When we first started in Area II, I wasn’t sure what to expect. In the past week, I have seen more wind mills, stars, and historical buildings than I ever thought possible. West Texas, unlike most other areas of the state, still hasn’t lost that quaint, small town atmosphere. It is also home to some of the friendliest folks in the entire world.
We started our adventures in the big town of Wellmann, home of our two favorite FFA friends: Miles Vann and Blaze Currie. After a few presentations for the Loop FFA and Dawson FFA chapters, we headed to Lubbock to grab a bite to eat with Mr. Ellison. We had some time to relax after our FANTASTIC meal at the Cap Rock Café, so we headed to the Verizon store to buy Kaleb a new cell phone. I guess Aron got a little bit bored in the store, because he set the alarms for EVERY phone in the entire store for the exact same time. When all of the phones went off, the look on the salesman’s face was priceless. I have never laughed so hard in my life. In Southland, we got to see Mr. McCollister’s collection of manuals and rings from the early days of the FFA; they even had an old NFA jacket in their classroom! It wasn’t long before we made our way to Colorado City, Snyder, and Hermleigh. At some point, you should ask Kaleb about his experience in Hermleigh…it was definitely one for the books.
We saw Daisy, the two headed calf in the Rotan ag classroom. That was creepy. I also went to my very first bonfire in Rotan, Texas. It was the coolest thing ever! Well, almost. The COOLEST thing was the full service gas station. I had no idea that there were still places where guys came out and pumped your gas for you! In Hamlin, we ate the greatest chicken tenders in the entire world. They were fried right in the middle of their gas station…who would have known?
The Grape Creek officers reminded us of why we ran for state office; it is such a blessing to work with students like that. They also taught us a few card tricks and let us ride in their sweet ’55 Thunderbird. Of course, nothing compares to listening to the song “Fireflies” on repeat all week long. It is a miracle that I didn’t KILL Kaleb and Aron for making me listen to that over and over and over and over again…
Now that we all survived, though, we are headed to Indianapolis for the National FFA Convention! Good luck to Anson FFA as they compete in the national Ag Communications contest (they told us about their state title this week when we visited them!) Best of luck to all of our Texas teams! We look forward to Texas FFA members bringing home some national banners, Riley Branch speaking about his AMAZING year of service, and Randa Braune representing the state of Texas as our next National FFA officer!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Area I
Katie, Kaleb, and I had some crazy experiences in Area I! I was amazed at how pretty it is up in the Panhandle. Every morning when we woke up, the clouds would be so low that they almost touched the ground, and you could see for miles! It was perfect sleeping weather. Of course, we didn't do very much sleeping up there...
We did, however, play an intense game of basketball in Texline. The 3 of us decided that we must be a bunch of fat kids, because we just couldn't hang with those guys. Kaleb was so red afterwards that it looked like his head was about to catch on fire! I'm pretty sure he almost passed out...and we still lost.
That could be the eating habbits that we acquired from our Area I travels. All I can say is that Leal's Mexican food in Muleshoe is AMAZING! I don't know how they stay so thin up there when they eat that every single day. It was so good that we ate there twice: once for dinner with the Lazbuddie chapter officers and the next day for lunch with the Muleshoe guys. Thanks to Kale in Lazbuddie, I tried my very 1st Laura's special. Talk about good stuff. Everyone swears by it, and there is definitely a reason for that.
The one thing they don't have in Area I is rubber bands. We learned that one the hard way. After a presentation in Canyon, we noticed that we were running low. We decided to finish up the day and go buy some more supplies after we were done. We called an office store in Dimmit that swore up and down that they had the right size. We drove 20 minutes to find out that they hadn't even looked at their rubber bands yet. Our only option was to go to the closest town we knew of- Amarillo, a full hour away. We started at Office Depot. No rubber bands. We went to 3 party store. No rubber bands. So, we went to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. Still no rubber bands. Finally, we found an Office Max. By this point, we had run out of hope. We marched in that store, looking more pitiful than you could ever imagine. Then, we saw it shining like a beacon of hope: aisle 13. Right there, amidst the pencils and papers were...RUBBER BANDS! We screamed. We laughed. Then, we bought every package of rubber bands in the entire store. 2 hours and $40 later, we knew that we would never run out of rubber bands again.
So, if you're looking for rubber bands in the city of Amarillo, you won't find them. We have every single package. No worries, though. Kaleb swears up and down that he is going to create a giant super store full of nothing but rubber bands. Then, Area I will be considered a place full of history, good food, basketball, and rubber bands. : )
We did, however, play an intense game of basketball in Texline. The 3 of us decided that we must be a bunch of fat kids, because we just couldn't hang with those guys. Kaleb was so red afterwards that it looked like his head was about to catch on fire! I'm pretty sure he almost passed out...and we still lost.
That could be the eating habbits that we acquired from our Area I travels. All I can say is that Leal's Mexican food in Muleshoe is AMAZING! I don't know how they stay so thin up there when they eat that every single day. It was so good that we ate there twice: once for dinner with the Lazbuddie chapter officers and the next day for lunch with the Muleshoe guys. Thanks to Kale in Lazbuddie, I tried my very 1st Laura's special. Talk about good stuff. Everyone swears by it, and there is definitely a reason for that.
