missed the event since I was being treated for cancer in 2004. It's only the second time since we moved to Wisconsin in 1999 that we'ved missed the show.
In case you don't know, Canoecopia is a huge canoe and kayak show put on by Rutabaga, a large canoe and kayak shop in Madison. In addition to a ton of exhibitors showing everything from canoes and kayaks, to outfitters from all over the world, to outdoor clothing manufacturers, Canoecopia features seminars throughout the weekend on topics related to canoeing and kayaking. It's a great event and one that I will really miss going to this year.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Review: Tomato Tomato
Kim’s parents visited last weekend on their way back from Florida to Illinois. On Friday, we decided to try a new pizza place called Tomato Tomato. The pizzeria is just off the square on West Main St.
After a short wait, we were shown to our table. Tomato Tomato is not very big, so the tables tend to be a bit close. Even so, the atmosphere is comfortable and casual.
T.T. has several beers on draught, including a fishbowl mug of PBR for just $2.00. Kim’s Dad couldn’t resist and had to try one. As I looked around the restaurant, a lot of other people were taking advantage of the offer as well.
The pizza at T.T. is a bit different than other pizza places. Although they offer the traditional pies, they specialize in pizzas that are a bit more gourmet. For instance, they have a list of pizzas, each named after a nearby street, that include unusual ingredients or combinations of ingredients. We ended up ordering three different pizzas; a four cheese pie for Shelby and Lou, and then Kim, her parents and I ordered a College St. (four different types of mushrooms covered in bleu cheese) and a Vine St. (white pizza with EVOO, truffle oil, some sort of Italian cheese (whose name escapes me), and we added portabella mushrooms).
The four cheese pizza was excellent, with a thin, extremely tasty crust, excellent sauce, and a perfect blend of cheeses. The Vine St. was also very good. It had an excellent taste. The pie had a lot, but not too much, garlic, which really made it delicious. My favorite was the College St. The combination of a very good thin crust, excellent sauce, four different types of mushrooms, and plenty of cheese made the pizza a joy to eat.
We definitely enjoyed the pizza at Tomato Tomato. The restaurant has a great atmosphere, excellent service (Ted was our waiter and he did a great job), and wonderful, tasty pizzas. On a scale of 1 – 10, Tomato Tomato gets a 7.5.
After a short wait, we were shown to our table. Tomato Tomato is not very big, so the tables tend to be a bit close. Even so, the atmosphere is comfortable and casual.
T.T. has several beers on draught, including a fishbowl mug of PBR for just $2.00. Kim’s Dad couldn’t resist and had to try one. As I looked around the restaurant, a lot of other people were taking advantage of the offer as well.
The pizza at T.T. is a bit different than other pizza places. Although they offer the traditional pies, they specialize in pizzas that are a bit more gourmet. For instance, they have a list of pizzas, each named after a nearby street, that include unusual ingredients or combinations of ingredients. We ended up ordering three different pizzas; a four cheese pie for Shelby and Lou, and then Kim, her parents and I ordered a College St. (four different types of mushrooms covered in bleu cheese) and a Vine St. (white pizza with EVOO, truffle oil, some sort of Italian cheese (whose name escapes me), and we added portabella mushrooms).
The four cheese pizza was excellent, with a thin, extremely tasty crust, excellent sauce, and a perfect blend of cheeses. The Vine St. was also very good. It had an excellent taste. The pie had a lot, but not too much, garlic, which really made it delicious. My favorite was the College St. The combination of a very good thin crust, excellent sauce, four different types of mushrooms, and plenty of cheese made the pizza a joy to eat.
We definitely enjoyed the pizza at Tomato Tomato. The restaurant has a great atmosphere, excellent service (Ted was our waiter and he did a great job), and wonderful, tasty pizzas. On a scale of 1 – 10, Tomato Tomato gets a 7.5.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Back to School
The kids started school today and I’m more nervous about it than they are. I hate that we are putting them through this. Even though Shelby is outgoing and friendly, she has her group of friends back in Viroqua and she’s not particularly interested in establishing new friendships. I’m sure she eventually will make new friends, but I hate that she has to go through this.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Review: Marina's Restaurant
While we were waiting for our furniture and other possessions to arrive in Murfreesboro, we decided to check out a pizza place that we heard was “pretty good.” Marina’s is an Italian restaurant (as opposed to a pizzeria) on North Maple St. just off the downtown square.
