Road trips, Weddings and Language School

My last post left us preparing to leave for Illinois on Monday June 23rd. We ate breakfast with the Indy Team, said our "goodbyes" and spent the rest of the morning packing. I tried to sleep in the afternoon but only got about 45 minuets or so, I'm always to excited to sleep before a road trip. We said our goodbyes to the staff and kids at CVE and left with Mike and Deb Leman around 4:30. We crossed the border without incident and and dropped Mike and Deb at their hotel in Tucson around 7:30. After a quick trip to McDonalds we were on our way - for about 90 miles. We were in the middle of a stretch of I-10 with no exits for 20 miles when we came to a complete stop. After about 20 minuets or so people started getting out of their cars and milling around. We finally heard form one of the truck drivers that there was a truck on fire up ahead. It wasn't until then that the first fire truck came by and we knew we were in for a long wait. We spent the next few hours hanging out on the interstate with a lot of people we didn't know. At least the weather was nice with a cool breeze and lots of beautiful stars out in the middle of nowhere. When we finally got going again I decided to cut cross country through New Mexico to make up some time. By then it was the middle of the night and I figured that there would be no traffic on the 2 lane road through the White Sands Missile Testing Base. Boy, was I right. There is nothing through the heart of New Mexico. No traffic, no gas stations, nothing. There was a Border Patrol Station we had to go through and we had a little scare. We stopped and talked briefly with the guard and he flagged us on. Austin had been sleeping in the seat behind me and when I looked back he was gone. For a brief moment I thought he had gotten out at the patrol station and we had left him behind. Before I panicked to much Susie found him sleeping on the floor by the back seat - our van was pretty much a disaster by now and you could hardly tell he was there. We drove through a few storms but the rest of the night was uneventful. Around 4:30 in the morning I did find an open gas station and we filled up with both gas and caffeine. I said earlier there is nothing in the heart of New Mexico which is true until about sun up. By this time I was getting a little "punchy" after being awake for almost 24 hours. I started to notice strange shaped bushes along the road. Then I noticed that the bushes were walking around. Then I realized that the strange bushes were deer - lots of deer. The next hour was like playing a video game, speeding up slowing down and weaving through the deer arcade. Fortunately we made it back to to the interstate without antlers for a hood ornament. We stopped that night in Joplin Missouri and I crashed after being up for 36 hours or so. After a good nights sleep we headed out for the final leg back to Illinois. About 30 miles from Springfield IL the gas light came on. The sign to the next exit said 8 miles, I have driven 20 miles or more with the light on and thought "no problem" I can go 8 more miles. After sitting along the interstate for 45 minuets in 90+ degree weather waiting for the tow truck to bring me some gas I realized that the heat, the heavy load and the bikes on top of the van probably caused the gas to go a little faster. All in all it was quite an adventure but we made it safely to my parents house by 5:30 that afternoon. Now we could start thinking about other things - The Wedding.

The next few days were a blur of final preparations. We spent Thursday getting the final alterations to Zach's suit and Nate's tie. Friday morning Susie and I managed to squeeze in an early morning bike ride with Clark and Lisa. We had 2 flat tires before leaving the drive way but all went well after that.

How many bikers does it take to change a tire - twice?


The smiling sisters.

Saturday afternoon we had the rehearsal at the church. It took a few tries with the groomsmen but they finally pulled it off and walked in in the the correct order. We had the wedding supper at Susie's sister Lori's house. Her brother, sister's, spouses and nieces and nephews put on a better spread than any restaurant or caterer could have done. We had chicken and steak with all the fixings and several wonderful deserts to choose from. It was incredible.



A big thanks to everyone who worked so hard .

The Happy Couple

Sunday morning started bright and early with pictures at 7am. It was storming on Saturday after the wedding supper but we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning.




Nate got a little bored.





Tom Hoffman and Wayne Leman had a wonderful wedding service and we were off to the reception.



Nate, the little Gentleman.



The whole day went by to quickly and Caleb and Liv were off to start a life of their own. It still seems like a dream but we are so thankful to God for all blessings.

La Familia Zobrist

Susie and I flew out of Chicago on the Tuesday morning after the wedding to go to language school in Morelia Mexico for a few weeks. I hope to have a post of our adventures there soon.