The one thing they don't have in Area I is rubber bands. We learned that one the hard way. After a presentation in Canyon, we noticed that we were running low. We decided to finish up the day and go buy some more supplies after we were done. We called an office store in Dimmit that swore up and down that they had the right size. We drove 20 minutes to find out that they hadn't even looked at their rubber bands yet. Our only option was to go to the closest town we knew of- Amarillo, a full hour away. We started at Office Depot. No rubber bands. We went to 3 party store. No rubber bands. So, we went to Hobby Lobby, Michael's, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. Still no rubber bands. Finally, we found an Office Max. By this point, we had run out of hope. We marched in that store, looking more pitiful than you could ever imagine. Then, we saw it shining like a beacon of hope: aisle 13. Right there, amidst the pencils and papers were...RUBBER BANDS! We screamed. We laughed. Then, we bought every package of rubber bands in the entire store. 2 hours and $40 later, we knew that we would never run out of rubber bands again.
So, if you're looking for rubber bands in the city of Amarillo, you won't find them. We have every single package. No worries, though. Kaleb swears up and down that he is going to create a giant super store full of nothing but rubber bands. Then, Area I will be considered a place full of history, good food, basketball, and rubber bands. : )
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Area IV
This past week, Aron, Kaleb, and I made our way through Area IV. We started off in Perrin, Texas. Talk about the greatest birthday meal ever! Mrs. Hall made us enchiladas, sopapilla cheesecake, and chocolate covered strawberries. Mmm...delicious. Then, we played a hard core game of Phase 10 with the chapter officers. I lost. : ( Next, we headed to Henrietta. I got to watch Aron and Kaleb TRY to shoot a bow and arrow. They are much better at giving presentations. I definitely think we should stick to that. Before we knew it, we were in Petrolia. They had an awesome group of kids. We had so much fun getting to know the students there! Of course, it wasn't long before we were in Wichita Falls in search of an AT&T store and a car wash. Thanks to Aron's new iPhone, though, we were lost for a full 2 HOURS. We drove around lost for the longest time before we realized that we had to turn the phone in order to go in the right direction. Oops... Luckily, we eventually found our way to the various places to run errands, and we headed off to hang out with the Iowa Park officers. They snuck in a birthday cake that looked like a lady bug and surprised me with it at Carino's. It was the coolest thing EVER! They even gave me my own little tiara : )
The next morning, we started out in Holliday. Kaleb and I had an interesting discussion about whether we were passing the middle school or the high school. Kaleb never admitted it, but I was right. Ha ha. One day, he will learn to listen to me! : ) As soon as we finished there, we headed off to Seymour. We had a great time talking to their officers. They told us all about this cool deli called Elizabeth's. You have to try their Lisa Sandwich. AMAZING! Our last presentation was at Knox City. We stayed afterwards and watched our very 1st 6 man football practice. They did all kinds of crazy plays! That night, we stayed in Abilene with the Swinneys. They were so sweet to us. They even cooked us breakfast the next morning.
On Wednesday, we went to Abilene Wylie and Abilene Cooper. Both had a bunch of awesome kids. Kaleb even sang a song with Charles during our presentation at Abilene Wylie, and Abilene Cooper gave us a whole bunch of snacks! We LOVE snacks! Our last presentation was at Clyde. The guys tried to shoot some hoops before the presentation. Once again, they should stick to speaking to high school kids. They only made one basket the whole time!
We had another birthday party in Cross Plains. Thanks, Mrs. Holland! Of course, Kaleb and I smashed cake in each other's faces instead of eating it. It was quite enjoyable! After our presentation in Cross Plains, we headed off to Coleman and Santa Anna. Once again, they had some AWESOME students! We had a fantastic audience in Coleman, and the kids in Santa Anna were really active during the entire presentation. We loved it!
That night, we stayed in Winters, Texas. It was a very historical moment, as that was the 1st FFA chapter in the state of Texas. We watched a Blizzards JV football game after some mexican food at Casa. Of course, the next morning, I got VERY lost. Only I would get lost in town with one main road...I don't think I will ever live that one down : )
Needless to say, Area IV was a successful week for us. We loved having Aron in the truck to hang out with us. Now, we are just trying not to freeze out here in Area I! Wish us luck!
The next morning, we started out in Holliday. Kaleb and I had an interesting discussion about whether we were passing the middle school or the high school. Kaleb never admitted it, but I was right. Ha ha. One day, he will learn to listen to me! : ) As soon as we finished there, we headed off to Seymour. We had a great time talking to their officers. They told us all about this cool deli called Elizabeth's. You have to try their Lisa Sandwich. AMAZING! Our last presentation was at Knox City. We stayed afterwards and watched our very 1st 6 man football practice. They did all kinds of crazy plays! That night, we stayed in Abilene with the Swinneys. They were so sweet to us. They even cooked us breakfast the next morning.
On Wednesday, we went to Abilene Wylie and Abilene Cooper. Both had a bunch of awesome kids. Kaleb even sang a song with Charles during our presentation at Abilene Wylie, and Abilene Cooper gave us a whole bunch of snacks! We LOVE snacks! Our last presentation was at Clyde. The guys tried to shoot some hoops before the presentation. Once again, they should stick to speaking to high school kids. They only made one basket the whole time!
We had another birthday party in Cross Plains. Thanks, Mrs. Holland! Of course, Kaleb and I smashed cake in each other's faces instead of eating it. It was quite enjoyable! After our presentation in Cross Plains, we headed off to Coleman and Santa Anna. Once again, they had some AWESOME students! We had a fantastic audience in Coleman, and the kids in Santa Anna were really active during the entire presentation. We loved it!
That night, we stayed in Winters, Texas. It was a very historical moment, as that was the 1st FFA chapter in the state of Texas. We watched a Blizzards JV football game after some mexican food at Casa. Of course, the next morning, I got VERY lost. Only I would get lost in town with one main road...I don't think I will ever live that one down : )
Needless to say, Area IV was a successful week for us. We loved having Aron in the truck to hang out with us. Now, we are just trying not to freeze out here in Area I! Wish us luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)