Culture Shock

I am building a matchlock gun for hunting in the fall. I made a on-line order for a ramrod and parts on Friday afternoon at 3:00pm. It is Tuesday at noon, and the order is delivered to my daughters house in Kenosha, in Wisconsin. What a surprise!
I am not used to such efficiency in service back in Canada. I remember one order I made a year ago, where UPS Canada was responsible to deliver the tool. It made it to customs and over the border in a week. Average time so far. The order arrived in Richmond, BC, about 5 hours away from Salmon Arm.
I waited 15 days for the delivery. You might wonder if the distance between deliveries affected the delivery. Perhaps the recent delivery was local and justified for a speedy delivery.
The recent delivery was from a business about ten hours driving away. The Canadian delivery was 5 hours away. Go figure!
Back to the UPS Canada delivery: when the delivery truck arrived, the driver claimed that I had to pay the shipping fees...AGAIN. That means twice the shipping charge for abysmal irresponsible management and service! It was, pay the extortion rate, or the tool would be sent back to Kamloops, until the pay was resolved. Considering the lack of competency displayed so far, all I could expect is the parcel to be lost, or damaged, and all the expense invested so far would be lost. So, I paid for the shipping again, and sent a letter to the Canadian UPS office to ask for the over charge to be refunded.
UPS Canada didn't refund the overcharge, or even acknowledge the letter.

What a shock to be in the USA and to find a company eager to serve its customers and a delivery service so efficient. I didn't even have to pay twice for the shipping. Amazing... I am not used to it. Needless to say, I absolutely refuse to use UPS Canada ever again.

Books

I went to a Christian bookstore today. I picked out books by John Piper and D.A.Carson, to name a few authors. I didn't add up the books as I went, I just looked for books that would sharpen my mind, motivate my heart for God, and help me be a better preacher. When I got to the cashier, I watched with growing anxiety as the numbers were adding up.

"Excuse me, but to you have to pay tax here?", I asked.

"Oh yes, we have to charge tax," was the reply, and the numbers just kept adding.

"Okay," said the cashier, "it comes to $112.46."

I started emptying my wallet. There was four twenties, a ten, some fives, and singles...
My entire wallet contained $112 dollars. I checked my left pants pocket where I usually keep coins. I found a penny. I checked the right side front pocket and to my surprise, I found two quarters. So, I had ten cents to spare.

Passions

I was sitting at the breakfast table this morning with Nathaniel. He is three years old. I was drawn to what he was doing. He was pouring over a 450 page book on trains.
I asked his older sister, Emily, "So, why does Nat like trains?" She said, "You should ask him!"
Good idea. So I asked Nat, "Why do you like trains?"
He said, with a big smile,
"Because I do!" When I was three years old. I used to eat my piece of bread into the shape of a gun, and pretend shoot it. My mother was not amused! I was born into a "no-gun" family. How and why a little guy gets the passions they get, God only knows. I know that I found a sporting goods store yesterday that made me smile. It was so big that it had a Ferris Wheel in the middle to amuse the kids and mothers, while daddy was lost in the store.
They had classic old guns for sale, too. Not that I could buy one, but it was still a nice visit.

I expect Nathaniel is going to love trains his whole life. No way to explain it. I'll just go with the flow, and enjoy them with him.

From Wall, SD, to Omaha, NE

We stopped in Mitchel, SD, to see the world famous Corn Palace. Yippiee!!

I feel so fulfilled, now.

We managed to stay just ahead of some bad weather all the way to Omaha. Jannie did more driving today as I just felt too tired.

Raining now, and likely to turn to snow tonight. It is nice to be safe in Omaha.

Bozeman to Wall

We got five inches of snow during the night. Got a little later start to let the roads clear a bit.

After leaving the Bozeman Montana area, the roads were in pretty good shape.

We made it the famous Wall, SD. , with the sun still four fingers above the horizon.

Glad we aren't camping

We sat in a Chinese Buffet looking at the window at the snow falling. Jannie said, "I am glad we aren't camping."

We drove in sunshine, rain, and snow today. At times, it was nearly whiteout conditions.

We drove from Moses Lake, WA, to Bozeman, MT. As the road into Montana went on, we got higher. Soon, we noticed that the lakes were no longer clear, and were now covered in ice.

We pulled into a Super 8 Motel in Bozeman after eight and a half hours on the road. It was enough. I would have to agree..."I'm glad we aren't camping, too."

On the Road Again

Yesterday, Sunday, I preached at a church in Langely, BC. A young man came up after and stated that he is interested in an outdoors/wilderness camping ministry. Could it be that this fellow could be the one who could take over the KWT Directorship someday? I have been praying about it for years. I'll keep praying, and watch and see. :)

We headed to the US border and joined the hour wait line-up. Once we got to the customs officer, the crossing was easy. We made it to Moses Lake Washington for the first night. It seems that we are in Country Music land.

We are heading out for Montana. Nice we brought some CD's.