Travis and Katie

Summer is on it's way

2011-05-24T11:09:00.003-05:00

So I had a post that I was going to put up a while ago but I forgot that it was just saved as a draft and it never got posted. What is up with that?
Anyways, Katie and I are finishing up the school year. Katie is done a little bit before me and my last day of school is June 9th or 10th. Not really sure how it works for this long-term sub job that I have if I can work on the 10th or not. I am pretty sure that I won't but that is fine becuase it would be a waste of tax payers money anyway to pay me when there are no students there. This summer is going to be busy and fun.
The University Discipleship Training School (UDTS) starts on June 5th with the studnets coming in so someone will have to fill in place for me for the first week. I will be cooking lunch and dinners downtown at the Phos house that Youth With A Mission runs so anyone who wants to come on down to Langdon Street to hang out with me or the students are free to come on down. I am really looking forward to this opportunity to work with YWAM so it should be a blast. I still have to send out support letters and they are in the process of being made. I will try to get them out early next week!
Katie will have to post more about her summer but she is working an art camp out at Hoyt With MSCR through the Madison School District and she is also working Saturdays with MSCR with the Art Cart. If any of you have children you should call her up and get the schedule of where they will be and when so you can go enjoy time with her and making some art with the kids.
The summer should be pretty exciting and I will be keeping this updated more frequently with the DTS that I will be working with.
Thanks everyone
Travis

Spring is coming

2011-03-18T15:11:00.003-05:00

So, spring is coming and the warm weather has started to come out! I hope you all are ready for it cause I know that I am. There are a lot of things that Katie and I have been working through. Plans for spring break and for the summer. I guess we can start with Spring.
It has been Spring Break for UW-Madison so Katie and I did not cook down at the Phos house this week. We had a Thursday off for once and it was pretty good but we miss our Phos house friends. (For those of you who don't know the Phos house is a campus house that Youth With A Mission runs downtown and Katie and I cook dinner for the students on Thursday evenings).
As far as Spring Break and new things there is a lot of things going on. Katie's Spring Break starts today and she has a bit going on. I was hoping she was going to go on a trip or have some kind of big thing but she has decided to keep it a little more low key. She is going to stay in the area instead of going out to Utah with her grandma. Grandma Lee is leaving us:( which is sad. Katie was going to drive out with her and fly home but she has decided against. We will all miss seeing Grandma Lee including me. I love being super sarcastic with her.
My Spring Break is April 15-24th and I'm going to be flying out to Seattle to visit our friend Jason. It should be pretty sweet to see him out there along with 2 students from the Discipleship Training School and they have had a baby since I have seen them. It should be good to get some biking in out there and visit some friends. I'm trying to figure out if I can get my bike out there somehow on the cheap.
Speaking of Discipleship Training Schools I have decided that being the prep man down at the Phos house this summer for YWAM's DTS is the route I'm taking for this summer. So keep the future students, the staff and I all in your prayers for this summer that some lives and hearts can be impacted including mine. I think it is an opportunity that I won't pass up. Katie and I want to join staff full-time in the near future so this is one step toward that. I will be getting more info out in regards to that as well.
And for the big little news...Katie's sister is pregnant!!! I now have permission to share that info with anyone so I'll just post it here! Should be pretty fun. I called that she would get pregnant within 6 months and I win!

Cold Winter, New Bike!

2011-01-22T18:41:00.004-06:00

This winter has been a little brutal, to say the least! I had to drive to work yesterday because it was too cold! It was -7 degrees, felt like -20 something, yikes! But biking this winter has been good. There's been many chances to learn how to control my bike and I've only fallen about five times so far. My old bike has seen its last ride, after 4 years and thousands of miles, it was worn out beyond repair. The cost to buy new tires, chain ring, cassette, chain, everything but the frame basically would be the same as buying a new bike so Cale and Travis researched a bunch of bikes and we settled on getting a Civia belt driven bike. It works like a champ now that they've gotten all the kinks out. They've never worked on a belt driven bike before so it gave us a bit of trouble at first. The belt is really nice because it is low maintenance, cleans itself, and will last a lot longer than a chain. It has internal-hub gears, disk breaks, and the shifting is right behind the brake lever which is nice. The breaks are amazing...more responsive and dependable than rim breaks...and I wore out my rims on my last bike...that won't happen anymore! I practice for cyclocross everytime I ride to and from work, being in the snow really sharpens my handling skills and challenges me. I'm nervous about doing more races next year, afraid to commit I guess...and to buy another bike, but I had a blast in the two races I did last fall so we'll see. Travis really wants me to and has been looking for a good deal on a bike. Good-bye old trusty touring bike...you've served me well!

Mural with our youthgroup kids

2011-01-22T17:57:00.006-06:00

For the past several months I have been planning with several high school students, drawing out ideas, and painting on a wall at our church with them. We meet to paint on four different days and painted about 4-5 hours each time. They were an enthusiastic bunch of kids and did a great job if I don't mind saying so! When our youth pastor asked if I'd be willing to paint a mural in our church, I was kind of surprised. I've always seen the church as really neat and controlling, you can't put up a lot of fliers, and if you do you need to get them approved ahead of time...the place always looks really clean cut. So I was thrilled to be asked to paint a mural for the middle and high school youth groups. All he said for us to go by was to paint something to show their culture to the church.
I had a great time with the kids, figuring out what they wanted it to look like, and pitching my ideas to them as well. It was kind of scary leaving the first day with the walls full of striped color...it didn't look too good at that point. I was afraid of what people would think when they walked by! We couldn't do it in one weekend, the kids were really hard to get together at first...so we did it over a couple of months. Thankfully it turned out really well and no one (that I know of) freaked out when they saw it in the beginning stages. It's representing the stages in life as you realize who Christ is and what God has done for you. First, someone reaches out to you and lifts you up, introduces you to Him...then you're able to celebrate life and live fully. You praise Him, live in community with others and study the word and continue to grow your relationship with God as you fall more in love with him. I'm looking forward to having a chance to make more murals in the future. Its a lot of fun for me to take a blank wall and give it beauty and transform the space. I haven't had a chance to paint a mural since I was in India two years ago so this was a blast! Enjoy the pictures, if you want to see more, look me up on facebook.

State Championships and Overall

2010-11-23T08:52:00.006-06:00

This past Sunday was the state championships for Cyclocross here in Wisconsin. The race was in Hales Corners and the course would be a little wet due to some rain. Katie was going to be racing today so she would be on the bike first and then a quick hand off to me for my race.
Women's Cat 4 - I only got to watch parts here and there of Katie's race but she ended up going down twice I believe which made her a little less confident for the race. She still pushed it strong and finished with an overall 3rd place!! Nice job babe!! I wish I would have been able to see more of her race but I gotta warm-up.
I lined up for our race and Cale was right behind me. He was going out strong this time and no messing around. The start was fast and I stayed in strong to hold a thrid place. A quarter of the way into the first lap I misread a corner thinking it was a 90 degree but it was a little tighter then that so I went down. I got up and managed to keep it close to the people around me. Cale had gotten around me and was right in front of me.
A little way further while trying to push it to get back up in the pack I went down again. At this time Cale went down as well and broke his rear integrated shifter/brake lever so he had to finish the rest of the race in his hardest gear and only a front brake. I passed him up the very next hill and he was crushed:( Wish it were more down to the wire.
I managed to get back into second and then kid in first had a pretty big gap. I managed to pull pretty close to him but after a botched mount on the last lap (My spandex got all tanlged up on the back of the seat) and another digger (3rd time down) there was no way I could catch him. So I took home second.
For the season with missing two races I somehow managed to pull off a 4th place finish in the standings. So overall the season was great! I am really looking forward to seeing how Katie does next year along with Cale and I. Until the summer it will be winter commuting and then into the summer with some mountain bike team races. Anyone wanna do races with us give us a jingle. WEMS team races!

Past Couple of Weekends

2010-11-07T20:50:00.010-06:00

So it has been a little bit since an update. I'll start with Halloween Weekend:
Saturday was a cyclocross race at Washington Park. Cale wasn't able to make it so it was just Katie and I. It wasn't a rainy day like the previous weekend so Katie and I decided that today would be a great day for her debut. So Katie was going to race at 10:30 and my race at 11:15. It was fun riding the course with Katie on the cross bike and me on my mountain bike. And Katie tore it up!! She did exactly what I told her to do...go out and get out in front and she stayed there. She rocked it out and led the entire race and won her very first bike race. I really do see her being a pretty decent racer. I think in the near future she will be a Cat 3 rider for sure or maybe even higher.
My race didn't go quite as well. I had an incredible start and got out in the lead. Started to get into a groove and dropped my chain. It got wedged inbetween the chainring and the bashguard and it took a while to get it unstuck and back on. I dropped from 4th to 15th just like that. It took some time to work it back up and I ended up finishing 9th.
Our good friend Gus (Constantine Peters) was representing Team Expo at the top of the run up and playing some crazy music. It's always a pleasure to see him and we had a lot of fun. Thanks Gus!!Then on Sunday we had a nice day out in Verona for the Madison Mud Run. Katie and I got a small team of people together. So we had two friends from Milwaukee (chad Nelson and Katie Gruber), Phil Hunerdosse, Taylor Molitor and then our friend Chris Owen got a few of his friends together. It was a lot of fun but super cold. We had a blast and had a muddy muddy day. Then went over to the Owen's for a great time of food and hanging out. Then yesterday there was a race in Estabrook Park. We had the chance to car pool with the Palmer's. So thanks for the ride to them. It was a lot of fun to go out and race once again. I did quite a bit better this race compared to the last one. My asthma was a little bit better. I warmed up a bit more so I think that helped out. I ended up in 5th so that was pretty nice. The big pack behind me were trailing me hard for most of the race so I was pretty nervous that it was going to be a challenge at the end of the race but I was able to pull away a little bit on the last lap. They had a crazy corkscrew at the race which was pretty cool and you can see it in this video (to come later):

Favorite Quote

2010-10-26T22:35:00.003-05:00

Thomas Merton:
"If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully the thing I want to live for. Between these two answers you can determine the identity of any person. The better answer he has, the more of a person he is."

The more I think about this quote, the more I wonder how detailed of an answer I really do have. And the more I think about the second question, my answer always seems to drift into the direction that it's me. I am the only thing that is holding back anything. If it is truly what God has in store for my life, then the only thing that can possibly be holding me back is truly myself.

Phillipians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Racing Weekend (6th and 7th)

2010-10-25T15:02:00.006-05:00

So this weekend I had two races. On Saturday I raced at Kletzsch Park in Milwaukee and on Sunday at Cam Rock in Cambridge.
The weather for Saturday was rain. It was the first time racing at a rainy course and it turned out that I did very well. I didn't start as well as I would have liked to because I couldn't get into my pedals for some reason so I had to come back strong. The race was made up with a lot more climbing then I am used to as well as a long run up. I knew that most people's weaknesses were the hills and run-ups so I wanted to make that my strong point. I pushed through the run-up as hard as I could and manage to pass people on every lap at that point. On the last lap I saw the person that was ahead of me and I knew where I would make my move. I used the run-up and the next hill to place myself right behind them and then after the long stretch of single track on the next hill I made my move. I powered up the hill into 6th place and pedaled hard to the barriers. I knew I could make it through the barriers faster and pushed it to the finish taking 6th place!
On Sunday at Cam Rock and Cale would be joining me. I was going to have Katie race but the weather was even worse rain wise. The course was getting worse between our warm-up laps even so I decided it wouldn't be a good race for Katie. The course was drenched and muddy. It was a grinder the entire race, almost feeling like I was moving no where the entire time. I managed to get myself up into 5th place just ahead of Cale on the last lap. Around one of the corners I slide out and hit the ground hard right in front of Cale. Cale got around me with ease as I jumped back on my bike. I started to pedal and nothing was working right. I managed to land on my rear derailleur as I went down making the shifting not work. At the next hill I ran up the hill and stopped at the top to adjust my derailleur which made me lose another position. I was able to get it working and grind it into the finish for a 7th place finish. Cale ended up in 5th! With the first time Cale has ever beaten me in a race...Nice Job!! Overall it was a fun but very tiring weekend.

Furthercross (7th)

2010-10-18T11:38:00.005-05:00

This past weekend there was yet another cyclocross race in Verona at the Badger Prairie Park. The event: Furthercross! Cale was going to make it to this one in his debut race which is sweet. It's always good to have someone to race with. The day started out with Cale, Katie and I biking to Verona for the race because we try to drive as little as possible. It was a 12.5 mile ride carrying our race bikes on the Xtracycles...thanks for carrying mine there Katie!
So this course was a bit faster then the last one so I couldn't use my mountain bike skills quite as much. It was going to be an all out grind. There was about 75 racers registered so that meant getting out in the front would be fairly important. Cale started a little too far back and got stuck behind some slower riders for a little bit. The race started with the words, "does anyone have any questions? Alright, GO!" Gotta love the laid back atmosphere of these races.
The first stretch a rider nailed the lap counter, flipped over the bars, and broke his collar bone. The start of these races is a bit sketchy so I am glad there are fewer women so when Katie starts, hopefully this weekend, the starts won't be so scary.
In the end we did 4 full laps plus the quarter lap in the beginning. I slowly started picking off riders during the last 2 laps and ended up in 7th place. Cale ended up in 19th place and he is loving it. Next weekend there are 2 races and Katie is going to debut hopefully on Sunday and do some damage in the women's field.
After our race we got to hang out with some cool people and cheer on Tom Palmer, who I have to thank for getting me into this mess. It was a blast to be out there and we even had the opportunity to drink some free beer afterwards...yum!
Next weekend we have Team Pegasus' event held at Kletzsch Park in Milwaukee on Saturday along with UW-Whitewater's event held at Cam Rock.
I will get some pictures/videos up later...have a great day!

Grafton Pumpkincross (12th place)

2010-10-14T12:21:00.005-05:00

This past Saturday was my first cyclocross race and it was pretty fun. The weather was great, almost too nice for cyclocross, and I ended up finishing in 12th out of 50....
At the beginning of the race I was planning on lining up somewhere midpack but after chatting with a few friends (Adam Zimmerman and Peter Speers) I was told that lining up midpack would make it hard to come back. So I decided to just go for it and line up near the front. The whistle blew and I was on my way.
The course was a lot of fun with 3 barriers and one grinder hill. We ended up doing 5 laps that were a little less then 1.5 miles and I soon found out that cyclocross is probably the most painful type of racing I have ever done. When I came across the finish, my entire chest and lungs just felt like they were on fire. It was intense! But finishing 12th was a surprise and I can only get better, hopefully.
Cale will be joining me in the next race in Verona for the Badger Prairie race. If anyone wants to join or watch it is at Badger Prairie Park in Verona. And here is a link to the flyer.

Cyclocross

2010-10-05T12:31:00.003-05:00

I just bought a cyclocross bike off Ebay and it is time to start racing. I have never done this before but it looks like a blast. For any of those people that like bikes this is what I got: 2009 Ridley Crossbow with Sram Force gruppo and Origin 8 wheels. It looks pretty rad, as all cross bikes do, but we shall see how it goes. I need to get a shorter stem and a narrower handlebar and she will be ready to race. I will keep everyone updated on all of that. Cale is also buying a Jamis Supernova so we will be racing together like always! Picture to come soon!

