Category Archives: travel

2010 South Bend Urban Adventure Race!

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2010 South Bend Urban Adventure REDUX from scott rust on Vimeo.

My cousin, Christine, and I ran the 2010 South Bend Urban Adventure Race together – this is a goofy video of the results of that race.

Shot entirely on a cheap Sony Cyber-shot camera, this film was not planned in any way. Due to rain early on, I wasn’t even sure we’d be able to take pictures. That we ended up with this much decent footage was a major surprise. Enjoy! (or not!)

http://www.urbanadventuregames.com/

This video was edited using Adobe Premiere.

stream of consciousness pt. VII

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it’s been busy but uninterestingly so. here’s a quick recap of what’s been going on the past few weeks…

  • i was not a whole-hearted obama supporter prior to the election – i did vote for him, and did identify with some of the policy ideas he was tossing out, but i was more anti-mccain than pro-obama. i have to say, though: starting with his acceptance speech, looking frequently at www.change.gov, and watching his interview on 60 minutes yesterday – i’m impressed and admit to being a bit excited about this new administration.
  • i continue to be mildly shocked at the attitudes of “christians” towards obama. thinly veiled hatred, racism, and things people will “pray” for – it astounds me at times, and at others i can only shake my head and realize that we’re a broken, hurting people. i encourage you to be in prayer for obama, whether you voted for him or not.
  • freezing.jpgwe spent the afternoon saturday in fairhope, alabama – it’s a quaint little town with lots of neat little shops. literally lost track of time while we were there. didn’t buy much but the window shopping was fun. the pic to the right is us freezing on mobile bay near the end of our time in town.
  • evenings continue to get cooler here in pensacola – down to the upper 40′s and low 50′s. daytime highs are still in the 60′s and 70′s and our treks to the beach continue be inspirational and relaxing. moving here was absolutely the right thing to do.
  • i’ve been twittering, although not much. to all those who say twitter is the next big thing and omg, we all have to jump on the bandwagon, i say this: i won’t argue whether twitter is a “legitimate” form of communication – of course it is. but whether we all have to twitter or be left behind in the technological community-building app dust – this may be making the argument a bit silly.
  • teaching high school continues to rock – this is the place to be. having a good time with my classes, with school spirit, and with the staff. sadly, i was not voted teacher of the year, but will post more on that later.
  • crazydog.jpgthe dog continues to love the beach. it’s nice now that things are cooling down a bit and the beach is less crowded – we take him as often as we can now!
  • recent tunes that have been infecting my brain include the new ray lamontagne album, paul simon’s surprise cd, and santana’s new double disk multidimensional warrior. of the three, the simon album is most refreshing. how does this dude continue to make such good music? santana is still an incredible guitarist, and this double disk is good – it just gets a little… overproduced? the second disk is all instrumental which i thought would be more exciting than it actually is. lamontagne doesn’t surprise me with much with his new CD – it’s good and consistent.
  • the movie son of rambow is worth your time.

time to get my junk together for tomorrow.

it was elementary physics

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we were young. 23 years old. we had been married a year and were moving from cincinnati to washington d.c. we lived in a third floor apartment in an old house (damn, that place was hot!) and had packed for days.

when i rented the u-haul and the tow-hitch for the car, i was wiped out. lise was famished.

but our friends – oh, they were the best friends in the world.

they showed up on moving day and as a collective, single-minded unit informed us that they, not us – THEY were going to pack the truck for us. we were so grateful and we stood by in the apartment while they climbed all those twisting, winding, creaky old stairs, grabbed another load, and took it down to the truck. they were the awesomest friends ever for packing the truck for us.

we went down, closed up the truck, put the lock on, hitched our hideous ’81 datsun 310gx to the back, and had a tearful goodbye. our friends hugged us hard, cried, & promised to keep in touch. we thanked them profusely for making our day so much easier before we began the 550 mile trek to d.c. and swore we’d never forget what they meant to us.

our friends left. we got in the truck. we looked at each other with the kind of love that only newlyweds have for one another. we held hands, wiped away the last of the tears, and fired up the truck.

i lightly depressed the gas pedal to pull out when the most horrendous sound i’ve ever heard crunched into my ears from behind.

me: wtf?
lise: sounded like the truck.
me: i barely touched the gas!
lise: sounded like a wall fell somewhere.
me: we better check this out before we go.

we unlocked the padlock, flipped the handle, and pushed up on the door.

it was stuck. wedged. jammed. superglue of the gods held that door shut tight.

our friends, whom we loved, had truly packed the truck. and no one gave a second thought to placement of any items. they were just… chucked and tossed wherever they could find.

it was elementary physics. sadly, none of my friends were physicists.

benefits of deafness? or how we hit national parks.