Marina’s is located in an old building that has served as a restaurant since it was built in the early 20th century. The décor honors the age of the building and very little has been done to update it.
Our waitress, Sara, was very friendly and offered us some helpful information about the businesses on the square. She also told us that in her opinion, Marina’s has the best pizza in Murfreesboro. That sounded promising.
We ordered two pies, a cheese for the kids and a sausage and mushroom for the adults. The kids gave a big “thumbs up” on the cheese pizza. They ate the whole thing, so I didn’t get a chance to try it. However, I did get to try the sausage and mushroom pizza and it also gets a “thumbs up.”
Marina’s was very generous with the mushrooms, but not so much on the sausage. The crust was thin and very good, while the sauce was tasty and for a change there was enough of it.
Overall, our experience at Marina’s was very good. The service was top notch and on a scale of 1-10, the pizza gets a solid 7.
Marina’s is located in an old building that has served as a restaurant since it was built in the early 20th century. The décor honors the age of the building and very little has been done to update it.
Our waitress, Sara, was very friendly and offered us some helpful information about the businesses on the square. She also told us that in her opinion, Marina’s has the best pizza in Murfreesboro. That sounded promising.
We ordered two pies, a cheese for the kids and a sausage and mushroom for the adults. The kids gave a big “thumbs up” on the cheese pizza. They ate the whole thing, so I didn’t get a chance to try it. However, I did get to try the sausage and mushroom pizza and it also gets a “thumbs up.”
Marina’s was very generous with the mushrooms, but not so much on the sausage. The crust was thin and very good, while the sauce was tasty and for a change there was enough of it.
Overall, our experience at Marina’s was very good. The service was top notch and on a scale of 1-10, the pizza gets a solid 7.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
FAQ About Our Move
My last post probably created more questions than it answered. So here are some questions and answers about the move.
What about the agency? I meant to say something about this before, but I forgot. I’ll be keeping the agency. I’ll be splitting my time between Viroqua and Tennessee. It’s not a perfect solution, but I’m going to do my best to make it work. The year has started out unusually well for the agency (January and February are usually REALLY slow), so I’d like to keep the momentum going. Eventually, I’d also like to get a cabin and a few acres in Viroqua where I can stay when I’m there and where we can spend time in the summer. All in due time…
What’s going to happen to the RV? I’m not sure yet. Since we won’t be living in it any more, I’m tempted to sell it. However, I’ve also thought about keeping it for weekend trips. Tennessee has a lot of really great state parks we could explore, so the RV could come in handy. On the other hand (or is it the first hand?), if we sold it, the money would come in handy. As you can tell, I don’t have any idea what we are going to do with the RV.
Are the kids going back to “regular” school? Yes. In fact, the Lascassass Elementary School (grades K-8) is just behind the house we are renting.
What about the blog? I can’t live without the blog. Will you keep writing your blog? I think I will. Our road trip may be over, but our mutual adventure through life continues. If you’ll keep reading, I’ll keep writing.
Why do you move so often? Good question. I wish I knew.
What about the agency? I meant to say something about this before, but I forgot. I’ll be keeping the agency. I’ll be splitting my time between Viroqua and Tennessee. It’s not a perfect solution, but I’m going to do my best to make it work. The year has started out unusually well for the agency (January and February are usually REALLY slow), so I’d like to keep the momentum going. Eventually, I’d also like to get a cabin and a few acres in Viroqua where I can stay when I’m there and where we can spend time in the summer. All in due time…
What’s going to happen to the RV? I’m not sure yet. Since we won’t be living in it any more, I’m tempted to sell it. However, I’ve also thought about keeping it for weekend trips. Tennessee has a lot of really great state parks we could explore, so the RV could come in handy. On the other hand (or is it the first hand?), if we sold it, the money would come in handy. As you can tell, I don’t have any idea what we are going to do with the RV.
Are the kids going back to “regular” school? Yes. In fact, the Lascassass Elementary School (grades K-8) is just behind the house we are renting.
What about the blog? I can’t live without the blog. Will you keep writing your blog? I think I will. Our road trip may be over, but our mutual adventure through life continues. If you’ll keep reading, I’ll keep writing.