Been too long

2010-09-13T22:25:00.002-05:00

So...it has been way too long since we last posted on here. Katie and I had a way busy summer but it went pretty well. I taught summer school at Memorial High School. I taught 2 different classes, Geometry and Algebra II. Katie worked with MSCR with an art camp so she loved her summer.
We both helped out cooking dinners at the Phos house. Youth With A Mission held a University Discipleship Training School down on the university campus. We were crazy busy and felt way too busy between teaching and cooking dinners but it all was really good. My teaching was sub par but I did get to work with some really great students at Memorial and we both had the chance to meet some truly amazing students during the DTS. Thanks to all those ladies and gents for a great summer.
Now we are both back in the school mode. Katie is still teaching 80% at Abundant Life Christian School and I am just starting to get some sub jobs for the Madison School District. I just worked my 2nd job today at East High. I had the chance to work in the department that I did a long term job last year with so it was a blessing to see some of the kids I taught last year. I also ran into two students that I taught at a different school so that was a blessing as well.
We are still in the mode of trying to pay off our student loans in order to go into missions. So if any of you are out there reading this...make sure you keep us on track with that. Don't be afraid to ask us how well we are doing with our finances and with paying off our loans. We have been paying extra on all of our loans (car, katie's loan, and my loan). But now I am going to shift our finances focusing mainly on our student loans. You all can keep us accountable on this.
But yea, let us know how you are doing, especially if we haven't heard from you in a while. I will leave you with a great song from a pretty great band. The band is Flobots with Tim Mcllrath, the lead singer from Rise Against.

Cool Video

2010-06-30T12:04:00.007-05:00

Just wanted to post a video that is pretty sweet. The artist is Mr. J. Medeiros and the song is 'Holding On'. I just love this song and video. He is an amazing artist and I love his music. You can find him here: Mr J Medeiros

The lyrics are here:

Mr. J. Medeiros
"Holding On"

[Chorus]
I'm on your side
Dark days, cold nights
This is what we're going through
Keep holding on
I can hear your cry
I'm on your side
Dark days, cold nights
This is what we're going through
Keep holding on
It'll be alright

It's just for now you could focus on the roses at your feet
And all the poses that we keep
Holding frozen in a mental feature
So when you sleep, the only messages that creep
From the part of you that speaks
Are the words that I am a gentle creature
And maybe then, with our fingers like pens
We could draw upon our skin holy images of matrimony
But how and when, seem to come now and again
From your brow to your chin, your confession is that we are lonely
If we could only escape from the memories
That take precious moments like these from a youthful heart
I would hold you, and thank you for everything that makes you a blessing
And see you for who you truly are

[Chorus]

When what was, rings louder than what is
I doubt there ever will be space for a new star
And all of the cosmos, we focus on what costs most:
Memories of pain and a new scar
Well it's to those stars and underneath you
The distance these loving arms would reach
When you think I'm hard to find
In a world without options
You suddenly stopped by a stranger
And find later that those arms are mine
In a better time and place
A feather of divine grace fades
Into white parades of free birds
Defined within their chase
I find that I've been waiting my whole life
Just to say these words

[Chorus]

Back to the Summer Jobs

2010-06-15T21:08:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday was the first day of Art Cart EXTRA! for the summer. I'm working with my friend Crystal again this summer and we have a lot of fun things planned for the next six weeks. Last Saturday we were in Stoughton and Sun Prairie. If you'd like to bring your kids to make some art with me you can go to this link: Art Cart Schedule. I only work for Art Cart on Saturdays...

I started training for MSCR's Super Center Art camp this week and it has been great thus far. I really enjoyed the people that I worked with last year, several of which are back, and there are a lot of sweet new people joining us. We planned lessons today and the kids are in for some fun. Its a joy to work with people that are so creative and that truly care about the kids and providing a safe enriching environment for them. So I'm excited for the summer, dispite the fact that I'll be working 6 days a week. Travis starts his summer school on Friday and has started cooking for the DTS this week. We'll be a couple of busy bees, but its going to be really fun. The DTS kids are cool and I'm excited to get to know them better. I'll be helping Travis cook for them every once and awhile which I love to do!

I had a good year at ALCS, but its nice to switch the pace and to not have to grade anything. I just get to create a lot of art lessons and teach, which I love. Today it was raining all day, so I biked in the rain and got soaked on the way to work...got even wetter on the way back! It was fun though and I'm glad that it was warm because when I bike in cold rain I get freezing and it's NOT fun. Sometimes it's a little crazy, but I love biking and it's well worth it.

Trek 100 +

2010-06-13T22:21:00.006-05:00

Saturday was an awesome day...

It's 4:30am and I cannot sleep. My plan was to get up at 5:00 but what is a half an hour when you're barely sleeping anyway, so I'll just get up. The sun is just starting to come out as I gather up my stuff for my ride into Waterloo. Today I am going to do a 100 mile charity ride but I don't want to drive for it. I will always do what I can to drive as little as possible.

My bag is packed, and my bike is ready to roll. After only 4 hours of sleep, I'm on my bike for my 23 mile ride to my hometown of Waterloo, WI. I'm leaving quite a bit early so I can ride at a leisure pace and still make it a bit before the ride starts. About 12 miles into my ride I hear the dreaded sound of a flat. The air spewing out of the tire as it spins around the wheel. I don't know what it is about me, but I seem to always get a flat. As I take the wheel of to change it, I notice that I had cut my tire. I don't have a spare tire, so I just put a new tube in and pray that I don't get another flat on my way to Waterloo. As I enter Waterloo, I look down at my average and it's just under 19mph. Go figure, everything with me is either all on or all off. It is really hard for me to just go at things in a leisure pace.

As I roll into Trek's parking lot my first job is to find a new tire. The guys from Williamson Bikes are just pulling up and they let me know they have a tire somewhere in their van. I help them unload their van to set up for their day. These guys are great and even change the tire for me. Thanks so much! Now I have to get rid of my bag for my ride.

I ride over to my in-laws house where my father-in-law Chris meets me at the door. It is always good to see him and I leave him with my messenger bag so I don't have to ride with it on during the ride. My riding buddy Jason meets me here and Chris snaps a picture as we head to the start. I am super pumped about doing this ride with Jason. We are sitting at the start with 2,300 other riders. You could either do a 19 mile ride, 30 mile, a metric century (62 miles) or a full century. Why not go all out right.

They let us out in large waves and as we head out Jason and I start getting into a rythym right away. It is so amazing to see so many people riding. As we are passing other riders we end up catching up with one pace line moving at a good clip. We're drafting with them and then Jason just starts to pass them. So Jason is out there riding on his own. I decide I better go on after him. As I catch up to him, I let him know that there is no way we can keep this pace without a pace line. I crank it out to catch the next pace line ahead of us. There are three guys with Wheel & Sprocket Jerseys on that I will ride with almost the entire way.

As Jason and I are riding in this pace line, one of the guys from the pace line gives me the low down on how it all works with pulling (leading the pace line) and other aspects. As I work my way to the front of the pack I do my first pull, I get this sense of exhiliration knowing that I am leading this pack of riders. We're moving at a decent clip, around 25 mph, the guy that was helping me out is giving me pointers along the way. I signal, and pull off to the side and work my way back into the pace line.

During my second pull, two guys on a tandem coming burning by with a small pack of guys all on Trek Madone road bikes. Thinking they are part of our group and they just wanted to pick up the pace, I step it up and keep their pace. We make a left hand turn and the tandem just starts cranking. We're on a flat road and I look down, I am moving almost 35 mph! This pace is just way too fast. I look back and the rest of the pack is behind me a ways. I drop off and regroup with the original guys.

Soon our group gets to be almost 50 strong. It starts to get a little jumbled. As were coming toward a corner, the leaders at the moment didn't see it coming. Instead of going straight they decided to lay on the brakes heavy to make the corner. Now all of us in the line are braking and trying not to hit anyone else and it is just a huge mess. Luckily no one goes down during that mess. We're keeping an average of 22 mph which for me is just impressive.

We're moving pretty good and then one of the guys gets a flat. They have been so great to me so I decide to pull off with him and the rest of the Wheel & Sprocket guys to ride with them after the flat is changed. At the next rest stop we catch back up with a few of the riders and my friend Jason. At this point I am starting to get pretty tired. I am almost double the miles I had on this bike to begin with. At about mile marker 82 I am doing a pull and my right hamstring starts to cramp up like I have never felt before. I pull off to the side and the pace line blows by me. I take some gel and electrolyte tablets. My leg feels a bit better but there is no hope of catchign back up with them. Jason and I finish the last 18 miles together.

We end up finishing the 100 miles in 4 hours and 42 min. We kept an overall average of 21.3 mpgh which is just impressive to me. I am very happy with the results. We catch up with the 3 guys from Wheel & Sprocket, eat some food and drink a few beers. After a few hours it is time for me to head out to McFarland. I still have to finish my crazy biking day! I head out feeling pretty good and keep it moving about about 19 mph to finish up a total of 148 miles of riding. Just a beautiful day of riding and some great people. Thanks to all that I ran into out there. It was a blast!

God has blessed me in such an amazing way. It is just astonishing to me at what my body is capable of with actually no training. I am a bike commuter turn mountain bike rider/ride anything. I am truly blessed!

Ride The Drive

2010-06-02T12:43:00.002-05:00

If anyone that is in the Madison area wants to go on a ride (biking, running, roller-blading, jogging, walking, skateboard, longboard, etc.) on Sunday, Ride The Drive is going on this Sunday and again in August. Ride the Drive is a celebration to a healthy, active lifestyle. It runs from 10am to 4pm and you can get out there whenever you want. It is a good time and tons of people participate. You get to have the streets to yourself in the downtown area. You can check out the Route Here!

There are a bunch of other activities going on besides just doing loops around the downton Madison area.

I personally am going to do one lap on each bike that I own just for fun. And maybe I will even do a lap running if I feel up to it. If anyone wants to join up with us, our whole household will probably be representing. Let me know if you want to borrow a bike even. I have some that you could ride along with us. It would be fun to see a bunch of people we know out there. Just let me know!

Have a great weekend
Travis

Trek 100

2010-05-20T11:55:00.003-05:00

I am now registered for the 2010 Trek 100 which is a charity ride raising money for the MACC (Midwest Athletes against Childhood Cancer). I am going to be riding the 100 mile ride so I need to raise at least $1 per mile I will be riding (if you can't do the math that would be $100). So if you want to make a donation go to http://2010trek100.kintera.org/tgruchow and make a donation under my name. The ride is June 12th in the good ole hometown of Waterloo, WI. If anyone wants to get on out there and check it out call me up and let me know you'll be there. The ride starts at 7:30 am on that Saturday morning! I will probably call someone and let them know a little before hand when I am going to come in. I should be able to do it in about 5 and a half hours. We shall see. I am planning on biking from Madison to Waterloo for the ride, doing the 100 miles and then biking home afterwards so it might make me a bit slower. Please donate some $$$ though, even if it is a little amount!

Thanks

Travis

Summer

2010-05-10T10:55:00.002-05:00

So, it has been a while once again but here are some details about our summer and things that have been going on.
Overall things have been going pretty good with all of us. Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there. We were able to hang out with our mom's this weekend a bit which was pretty good. Katie's brother Matthew graduated from UW-Platteville on Saturday so congrats to that guy. He has a job already too so he has been doing really well with all of that. I have been subbing and working at the bike shop in Sun Prairie so that has been going pretty good.
But yea...here are some things that are coming up this summer. Katie will be working for MSCR doing art camp type stuff again Monday-Friday and on Saturday's she will be doing Art Cart again. So if anyone has some little ones out there you could email or look up the art cart schedule and see when they are coming to a town near you and hang out with her a little bit.
I am unsure what I am doing as of right now. I kind of have to decide today. I am going to work with YWAM this summer because they are having a Discipleship Training School down at the Phos House (campus house). I am going to be their cook for dinner for sure and possibly for lunch. The part I have to decide is if I want to teach summer school math. If I teach then I won't be able to do lunch but I will figure that one out today.
Anyways, there will be some mountain bike racing going down this summer and our bike tour will be happening as well. Looking forward to summer and hanging out with all of you!

Drive to Utah to see Great Grandma Barr!!!

2010-03-30T20:21:00.016-05:00

I set out with my mom, dad and Caleb on Friday night around 8:30 from Madison to drive to Utah. We packed in my dad's new truck and I almost immediately fell asleep. I was wiped out from teaching the past few weeks! I told them that I couldn't be trusted to drive at night at all...I wouldn't make it. Dad and Caleb ended up driving the whole time and mom and I were excellent co-pilots. I was planning on driving in Wyoming but then it started to snow and we were in the mountains so I let dad take charge of that. We saw several semis and trucks in the ditches along the way which was kind of scary. We enjoyed the beautiful drive, all 23 hours of it. The pictures really don't do the views we saw justice...

We made minimal stops and tried to make it to Utah as fast as we could. The longest stop was to eat a late breakfast at Perkins. At one stop we saw how dirty the truck got. Dad was sad to discover when he was washing the truck at Gram's house that there were several chips in the paint from the salt the semi trucks hitting salt up at him. We knew that we were finally getting close to her house when we reached Bear Lake. It was breath-taking to see all of the snow melting from the mountains contrasting with the bright blue lake. After soaking it all in for awhile we piled back in and started the decent to Logan. I had to put my head down for awhile because I was getting car sick, the mountains were way to close to the window for me.

Since we've been in Utah we've had a lot of fun talking with family that comes over to Grandma's house to visit. We got to meet some kids that we haven't met yet, Wendy's five kids came over for an afternoon. Wendy is my mom's cousin so it was fun to meet all of them, I had only seen pictures before. Uncle Jimmy has been over a lot, he's been living with Gram to help take care of her and is glad for the little break this week. We went to a park down the hill with Andrea's three kids and Wendy's kids to play for awhile, kickball and "hot lava monster" and came back for a yummy dinner cooked by Uncle Jeff. The first picture you see below is the view from Gram's backyard. Today it is snowing and overcast...we can't even see the mountains. Its been a great time so far, we've been visiting with family, I've been running a bit and knitting, getting more sleep than I have in months and reading...its been great!

Its wierd not having Travis along with us, but he'll come with us the next time we come out to Utah...hopefully a more active and fun trip. This time the only purpose of our visit was to spend time with Gram Betty Barr and to help her anyway we can. She is still living at home, a few times a week nurses come out to take care of her, give her a check up, help her shower and to do her hair. They are really nice and we're all very thankful for Hospice and the care they've provided for her these last few months. Its been great to share stories with Gram and to hear more about her life, she is always positive and has never complained once since we've been here.

Long Time No Post

2010-03-08T11:53:00.003-06:00

So...It has been a while but we are all still doing great. Katie and I are looking to move to a different place with the same people that we live with right now. We are looking for a 4 bedroom house with a garage or at least a driveway to park our cars to look pretty. So if you know anyone that rents houses in Madison give me a shout and we would love to check it out.

The quarter is almost done. Katie and I are finishing our Quarter 3 of teaching. After the quarter I will return to normal day-to-day substitute teaching. I am not looking forward to that. It will be fun to switch it up but typically those days carry a lot more stress and I will miss teaching the women I am with right now.

The Madison DTS is back from Uganda and Kenya. Katie and I got to see their graduation on Friday night and it was amazing what God did through this team. They had some incredible stories that you can check out at YWAM Madison's DTS blog.

So...Katie and I got to hang out with the Stenson's all weekend almost and it was great to see them back. John and I got talking about doing a bike tour again for Human Trafficking so we are going to start putting that into the works. Katie is going to be working this summer so it may just be John and I and whoever else wants to join in on the fun. John just mentioned that if this is what God has put at our hearts we need to continue to strive forward with the idea and see where God wants to take this. So we are going to start meeting up, praying, and putting stuff together. So if anyone would like to meet along with us you are free to. You don't have to be a biker, just have a heart for human trafficking. The biking part is the tour, so if you wanna join us with that, then you may need to be a biker haha!

I am not sure if I am going to be working this summer or not. If I am not, I am really being pulled to do stuff with YWAM. I actually, in a sense, feel like I should not work and just get busy with YWAM. They have a lot of summer opportunities for places where I can serve. If you would like to join in any of the opportunities you can check out what we have going on this summer at YWAM Madison. There are things for people of all different ages and everything so check into it.

But yea, should get to some teacher prep right now. Been procrastinating for a little bit now. See ya!

