Thanksgiving...and thanks to be safe

So I went caving yesterday. It was a really good time.

But, the excitement comes at the end of the day. We came to the exit of the cave and looked to see that it was snowing like crazy. We were thinking…it 3:30…we’ve got lots of time. We’ll start to get out (a 30 foot climb), and then start down the mountain right away. But, once we started down the mountain we realized that it was going to take a lot longer. Let me tell you…snow covered, wet, and cold rocks are not that easy to climb down on. We got to the car at about 5:30 and headed to town thinking that we’d be back by 7:30 (only about 1.5 hrs late). So we were driving down the 39km road (going about 60km/hr). After about 19km I started to feel my car really pulling to the right. I knew what it was right away…a flat tire. 20km from a highway or paved road. So, luckily, I had the little donut tire for a spare….but there is a problem with that…you can only go 80km/hr at maximum. After the slooooowwww driving on the dirt road we got to the paved road and started home. Most of the paved road was free of traffic until we got to the highway. On the highway, there were a bunch of vehicles flying past us the whole way…probably a little annoyed that we were going 80 when they were all wanting to go 110 or faster. At one point a black Jimmy pulled up behind me and was flashing his highbeams, swerving back and forth on the road, and honking his horn. I was thinking, “Who is this A$$hole? And why doesn’t he just pass me?” After a few seconds he passes me and there are people waving their arms and making gestures in the window as they pass. He pulls right in front of me and starts slamming on the brakes, putting on his signal (to pull over right), and waiving his arm out the window. By now, just about anyone would be thinking “what is going on and what is this guys problem?”, but I knew better. I told Rachael to roll down the window so I could give them an earful as we drove by…I knew there was something familiar about that black Jimmy, and now looking into the window I could see that it’s my new cousin Marcio, his friend Chris, and my dad in the vehicle. They’d been looking for us for a while…they were worried because we were more than 3 hours late from when we said we might be home. I learned later that one of the vehicles that had passed us earlier had my brother, Tim, Jonathan, and Nolan in it…they were also looking for us. Anyways, I pulled over and talked to my dad for a minute and told him things were fine but we were just late. So we continued on home and had a nice warm shower to clean off the excessive amounts of dirt that had accumulated on our bodies.

Not a bad story hey?

It was cool to see that so many people cared about us and were worried about us. Thanks everyone.

I'm a Professional

Well, I have been avoiding the question and giving vague answers all week...the question was "when is your drivers test for your bus license?"

I didn't say because I wasn't sure if I was going to pass and I didn't want a bunch of people calling me asking how I did and then I would have to tell them that I failed. After all, I did only take 4 hours worth of lessons when the driving school thought I should take 11. But, who cares now!

That's right...if you haven't already guessed...I got my license! That's right...my class 2...umhuh! I'm so happy to have it over with. It was a big stress for me and I'm so happy that I passed. I feel like patting myself on the back and saying "Andrew, you have what it takes!...Well done!" It's a great feeling to be able to follow through on something when you decide that it's important.

Anyways, that is my big triumph for today. I'm excited about the new Lost episode which is playing on TV as we speak (or as I type), but I'm not watching it because I am at work right now. I'll have to watch it later in the week.

Au revoir,
Andrew