Week of 20260719 - Kensington Ward in Alexandria; Nineteen-Hour Drive; Work Same Day; SUV Loaned; Surgery Delayed; Prediction Method Validated; Helping Missionaries; Phone Played on TV
= Sunday, Because Steph had waited until the noise next door died down before recording the podcast from in front of the hotel bathroom sink, she was still awake when I got moving shortly after 0600. We left after 0930 to make it to an 1100 Sacrament service at the Kensington Ward.
= The GPS first brought us to the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center; so, I learned where the Ward was and directed a couple who had come to visit but had missed the door to the center back to the center where senior missionaries could help them.
= I thought the person preparing to conduct the music looked like one of Jim Garner's children. The person who sat in front of us confirmed that it was indeed Jim's mother and that her family has sort of adopted her. Jim's mother was also speaking today!
= Some snippets: I was baptized 7 November 1972; I improve with age. Are we fair-weather or foul-weather disciples? Because you have seen the fruits of the Spirit, it is proof that you have more faith than you think you have. A Perfect Being died for your mistakes.
= We began our drive to Montgomery before 1:30 Eastern Time, and with several stops to rest, arrived before 0800 Monday, more than nineteen hours later.
= Monday, I slept until 12:30, ran reports at the office from 2 to 5, and came home. Quinton's car A/C had failed; we loaned him the SUV until he can deal with that. Steph worked on the podcast; I worked on the journal.
= Tuesday, an anesthesiologist cancelled Steph's nerve surgery for today until her heart results come back; her impassioned plea fell on deaf voicemail ears. Steph led the Toastmasters meeting we had thought we would miss. We ate at Yokohama as partial consolation for the surgery delay. Walmart. Craft room for Steph; journal for me.
= Wednesday at work, AI confirmed that my predictions of future activity were closer than using Microsoft's formula. Our data is probably more dependent on recent history than on long-term history. John agreed to have me pull reports on Mondays for the previous week instead of on Fridays for a partial week.
= Home, while Steph slept, I listened to her podcast and then drove Dan Gordon to Fancy Nancy's; we shared snow cones while we talked. Home again in front of the blog, I woke Steph at 9 and bought our tickets for the 9 August Lego convention in Montgomery.
= Thursday, Steph had finally fallen asleep after 0500. President Rawls asked us to set up a Zoom call with the Young Single Adult (YSA) conference committee; we sent him the conference's current state and loose ends. At noon, we joined missionaries who were teaching a friend's brother about the restoration of the gospel. Afterward. we had Popeye’s and bought glue for bracelets that Steph is making for podcast guests.
= Friday at work, I tried a join between 45 days of charges and documented units: AI made a good beginning, but the result was incomplete. Afterward, we ate at San Marcos near home, but it wasn't as good as we had remembered. Before 4, I napped while Steph tried to work on podcast emails. At 7:30, she was slumped backward on her chair, a pillow with a face on it blocking her face.
= By 9, we had popcorn and watched snatches of TV shows while Steph worked to connect her phone to the TV; when she succeeded, we watched the movie we had intended for tonight. It ended at 0230.
= Saturday, I found myself dizzy and went back to sleep; we got moving at lunchtime. I had leftovers and fixed a fruit tray for Steph. At 4, I printed summaries of church talks for the last two Sundays, dropped them off at the home of a family I had visited with the missionaries, and went to Walmart Neighborhood Market on Federal Drive to top off the minivan and buy a couple of items. Before 7:30, Steph was dressing to record a podcast.
Before daybreak, Steph finished recording and releasing the podcast from the bathroom sink.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
We snacked on Japanese items from Michael and Mary-Lorraine.
Reflection from the top of the luggage cart
Living and parking close together
At the garden we had passed on foot a couple of days ago
The curved building is our hotel; our route looped us past it on the way out.
Building in layers from above
The tops of buildings are not necessarily boring.
At least it seemed that way.
Interesting business names
"Soft Opening" - practice before inviting the general public
Chevy Chase is not just the comedian.
Norman's Farm Market and Gourmet
The Washington D.C. Temple appears, looking like an artist's conception, only it's very real.
Coming to see it more clearly
Across the parking lot from the visitors center was this photo opportunity backdrop.
Just up the road on the left was the building where the Kensington Ward meets at 1100.
Jim Garner's mother, with us
The family that's "adopted" her
..
"Tell me, Frodo, what does the ring say?"
[CTR: Choose The Right]
On the road to Montgomery
"Forward unto dawn" was a description of our return. [We arrived well after dawn the next day.]
Turning right for express lanes?
We did what the GPS said, thinking that perhaps they didn't charge for express lanes on Sunday.
They do; we eventually got and paid bills totaling about $80 when administrative fees were included.
The building looked interesting. CGI [CGI Federal, as it turns out.]
Finally out of the urban build-up
My parents took my siblings and me on a vacation down Skyline Drive. My sister slept in a cardboard box; so, it must have been in about 1961 or 1962.
Just turning around here, but I wanted to capture a real "Motel 6".
Google lens found links saying this "apple basket" water tower is in Mount Jackson, Virginia.
This cavern touts elevator service. Ruby Falls in Tennessee also has an elevator; we went to Ruby Falls on our first honeymoon.
Many of the signs for curves light up.
On that trip with my parents, we saw Luray Caverns, about a three-mile walk inside. (My dad carried my sister.) It had two stalagmites, broken off, that countless explorers had touched. So, we were allowed to touch them too [a rare privilege in a cavern]. They looked like fried eggs, the "yolks" worn smooth by many hands.