Trans Wisconsin

2010-02-21T15:36:00.003-06:00

Anyone up for some fun in June? Check out TransWisconsin. It is going to be just a race/fun ride from Southern Wisconsin to Northern Wisconsin totally about 550 miles or so. Cale and I are thinking about doing it as of right now. Sadly Katie will have already started her summer job by then although we are planning on going for a bike ride on that route the week before just to check it out and have a little time to ourselves out in the woods. I am looking forward to that and it should be a lot of fun. So if anyone is up for a ride and wants someone to join, ride with Cale and I and it could be fun. If anyone that knows us registers, shoot me an email. The only way I am not going to do it is if I get a summer job teaching summer school math, otherwise I am pretty sure that it is happening for me.
Looking forward to spring...Travis

Xtracycle

2010-02-12T14:45:00.003-06:00

So, if anyone knows our roommate Cale he is a bit crazy sometimes. So he had the last few days off of work and the first few days he didn't do a whole lot and then all of a sudden I come home from work one day and my Xtracycle that has been sitting in my room for a while and half put together is up in the bike stand and there sits Cale putting it together. So I am not excited to say that my xtracycle I bought back in December is finally put together.
The reason it wasn't put together in the first place is because I am a total idiot and cut the steer tube on my fork way to short because I missed measured it doing things in a hurry. So it wasn't going to work cause I am only a partial mechanic. But now it's together so it will be sweet. Time to start hauling things around town just for fun. I think I am going to bike to Eau Claire sometime this summer just to see if anyone is living up there still that I know. Who knows?
I will get pictures of the bike soon. Now I just need a set of disc brakes of my own along with a disc wheelset. I will be keeping my eyes open for that!

Divorce

2010-01-12T17:31:00.002-06:00

Divorce Sucks...my parents are getting a divorce which is really sad. It is just crazy to me how some people treat love. Love doesn't matter anymore to a lot of people. The reason for the divorce - my dad says my mom doesn't cook enough, cook healthy enough meals, and doesn't clean enough. WHAT! Totally crazy. I don't want to get into too much detail because I love both of my parents and the whole world (or the few people) that read this blog...they don't need to know all that junk anyway. But I did find a great song that kinda helped me out...Emergency by Paramore. It is kinda hard to know what to do though. I am in the whole WWJD mode right now trying to see what would God have me do in this situation. I am trying to pray and seek out direction from His view and not the worlds.

The good news...Districts Youth Confrence was this weekend with Xtreme (our church's high school youth group). It was a great weekend even though I was wiped because I started a new job last week and my parents getting a divorce so I didn't sleep much. It was hard to have anywhere near as much energy as the kids. But it was great to hear some words of God from a lot of different speakers. I had a blast with the students in my group. The key for the weekend was to live a C323 lifestyle. Colossians 3:23 - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men". Do everything with the best and hardest ability that you can for God, no matter what it is.

Paramore
"Emergency"

Mr. J. Medeiros "Constance"

2009-11-22T23:16:00.003-06:00

Mr. J. Medeiros
"Constance"

An old man vacationing
He stands patiently
Under a hotel sign that blinks "vacancy"
He's thinking maybe he's too late to make the drop off
'Til a truck comin' his way breaks his thought short
And now he's out of sorts, you can see he's sorta nervous
Walking to the passenger door to meet his ordered service
"This is someones daughter working" blinks his conscience
When the driver says "she's my youngest, her name is Constance."
He comments "And it's only six dollars a visit, just don't leave any marks on her, it hurts business."
Thought for a minute, and confessed "Thats fair," since it was three dollars less than his cab fair
"How old are you honey?"
She says "I'm thirteen."
Her nose is runny, it's raining in the Philippines.
He handed over the money in a chilling scene, the truck drives off and now he's on a hunt to kill her dreams
The sign blinks "No Vacancy"
He leads Constance to her room, he is ready for tapin'
See, he's about to turn six into six thousand
And all you gotta do is click on your web browser
It's not illegal to use rapin' as a cash crop, as long as it says she's 18 on your laptop

The sound of rain is the backdrop
Layin' there, like she's waitin' for someone to say they care
While the tears of God fall down the window pane,
She feels unholy, like the Father doesn't know her name
Mary Magdalen, and the woman at the well, He knew everything that happened,
and in His arms she fell.

(In His arms she fell fell fell fell...
(Will you stay with me?)X2

He's 21 and all alone in his household,
He's tempted by the quiet he feels and the mouse he holds
The silence of his spouse is cold
So he's about to help that man get his six thousand gold

One click and now she's sold
Withholding his conscience
Scrollin' through the comments
There she is looking confident
A picture of Constance and a series of video clips
"Adult content"
The title blinks in bold letters, like the vacancy sign
It's his time to go get her
It's like his mind doesn't know better
Her soul is cryin out "Let me go" but he won't let her
He got her trapped inside his media player
Held captive by a need to be player
It's a matter of he bein' here and she bein' there
That's why he doesn't feel the need to care
Guilt is in the seed he bears
Fillin' his shares of the profit on a 500 million dollar market where children are regarded as product
and traded like stock tips
and raped for the sake of our pockets
His laptop sits like a window into Constance's room
Where he exits cause it's almost noon
and he's expecting his wife home soon
With new clothes for the baby
She'd be angry if she saw his new lady
A 13 year old Filipino named Constance
Trust me girl, God has not forgotten
He knew Mary Magdalen, and the woman at the well
He knows everything that happens, and in His arms she fell

(In His arms she fell fell fell fell...
(Will you stay with me?)X2

Advent Conspiracy

2009-11-19T22:47:00.004-06:00

Human Trafficking Info

2009-11-19T22:06:00.002-06:00

Human Trafficking: the recruitment, transport, harboring or receipt of human beings for the purpose of exploitation. It is achieved through force, abduction, fraud, deception, bribery, and the abuse of power. In short, human trafficking is modern day slavery. (photogenx.net)

Katie and I recently were able to hang out and hear from a guy that taught at our DTS. Troy Sherman is a YWAM guy that teaches at DTS's among many other things and is super passionate about human trafficking. He spoke and gave us some info along with some sweet stories as well. We were also able to hear from Angela Rhuland who is working with YWAM in Pattaya, thailand with human trafficking victims as well as a local outreach person Mike Moses who works for a group called BASICS in Milwaukee. We just wanted to share some of the findings:

-Slavery exists today...there are more slaves today then there has ever been before
-There are an estimated 27 million victims of human trafficking (this number is probably way lower than what it really is)
-2nd largest criminal activity at $39 billion generated per year (next to drugs)
-25% of all sex tourism world wide and up to 80% in Latin America comes from US citezens
-79% of trafficking victims are used in the area of sex
-Pattaya (the sex tourist city of the world) has a registered pop. of 80,000 (about the size of Waukesha) but has 2000-3000 bars and 2-3 million tourists per year
-Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but brings in more money then the national budget
-17,000 kids are trafficked in the US each year
-India has a red light district that takes 24 hours to walk through to the other side
-Estimated 80,000 prostitutes being brought into Canada for the winter Olympics

One story that just floored me was about a woman that would walk into a red light district and just grab a child that was in a great need of help and walk out with her. She had done this a few times and when talking with someone she said she was going to have to start using public transportation. When asked why, she responded that her car had been blown up too many times and it was illogical to replace her car anymore!

This is just a little bit that we have heard and have come to know. A lot of people do not realize that this is a problem within the United States. There are people being trafficked here in little old Wisconsin even. With 25% of all sex tourism money coming from the United States it is an American epidemic. It is estimated that the cost of getting clean water to everyone in the world would cost $10 billion and 25% of the $39 billing being generated through human trafficking would be enough money to give clean water to everyone in the world!

To end this post the number to call if you think you have seen a human trafficking situation is 1-888-373-7888 for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. They will take the info and pass it on to the correct people in the local area.

Troy ends with a sweet quote that a lot of people have heard from Helen Keller:
"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do"

Sweet resource for you all is: The Freedom Project There is a lot of info on this website along with a lot of other great resources. Be sure to check out the take action section with the One campaign.

A Must Read

2009-10-23T18:02:00.002-05:00

There is a book that I think everyone should read. I have already read it and reading it again. For me it really drives me to pursue a radical and different lifestyle but you can take it however you want. The book is Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. It is a movie as well but the book is much much better. You really get a better fell for what Chris McCandless' (aka Alexander Supertramp) was thinking/feeling/etc. The book is a true story about a guy and his journey into the wild. A body was found in Alaska and the author wrote an article for the magazine Outdoor and after receiving a lot of mail from readers about the article he decided to dive a little deeper and try to understand the young man that was found. I'm not really good at describing books or anything like that but it is amazing. You can't just watch the movie, it is no where near the same, although the movie is pretty good.

A few quotes used in the book:

"I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitment and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life." Leo Tolstoy - Family Happiness

"It should not be denied...that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West." Wallace Stenger - The American West as Living Space

So far the two times that I have felt most free in my life have been on our bike trips that we have done and when Katie and I had our whole adventure with the DTS in YWAM with going to India. It is just wierd right now for me to just be working, paying rent and doing little things on the side that we have time for. I love teaching and love that type of atmosphere but I really love just being out in the world and making a bigger impact. Not sure but I will have to see what direction our lives take in the future.

School has started, we'll catch you up!

2009-09-13T08:48:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone, sorry that we have been unfaithful to the blogging! We have officially moved in to our new apartment with friends, Cale, Stevie and Leigh and are still rummaging through the boxes trying to settle in. The past month has been filled with adjustments. It seems like our whole summer has been a time of transition and change! I have been teaching for three weeks now at ALCS. It has been going well but I'm in over my head many days of the week. I am teaching PE and Art, I see at least part of the classes from grades K-12 save for 3/4th grade. Its crazy learning all of their names and figuring out how to grade, make worksheets and lesson plans, etc. I didn't think doing PE would be so hard, but anything new and foreign is. I've loved getting to know the students so far and the staff at ALCS have so far proved to be amazing followers of Christ that truly are teaching to serve Him and the students. Its a privilege!

Since we've posted last we went camping at Silver Springs near Rio with Cale and his family. We had a very relaxing time and it was great to go on a long ride loaded down with our gear again. We spent hours in a pond messing around on some huge inflated water toys. Travis braved the heights of a 20 foot tall "iceberg" and almost jumped off the top. We also all almost killed ourselves falling off on top of each other from a spinning sphere called "Saturn". None of us got swimmers itch and sun burn was minimal...what more could you ask for on a Labor Day weekend?

Travis is still waiting to be called from the Madison School District for a sub job...for now Playstation and sitting on our porch is keeping him occupied! Give him a call if you need help doing anything:) Another sweet thing we've been doing is canning salsa and chili. So far we have canned 35 quarts! We got a boat load of tomatoes and peppers from Cale's dad and have been going at it for the past 4 days. It turned out to not be too hard and quite satisfying knowing that we're saving a ton of money on food for this coming winter!

Another thing we're going to be investing our hearts and time into is a group YWAM has started on campus called the Advocacy Project. We're going to meet on Wednesday nights for prayer and brainstorming against human sex trafficking. Travis also wants to get involved with the DTS starting at the end of this month. We love working with YWAM and want to keep our connections strong with them while we work to pay off our students loans. That is one main reason of why it was so important to us to stay in Madison. Even though we could have found jobs in other cities we knew it was crucial to stay here.

Tonight is our first night working with the Door Creek youth group called Xtreme. Travis and I are really excited to be working with youth and will be leading bible studies for boys and girls in Madison every other Sunday. The kick of for the youth group was a couple of weeks ago. Travis and I jumped into the mud hole with the students and some other leaders for a 'game' of mud volleyball. It ended up being wrestling and a huge slip and slide (of course) We had a blast and are so excited to get to know these kids over the next year! We hope that you all are doing well... Enjoy this amazing weather we've been having!

It's Been A While

2009-08-17T10:29:00.002-05:00

So it has been a while since Katie and I have posted anything. Just to update some people about what is going on in our lives. Katie is going to be working at Abundant Life Christian Schools for the next school year teaching high school and middle school art. She is for sure working there 2 days a week and might be teaching 4 or 5 days a week teaching PE as well! She doesn't know for sure about the PE deal yet but that is a possibility. I am going to be a substitute teacher for the Madison School District so that will be fun. I won't have work for a little bit yet. I will also work for Sylvan Learning Center doing some ACT Prep and homework support.
Katie and I bought a car almost a month ago. We bought a blue Pontiac Vibe. It is a manual car so it has been fun/interesting/frustrating teaching Katie how to drive it. We drive so little so it is hard for her to learn.
Katie's mom along with another friend of ours Sandra Braden went on a trip to Belize and just got back a couple of days ago. I have not heard much about it yet sadly and I would like to talk to them and hear what God had accomplished through them while they were there. It was a women's only thing. I will have to post more about that when I hear more about what happened!
I haven't raced in a while because the last race was cancelled due to all the rain we got. Katie, Cale and I spent the night in La Crosse and we were all ready to race but it rained all night long. It was just crazy! So we stayed in La Crosse for the day and just hung out! It was fun but sad that we were not able to race. Now that race will be in October on the 17th!
The biggest deal I guess right now is Katie and I are moving! We are moving in with a few friends on Jenifer St. in Madison here. So if you need our new address send us an email and we can update you (don't know if that is safe just to post on the web for all to see). We are moving in with Cale, Stevie and one of Stevie's friends Leigh! It should be a lot of fun and we are looking forward to living with Cale again.
But yea, hope you all are having a great day and here it is rainy but enjoy the day that God has given us!

So sad:(...only 30

2009-07-24T14:25:00.001-05:00

Kind of a big deal

2009-07-15T22:51:00.001-05:00

So...I never knew that this day would come but....
Katie and I are purchasing a car!!! We have been borrowing cars for a while and have been just fine with that but it is not totally in my nature to live life that way. It will be nice to have something of our own so we don't have to borrow it but that doesn't mean my lifestyle will change. Katie and I will still use it for just races and other things of that nature so I will post pictures of it as soon as we pick it up TOMORROW because no one will probably ever see it. You will most likely still just see my bike. But we bought a blue Pontiac Vibe! It is crazy but we just had to figure out how much we could afford to put down as a down payment and we will be picking it up tomorrow from the dealership. CRAZY!

Cool Video

2009-07-15T08:49:00.002-05:00

This is just a cool video about hand-built bikes. I would love to own one but don't have the money for one right now. I like the comment about "a mass produced frame doesn't have a soul".

Anima D'Acciaio Trailer Ver5.1 from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

Busy couple of days!

2009-07-07T17:08:00.005-05:00

So prior to the weekend Cale, John and I were a little busy working on making a tall bike and a chopper bike for a parade we were going to be in. We wanted to have a few crazy bikes in the Flags of Freedom Parade in Sun Prairie. We were riding for Sun City Cyclery (the bike shop Cale works at). So here are a few pics of the building process:
Bike Stuff out in the drivewayThe Shed full of randomnessThis tall bike eventually cracked:(Cale finished the masterpiece
Then we actually rode in the parade. It was a lot of fun and everyone had a blast. Of course Becca went all out and decorated Elliot's bike like crazy and it was really sweet. We saw a few familiar faces in the crowds as we rode so that was a lot of fun!
The tall bikes in action
The chopper bike! (along with a fixie composed of my old wheel and Cale's old frame)
John and Katie ready to ride!
Becca and Annie! Of course Annie's face is hilarious
Elliot's jazzed out ride
Then we drove to Newport, MN (just outside the twin cities) to see a long lost friend. My friend Julie Theobald has been in Taiwan for 3 years now (kinda crazy!) and while she was there she got married in January. So she is now Julie Puckett! Katie and I were able to hang out at the wedding party for a while and see a few lost friends which was awesome.

BONK!

