Cavity Wars

My wife, Tammy, came up with this recipe and it is really yummy and I wanted to share it on Pintrest and was having trouble doing so. This is my attempt to add this to my Pintrest account so I can share it. CHICKEN ALFREDO PASTRY PUFF TRIANGLES Ingredients: 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, small dice; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; 1/2 cup creamy garlic Alfredo sauce; 2 boxes puff pastry; salt and pepper to taste; one egg; 1 tablespoon of water; Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dice and saute chicken in olive oil. Refrigerate for half an hour. Mix chicken with cheese, and Alfredo sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Spread out puff pastry sheets and cut each sheet into 9 equal squares. Place about a teaspoon of the chicken mix in the square and fold over to make a triangle. Pinch the edges of the triangle to seal. Mix egg and water together to make an egg wash. Place triangles on cookie sheet. Brush puff pastry with egg wash. Sprinkle coarse salt on top of pastry. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly and serve.

I noticed a post on FB by someone who mentioned sitting in church on Sunday and being, I don't know, amazed that the Bible was used to prove the stories in the Bible. Also, the phrase, "What are cults coming to these days"? was used. After listening to our pastors sermon on Easter and Andy Stanley on Easter, as well, I wondered what she was getting at. I wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not. Hard to tell on a FB post. But, I guess I wondered if she thought that was the only evidence for Christ. Granted, the New Testament was written by men who were EYE WITNESSES to what they wrote about. And there was more than one who wrote as an eye witness. In a court of law, that would be evidence enough of the truth. Think about it. These guys were with Jesus for three years. They saw all the miracles he did, healing, feeding, water to wine, and raising people from the dead. And YET!, when they went to the tomb on Easter Sunday, they expected to find a body. They were surprised it wasn't there! Then over 500 people were witnesses to seeing Jesus after that. What kind of lunatic continues in a lie like that and, as a result, is beaten, persecuted, rejected and in many cases, killed? Think about this. Most of us have had love ones pass away. How many of us have been comforted by the thought that someday, when we die, we will see them again. "At least they are out of pain and in a better place". I am sure most of us have heard that or said it. But what do we base that assumption on? The fact that Christ DID rise from the dead and conquer death. If you don't believe that is true, then you might as well forget seeing your loved ones again because Christianity is where that hope comes from. If you don't accept that Christ died and was raised from the dead, you might as well throw out a lot of what you believe. And if you think that Christ is just a made up story, you are wrong again. Christ was a historical figure, well documented in the literature of the time. You might argue that you don't believe he was the son of God, but you cannot argue he didn't exist. C.S.Lewis wrote a book called, "The Case for Christianity". He was a secular man who did not believe in God but after studying scripture, he was convinced there had to be a God. He said, "Reality, in fact, is always something you couldn't have guessed. That's one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It's a religion you couldn't have guessed.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Case for Christianity. And really who could? His story reminds me of my own father's story, a man who was a minister for Christ for 40 plus years. Dad didn't always believe in Christ. In fact he was an atheist. Now I know a lot of people say they are atheists just to get the "Jesus Freaks" off their backs, but Dad would do his best to convert you to atheism. However, one day he picked up the Bible and said he was going to prove it was wrong. Now my Dad was no dummy. He was one of the best weather forecasters in the Navy at the time and actually wrote a thesis on forecasting the weather in the Sea of Japan. He said after reading the Bible, he couldn't in all honesty, deny it's truth without denying that he wasn't as smart as he thought he was. Either it was wrong and he was not very bright, or it was true and he was still as intelligent as he thought he was. C.S. Lewis came to the same conclusion. And C.S. Lewis was no dummy either. There have been other writers who have looked at all the evidence, in consideration of legality, if Christ had to be proven in court, and concluded the evidence was overwhelming. There is one more argument for believing in Christ. This is probably the weakest argument but it actually has a name, Pascal's Wager. Basically it allows that if there are two choices it only makes sense to pick the choice with the best outcome. So the argument would be, if Christianity is true, and you don't believe, the outcome will be very bad. So choose Christianity. It has the best outcome. You could probably restate it such that if I believe in Christ, and am wrong, I will still have lived a good life, based on some very good moral teaching. If I am right and you are wrong, the outcome isn't so great for you. Well, I ramble on but I look at what we know as fact according to history and eye witness accounts, then look at the world around me and wonder how anyone couldn't believe.