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every so often i get an inappropriate comment from someone to the effect of, “gee, it must be nice to just turn off your hearing aids and not hear” or “what i would give to have your hearing problem today” to which i usually say, “hey dumbass – i’d trade you any day.”

there are few benefits involved in hearing loss – the cost of equipment, the things i cannot do, the social things that are missed out on, the annoyance of loud restaurants, not being able to swim or be out in the rain and hear, advantages students take when they realize you can’t hear, loss of patience from people who are tired of repeating themselves for you, etc. – it’s a costly disability any way you slice it.

the few “benefits” there are can be counted on one hand – i’ll tell you about the first one today.

lise and i lived in washington d.c. & baltimore for close to ten years – our favorite outings were ones where we would get in the car, gas up the tank, and drive and explore. there were a number of state and national parks within a couple hours’ drive and we always loved going & hiking, driving, picnicking, etc.

but the cost. holy crap. i mean, we’re talking 15 years ago and i remember having to pay $5 to get into shenandoah national park in virginia (it’s now $8 to $15 per car, depending on the season). assateague island was around $8 (and it’s also now up to $15). blackwater national wildlife reserve was $2 or $3 to drive through, even. we were floored, although we paid and usually had to save up to do it. it sure seems silly now, but that’s how poor we were with lise full time in school and neither of us making much money.

so picture this: one day we’re in a line of cars leading up to the entrance to shenandoah in front royal, virginia. their big welcoming sign posts all their fees, etc. and down toward the bottom…

“Golden Access Card – Disabled – FREE“

i turned to lise and said, “gee, i wonder what constitutes ‘disabled’ here?” figuring it was more profoundly handicapped.

we pulled up to the window and i handed the dude my $5. as he’s handing me my receipt, the following conversation takes place:

“here’s your change and a map of the park, sir.”
“thanks. hey, what do i have to do to get a Golden Access Card?”
“what’s your disability?”
“uh, (looks at watch) about 2:00.”

he glances at my hearing aid, motions for the receipt back, hands me my $5, points up the hill and annunciates clearly while looking me square in the face, “drive up the hill and turn into the ranger station. they’ll give you an application and a card.”

and with that, i got a golden access card, allowing me into any national park in the country. for free.

we’ve used the thing a lot over the years but lost track of the card maybe 6 years ago. during the move, it was discovered in a box and set aside.

today we hit gulf island national seashore at perdido key – the card still works.

what’s that?

uh, about 2:00.

house packing / moving observations

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we’re in cincy finally loading the house into a truck and moving it all to pensacola. this is what i’ve noted:

  • i’m too old for this drive all day thing
  • packing = sucks
  • family = awesome
  • friends = way cool
  • when you think you’ve got most everything packed and ready, you don’t.
  • where the hell did all this stuff come from? and what were we thinking??
  • dolby is a good sport but today during a stretch break, he sniffed around and began his devil-dog routine of rolling around on the ground and rolled right into some other dog’s poop. 4 hours from cincinnati. the car. smelled. like. shit.
  • sadness is not the prevalent feeling as much as i thought it would be. relief. happiness. some melancholy. dreaming of the future.
  • not having any indian restaurants in p-cola bites in a huge way. we got indian tonight from krishna carryout in clifton and it was wonderful.
  • 26′ trucks are freaking HUGE. what was i thinking?? why didn’t we just toss all this stuff on the front lawn and be done with it?
  • we’ve been blessed with some good neighbors these past five years. we’ll miss them.
  • dolby’s wondering what’s going on. i think he wishes he were on the beach.

on the road again (and seemingly forever)

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spring break is here and we all know what that means: leaving the sunny, warm beach to come 11 hours to rainy, cold cincinnati to discover what all needs to be done to get this house sold.

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so yesterday morning i got my act together, my things together, kissed my wife and petted my dog goodbye, and got out the door by 6:30 or so as the sun was rising. that first hour of the drive is always invigorating – on the road again, gearing up for a long drive, getting some time to just sit, look, think, listen. driving solo is not my favorite thing to do but there’s something to be said for the ability to contemplate your existence. there was a nice sunrise going on and up near century, florida there were pockets of mist and fog that stirred the old imagination up.

once i hit alabama the sun disappeared and has yet to be seen again. could this have been a harbinger of things to come? one never knows.

the drive was uneventful until almost to the alabama / tennessee border where, from a mile away, i see a huge confederate flag flying high. now, my opinion about the confederate flag is mixed as i have seen it used as a racist symbol to intimidate but also as a source of genuine pride. the vast majority of the use i’ve seen has been the former, however.

so now i’m wondering what clown would fly this thing so big that it can be seen a mile away. as i get closer, i pull over and get my camera out – this one is too good to pass by.