2009-06-29T16:58:00.003-05:00

So the Metro Challenge didn't go as planned. It was a lot of fun but I have no idea what happened! I was racing really well for the first 6 hours and then the heat eventually got to me. It was a really warm day. Cale and I were both drinking almost a bottle of water an hour and still felt thirsty. After every single hill and any single track I felt thirsty. It was intense! I had 60 miles in during the first half of the race but then I just started feeling pretty bad. My feet started to hurt so I switched back to my old racing shoes and then my hands started to hurt so I switched to my old gloves. Then I figured it was just not going to happen so Cale and I just started to take it easy. We took breaks and hung out and went out for a few more laps yet. The people at the race were sweet still and it was a blast but just wasn't the best for performance. I was a bit down about my performance but still had a smile:)

I just got a call today too from the Sylvan Learning Center in Madison here. It looks like I will be starting work there on Monday! I am excited because I will be able to teach again so that is sweet. I train Monday and Tuesday and then I will be observing Wednesday. Thursday and Friday I will be able to start teaching one on one with a student and will work my way up to having 3 students at a time. So thank God for providing with another job right when I need it. Katie and I will be squeaking by all the time but we make it!

Metro Challenge

2009-06-26T16:06:00.003-05:00

This weekend is the Metro Challenge in Franklin, WI. Cale and I put our bikes together lastnight after cleaning them off from the last race. It was brutal cleaning them off so let's hope for no rain this weekend. I changed my gear ratio once again to a 32/19 so we will see if that helps anything out. I hope it does! It should be a lot of fun and we look forward to seeing everyone again.

Katie will not be there again:( Cale and I really miss our pit girl. I miss looking at her every single time I come for another lap as well:( haha! Anyways, she is going to a scrapbooking day at her grandma's store over in Milwaukee so that should be fun. She is going with our good friend Beca Stenson! I hope they have a blast and I will let you all know how the race weekend goes!

Oh, I had an interview at the Sylvan Learning Center today as well. So hopefully that job pulls through because I would really love to be tutoring some students right now!

Video Fun

2009-06-22T18:51:00.005-05:00

Here is a little video that I put together really quick. It is a little video from some pictures form the races that Cale and I do. This is the first time that I have ever made a video so you can leave some comments about what you think of it and what I could do to make it better. The racing season is not even half way through so there will be a longer one coming when I get more pictures from more races. But here it is...check it out!

12 Hours at John Muir

2009-06-15T17:56:00.004-05:00

Trying to clean out some of the mud Random question/thought that came up: Why do we drive on something called a parkway, but we park in something called a driveway?

Anyways, Cale and I had a race this weekend: 12 Hours at John Muir. It was a blast and we both had a lot of fun. Kinda sad that Katie couldn't make it but we had to do without I guess. My dad showed up for some help and a lot of help he was. Not quite up to Katie's par but close.
It started out with the weather being raining once again (one of these races it will be dry I hope). It rained all night and the course was very wet. The race coordinators said it would be dusty by noon but they didn't know it was going to rain once again in the early afternoon. So the course started out very wet and very slick. About 1230ish or 1 it felt like the course was just starting to get a bit more sticky and then in started to rain a bit again which made the course even sloppier. So it was muddy all morning and into the afternoon and then the course finally started to feel normal. It was a fun day but I think I was running too high of a gear ratio again. I am not a grinder so the 32/18 was still a bit too tight for me. The climbs were getting very tough near the end of the day. I finished 9 laps in 10 hours and 41 minutes for a 3rd place finish. I could have got a 10th lap in before the time was up but it wouldn't have changed the place I finished in and I was pretty tired. Maybe next time I'll do a little bit better.

Overall, it was just a great day! The people at the race were the usual awesome! Got to hang out with some sweet peeps once again and just chill with all the racers. Lee Unwin finally showed up (haven't seen him in a while) so it was pretty cool to see him. It was also fun to see all the usual people we run into while we are racing as well. So it was a blast and just a great day!

Frolf and Biking

2009-06-08T14:29:00.008-05:00

This Sunday was a great day! It was supposed to rain but it was an amazing weather! I got a call from a good ole friend Mike Farnham to go frolfing out at Heistand Park. So Katie and I joined him for a round of frolf and Cale joined us at hole 12ish. I started out a little rusty and it was Katie's second time out there. Mike was doing good and I got some tips from him. I got a few birdies and had a couple of horrible holes at the same time. Putted in one from about 45 feet. It was a fun day and I look forward to going out again. Thanks Mike for the phone call and for letting me borrowing some discs.

Travis teeing offMike teeing offAt the basket...Mike puttingCale teeing offKatie teeing offThen Stevie called us up to do a Full Moon Bike Ride that a group of riders go out on for every full moon. It was fun but there are plenty of not so cool bikers out there. When you know you are going on a full moon bike ride (so you know it will be at night) you should have some lights! That just makes sense to me at least. Some of them were also jerks about cars as well. It was fun to ride with a group of about 60 people but some peeps need to be smart. These type of riders bike to be environmentally friendly but they were throwing beer cans on the ground. What's up with that?

Soulja Boy Contest

2009-06-06T00:50:00.004-05:00

So here is a terrible song with two different remixes. We will put the original first, then a Travis Barker Remix, and then a remix from a band call I Set My Friends On Fire. You don't have to listen to them all the way through but let me know which one you think is the best! Vote for which one you like the most on the right ->

The original is terrible but here is a link to that Soulja Boy - Crank That

Then the Travis Barker Remix

Then the screamo version

Interesting Factoids

2009-06-01T21:37:00.006-05:00

There are 3 posts tonight so read the next two for the rest of the updates but here are some interesting facts I found out this weekend:
A great beer just turned 250 years old and guess what...Guinness was made by a Christian who wanted something good to drink (and for sure...that is some good beer huh!) Here is the link to read about it and other interesting things about Arthur Guinness
And of course the next factoid would be related to biking but I saw this poster at the Trek East store while I was there for a show by a friend of ours and his band. It is the top 10 reasons to bike.
#1 - 25% of all trips are made within a mile of the home (get out and ride people)
#2 - Just 3 hours of biking per week can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 50% (does this mean I won't die?)
#3 - Each US rush hour auto commuter spends and average of 50 hours a year stuck in traffic (I hate traffic and that's why I hate driving)
#4 - In 1964, 50% of kids rode to school and the obesity rate was 12%...in 2004, 3% rode to school and the obesity rate was 45% (no comment)
#5 - A 140lb cyclist burns 508 calories while pedaling 14mph
#6 - In 2003, cars stalled in traffic wasted 5 billion gallons of fuel (no comment as well)
#7 - Between 1960 and today the average weight of a 6 to 11 year old child has increased 11 lbs
#8 - 40% of all trips are within two miles of the home (are we just lazy?)
#9 - you can park 14 bikes in the same space you can park one car (I bet you can fit more)
#10 - The US could save 462 million gallons of gas a year by increasing cycling from 1% of all trips to 1.5% of all trips
That last one just gets me...we talk about ways to become less dependent on fossil fuels...why don't you all just do something about it! It just can't be too much of an interruption on our comfortable life styles of being lazy! People...wake up already! I think all of us could ride a mile to that place that we go 25% of the time or 2 miles 40% of the time!

Crazy Weekend!

2009-06-01T21:13:00.004-05:00

This is going to be a post full of info here:
Katie and I have just been super super busy...it has been nutz around here! Katie had a back to back baby shower (for our friends Jewel and Chrissy) She had one Saturday night (while I was at a friends small concert/show...see next post) and another one Sunday Morning! Congrats to both of them...well Jewel's baby is on the one. Come on already! So while Katie was at the baby shower I was at church and there was a great message titled "What Are You Fighting For?" It was a really good message and made me think a lot about how I am within my interactions with people. I have a lot to learn and change about myself that's for sure! If you click on the message title you can listen to it online. There are many other messages you can listen to online here. The series has been good when Katie and I have gone but we have missed a few in there as well. But check it out!
Then Sunday evening we had a little get together for 24 MOTAB (24 minutes of the abandoned building)! I haven't been there in a while so it was pretty fun to check that out again. Only a few familiar faces there! Here are a few pics for ya to check out. The whole idea behind the event is as simple as the title states it. You bike around an abandoned building for 24 minutes and after that the first person to cross the line at the end (no matter how many laps you do, so its not a race) is the winner. Just fun to hang out with some fellow bikers!

Making the bike towerThe bike tower!Katie and Cale riding next to me

Crazy Saturday Night

2009-06-01T20:32:00.004-05:00

Our local band (AKA the band that practices in Cale's apartment every Thursday night) played a little show for some close friends at Trek East on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun and they were able to learn a lot from the experience. I took some pics and one video with my digital camera so here are some pics and a video...check it out! They are called a ska band called
4 Aspirin Morning

We have been looking into having these guys play out in the woods during out 12 hour races so we can get pumped half way through each race!
The one and only fan:(

Photo Update

2009-05-29T20:56:00.003-05:00

Here are some photos I found from some peeps that were at the race and were kind enough to post them online from the race:

12 Hours of Northern Kettles

2009-05-24T13:11:00.004-05:00

Bikes laying out for the startSo this weekend's race was a fairly interesting one. First of all, my race partner Cale Dorn was able to make it this time so like always it is a ton more fun with him around. We were able to camp the night before at the race grounds and hang out with some riders which was a lot of fun. It was the easiest morning to get to the race because it was right there. The weather was supposed to be rain in the morning but when we got up...no rain!
So we showed up at the race and I changed my gear ratio from a 32/16 from my last race to a 32/17. One of the racers, Mark, was there and I asked him what he was running for the race and he had a 32/20 so Cale and I thought it was a good idea to change our gear ratios so I was running a 32/18 for the race. Cale and I were one of the only peeps running fully rigid which turned out to be pretty rough. The course was really rocky and my biceps started to hurt after a couple of laps. Anyways, back to the race...
First lap was going great, I was flying even though it was really rocky. Then near the end of the lap I took a huge digger and had to walk it off a bit before I got back on my bike. Meanwhile, Cale was able to catch back up with me so I rode with him for a while. After about 4 laps we were trying anything to help our arms from being so sore. We were rubbing Biofreeze on them and taking Advil. Cale was getting a little tired and his hands were getting chewed up so it was back to riding solo. Then about lap 7 it started to rain and the course turned into a mudslide. The fast sections now were really slippery. The rain let up after a little bit and I started to feel a bit better on my eighth lap and brought my lap time back down to 43 mins. Then on lap 9 tragedy struck. I got a flat and it was muddy as all get out. I tried changing my flat tire on the course all full of mud and the new tube didn't hold any air. I thought it was because I didn't do the CO2 properly but I started to hoof it by foot. One guy pulled over and let me use his CO2 pump and it was indeed the tube and not something I did. I ended up walking 3.5 miles back to the start meanwhile only about 5 people asked to see if I was fine and no one that did had a 29er tube.
After 1 hour and 40 minutes I was back at the start. I had Cale change the flat while I refueled and I stripped the seat bag off because I figured what are the chances of getting a second flat.
I headed out for lap 10 and I was flying again. My lap time (including washing my bike off, refueling and changing a flat was 1 hour and 8 minutes) I think it was probably around 45 minutes from what I recall. No one was at my pit for my team when I came in, later found out they were playing cards and didn't think I would be back that soon, so I just flew out for lap 11. I passed a guy pushing his bike back because his derailleur got ripped off. I gave him some tips on how to walk back because I found out that if you push your bike alternating what side it is on your hips don't hurt so bad. Then about 30 seconds later tragedy struck for the second time. I got another flat! But this time I had a walking buddy. I waited for him and we hoofed it together. Another 3.5 miles of walking and another 1 hour and 35 minute lap. I had about an hour left in the race so I could have went out for a 12th lap but I was finished. I got second and it was a lot of fun. Without any flats I should have been able to get 14 laps at least. Mechanical disappointments but it was a lot of fun. Got another pint glass for the collection:)
I think overall I went down about 4 or 5 times. I have scraps on every limb of my body and two huge blisters on the insides of my thumbs. Cale and I need to figure out the hand issues now.

Le Mans StartRunning to my bikeCale biking off from the startStill smiling at the end of the day

Teaching

2009-05-20T21:17:00.003-05:00

Great news for me! I was hired as a substitute teacher for Monday and Tuesday at Cherokee Middle School in Madison and the job is to work with one particular student throughout the day. Monday was the first day that he went to school for the full day and it has been going pretty good. Yesterday they asked if I wanted the position for the rest of the school year so I am working everyday 'til the end of the school year. It is nice to work one on one with a student and I hope I can impact this young man's life for the future.

Also, I have another race this coming Saturday; 12 Hours of the Northern Kettles. The race will be held in Greenbush, WI so if you can come and check it out it is a lot of fun. Cale and I will be racing and Katie will be the pit girl working her butt off for us and taking pics too. She is amazing out there. The people that are at the races are some of the best and it is cool to see so many people push it to the max. Here are some directions:

The 12 Hours of Northern Kettles race will be held at the Greenbush Trail head off the main parking lot at the Greenbush trail system.

The address is: N5854 Kettle Moraine Dr, Glenbeulah, WI (N43.45.070 W88.06.070)

It looks like the DNR was able to scan the trail map in, click HERE to see it.

See ya around

Travis

Danny Macaskill

2009-05-16T10:27:00.002-05:00

One of the sweetest biking videos I have ever seen!

Stump Farm 12

2009-05-12T20:32:00.002-05:00

Here is the video/slideshow of the race, I'm at 2:04

Stump Farm 12

2009-05-11T18:23:00.004-05:00

The new 29er ready for the startSo I had my first mountain bike race of the year up in Green Bay. Katie and I went up Friday night to camp out the night before and we pitched the tent and went and got some food at a bar. Nothing better then bar burgers the night before a 12 hour race! We got back and just hung around the campsite and went to bed but it started to rain at 12:30 and didn't let up until a couple of hours into the race. I was not prepared at all for my first race to say the least!

So it was cold and rainy with a high of 51. I didn't really bring much for warm clothes and you can see in the pics how other people were dressed. I didn't have full fingered gloves and by lap 4 my hands were completely numb. A fellow rider borrowed me a pair of full fingered gloves that were wet but way warmer then what I had on. Thanks a ton! The outcome was a really wet, dirty and exhausted Travis. I pushed it as hard as I could and got 4th place which was pretty good for me. It was my third ride on my bike, second ride with my new grips, first ride with the gear ratio (dropped from a 32/18 to a 32/16), and 2nd ride with new shoes so it was pretty fresh. I have barely ridden the bike (5 hours max) and that is how much mountain biking I have put in this year so I am pretty happy. It was a ton of fun and the other guys out there were a blast. I had a really good time and am looking forward to getting out on my bike more so I can compete a bit tougher.

Overall, I need more riding time and I need to figure out the gear ratio on my 29er. It is a bit different from a 26inch but I will figure it out. I may try a 32/17 or something closer to that. It was grinding but always having fun! I couldn't have done anything like this without Katie my pitcrew girl. She was pushing me all day, anytime I felt like being done, she kept telling me I could get back into 4th place so I kept on pushing it. My legs are regretting it, but I remember last year all the times that I kinda quit early so I didn't want any of that anymore. Thanks Katie!

Here is a little video from the race
Stump Farm 12You can see a shot of me in the beginning video of the start and a screen shot at 2:04:)
The bikes lined up (mine in the front right)The start (I'm in the brown and orange)The beautiful scenery that Katie foundRiding through the race

Our New Blog!

2009-05-06T21:19:00.003-05:00

So we have been talking with a good friend of ours for a long time now about human trafficking and starting a group focused on raising awareness to the cause. We initially talked about doing a tall bike tour to help raise awareness and that is still in the making but for now we just have a blog and we are working from there.

So if anyone watches me at any of the races I'll be at (my first one is this weekend in Green Bay) I will be wearing a Jersey that says "not for sale" to have a conversation piece to talk about human trafficking and what we all can do to help.

Anyways, our new blog is http://stopthetrafik.blogspot.com/ so check it out! We will still keep this blog going but that one will be for blogging about human trafficking so you may see a connection between the two often from here on out! See ya around!