I surmise they that handle cattle seriously on this property.
We were shunted through the campus of a college while trying to get back on the main road after a fill-up.
Hotel Madison: Where are we?
James Madison University - Bluestone Gate
[While adding this photo, I wondered how I got here. I turns out that Google Maps on my phone was set to prefer fuel-efficient routes.]
No Buc-ee's for us today; that would be too much like sightseeing on Sunday.
More battlefields. At this one, Union forces took Staunton, denying Confederate forces a railway hub previously used to shift troops and goods around this wartime chess board.
More things to explore if we're in this region with time on our hands (unlikely).
I used to chase "brown signs" when our older kids were young and I had longer vacations while in the military.
The car is almost as long as the RV: a good balance for travel.
Driving from Pennsylvania to bring my father to live with me for a while, we spent the night here.
Someone played a hymn, and Ann-Marie [my late wife] sang along; it was the last time I heard her sing.
Passing through an urban area
Graveyard nearby
Japanese snacks from Michael and Mary-Lorraine
(a better view of this one)
This one looks like a cat.
In Montgomery County, Virginia, not Montgomery, Alabama
This sign is a reminder that we avoided the Carolinas this time, opting to go home through Birmingham instead of through Atlanta. To get to I-81, we had to go northwest from DC for a couple of hours, backtracking past Warrenton to Port Royal, where we stopped at Popeye's for lunch before 3 (Eastern Time), not quite two hours after leaving church.
Most of the rest of our drive was at night.
We tried laying the phone down for this trip. [Later, we found that keeping the phone upright works better except that each time I accelerate abruptly, the phone falls into the trashcan below.]
My camera doesn't do nighttime well. I think this was a car vending machine (Carvana).
Virginia is big. It was nearly 10 PM before we reached Tennessee.
A gas station with parking to let you pause the ride.
I don't know what this is, but it caught my attention.
What made this unusual...
He was dropping off the vehicle, not picking it up.
A better class of graffiti: John 14:6 - Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It claimed we had a bit over two hours to go. That amount of time only brought us to "Deerfoot Parkway": not far short of Birmingham but still almost two hours from home. (Thinking about it now, I might have plugged in Birmingham as our destination to avoid being routed through Atlanta.)
At least the signs say Birmingham now.
An exit goes to Nashville. I think we were in Chattanooga.
Passing "Deerfoot Parkway", Exit 143 of I-59, Trussville Alabama.
Daylight beckons. With breaks, I've been up for 25 hours at this point after only sleeping for 3+ hours the night before.
Finally connecting with I-65, direct to Montgomery from here
I glimpsed the Clanton "peach" water tower.
I was too tired to remember to take a photo when we reached the house, but this was five minutes away: not quite 0800 Montgomery time.
After a nap, I drove to work to run weekly reports. Notice the temperature.
Unusual here: a white garbage truck
In case you thought the United States contained only States
Not everyone is enamored of Alabama.
Bugs got tomatoes while we were gone.
We erred in not pruning these back early, before the put all their energy into long limbs.
There's a stray tomato...
Shrimp ramen and canned mushrooms
Shopping list (until I switched to using a Google doc I could arrange by location in the store)
Blessedly, this didn't block us long from reaching Toastmasters.
In what is already a museum-heavy city, the Legacy Museum has a slightly different focus: From enslavement to mass incarceration. We haven't visited this one yet.
Bumped from our usual location, here we are in a small conference room.
Grady
The paper on the lectern has the "word of the day" to be used in speaking opportunities: Dog Days.
Ashley moved in front of the camera so Scott could see the timing signals clearly.
Meredith over my shoulder
I'd rather be in the woods
The juxtaposition of electrical wires and unusual architecture drew my eye from across an intersection.
There are two in Montgomery (split after the Civil War). This is the one with the rich civil rights history. "Following the arrival of Freedom Riders who were met with violence at the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Montgomery, the church was besieged by 3,000 whites who threatened to burn it. In the basement, Dr. King called Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy while bricks were thrown through the windows and tear gas drifted inside. The event played a crucial part in the desegregation of interstate travel." -- https://aaacrhsc.org/first-baptist-brick-a-day-church/
The pedestal in front of this high school on Ann Street used to hold a statue of Robert E Lee, facing north.
Car carrier, filling the street
Tough to chew; there are days when I think I should pack a pair of scissors.
Prunes, separately wrapped to put in pocket for a quick snack
Yes, produced with the cooperation of the famous group: brown sugar pancake flavor
[loves]
Oreo
Craft station in the studio
Bead design. Fine if you don't bump the tray. [ouch!]
I don't know what this one sprays. It could be water.
Steph, briskly walking the circle in front of where we work
Cut-up, tiny tomatoes
Mysterious
Couscous with other ingredients
Another mystery, known to the owner
Visiting a friend with missionaries
The white stuff on the planter legs is detergent to discourage bugs.
I kept taking photos of this until I could get a view that revealed its overall shape. I still don't understand it.
[That's a Zumba shirt, not a comment about this workplace.]
Repositioning the paper cherry blossoms
San Marcos: not as good as we remembered it to be
Steph fell asleep this way for a time.
More comfortable than a movie theater
[What kind of person keeps a display like this?]
Driving the TV from Steph's phone; almost 4 AM
The other side of those BTS cookies: Dear BTS ARMY.
[ARMY is the BTS van group: a vast understatement.]
Couscous; something may have been added to the original meal.
Walter Craig was remodeling.
It's good to know there are alterative venues. The Shrine facility in Montgomery has been for sale for a very long time.
Steph, blossoming in the studio
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