Why do you move so often? Good question. I wish I knew.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Rest of the Story
If you read my last post, you know that we have called an end to our great big road trip. We were on the road (or at least away from home) for two-and-a-half months and the trip wasn’t going as well as we had hoped. However, there is more to the story than I included in my Kickapoo Free Press column.
Using the Way Back Machine, let’s go back to the summer of 2007. We had decided that Kim needed to get a job outside of my agency. Kim was working for free, which was great for the agency, but horrible for our family finances. Good paying jobs around Viroqua are few and far between (some would say “non-existent”), so she submitted her resume to State Farm. Kim worked for State Farm for 13 years as a (very good) claim representative before giving up her job to come to work in my agency in July 2006. When she didn’t hear back from State Farm after a month or two (she called and emailed, but they never responded), we came up with the bright idea of going on our road trip.
In early February, Kim received a call from State Farm out of the blue. To our surprise, Kim was offered a claim rep job without an interview. To make the deal even sweeter, they offered her more money than she was making when she quit in 2006. The only downside (if it is a downside) is that the job is located in State Farm’s office in Murfreesboro, TN. Even so, the opportunity was just too good to pass up.
So as I write this, the movers are moving our stuff into a house we rented in Lascassas, TN. Everything has happened so fast, we haven’t even had a chance to tell a lot of our friends about the move. If you are among the many that is finding out about the move through this post, please forgive us. The past three weeks (since Kim was offered the job) have been crazy. Hopefully, things will settle down now so we can let you know what is going on.
Using the Way Back Machine, let’s go back to the summer of 2007. We had decided that Kim needed to get a job outside of my agency. Kim was working for free, which was great for the agency, but horrible for our family finances. Good paying jobs around Viroqua are few and far between (some would say “non-existent”), so she submitted her resume to State Farm. Kim worked for State Farm for 13 years as a (very good) claim representative before giving up her job to come to work in my agency in July 2006. When she didn’t hear back from State Farm after a month or two (she called and emailed, but they never responded), we came up with the bright idea of going on our road trip.
In early February, Kim received a call from State Farm out of the blue. To our surprise, Kim was offered a claim rep job without an interview. To make the deal even sweeter, they offered her more money than she was making when she quit in 2006. The only downside (if it is a downside) is that the job is located in State Farm’s office in Murfreesboro, TN. Even so, the opportunity was just too good to pass up.
So as I write this, the movers are moving our stuff into a house we rented in Lascassas, TN. Everything has happened so fast, we haven’t even had a chance to tell a lot of our friends about the move. If you are among the many that is finding out about the move through this post, please forgive us. The past three weeks (since Kim was offered the job) have been crazy. Hopefully, things will settle down now so we can let you know what is going on.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Hot Off The Presses: Column #4
Here's the March column for Kickapoo Free Press:
Postcards from the Road
The End of the Road
My wife sometimes accuses me of being overly optimistic. She says that I too often focus on the positive and I don’t take into account the potential negative. I’d like to defend myself, but the truth is that she is more right than wrong. Here’s a prime example.
When we first started planning our cross-country RV adventure, I was excited about all of the places we would go and the things we would see. Best of all, I’d be able to share it all with my kids. I was convinced that the trip would be a great time and our shared experiences would become life-long memories.
What I didn’t think about when I was planning the trip was all of the things that could go wrong. I didn’t think about getting the RV stuck on the ice just three miles after leaving home. I didn’t consider the possibility of wrecking the tow dolly at our very first campground. It never entered my mind that we would hit not one, but two deer with our van while camping in Tennessee. I had no idea that the RV would be so hard to drive when the winds in Florida gusted to more than 30 miles per hour. And yet, each of these things (and more) happened during our road trip.
Our plan was to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in Florida with my parents before heading up the west coast of the Sunshine State and then on through New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, and beyond. It was a good plan. The only problem was that no one wanted to follow it.
At first, we started making excuses for staying with my parents in Florida. We had to get our Van repaired, then my Mom’s birthday was coming up, then there was a concert we wanted to see. Our great cross-country adventure had turned into an extended Florida vacation.
Little by little we each started to make comments indicating that maybe our plans for the RV trip needed to be changed. When things started to go wrong, my wife Kim mentioned more than once about how a successful RV trip needs someone who is handy with tools or is wealthy. She didn’t have to mention the fact that I fell short on both accounts.