Renovations

2009-05-03T17:02:00.004-05:00

Katie and I might as well be hired as remodeling assistants. This weekend we have been in Dubuque, Iowa where Katie's aunt and uncle own a duplex. They bought this duplex and remodeled/fixed up one half of it and have had two girls living in that half. Then in Feb. they had someone ask about moving into the half we are working on in June 1st after their wedding. So Chip (Katie's uncle) has to have this whole duplex done in less then a month. We have been staying here trying to get some of the jobs done but right now it is going to be a stretch to get it all done in a month.

We have painted the entire basement, primed the interior doors, cleaned up the floor to prepare it to be finished, sealed the brick walls on the interior, primed the railings, scrapped the stairs, etc. We have been just doing what we can to help them out so this couple can move in on time. There is so much left to do though. Right now there is no kitchen, the toilets still have to be put in, wood floors installed, carpet installed, etc. It is going to be a crazy month for Chip and Katie and I might be coming to Dubuque a few times to help him out. It has been fun though!

Trans Iowa was this weekend and our friend Gus did not make the finish this year. He had to drop out last year he told be because of 40 mph winds and this year because his hamstrings were tightening up. I don't know who won but props to all that started and gave it a try and to all that finished. I think I will join that crazy crowd next year! Looking to seeing Gus and a few others this weekend though. My first race is coming up in Green Bay! Wish me well!

Ergon Customer Service

2009-04-28T19:31:00.004-05:00

Ergon's Customer Service was incredible! I sent an email and then was leaving a message on their answering machine and Jeffrey Neal, the VP of US operations, picked up before I could even finish the message. I explained to him the problem (you can read that a few posts down from here) and he emailed me a list of grips that I could choose from for a new set he is going to send me. He also asked me to ship him one of the broken clamps so they can look at them and see if this is going to be a problem. But all in all, the Ergon customer service was incredible and I was very pleased to chat with them about the problem. They have fixed it from my end so I am looking forward to getting the team edition color on my bike and seeing how they ride!

PS. If anyone is looking for a single speed 29er wheelset I would be willing to sell mine. Right now on my bike I have a WTB LaserDisc Trail 29er SS wheelset that I would be willing to sell so I can upgrade to a slightly lighter wheelset. Right now this wheelset is almost brand new. I have only ridden on it twice. So if you are interested you can email me at travis.gruchow@gmail.com. The MSRP value according to their website is $620 but I would be willing to go a lot less then that.

Houdini Squirrel

2009-04-27T22:05:00.002-05:00

Sooooo...at Paul's new house there is a run down garage. It needs a bit of work to say the least and one of those things that needs to be done is to get rid of the squirrels that are living there. We have been using a live trap to try and catch the little guys. We caught one of them right away and then we have been trying to catch the other 2. I am pretty sure there are only 2 more because every time that I open the garage I hear to animals scurry in two different directions. But apparently the last two squirrels have Houdini characteristics. There have been times where the food was all gone and the trap wasn't even set off. Then there was the few times where the food was eaten and the trap was set off and there was NO SQUIRREL! I don't understand that one at all. Or the one from tonight...the food was moved in front of where the piece that sets off the trap and the trap was set off but still....NO SQUIRREL! I don't understand these squirrels. The new idea is to zip-tie or twisty-tie the food to the bottom of the cage so they have to move it around to try to get the food out of the cage because obviously they are pulling it out before eating it. These squirrels are crazy!

Ergon Grips

2009-04-26T19:54:00.004-05:00

So I bought some Ergon Grips for my single speed and I was really excited for them. The Grips I bought were the GP1 Leichtbau. Cale and I were tightening the grips down with a torque wrench and the clamp totally gave out. The GP1 has an aluminum clamp the the race version that we bought had a carbon composite clamp which is pretty much plastic. The metal insert that the bolt goes into pulled right out of the clamp on both grips. So I haven't been able to ride these grips but I am disappointed that the grips already broke. It wasn't from over tightening either because we had a torque wrench on it. I emailed Ergon about sending out some new clamps so I will let ya know how that goes later. I attached some pictures so you can see what happened.

Haven't posted in a while

2009-04-26T19:49:00.003-05:00

So it has been a while since I have written anything so I figured I could write something tonight.

This weekend Katie and I were at a Teacher Recruitment Fair in Milwaukee to try and look for some teaching jobs in the Milwaukee Area. It was pretty fun but somewhat didn't feel like we accomplished anything. It was good to be able to talk to some districts and it made me excited to teach again. It took me back to the times when I student taught and it was a blast. I love teaching so I am really looking forward to this fall. We have to send in some applications to some schools this week and figure some things out.

While we were in Milwaukee we were able to catch up with a few of our friends that we haven't been able to see for a while. On Friday night we hung out with Katie's friends Jess and Ana and it was really fun. I really miss hanging out with them more so if we do get some teaching jobs in Milwaukee it would be fun to hang out with them. Then on Saturday night we were able to hang out with my friends Brad, Matt and Brett which was also a lot of fun. Part of me really wants to move to Milwaukee because it would be a lot of fun but part of me wants to stay here in Madison so it will be a hard choice. We were also able to hang out with Katie's sister the entire weekend and with her firneds John and Eric. Overall it was just a really fun weekend! It was good to see all of you and it has been a blast! Thanks for the fun.

Busy Busy

2009-04-18T19:14:00.004-05:00

So we haven't posted in a while but it has been busy busy let me tell you. I can't keep up with what day it is anymore. So since Easter it has been crazy fun. We had a grill out with some friends on one of the first nice days of spring we had. I got to tow around all of the grilling stuff in a trailer that was attached to the tall bike! It was really fun and we had a blast hanging out with all of our friends. Then...
Katie and I biked over to Cale's place on Thursday night to work on bikes and watch our friend Josh Vick and his band practice. It was a fun night. We took apart my Bianchi and frame savered the frame and then put my mountain bike almost all the way together. It was very close. I just needed rotors and then it would be good to go. We slept there and watched most of the movie The Visitor. I wished we would have finished it because it was pretty good to the point we fell asleep.
We woke up the next morning and I was really hoping I would get some 6" rotors but it didn't happen:( Cale had one laying around that was a bit bent and we used an Avid mechanical rotor for the front. So it is rideable how it is but not quite to the point it will be on race day. I will have a bontrager xxx lite flatbar, bontrager race x lite stem, bontrager race x lite seatpost, new Hayes rotors, ergon grips, new lighter tires, and a few other goodies. But for now this is workable.
Then Katie and I rode to her parents place in Waterloo which was a great ride because it was a beautiful spring day. We were riding with her dad to Milwaukee to go to the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design senior showing. It was their opening day and we had a friend that was displaying some of his work. His name is Eric Hungerford and he is an illustrator. For his senior project he researched the life of David (a burly man from the Bible). So he had illustrations that described some of the scenes in the Bible as well as some music from another friend of ours Jon Olson. These two, along with Katie's sister Kristin have been working on a project called The David Project. They all have been researching the life of David and each have been putting their individual talents and putting it all together. Eric is an illustrator, Jon is a musician (he actually played guitar in our wedding) and Kristin Videographer. It is pretty amazing for everything that I have seen. The rest of the stuff at the showing in Milwaukee was great and then we topped it off by getting some goodies at Kopps.
Then we came home to sleep in Katie's parents driveway in their camper because I am allergic to the pets. It turned out not to matter too much because my asthma bothered me all night long anyway. But it was still fun to hang out there.
Then today I got to go for a ride at Blue Mounds State Park for the maiden voyage of my Redline. It was pretty good. I only had enough time to ride for about 10 miles because we were there for a good friend of ours Manuel Ramminger's B-day party. But the 29"er runs like a charm. Even though it is fully rigid it feels a lot smoother then my 26" bike with a suspension fork. Disk Brakes are an amazing invention and it is nice to be able to have them as well. I am really excited for when my whole bike is together the way we want it but it rides nice right now!

Family Weekend

2009-04-13T16:28:00.002-05:00

This weekend was packed with family fun! It was great and Katie and I had a lot of fun. We biked 25 miles to Lodi on Saturday and hung out with my family first. We left later then what we wanted but we were still the first people there even though we biked:) It only took an hour and a half! Then we ate, and played some cards before Katie and I biked back to Mazomanie. It was a fast bike ride home and then we got some rest. Then we got up to ride to Waterloo. We were exhausted so the ride into the strong head wind was exhaustive. I finally hit a point where I had Katie and call her family to come pick us up because my legs were just not going anywhere. But we made it to Waterloo and were able to hang out with Katie's family.
We had a lot of fun there. We had a sack race, which I personally think I dominated there but apparently Cale thought he was better then me in some of the races. I think the film shows me winning but I guess who knows for sure. We also had some foosball, which I thought I was good at but maybe I am becoming a bit rusty. We just had a lot of fun and it was a great Easter weekend with family. Now we are back in Madison, back in the search for teaching jobs!
Hope you all had a great Easter as well!

The Bikes

2009-04-13T15:08:00.003-05:00

I just felt like posting the pics of the bikes that Katie and I ride...I am missing our touring bikes but I will have to get a pic of them later!

Katie's Fixie Raleigh Technium Aluminum frame, it used to have a carbon fork but it broke (luckily Katie wasn't riding it when that happened) I built the rear wheel myself and it was my first one ever built and it is still holding strong

My Fixie - Bianchi Pista...pretty much all stock except the drive train and pedals
This years race bike - Redline Monocog Flight 29er...it's not all put together yet. I am missing the Hayes Disk Brakes, Switching up the stem, seat post, handlebar setup, as well as some nice new Ergon Grips!
Last years race bikeI have upgraded quite a bit from this bike to my new bike. My trusty Trek was a geared bike made into a single speed by a half broken singulator...this year I have an actual single speed which I am excited for. I will have hydraulic disk brakes for this year as well which should help a ton! I am excited to get into the racing thing again so it should be a lot of fun! I got two 3rd place finishes, one 1st place finish, and a 4th place finish with this bike! Now, it's retired.

Friends and Family

2009-04-11T08:44:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Katie and I got to hang out with some family and friends. Paul and Monika came over to visit us here in Mazomanie along with all of Katie's family so it was just a lot of fun. We had stromboli to eat (one without cheese for our friend Paul who is allergic) and also got to play with all the dogs while we went out on a hike. After Katie's family left, Katie and I were able to play some cards with Paul and Monika in the sauna which was a lot of fun but really hot!

Today we are biking to Lodi to hang out with my family and then coming back to the B&B for one last night and then Sunday morning we are getting up for our 60 mile ride to Waterloo to hang out with Katie's family again for Easter! I wonder how many times I will have to actually pedal on a 60 mile ride on a fixie? So I won't be on the computer too much, but everyone hang in there and keep in mind what Easter is all about.

Another Windy Day

2009-04-09T09:52:00.003-05:00

Yesterday morning I was able to finish up an easy read that Katie and I read through just randomly but it is a short read I would suggest to any believer. It is titled "Simple Steps" which is a excerpt from the book "Just Walk Across the Room" by Bill Hybels. The small excerpt we read was just about reaching out to people in your everyday walk of life. Just being ready to reach out to neighbors, family, or even complete strangers with taking one step closer to God.

Then I was able to hop on the bike and get a 30 mile bike ride in from Mazomanie to Spring Green. It was still a stinkin' windy day but there was only a 15mph head wind on the way to Spring Green which I was grindin' through on my fixie. On the way back it was a different story, with a strong tail wind it was spin city for 15 miles straight which I then pulled over at the gas station when I got home and bought a chocolate milk:) For some reason after a hard workout, chocolate milk just tastes delicious.

Then after I got back, Katie and I were able to have some friends over at the B&B we are watching over and have a little grill out. Beca and John, two people on staff with YWAM which we have been able to connect with really well and they also enjoy biking, along with their two little ones came over to have some beer brats and other goodies. Katie and I were able to show them around and they also brought their tandem along with a kid seat in the front and one in the back so we were able to go on a little ride to a hiking trail. All in all it was a great day and Katie and I are still enjoying our stay here in Mazomanie!

Fun Day

2009-04-06T19:38:00.008-05:00

Today Katie and I went and took the dogs for a walk out at a prairie that is in a continual process for restoration. The prairie was burned about a week ago so you could see all of the burned prairie ground and we were able to talk to a man that helps restore prairies because he just happened to be out there doing a little research on what he wanted to do with the prairie this year. It was a beautiful day to walk the dogs and do a little sight-seeing, not so beautiful of a day for biking. It was 20mph winds with gusts up to 30mph which you could definitely feel.We got to put in a little 20 mile ride and stopped at Indian Lake Park to take a few pics for the new blog main page photo but it sure was windy. There were two moments that the wind literally blew hard enough where my bike and I were in the gravel on the side of the road. It was crazy and a grind to push through the wind but we made it. Hopefully the weather continues to get better so we can ride more in comfort:)Then we came home, took some showers and made some delicious homemade pizza:) mmmmmmmm!

Time to Relax

2009-04-05T09:32:00.003-05:00

After about a 30 mile bike ride (we made a wrong turn and ended up in Middleton), Katie and I made it to Mazomanie. This week we are staying at Katie's aunt and uncles place taking care of their two boxers. They own the Walking Iron Bed and Breakfast and their house is right behind it. They took an old horse stable and made that into their house and fixed up an old 1865 Victorian Italianate home that is now the B&B. Katie and I were blessed to be able to stay in one of the rooms in the B&B and take care of the dogs as well. It is just beautiful up here and we have been truly blessed to be able to stay here and relax a bit. We want to get more school applications filled out and try to move on with getting teaching jobs for the fall. Thanks to Chip and Karisa for letting us stay here for the week!

I Am Second

2009-03-31T10:55:00.005-05:00

Katie's sister Kristin shared with us a link the other day which I thought was pretty sweet. The link is www.iamsecond.com It just has a bunch of interviews of people that are Christians and they have a bunch of different questions that they have asked them. There is a couple that are pretty sweet! One is from the guitar player from Korn, Brian "Head" Welch. He was the guitar player for the rock band Korn for a long while and became a Christian and had to quit the band. He talks about what his past was like and the process of how he became a Christian. So this is a perfect example of why you should never judge people by their appearance because from the outside some would never even give this guy a chance. His video is sweet: Brian "Head" Welch

There is a bunch of people on the website though so you should check it out if you want. Just really cool to see! Some people are Darrell Waltrip (Nascar Driver), Stephen Baldwin (actor), and Joe Gibbs (NFL Football Coach). There are a ton and those are just a few from the people I actually knew who they were!

Grocery Shopping

2009-03-31T10:46:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I got the chance to go grocery shopping on the tall bike! It was a lot of fun and I was able to make a lot of people smile:) I even got my picture taken by some cell phone cameras. This bike is amazing and the tall bike tour that we want to do would be a lot of fun! I had to pick up a few things for the next couple of days before Katie and I take a week stay in Mazomanie! I picked up 1 gallon of milk, some frozen juice cartons, a big bag of cereal, one loaf of bread, a dozen eggs (I only broke one), an onion, and 1 big thing of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce! It was all in the messenger bag which weighed me down pretty good and made it a little hard to get up on the bike but I made it home in one piece!

I also pedaled from East Side Woodman's all the way to East Washington with the rear quick release lever undone. I must have flipped it open trying to lunge myself up onto the bike and didn't notice but when I hopped off at East Wash I noticed that the rear wheel was practically coming off! Thank God I am still alive!

Mountain Biking Season!

2009-03-26T11:05:00.006-05:00

Yes Yes, biking season is just around the corner and hopefully the weather will start showing that it really is that season again. It has been great to be back in the states and riding my Bianchi again! I love just being able to ride places again and not relying on a car so much like it was in India. Thank you God that we have streets that we can bike on without feeling like we are going to die. Katie and I have been biking a lot and everywhere that we need to go:)

Mountain biking season starts May 9th and Cale, being the crazy guy he is, bought me a new bike without my permission really. Kinda funny, but I do owe him a little bit of money now, what a punk! So my new bike for the upcoming racing season will be a Redline Monocog Flight 29er. It is gorgeous but it may take a little while to feel out a 29er.