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it’s the alabama chapter of the sons of the confederacy. their contact info? 1-800-MY-SOUTH. yeesh. i found them online and their purpose statement seems awash in doublespeak. this is an uninformed opinion, however.

i was making good time through tennessee and looked to arrive in cincinnati before 7pm. mom had already made some dinner and was ready to come over to the house with it when all of the sudden…

i-65 became a parking lot.

70 miles south of louisville, traffic comes to a halt. no signs. no emergency vehicles. no detours. just immobilized cars.

now, i lived in washington d.c. and baltimore for 10 years: i know about traffic. no problem, i said. we’ll wait it out. but then things start inching along. and continue to inch. and inch. and inch. and after about 90 minutes of inching and going maybe 7 miles, i begin texting folks to find out what the hell is going on here – my stick shift is a joy to drive until you have to work the clutch like this for more than 30 minutes. no one knew what was up. and at the 120 minute mark, i’m going a bit nuts. finally at about the 150 minute mark and 10-15 miles later, this is what i see:

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still no emergency vehicles, no cops, just a couple guys trying to get a trailer out of the ditch.

well, dinner’s cold now and it’s going to be too late to have mom over. i drive for a spell, pull over, sleep for 30 minutes, and get back to it, arriving at the house around 9pm.

i’m getting too old for this.

truly a good friday

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teaching has many perks, not the least of which is having holidays off. good friday is on the school calendar and my plan was to spend most of it on the beach, reading, biking, etc. then thursday night, lise makes a few calls and finds that her office is going to be closed on friday! woo-woo!! a three day weekend TOGETHER!!

it started off on the right foot – we both slept in and caught up on the beauty rest. lise took the dog out for a good long walk, and we hung out with him until around noon.

then we were off.

we loaded our beach bag up, grabbed the cooler and hit the road. first stop: The Bead and Crystal House. lise has been 01.jpgworking hard making earrings and other jewelry in the last few months and this place has a great selection of cool, unique beads to choose from. this does scott no good, of course, so while lise went shopping, scott went to joe patti’s seafood and loaded the cooler up with raw shrimp and some of their delicious spinach dip.

then it was off to captain joey patti’s seafood deli / restaurant. plastic spoons & forks, paper plates, bare bones surroundings, but some of the best and cheapest seafood in the area.

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we ordered and devoured a bowl of their fantastic seafood gumbo…

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and ate a basket of their catch-of-the-day, some hushpuppies, and baked beans. mmmm-mmm!

a side trip to wal-mart was needed as i had left all my sunscreen in my car. wal-mart is never a fun trip for me, but there was an ulterior motive involved:

07.jpghershey’s ice cream parlor is a block away from the one near perdido key. and i knew we needed some ice cream to get the lunch settled correctly. we’ve not been in months, but we’ve agreed for years that hershey’s makes the best freakin’ ice cream out there. we weren’t disappointed this time when we saw a new flavor: girl scout thin mint chocolate ice cream. oh. my. gosh. it was awesome. little chunks of real thin mint cookies all mixed up in there – it was heavenly.

next, we hit one of pensacola’s three tiny used bookstores. i had forgotten my book to take to the beach and had to have something to read! after much searching, snow falling on cedars was purchased, and we continued our trip to the beach!

08.jpg it was a gorgeous day out – temps hit the low 70′s and the sun was out the entire day. the beach got chilly as the sun was going down an hour or so after we arrived, but that didn’t take away our enthusiasm for seeing the sunset.09.jpg

being a relatively cloudless day, the sunset was not quite as spectacular as some, but it was still an awe-inspiring sight. we sat a bit after the sun disappeared, contemplated what a great day it had been so far, packed up our stuff and headed home to the big dog and 10.jpgsome delicious shrimp just waiting to be cooked.

dinner was delicious. several years ago, my dad gave us a medium sized foreman grill – the old ones are a pain to clean as nothing detaches, but folks, when you want shrimp cooked right, the foreman is one good way of doing it. it was worth the cleaning job.

we ended our evening by catching up on Lost, season two. we’re late-comers to the whole Lost phenomenon and have been renting for the last couple weeks from netflix season one. that was finished on thursday. now we’re on season two and we’re hooked.

it was a good friday, indeed.