Our daughter Shelby said that she thought it was an omen that so many things had gone wrong in such a short time. She said it seemed like God was telling us to give up on the RV trip and to live like normal people.
Although our son, Lou didn’t seem to have a strong opinion one way or the other, he said that he’d like to go back to regular school. On the trip, I guess that Mom made him work too hard.
I didn’t want to give up on our trip. I wanted to go to all of those great places and see all of those great things. I wanted to build life-long memories with my family. Unfortunately, I had to confess that the trip had become a big pain.
Between the mechanical problems, the expense of having to fix wrecked parts, and all of the other mishaps we suffered through during our first few weeks on the road, the headaches of the trip outweighed the great experiences. We were building memories, but they were the kind we would just as soon forget.
The day we decided to end our great cross-country RV adventure was a sad day, at least for me. I think Kim and the kids were relieved. But for me, the RV trip represented more than just a long vacation. It was a goal I had set for myself. It was something I wanted to accomplish before I die.
At the moment, I’m not sure how I should approach our aborted adventure. Should I look at it as a dream postponed until another time or should I view it as no longer being a goal? It’s going to take a little time to get my head around that one.
No matter what I decide, I am glad that we gave it a shot. I think there is great value in trying, no matter the results. Plus, I have a lot of other goals to pursue in the meantime. In fact, I can’t wait to get started. I’m looking forward to having some great experiences. Of course, it could be that I’m just being overly optimistic.
Postcards from the Road
The End of the Road
My wife sometimes accuses me of being overly optimistic. She says that I too often focus on the positive and I don’t take into account the potential negative. I’d like to defend myself, but the truth is that she is more right than wrong. Here’s a prime example.
When we first started planning our cross-country RV adventure, I was excited about all of the places we would go and the things we would see. Best of all, I’d be able to share it all with my kids. I was convinced that the trip would be a great time and our shared experiences would become life-long memories.
What I didn’t think about when I was planning the trip was all of the things that could go wrong. I didn’t think about getting the RV stuck on the ice just three miles after leaving home. I didn’t consider the possibility of wrecking the tow dolly at our very first campground. It never entered my mind that we would hit not one, but two deer with our van while camping in Tennessee. I had no idea that the RV would be so hard to drive when the winds in Florida gusted to more than 30 miles per hour. And yet, each of these things (and more) happened during our road trip.
Our plan was to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in Florida with my parents before heading up the west coast of the Sunshine State and then on through New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, and beyond. It was a good plan. The only problem was that no one wanted to follow it.
At first, we started making excuses for staying with my parents in Florida. We had to get our Van repaired, then my Mom’s birthday was coming up, then there was a concert we wanted to see. Our great cross-country adventure had turned into an extended Florida vacation.
Little by little we each started to make comments indicating that maybe our plans for the RV trip needed to be changed. When things started to go wrong, my wife Kim mentioned more than once about how a successful RV trip needs someone who is handy with tools or is wealthy. She didn’t have to mention the fact that I fell short on both accounts.
Our daughter Shelby said that she thought it was an omen that so many things had gone wrong in such a short time. She said it seemed like God was telling us to give up on the RV trip and to live like normal people.
Although our son, Lou didn’t seem to have a strong opinion one way or the other, he said that he’d like to go back to regular school. On the trip, I guess that Mom made him work too hard.
I didn’t want to give up on our trip. I wanted to go to all of those great places and see all of those great things. I wanted to build life-long memories with my family. Unfortunately, I had to confess that the trip had become a big pain.
Between the mechanical problems, the expense of having to fix wrecked parts, and all of the other mishaps we suffered through during our first few weeks on the road, the headaches of the trip outweighed the great experiences. We were building memories, but they were the kind we would just as soon forget.
The day we decided to end our great cross-country RV adventure was a sad day, at least for me. I think Kim and the kids were relieved. But for me, the RV trip represented more than just a long vacation. It was a goal I had set for myself. It was something I wanted to accomplish before I die.
At the moment, I’m not sure how I should approach our aborted adventure. Should I look at it as a dream postponed until another time or should I view it as no longer being a goal? It’s going to take a little time to get my head around that one.
No matter what I decide, I am glad that we gave it a shot. I think there is great value in trying, no matter the results. Plus, I have a lot of other goals to pursue in the meantime. In fact, I can’t wait to get started. I’m looking forward to having some great experiences. Of course, it could be that I’m just being overly optimistic.
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