Another thing, if anyone enjoys mountain biking the WEMS Series is one of the best mountain biking series around and the people that ride in the races are a lot of fun. They are some of the most chill people I know so come join us at some races, even if it is just to hang out. The races that Cale and I compete in are 12 hours but there are 6 and 3 hour races and team races as well. I am planning on doing every race in the series as well as 24-9 hopefully. Should be a lot of fun!

Videos from India

2009-03-25T22:09:00.005-05:00

Here is a few links that you can check out some of the things that we did while we were in India

Just a clip to music of some pictures from India: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZs2WvV6YY0&feature=channel
The pictures in color are the ones our team took!

We were able to be a part of rescuing two kids from a brothel:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaETu3tVDIU&feature=channel
Thanks to Joy and the ministry he does every week, we were able to be a part of this! God is amazing!

Clip of us doing some ministry in the hut slum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BLPubiGZ0o&feature=channel
Notice me on the bike!

We were able to do some Christmas in India: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krTitY1fFE4&feature=channel
I was a little out of it during the interview

Fun clip of Indian kids and us dancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr5KKs1L-RM
Every Indian movie ends with dancing so we ended our presentation with some dancing!

End of DTS for sure

2009-03-25T20:55:00.005-05:00

So this is a little late but we are officially done with DTS and with our stateside tour. Our Stateside tour took us to Northern WI, Prairie Du Chien, WI, Chicago, Washington DC, and a few places in Madison. All in all it was a great experience and it was really good to meet a bunch of new people along the way. We sold almost everything that we brought back to WI from India and raised a bunch of money to send back to the orphanages and ministries that we worked with. It was really amazing!

We raised almost $2,000 which is just amazing! Some of the money will go to one ministry to help them purchase a house for the children at their orphanage and the rest of the money will go to different ministries for a blessing on them for all they are doing for God and what they have done for our whole team. We really appreciated everything that they have done for us and it was just a blast to help out with them in India. Thank you so much to all of them!

In India it cost $150 per month to be a staff member there so we needed $1,800 in order to raise enough money to staff one person for an entire year which we did with a little extra to spare so we were pretty excited. Thank you to everyone who helped out with that and gave some money to the cause. Thank you for everyone who came out to hear us speak and that helped support everyone on our entire team. Here are a few pics from our little stateside tour:) Now Katie and I are not totally sure on what we are going to be doing next but we are currently trying to get some summer teaching jobs and then in the fall be able to teach full time to help pay off our student loans. After our student loans are all paid off then it is time to seriously think about being full time in ministry because there is a lot of need out in the world and we want to be a part of the change! So keep in touch with us over the next few years and see how things are going with us and we would love to hear how everything is going with all of you as well!Some people doing our little Indian Bamboo(AKA Painted PVC) Dance

Stateside Tour and Photos

2009-03-04T14:16:00.002-06:00

It has been exactly two months since I rode my bike last and on March 1st Cale brought Katie and I our bikes so I can start riding again. I am a little out of shape but it felt amazing and just seeing my bike sitting in my room makes me smile...it is good to have him back in my life. Anyways,

Katie and I have been back for almost 2 weeks now. We are still doing our stateside tour and speaking to a bunch of people. Our first one we posted about was first at a small Christian School in Northern Wisconsin and then we spoke at a church just across the border in Michigan. Then we went out Prairie Du Chien and spoke at a church that one of our team members, Rynn, attends. Then we went down to Chicago and spoke at Abe's dad's Korean church. Sunday we went to a Chinese church in Milwaukee that Kristin is a member of and that was the start of our last week here. We then had the chance to speak at a day care with some kids and it was pretty fun. They were really excited that we were there. The last two days we have been speaking at a Bible class at Abundant Life Christian School and it has been pretty fun. Tonight is our last official DTS outreach and we are speaking at a youth group connected with Lakecity Church in Madison here. Overall so far we have raised almost $1,500 to send back to the orphanages in India. That is almost enough money to support one staff member for an entire year, so we are pretty excited that the money has come in a bit for our team to be able to send back to them.

Overall the speaking has been going really well. A lot of people have been very encouraging to our whole team and just thankful that we went and that we came to speak to them. We are really excited too because our graduation from DTS is on Friday and Saturday morning we are leaving to go to DC to speak at PD's church where we will be speaking at 3 different venues. We may even see more money come in to send back to India...we can only hope. Then it is for Katie and I to try and figure out what we are doing next in our lives! Right now we will be living in Madison and trying to see if we can get any summer jobs here and then figure out what we want to do with the upcoming year so keep us in your prayers.

I posted some of our pictures up on the web as well and here are the links to the two albums:

Pictures from Pune...the first city we were at

Pictures from Chennai...the second city we were at

First Presentation

2009-02-26T09:47:00.004-06:00

Now that we are back in the states we are doing a little stateside tour of different churches, schools, etc. about our experience in India and where we see the needs overseas. It is about an hour long presentation that includes skits, videos, dances, speaking, & live paintings. We also have an India tent where we serve Chai Tea & biscuites, have a scrap book, paint henna, and sell things that we brought back from India in order to send money back to the orphanages that we worked with. We are selling scarves, boxes, spinning tops, elephants, etc. along with Katie's live painting as a silent auction.
Yesterday we spoke at a school in the Northwoods called Pioneer Christian School and did a short presentation for the kids there. It went really well and the bamboo stick dance that we have at the end the kids and teachers loved. The teachers really enjoyed what we had to say and there was a young couple that taught there that really liked us. They came to our longer presentation at a church that we went to. The full presentation went really well and the India tent looks amazing. We raised almost $400 selling things and Katie's painting went for $80! We had a blast hanging out with the people and talking with them and today we are going to Prairie Du Chien to speak at another church. We are looking forward to all of our presentations and the people we get to share with. We are going to Chicago on Friday and Milwaukee on Sunday morning so this week should be a blast. Here are a few pics from lastnight as well:

We're Back!

2009-02-23T08:39:00.004-06:00

After 30+ hours of driving/flying/lay overs we finally made it back to Wisconsin. The temp outside when we came back was in the teens and today it is 0 degrees F or for you in India -18 C. It was a really long day and night but we had a lot of fun during the travels. We had a pretty crazy time coming back to the states so I just wanted to share a few stories about that.

We had to wait for Chai and the director of the Rescue and Restore (the orphanage/ministry we were working with in Chennai) so we could say goodbye to him so arrived at the airport a little later then we were hoping. We got to the airport and then wouldn't let us use our E-ticket because not all of our names were on it so we had to wait to get our real tickets in line. Then we got in and all was good, until we had to go through the scan for our carry on baggage. Katie and I were bring back some stainless steel plates and cups so they made us open it all up and let them dig through it. We were also bringing back a rolled up thing of carpets that were ours and Jen's so we figured we could take it as a carry on because Abe takes his guitar like that. We got to the line to board and they wouldn't so we had to quickly have them take it below which was scary because they were just rolled up so we asked if they could tape it but we didn't know if they did or not because we had to get on board.
Then we arrived in Mumbai and we had to go through all these lines which took quite a while. Katie and I were able to talk to a man that works in DC to come up with curriculum and an online game about running a business that you can use in a classroom. It was pretty good and we have to check it out. Hopefully we can use it sometime when we become teachers. When we got our carry on luggage scanned we had to do the same thing except it took longer. Then we were almost on our plane but there was one thing that we forgot to do so we had to wait and answer some questions from the airport peeps. We then finally got on the plane for our long flight home.
On the plane it was basically a lot of movie watching because I can't sleep on planes. I watched Goal!, Fight Club, Blow, and a few others.
We got to Newark and had to pick up our luggage to go through customs with. Sure enough, our carpets didn't show up and we talked to the workers and they told us we would have to do a claim at our destination when we arrived in Madison. We went through customs and when they did our carry on check they just asked what was in it and we told them and they said it was fine. They didn't even make us open it up. That was either good or bad.
Then we got to eat breakfast and hang out with Katie's great uncle Larry, wife Keiko and daughter Kim. It was a lot of fun and they gave us a little tour of that part of the city. That was our first American meal when we were home and we had pancakes, eggs, and bacon! It was delicious. Then it was time to go to Madison.
When we arrived in Madison the carpets made it! Not sure how but they did. Cale, Katie's dad, and my grandparents were there to see us so that was really cool. I hope that Cale brings my bike to Madison someday soon because I really need to go out for a ride.
Katie and I had a blast in India and we will miss all of the staff and kids that are there. We really connected with a lot of the staff people really well.
We will miss Nicky, Vino, Nirmal, Freddy, Daisy, Karen, Lorena, Soloman, Emanuel in Chennai along with the staff in Pune. We miss you guys a lot and we shall keep in touch!

Coming Home

2009-02-17T21:30:00.003-06:00

Hey Everyone...we are leaving tomorrow to come back home. We miss you all very much so it will be good to be home but we will miss the people/kids here in India as well. Sorry that all of our blog posts come in big huge chunks but that is the only way we can do it right now while we are in India because we only get to the internet every so often. Thank you for keeping up with us and we will get pictures up on the web of our entire time here this coming weekend hopefully. So thank you so much for your support!
Travis and Katie

Beautiful Village

2009-02-17T21:29:00.004-06:00

Feb 15th – Today was our last open air day so it was kinda sad. We went to a church that was a long ways off and had a service with them. Areli gave a message and Rynn gave a testimony. The pastor looked like Mike Tyson and I found out later that night that he was an ex-gang member so I guess it fits. We did an open air in the village and it was really sweet because a lot of people showed up and we got to hang out for about a half an hour before we headed back. Katie gave a message and Abe, Paul, and PD gave testimonies. Katie and I met a couple that was married for 8 months so almost like us but the difference is they are 6 months pregnant. We got to pray for them and a lot of other people as well!

YWAM Chennai Beach Party

2009-02-17T21:29:00.001-06:00

Feb 14th – Today there was a huge YWAM Chennai party pretty much. We were able to go with the Rescue and Restore peeps that we are working with so it was fun. All of YWAM Chennai and the schools like ours were there. There was 3 DTS schools and a few other different schools there. It was just a time to hang out and have some fun. Usually they worship as well but they didn’t get to that. They played this crazy game where you have a circle drawn in the sand and there is 2 teams of 8. One is on the outside of the circle and the other team is on the inside. The team on the outside has one volleyball and they have to try to hit the other team below the knee. So it is like dodgeball but a lot more fun and more tiring. You can’t block or catch the ball either so it is a lot of jumping and dodging. So you time how long it takes to get the 8 people out and then you switch and time again and whoever it takes the longest loses. Our team dominated! We never found out who would win overall because we never finished the little tournament but we had the longest time and we actually just stopped because the team couldn’t get our last 4 guys out! We got to see the Indian ocean as well and went to another beach where Katie and I got to take a few fun pictures of some homemade boats that they fish with. It was a great day. It took an hour and a half to get there and then two and a half on the way home so it was rough.

Happy Birthday to my brother Terry as well!

Amusment Park

2009-02-17T21:28:00.002-06:00

Feb 13th – Today with the money that some friends gave back home that donated to us to use for the kids we were able to take the orphanage to a place called Queen’s Land. It is a huge amusement park owned by a Christian lady. We were there all day and it was a blast. The first part of the day half of our team including Katie and I hung out with the little ones. Then we had lunch, which included ice cream, and then we got to have fun with the older kids. We went to the water park and played on water slides and swam around. There were signs that said “No women” for certain things but we thought it was kinda stupid so Katie and a few other girls with us just did them anyway. One thing was that no women were allowed in the deeper part of the pool which wasn’t even that deep. It was funny that they couldn’t. Katie and a few of the girls were almost the only girls swimming! The women swim in Punjabis and the boys all swim with t-shirts on. Katie wore her PJ pants and a t-shirt so it looked a little goofy. Overall, great day! The kids had a lot of fun there and don’t normally have the chance to do things like that because they don’t have the money to do it so it was good that we had the chance to do that with them.

The bus ride home they listened to music and the kids and staff were dancing in the walkway of the bus for almost half of the ride home. It was hilarious!

All day at slum

2009-02-17T21:28:00.001-06:00

Feb 12th – Today we went back to the slum again and helped with their daycare. We played with the kids and did balloon animals, did face paintings, made crowns with them because they are princes or princesses to God. Then we went to that same slum again in the afternoon and had some fun. We have been their so many times that we just had to wing it today it seemed. I gave a testimony about God being a provider and Matt gave a message. I think it went really well because they were really listening. Then at the end Jen, Areli, and Rynn danced with the kids. It was really funny because the kids just loved it. They did a dance earlier and then we figured that they could teach the kids at the end of the night so they did!

Special Delivery

2009-02-17T21:27:00.002-06:00

Feb 11th – Today was the hard day, we had to carry the packs to the slum and distribute them to all the families. We got a tricycle with a flatbed and I asked the guy that we rented it from if I could pedal it with all of our food on the back so he let me! The Indian guys there got a kick out of it. We probably had close to 1,000 lbs of stuff on it. It was fun! We distributed them buy going from the church and loading up as many as we could and carry them to each hut. We had Daisy and Nirmal guide us because they know the families in the slum. It was frustrating for them at moments because people would ask for more saying that they have another family there or that they didn’t get one. It was crazy but it went really well and the people were thankful. Then we prayed for some people afterwards.

That night we went to PACT again and played with the kids. We made a huge banner that the kids got to write what they were thankful for. The banner is going to be hung at their new house that they will be moving into in about a month. We also made a huge paper chain and made balloon animals with them. It was a lot of fun!

Pizza/piercings/food packages

2009-02-17T21:27:00.001-06:00

Feb 9th – Today we had a day off and Katie, Rynn and Hattie got their ears pierced. Jen got her nosed pierced. It cost 150 rupees ($3) to get it done so why not. Jen got her nose pierced at this really sketchy place and I told Katie if that was her I would tell her no. It was basically on the side of the street with a guy and a few buckets. The ears was done at an actually jewelry store and the rings were in sealed packages so it was legitimate. Jen’s was not so much but she did it anyway. We played cards today for a couple of hours too!

Feb 10th – Today we packed little care packs for the hut slum we have been working a lot in, 230 packs for them. Each pack consisted of 1 kilo of rice, 300 grams of sugar, cooking oil, chili pepper and some soap. It was crazy fun! Then we went to the slum that we would hand the stuff out to tomorrow and met at the little church their again. Katie gave a message on God’s provision from 2 Kings 4 and it was really good and fit their situation well. It was a great night and we all had a lot of fun. Tomorrow we would be handing out all of the packs!

Weekend

2009-02-17T21:26:00.001-06:00

Feb 7th – Today we were back at the orphanage and it was just another fun day with the kids. The girls gave Katie and I Indian names: Rani and Ramesh! We made puppets with them and Katie taught some kids how to play UNO. It was just a fun day to hang out with them again and just play!

Feb 8th – Went to Freddy’s brothers church out there in the sticks. We were going to do an open air but we didn’t have time. The church service was way too loud for most of us and Katie and I actually put ear plugs in. Rynn gave a message on love and Katie shared a testimony about the story of Monica and Akshay. Then we had a little youth meeting where Hattie gave a message. We then went to a ladies house and prayed there before heading out for an afternoon off!

Happy Birthday Lauren Taylor!

YWAM Preschool/ministries

2009-02-17T21:25:00.001-06:00

Feb 6th – Today we got to meet another YWAM ministry that works in the slums. They only have 12 staff but they do a ton of work. The run a preschool with about 40 kids that we got to do some worship songs with and then we learned about their ministries. They do a sewing school for women and teach them how to sew and run it like a business so they can make money. They teach the women how to invest in the fabric and leave money to buy supplies. I learned a lot about slums that I had no idea about. They are in a government provided slum. How it works is the family gets to move into this 10’X12’ hut and pay 70 rupees/mo ($1.40) for 20 years and then they own it. It has a dirt floor and it really is nothing. This YWAM group has helped about 800 families cement their floors and plaster their walls.
Other things that they do is teach savings, tutor students and adults, teach business skills, and do medical help. Some of the government slums are huge too, around 15,000 families and sometimes even bigger. This is really not the best situation because you have all of the poor people in one area and far from where they can work so the government really needs to rethink how they are going to help these people. This group works with 5 slums so they are in real need of more staff because of all they want to do. It was a lot of fun meeting with them and learning more about the needs.

