Road Trip!

havent had internet... here's a long post of the last few days!

Friday, June 15th

Well today was the final day of our XMA Summer Camp. We had a blast with all 20 of the kids and today was the day we screened the short movie we made to all the parents. The movie is called "The Xtreme Showdown". I can tell you this much, I am not a very good cameraman/director. Nonetheless it was a blast working with the kids, editing the movie, and seeing the finished product. I hope that next summer we are able to come back for a few days and hold another Summer Camp!

After all the kids left, the Mrs. and I were off on our 3-day trek across country to California. You should have seen how much stuff Richelle packed into our little car. Wow, I was quite impressed. The first leg of our trip was to Kearney, NE about 8 hours away. Shortly after we started driving Richelle took a look at the scrapbook that the Hornilla's put together for us with pictures and memories of a lot of our students. What a great keepsake for us to remember all of the people that have helped to shape our lives for the better. While she read the entries in the scrapbook, Richelle started to cry and she says that I cried a little too but I don't remember that part.... I guess it hit us right then and there that we actually made a big impact in a lot of people's lives and that made us feel really good but really sad at the same time to be leaving all of those people. If you are reading this, thank you everyone that contributed! Also, thanks to everyone that went out of their way to get us gifts and cards. We appreciate it a lot!! Okay back to the trip. The time went fast and we stopped at a restaurant in middle-of-nowheresville, NE called the Rusty Duck. Just picture a town about 3 miles off the highway with dirt roads and people driving around town in beat-up golf carts. If it weren't for our navigation system we would not even known it existed. Unfortunately it did and we ate a meal that was pretty much 3 times the size of any normal dinner serving. Needless to say we had a lot leftover. It was a very memorable excursion that I was glad we made but I made sure we ate quickly because we definitely did not look like locals and I am pretty sure I was the first Asian person most of those people in the restaurant had seen in person. We finally made it to Kearney which is also where the Univ. of Nebraska is located. We stayed at a Super 8 and were off right away in the morning.

Saturday, June 16th

Day 2 of our trip was our longest leg but also the most exciting part of the drive. Going from Nebraska to Utah was very cool. We drove through the mountains of Colorado and even made a spontaneous pit stop at the grave of Wild Bill. I guess he was a cowboy or something, I don't know too much about history. We continued on our way and enjoyed the scenery as we passed through Vail. Some of the houses in that area are amazing. We drove for a total of 10 hours that day but it was a fun drive and the day went by quickly. We stopped in Moab, UT and ate at Miquel's fresh mex Restaurant. We recommend that restaurant to anyone that ever makes it to Moab! We stayed at yet ANOTHER super 8 and rested up for our white-water rafting excursion that was to come in the morning.

Sunday, June 17th

The last day of our trip was also the most exciting. We woke up really early to go on a half-day rafting trip we had reserved before we even left MN. We shared a 10 person raft with 2 nice families (1 from wisconsin) and had a blast. The rapids weren't as crazy as I was picturing but it was a good introductory course for the next time we go rafting. The rafting took about 4 hours and it was a great break from all the driving. The only bad part of it was that all the rowing tweaked my back a little.. it's getting a little better now though. We continued to drive our way out of Utah and briefly into a corner of Arizona then into Nevada as we drove by the big lights of Las Vegas. Richelle and I have been there many times but it was a cool feeling to think we had driven all this way together. After we passed Vegas we had 4 more hours. Oh wait almost forgot... The most memorable part of this day was when we almost ran out of gas in the mountains of Utah. Leaving Moab we had just a little less than a half tank so I didn't even think to fill up. Little did we know that there would'nt be a gas station for many many many miles. Our car was pretty heavy and going up the steep hills of the mountains wasted a lot of our gas and we soon found ourselves going up and down the mountains with a fast-depleting gas tank. The gas lamp must have been on for over an hour! I prayed and prayed and I also had a few moments of panic in there too. When the meter hit the empty line we were 33 miles from the nearest station. Thank goodness for our navigation system that had all that info ready for us. Luckily for me Richelle stayed calm which helped me out a lot. I cut the air conditioning and started to carefully navigate the mountains without accelerating too fast. Thank goodness the last 20 miles of this nightmare was spend coasting down the mountain or else we would have been in trouble. It was about 104 degrees out and neither of us had any reception on our phones. We made it to a gas station and we didn't care that we were soaked from all the sweat that we built up in the previous hour. Ok... that was a long story. Skipping ahead again we made it into California and finally to Richelle's dad's house in Calabasas right at Midnight. We made it safe and sound to our destination and after 27 hours of driving I'd say we had a lot of fun!

Monday, June 18th

We spent the day unloading the car and taking frequent naps. It was nice to see how excited and happy Richelle's family was to see us. We hung out with Richelle's brothers and sisters and went to bed early because we were leaving for Little Rock the next morning for World Championships.

Tuesday, June 19th.

Somehow, we always seem to be late for our flights. Our flight took off at 5:30am from LAX so we had to get up at about 3:30! We made it to check-in about 40 minutes before our flight and barely made it. Right now we are in Houston on our layover and I finally found some time to write some entries! When we get into Little Rock I have to get to work immediately at 5pm to rehearse for the World Demo Team's performance at Opening Ceremonies at Alltell Arena. This is going to be a very busy and exciting week for the both of us. Richelle is competing for World Champ in Forms, Sparring, and Weapons. I am competing for world champ in Forms, Xtreme Forms, Weapons, and Xtreme Weapons. I wish I would have come a little more prepared but the last few months have been a whirlwind so I am just going to do my best and I believe that I will get what I deserve. Another thing I have going on is that I am testing for my 4th degree on Thursday. I have waited 3 years for this and I am starting to get nervous! I am confident that I will pass and that means I will be moving into a tougher competition ring. This will end up being a good thing because I am motivated by competition. I think I will eventually get much better just by competing with such strong competitors. Ok well we have to catch our flight to Little Rock now and if you've been reading PLEASE leave comments we would love to hear/read from you!