4 Open Airs

2009-02-17T21:24:00.002-06:00

Feb 5th – Today we went to a village and did 4 open airs. It was incredible tiring day but it went really well. We did two open airs in the morning had lunch and then a naptime. We got up played some badmitten, drank some chai and then headed out for our other 2 sharing times. During one of the dramas a pack of water buffalo meandered through the middle of it which was really funny. I think Katie snapped a picture during it. I shared the message for the 3rd open air of the day and it went really well. There was a huge crowd of both kids and adults so it was great. Katie snapped some good pictures in that area so when we get back home we will have to upload some of the images. Just an incredible day and came home exhausted.

Flower Market/PACT

2009-02-17T21:24:00.001-06:00

Feb 4th – Today we did a prayer walk in a market area. Matt and I just walked and prayed and I bought Katie some flowers Later that day a guy came up to me and talked with me about America the best he could and was telling me about Obama and how America and India are friends. So he was calling me his brother! He pinned a 100 rupee bill ($2) on my t-shirt and continued to tell me I was his brother.

Katie and Rynn with our translators (Nirmal and Probhu which they are awesome guys, they stole both of them) Katie will tell this story:
As we walked through the aisles of flowers the men all waved at us and yelled “hello”. They wanted us to take their pictures and wanted us to shake their hands and they were really excited. Nirmal and Probhu ‘saved’ us and took us to a quieter part of the market. Then they stopped to talk to a woman that was tying flower chains. We sat down and watched in awe as their nimble fingers flew over the string and flowers miraculously making the chains. After awhile I asked Nirmal what they were talking about. The woman’s name is Magimai (Maggi-May) which means “glory of God”. This woman had been a Christian for about 7 years. Her whole family became Christians after God answered their prayers. Their family had been going through a lot of problems with money and the cops were involved. Normally it takes 2-3 years to go through the court system in India and they were overwhelmed. A family friend encouraged her to go to the church and pray to God, just one hour of her time is all that they asked for and they assured her that her life would change. She resisted for a long time before finally giving Jesus a chance. Four days later they went to court and all the problems were settled. Through this miracle her family became Christians! Her current problem was pretty horrible but she has faith in God that He will provide. Three years ago she had taken in a young woman that was crippled and had came to the city to look for work. She took her in and treated her as her own daughter. Just a month ago the girl took all of the money that Magimai had saved up to pay off loans and that was for a future house. Currently she and her family live in the market on the same small section of concrete that they work on all day. The amount stolen was 150,000 rupees, about $4000. She was crying as she told her story but insisted that God would provide. Despite her situation she was extremely giving and taught Rynn and I how to tie the beautiful flowers into a chain. It was awesome!

That night we were able to go to PACT (Project Aids Through Care and Training). It is an orphanage that works directly with people affected by AIDS and HIV. Their website is www.pactywam.org. They are an incredible group and we loved hanging out with them. Tonight we just made T-shirts with them and just played because we weren’t there too long. We got to hear an explanation of what they do as well and all but one of the kids there has HIV or AIDS (the one that doesn’t both of his parents do so they thought he might). They also work with an AIDS hospital and also work alongside about 250 families that are directly affected by AIDS. Incredible staff and awesome kids. There was one girl that was just really cute and fun and her name is Banu!

Train Station Slum

2009-02-17T21:23:00.002-06:00

Feb 3rd – Today was a very exciting day. It started out in the morning doing a prayer walk near the train station. Katie and I walked around with one of the staff for a while (Nirmal) and just talked about India. We got to ask him a lot of questions and different things so it was really good. Then Katie and I just bought some bananas to give to the beggars. There was one guy that was so skinny that he looked like he was going to die. It is a bit weird doing this sort of thing because in India because there are people that really look down on the street people and people of the lower class. They don’t think you should help them at all so Katie and I got a few stares.

Then we did an open air this evening in the same slum that we have been doing a lot of our work in. Again Katie and I were watching people’s reactions to see what people were thinking. Katie and I noticed a few men that were watching closely so I knew that I had to talk to them. I started talking to a man named Mogan and he is the same age as me. He didn’t speak too much English so when the conversation got a little deeper I had to find one of our translators. I got one and he translated for a while but then got pulled off somewhere else so I searched for our other translator. Instead of translating he just started talking to him because it was much easier so I just prayed as they were talking because I could tell that he was sharing the gospel with him. Mogan was a Hindu but wanted to be a Christian so I was praying hard for him. He accepted Christ that evening which was great because it is in the slum that our group works with the most so I know he will get followed up on. EXCITING!
Then Katie and I were able to meet two Indian missionaries that were living in the slums. They were planning on leaving this area in a week to move to a different area to share Christ with people so we were able to pray for them and their future lives!
Then we had a small church type service in the house of a woman. Lots of people packed into this tiny little hut. It was a lot of fun though!

Happy Birthday Holly Ziobro as well!

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-17T21:22:00.002-06:00

Feb 2nd – Tonight we watched the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire” and it was just incredible. If you haven’t seen it, you have to. It has won a bunch of awards and is just so real. Now that I have been to India I can see how real that film is. If I had never come here first I would have thought they may have stretched it from the truth but everything that is mentioned in that film really happens day to day. I recommend everyone to see this movie. I don’t want to mention anything about it because it may ruin the movie but the kids that we have met in the streets or at the orphanage have similar stories to this boys in the movie except for the very end of course (getting rich and the other thing). Please go see this movie though!

Indian Pentecostal Church

2009-02-17T21:21:00.002-06:00

Feb 1st – We had a church service in a small room that was crammed with people. It was really, really hot and we were all next to each other. Our teammate Matt preached on the love of God and then we preformed our drama which was slightly hard because it was such a tiny spot to do it in. We had a lot of fun and then the church served us lunch afterwards.

In the afternoon we went out and did two open airs (times where we go out and do dramas, skits, give testimonies, have a message, play worship songs, use some puppets for kids, etc. to try and reach out to the people). We had it in the slum community where the church was at. Katie and I like to watch how people react to what is going on and being said so we know who may be good to talk to afterwards. We saw one lady that was really watching intently so we talked to her afterwards and it turned out she was already a Christian but was just really happy to see our team there. It was encouraging to talk to her and we also had the chance to pray for her and many others! We can never underestimate the power of prayer because a lot of things have been happening in the areas where we have prayed for people.

Later that night Katie and I were on the roof with the staff that we were staying with and it was a lot of fun. They were dancing and playing drums with coins and a plastic stool. It was just crazy! They are so much fun. The staff guys that are our age remind me a lot of Intars so we miss him a lot! We hope to see you soon my friend!

First day at new shelter

2009-02-17T21:14:00.000-06:00

Jan 31st – The ministry we are working with mainly is called Rescue and Restore. It is run by a couple named Freddy and Daisy Paul. Today we had the chance to see part of their ministry which is an orphanage that they run so we were able to meet the staff and the kids. Jen, one of the staff, had her birthday just before we left for India so she decided to celebrate her birthday today at the orphanage. There is a story about it at our DTS blog that she wrote. We had a lot of fun playing with the kids and just goofing around. One thing about Indians, they love to dance and sing!

Little off schedule but close

2009-01-31T09:53:00.000-06:00

Jan 30th – Finally we will be on track or close to it. Today we did a prayer walk through a hut slum that we would later be doing our program in. This one was a little different that the buildings were at least concrete but still, nothing that we would consider home in America. It was crazy to see some of the living situations that they live in but they still shared a smile and were joyous people. We gathered a crowd quite easily today and it was a good mix of adults and kids so it was a lot of fun. At the end of it all we had the chance to pray with a boy named Akash who has a lot of health problems. Doctors told the parents that the boy would be dead in two months but through prayer he has been alive for the past 2 years. He is still in rough shape so keep this young boy in your prayers.~Travis

To Chennai

2009-01-31T09:52:00.000-06:00

Jan 29th – In Chennai we would be doing a different kind of ministry. We would be working less with the orphanage and more doing ministry where kids start so we are trying to prevent more now. In Pune we worked almost every day in an orphanage, now it will only be twice a week. We started our 2nd day going out to a hut slum where people live. Hut slums are a step up from street kids because the actually have a ‘home’. They are barely homes. They are houses made with thatch roofs and are all right next to each other. If one hut starts on fire they all burn because there is no running water. We gathered up a crowd and did a little program there. There was another DTS team there so it was a lot of fun. The kids were a little loud but it was really good. Hattie shared the message and what a trooper, she had to put up with kids that were having a little hard time listening. ~Travis

End of Pune (Travis is sick)

2009-01-31T09:51:00.001-06:00

Jan 27th – We were trying to wrap up everything in Pune at the orphanage which meant painting another mural, painting the upstairs, making a concrete slab in the back yard (Cody would laugh at that…I had no idea what I was doing), fixing up the boys bathroom and any other random things we could do. Half way through the day I felt really crappy and kept having to lay down after a couple minutes to let my stomach feel better. Eventually I just gave up and went back and laid down and sometimes I seriously thought it was like my appendix again or something because it hurt so bad. That night they did a huge thing with the kids as a goodbye and I had to sit at home sick by myself. Finally I decided I have to go get help because it was so bad. I went to the bathroom twice before leaving to walk to the orphanage which was hard but I made it and the director drove me to the hospital. They wrote out a prescription for some pills and we went back. The next day I felt better just in time for our flight to Chennai, thank God! Two days later I would be back to 100%. This was the second time I’ve been sick. The other time was from street food where I ended up puking…ooops! Never again will I eat street food.
I heard that the good by part was a blast from Katie and they missed me a ton. I wish I could have been there I miss that place already, the staff and all the kids. Katie and I really connected there and it feels like we were leaving family behind. Crazy how attached you can get in only 3 weeks.
Then we flew to Chennai for our next phase of our outreach.~Travis

Telegao - Good Shepherd Homes

2009-01-31T09:49:00.001-06:00

Jan 26th – We took a train ride to a city near by called Telegao to visit Good Shepherd Homes which is another orphanage. They deal with street kids and they have a heart like no other. The man in charge, Binu, was really encouraging and Katie and I are trying to get a copy of their DVD because it truly lays out what the kids come from living on the street. We were able to do a program for their orphanage which consisted of about 90 kids. It was a lot of fun and they have huge plans for the future. Katie and I felt like we could help out with this ministry because it connected with us so well. They have house parents so a couple or leader lives with about 10 kids in a separate little house, so there would be multiple little houses in a community. There would be one room for kids and a room for the house parents. It sounded cool. They started with 10 kids and have been around for 12ish years so now they are up to 120. They want to house up to 400 kids which is so amazing! The train ride home we had to stand the entire time~Travis

Check out their website Good Shepherd Homes

Value and Joy

2009-01-31T09:48:00.000-06:00

Jan 23rd and 24th
These two nights the five of us girls got to go to a red light district with Joy, he runs the children’s home in Pune that we primarily worked with. He goes to talk and pray with the girls at a certain brothel once a week. In this brothel there are about 50 women and girls living and working there. In that area of Pune there are roughly 15,000 prostitutes which just blows my mind! But through Joy there is some change happening and it was an honor to be a part of what God is starting to do there. Before we left we prayed and prepared a testimony, message and a couple of songs. Jen brought along some makeup and nail stuff as well. The surrounding area felt really dark and depressing. As we weaved our way through the markets from our parking spot my heart was racing. We really didn’t know what to expect that afternoon. When I saw about seven girls sitting outside of a dark stairway, immediately I knew that we had arrived. We greeted them and then followed Joy up the stairs. The stairway was extremely narrow, dark and very old. We passed doors on both sides of each landing, slowly making our way to the top floor. We took off our shoes and gathered into a tiny room which was open on the sides and covered with a tin roof. Two walls were part of the building and the other two were made up of railings, draped clothes and stacked suit cases. There was a little gas stove on the floor, shelves full of various things, one bed and a small shrine of Hindu gods besides a picture of Jesus. We did our best to make friends and introduced ourselves in our broken Marati (local language of Pune). Joy was our translator, Areli and I team taught the women about how they are incredibly valuable to God and that they had infinite worth. Then we just had fun with them doing all the girly things that Jen had brought along. Mostly I took pictures of it all because I have very limited experience with all things makeup related. Joy then informed us that we would be taking home the eleven year old Monica to the children’s home. She had been hanging out with us all evening. Monica had lived there her whole life, her mother was a prostitute and had died. Miraculously, an older women there took care of her. Normally if a mother dies or is gone for even a day their children are subject to being sold for the day or permanently. Young girls and boys are defiled commonly, there is no mercy for innocence. It was so exciting for us, we were going to witness a rescue from one of the worst situations on earth and witness the start of Monica’s redemption. As we were leaving that night we found out that we were not going to get to take her with us. She still had to pack her bags and we would be able to take her the next night. Our hearts sank a little bit because we all wanted to get her out of there as soon as we could. As we walked down the cricked stairs we saw men coming and going. It was such a wake up call to the lives that many women are forced to live. 80% of the women in prostitution are sold into it, 95% of the children of those women also become prostitutes. Most of the remaining 20% are there because of desperation, who would willing chose such work? Living on the street brings starvation, drug addiction, violence and prostitution. Many people come to the city to find work only to find absolute chaos and destitution. We stopped to pray with a few women on our walk down the stairs. One small room that we entered was the home of Rita, and nine other women. In that same room years ago Joy and his wife talked and prayed with her. Now she was a believer and reaching out to her roommates and house mates. She really wanted to get out of there, but still had to buy her freedom and had nowhere to go. Joy’s dream is to start a home where such women can live and learn trades in order to get work to support themselves and any kids they may have. He is waiting for God to open that door. What an amazing night, and the next one was even better. When we got there on Saturday afternoon we brought snacks with us and we really wanted to create a joyful party atmosphere. We just wanted to have fun with the women and show them that they are to be celebrated. It was also a going away party for Monica’s new life. We sang a few songs and had a great time joking and trying to learn new words. This time there was a mother there with her three/four year old son. She talked with Joy a long time and he was writing a lot. A little while later he informed us that we would not only be taking Monica home with us, but Akshay as well! His mother had been in jail for a couple of days and she did not even want to tell Joy about what happened and her fears for her son. It was hard for her, but she really was doing the right thing for him and she knew it. The whole night was really a celebration and we had a great time. Our feet were basically walking on clouds as we escorted the two children from their old life to the children’s home. Monica would not stop talking and smiling, even though none of us girls could understand her. Please pray for these two precious kids, that their memories of their tragic pasts will be erased and that they realize their value. It is really hard for such children to adjust to normal childhood. They need to learn how to be nice, share, play, relax, and love. Monica has a lot of school to make up as well. Thankfully, the few days we got to spend with them after they came to the home they seemed to be doing well, so that’s amazing! Praise God for redeeming the lives of Monica and Akshay! Our whole team was blessed as well by the experience and getting to witness the Protector, Father, and Redeemer characteristics of our God among many other awesome traits He exemplifies. --Katie

Crazy Bus Ride!

2009-01-31T09:47:00.000-06:00

Jan 22nd
We decided to get a sleeper bus on the way home from Aurungabad to Pune since it was so late and we were already exhausted. It was actually cheaper then the ride there which was kinda funny but that may have been because the two bus drivers were fighting over prices with Paul (I thought they were going to start swinging punches at one another). We finally got on the bus and we all had to share a bed with someone. I had the chance to share a bed with Paul and Katie slept with Priyanka because that is the only way we could get even numbers of boys and girls. Paul and I were laying there and he told me, “Travis, I think this bed is the most comfortable bed that I have had in India so far, I wouldn’t mind if the bus breaks down so we can sleep longer.” Well let me tell you, that should never be something you should say. So we started to drive off but they had to push start the bus, where you roll the bus forward in neutral without it started and then let go of the clutch and the engine starts. Every break we took there after we parked downhill and started the bus that way. I thought it was weird but funny. In the middle of the night
I hear a guy walking down the hallway with a flashlight talking in a language that I couldn’t understand. I knew we couldn’t get the bus started because we were parked and the driver was rolling and dropping the clutch multiple times. I had the guy asked one of the boys with us to translate for me and they were asking the men to get off the bus. Well apparently I am the only man on our team because I was the only one that got off with the Siddharth (kid from the orphanage). It was about 3:00 am and the bus was on the wrong side of the road stalled and we were in the middle of nowhere. No bathroom or nothing around so I had no idea how we got stalled there! The bus was rolled to close to the concrete median so the men had to push the bus forward in order to let the driver roll it downhill to try to start it again. So we had to push a whole bus up hill, what fun! I am one of the few that has done that before I’m sure. Then Paul got off the bus to go to the bathroom and almost fell into the ditch. Then all of a sudden Jen, wearing her bright purple Punjabi, gets off the bus and the guys yell at her to get back on and she just tells them, “I have to use the toilet” and motions with her pinky and keeps on walking. In this part of India you just point your pinky upward in a circular motion and that means toilet. Then we had to transfer buses and sleep 4 to a bed, ouch! Crazy, crazy stories from this trip! --Travis

Aurungabad

2009-01-31T09:43:00.002-06:00

Jan 19th - 21st…late night we got on the bus after the day at the AIDS orphanage. We hopped on a crazy bus and drove to Aurungabad. We were meeting up with Atul who was a man doing a church plant there. We were the first team being sent there so we were pioneers there. The bus ride there was crazy and I couldn’t sleep at all. It was super bumpy and I remember one bump that was so big that everyone in the bus came out of their seats! We finally arrived at 3 am to our destination and went to bed to get up at 7:30 to get ready for our ministry time.
The first day (our sixth month anniversary) we started out eating breakfast and then headed out to a temple that we would do some prayer walking at. On the way there something happened that Katie will explain since it was in the girls car (we split girls and guys for some reason) so here she is…First, before we left I thought about getting in the front seat but I knew that we were going to pick up another girl, so I didn’t. Not long after we picked up Priyanka we got in an accident. I was talking to our host’s daughter in the back seat and as I looked up I saw a man crossing the road. Before I could even yell warning he was coming through our windshield. It was so surreal and a really loud crash. Atul stopped the car and ran back to see if the man was okay while we all checked on each other and Priyanka. Thank God that we all were okay, including the man we hit. That morning one of the girls got Psalm 91 in her quiet time and He really did protect us. We were going pretty fast and the man came up and broke the wind shield in so it could have been so bad. Priyanka only had small cuts on her hands because she put her hands up and stopped the windshield from coming in further. The man only had some cuts on his ankle. The rest of us just had glass slivers all over on our clothes and were a little shocked. The funny thing about it was that we were so amazed that we hadn’t seen an accident or someone hit by a car yet while here. Turns out we got to experience it first hand! I’m really thankful that I didn’t get in the front because I’m a lot taller than nearly all of the Indian people and the top of the windshield could’ve done some damage to my forehead. It went right over the top of Priyanka’s head. (I’ll had you over to Travis again)
The first day we spent part of it doing a prayer walk at a huge fort and temple on a mountain side. I don’t remember the name but it was crazy tall and our whole team eventually made it to the top. We were able to pray over the city and this particular temple as well. This is where we saw wild monkeys too! Then we went to a mini Taj Mahal which was no where near as good as it would be to see the real thing but we were celebrities there. People would walk up to us and take our pictures and talk to us for improving their English. It was crazy! I am on a lot of peoples camera phones in India now!
Later that night we went into a community and did some open air time (just evangelism/testimony/whatever we felt God was leading us to do) in a little community. We drank some Chai Tea from the hosts (Cale would love it here, we drink Chai Tea at least 2-3 times a day and sometimes more…yum). We were waiting for the sound system and lights so it was just chaotic. Then when everything showed up we did a drama with 5 people in a crowd of people. There was only about 3 feet total in front of us to move so it was crammed. Some kids were fighting and it was crazy. Then PD shared a testimony and we moved back and did worship with a message from Paul. It was a lot of fun and it was our first experience of chaoticness. People asked for our autographs!
The next day we left late morning to a church literally in the middle of nowhere. We drove for almost 2 hours and some roads were being built as we were driving through them. It was crazy! It was a long rough ride and it was crammed in the one car and my car was pretty decent. Our drives had to ask for directions many times to find this place and then we knew we had arrived when we came to this little building with a cross on the top. There we prayed for the people of the village and did a little program. Katie shared a testimony talking about how God uses kids to do great things. We did puppets for them, sang some worship songs, drama, a message from Abe and then prayer. It was a lot of fun! We then drove to another community where one of the staff, Priyanka, grew up. We gathered up a group of believers and did a little program there as well. I shared a message on how God calls us to love people no matter what. We just need to be loving all the time and that is how people will know that we are Christians. It was a great night and then we got on a bus late that night around midnight to 1am which is a whole other story.

AIDS Orphanage

2009-01-31T09:42:00.000-06:00

Jan. 17th – We visited an AIDS orphanage and we spent the next few days playing with the kids here and Katie and a few other team members helped to paint a beautiful mural. The kids there were amazingly fun and just a blast to hang out with. The mural turned out great and the kids loved it! I was able to play a game with our leader and the kids that they just loved. We called it monster but we would ‘sleep’ on the floor and then count down from 10 in marati (probably spelt wrong) and then we would get up and yell and chase the kids around really loudly and try to catch them. When we caught them we would tickle them and the kids went crazy over it. We played for a long time and were drenched in sweat and filled with joy.
One other story from this orphanage was there was a miracle child there. There was a little boy named Yogish that was tested for HIV and tested positive. The staff at the orphanage prayed for a healing from God and not sure how much longer but they brought the boy back and tested him again and he tested negative. Doctors were just astonished and they are not sure how that is possible. They call him the miracle child because that is what God did in this boy’s life…a miracle. So we had the chance to pray with him and the other kids that God would continue to do other miracles in the orphanage. CRAZY!!!~Travis

Welcome to India

2009-01-07T09:03:00.003-06:00

So...India is a bit crazy! The airplane rides were funish and I was only scared for a little bit every once and a while. When we arrived in India we had to wait for an hour for the people that were supposed to pick us up so we were a group of white kids waiting outside the airport amongst hunderds of Indians. It was a bit awkward but fun. Then when we were carrying our stuff to the car these random Indian people were helping us and we thought they were part of the guys that were picking us up but they just wanted money from us. It was really confusing.
The drive to Pune from Mumbai was wild. They drive so crazy here. I think there are rules but they must not follow any of them. Just honking. The only thing that they do when they drive is honk. They are honking outside right now! We made one stop on our way and I used a squatty potty for the first time. NOT COOL, but it was fine.
We went shopping for some clothes at a market the second day we were here and were bargaining. That was really interesting and frustrating. They just want to rip off the Americans because they think we are all rich. They start at 850 rupees for something and then you end up getting it for 250 or 300. Katie bought 3 punjabi(Spelling might be wrong) and a pair of shoes and a marriage necklace for 1000 rupees ($20ish). SWEET!
We have rode in a rickshaw a few times and let me tell you, it is like riding on your way to your funeral. I swear we were about to die at least 3 times in a 20 minute ride. Like I said, they only honk...even if they are going down the wrong side of the road when passing...just make sure you honk.
The Chai Tea here tastes amazing! We get to drink it almost 3 times a day and it is delicious. :)
The orphanage we are helping out with is great! THat is the important part. There are 22 kids her and they are all beautiful and fun. They are a blast to hang out with. I can tell that God is working with the kids here and with the staff. They are all amazing! Katie and I get to go to the school that the kids go to and teach some classes next week so that should be a lot of fun. Kinda crazy how it got set up but we will get to teach some math and art to some Indian kids. That is sweet! We are lookng forward to it for sure.
Tomorrow we get to hang out with the kids all day because they have the day off from school. Katie will be able to teach some kids some crafts on Friday and we will be able to do some of our skits and different things next week. We are really greatful that God has brought us to this country. We need to have a great impact here because there is soooo much need. You really have no idea.
Because of the culture differnce I can't touch Katie ever except when it is just our team or just us. It is a bit frustrating but it will have to do.
Thank you all for your support and continue to pray for us.
Love you all
Travis and Katie

INDIA!!!!

2009-01-03T00:29:00.002-06:00

Hey Everyone out there! Katie and I will be leaving the country in about 9 hours! That is so crazy to think about. We will be on our outreach to India in the cities of Pune and Chennai. We are flying out of Madison at 9:55 to Newark and then from there to Mumbai. Then we are being picked up by some of the people that run the first orphanage that we are going to be visiting and they will drive us to Pune. We will be in Pune for a little over 3 weeks and then we will be flying out to Chennai for the rest of our trip. It should be a lot of fun:) Here are some of the details:

We will be visiting 6 different orphanages in the two cities. The 3 orphanages that we are visiting in Chennai deal with 3 specific different groups of children. One deals with street kids, another is children of lepers and the third is children of parents with AIDS. We will also be visiting the hut slums where 6,000 homeless people live in thatch huts without any running water or electricity. We will be working with homeless kids as well as prostitutes. It should be pretty crazy and we will need lots of prayer while we are over there.

Thank you for all of your support and we are excited for this journey. We will be coming back to Madison on Feb. 19th and then we will be going on a little state-side tour to different churches to speak about our outreach. Then we are not sure on what our near future holds so it will be a pretty wild time and a lot of relying on God so keep that in your prayers!

Thanks so much and we are out to India...see ya later!

Wedding Time!!!

2009-01-01T11:46:00.003-06:00

Saturday was Katie's cousin's Wedding. Missie Karls is now Garret and Missie Reding. Congrats to the both of you and the wedding was a lot of fun! The bingo idea was just classic and I wish I would have thought of something like that for our wedding! Too bad we didn't win but it was still great. Everything was gorgeous including the bride! It was great to see all the family there and to hang out and play games. I am glad that Katie and I are the ragging party goers and were the last ones to leave almost because it was just great to hang out with the family and catch up. Thank you for your guys' support and all and we will see much love between the two of you in this lifetime:)

Christmas Time

2009-01-01T11:24:00.008-06:00

Katie and I were super busy over our little break that we had but it was a lot of fun. It started by hanging out with my friend Matt Stanton on Friday (19th) and then Katie and I were able to hang out with her sister Kristin. It was a lot of fun and I actually got a headache from laughing so much.
Then that Saturday we had the Karls Christmas party at Katie's Aunt Bev and Uncle Tom's house where we got to hang out with some extended family! There was a lot going on there and Katie and I had a blast hanging out with family. We had a little Nintendo Wii bowling tournament which Katie's grandma did a pretty amazing job (her score was much better then mine). There was a doubles ping pong tournament where Katie's sister Kristin was on my team and we dominated. In an actually pretty close second was Katie's cousins Claire and Sam. We also played a lot of other games and made some ginger bread houses.
Then Christmas Eve we spent time with my family. We had a blast hanging out with my extended family on my dad's side of the family which was a lot of fun. Ate some food played some games and just messed around a lot. I will miss those guys while we are in India and it was just fun to be able to see them before we leave.
Christmas Day we were at Katie's parents house which was fun. There family is always great to hang out with. We played a lot of games and ate some won tons! Played some Wii there because that was a little community gift in their family. We also were taught a new card game which is great because it is a game that can be played with different numbers of players. And we played foosball which is great!
Then we had a wedding....

Baby Boy

2009-01-01T11:10:00.006-06:00

A little while ago we did a post about Katie's cousin having a new baby! Now we have a picture of the beautiful little guy. His name is Shepard and this is Katie and I at the hospital. Katie held him but I am always a little nervous around some things that are so little and fragile. Congrats to Joel and Sarah for such a beautiful little child and we will keep him in our prayers. It was fun to hang out at the hospital with them and some other family and friends so we are just excited for them and we are excited for all of our other friends that are going to have a new child soon. Our friends on staff with YWAM Jewel and Greg, other YWAM staff peeps Manuel and Brandy Ramminger, Katie's high school friend Chrissy and Daryl, and Katie's rowing friend Megan and Cody are all going to have a new kiddo soon. So that is really exciting! Too many people are having kids and it's scaring me! ~ Travis

The Piggy Bank

2008-12-28T18:06:00.003-06:00

So today we had a little visit from our good friend Intars who I went to school with back at UWEC!!! He wanted to put up a little post for us and here is what he has to say:
"Greetings from Intars from Mil-town!!! Much love to Travis and Katie upon their courageous endeavor to the land of lands aka India to rep and not be ashamed of the big task that lies ahead! (Romans 1:16 - 'I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.')"
It was a great day and an even better visit from him. We went downtown and ate some delicious gyros on State Street and then journeyed around downtown. The capital was closed but we did get some coffees from Espresso Royale yummmm:)! The hot cup felt great in our cold hands. Winter is back that's for sure! ~Travis

Home Alone

2008-12-23T15:55:00.006-06:00

So Katie spent the night lastnight at her parent's place to hang out with her family. She was already near by so she decided to stay there instead of coming all the way back to Madison. So I had the night to myself. I spent some time catching up on some homework and then I was able to read some of my friend's blogs. It made me really miss racing. I had a blast racing this summer with Cale and Cody and reading some of the blogs really brought back some of the memories. Here are some posts of friends that I made it into if anyone wanted to read about some of the races that I was in.

12 Hours of Gears - Expo Racing Blog
Im the nice nice guy they mention at the end...I think I am a nice guy
This race was our first race ever (Cale and I)

Stump Farm 12 - Expo Racing Blog
Stump Farm 12 - Lee Unwin's Blog
This is the race that I won! My third race ever!

10 Hours of John Muir - Expo Racing Blog
This race was a lot of fun and wish I would have stuck it out but next time!

Racing this summer was a lot of fun and Gus from Expo Racing and Lee Unwin were two sweet people that I am glad I was able to meet. It was a lot of fun racing with them and just hanging out while out on the race course. I learned a lot from them and I really hope there will be more of this in my future, I am not sure what my future holds so we shall see!

Christmas is coming up so I hope that all of you have a great Christmas season with family and friends. I hope I am able to catch up with a few of you all during Katie and I's time off. We fly out on Jan 3rd for our trip to India so we shall see! I will post more later, see ya!

Here are a few race pics too:

NEW FAMILY MEMBER!!!!!!!!

2008-12-19T12:55:00.006-06:00

Katie and I have a new family member! Born on Sunday December 14, 2008 is Shepard Roderick. Katie’s cousin had her very first kid and he is a beautiful little baby. Katie and I were able to go and visit on Monday evening which was really fun. The baby has the cutest little cry when you change his diaper which was really funny. The night was very revealing to me because I found out a lot of things about newborns that I never knew before. I don’t think I’ll share those findings but it was fun! Katie and I got to hang out with the other little ones of Sarah and Joel (Katie's cousin) Matthew and Eerina (If this is spelled wrong Katie told me how to spell it). They are crazy and a lot of fun. Eerina is an angel and loved holding the baby which was really fun. She also watched the pregnancy which was pretty impressive because that would be something I wouldn't want to know about. I have learned one amazing thing though and that is I really do think I am adopted and I think I may have found my brother. His name is Joel (who knew). When we were there talking with Katie's cousins I found out how much I really am like Joel. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that Katie and I were able to meet up with them.

Congratulations Sarah and Joel and your son is soooo cool! I don't think I will fogret his laugh for a while yet.