If you love to BBQ, here is a link to a blog, Nibble Me This, that is giving away a cast iron grate for your kettle, weber or Big Green Egg. Check it out.

I thought I would update the status of my motorcycle as a result of the second time I went down in Canada. I took the bike to the dealership last Friday and was told it would cost $8090 to repair the damage done. I was shocked! Apparently I bent the frame and that cannot be repaired. It will be close as to whether the insurance company will total it or not. I hope they don't total it as I want to keep this bike.

The number on the left is the number of miles we did on the bikes. Add the 1050 on the ferry and you get over 11,000 miles traveled in the past 38 days.



Ember



Mike and I high fivin' in my driveway when we got home. WE DID IT!

SATURDAY August 7th

THE RIDE is Done! I got home at 6:23 this evening! It feels really good to be home but really weird that the ride is over. I will probably get up in the morning, pack the bike and get ready to leave....nah, I am ready to be here and not go anywhere for a month or so (I have a ride planned for Labor day weekend to Coeur d'Alene).

I guess I should update the past two days, as I didn't blog last night. So, back to

FRIDAY August 6th

We got up, did our morning devotionals, had breakfast and just hang out on the deck enjoying the view and the company (Rose and Al). The plan was to meet my cousin Dennis, AKA Neon Ron, in Madris and then he was going to ride his Harley with Mike and myself to Hood River. However that was kind of up in the air as he had called last night to let me know his bike had died. He was taking it to the shop this morning and hopefully it would be repairable. Around 11:30 I called to see what was going all and learned that after 2 and half hours of trying to figure things out, they checked the battery (shouldn't you do this first?) and that was the problem. So we meet him at the shop in Redmond, OR, followed him to his place where he quickly packed and off to Hood River we headed. A few miles out of Madris, as we decended the grade toward the Dechutes River, Dennis indicated he needed to pull over. For some reason his shift linkage had come off. That was a quick fix and we were on our way again.

The ride to Hood River along the base of Mt Hood is a very nice ride, through the woods, nice sweepers and great views of the mountain. We skirted the east side of the mountain and dropped into the Hood River Valley, my childhood home. We headed to my Mom's in Hood River and unloaded for the night. Then over to my cousin Susan's and finally back to Mom's and then being picked up by Gary and Susan and off to a very enjoyable dinner out with the 6 of us. Gary was very gracious and bought dinner for all of us. Thanks again Gary.

Back to Mom's for a bit of visiting and then to bed.

Up a little later than usually this morning (6:30 AM), and Mike and I went to the store for breakfast (mixed fresh fruit, yogurt, granola and scones), and then back for a meal.

After breakfast I made chicken curry to take to the family reunion at Susan and Gary's. Then we went to Walmart to get a flexible tube to vent Mom's dryer and to meet up with Joshua, Stephanie, Karrek and Noah. We all headed to Sue's and a few of us went and picked blueberries (Gary and Sue raise them, a number of acres). Back to their house and the family reunion. My other son Jacob, Felicia, and Ember showed up. She is getting so big.

At 2 PM, Mike and I mounted up and headed home. It was pretty nice for the first 80 miles but then it started to rain, for the next 80 miles. Once we got off I-5 it wasn't to bad until about 10 miles from home and it got misty and foggy (just like we had when we first left Skagway, so kind of appropriate).

So now I am home, enjoying my family and my recliner. Looking forward to getting up in the morning and sitting in the hot tub, then going to church.

This has been an amazing adventure and I will have great memories. Mike was a great travelling companion and it was good to have him along. We travel very well together. God really blessed the both of us by allowing this opportunity.

Good night, sleep well, and God bless.

THURSDAY August 5th

Today was spent at Rose and Al Davis' relaxing and acting like family. OK, I'm not actually family like Mike is but I always feel like I am. We had a nice breakfast, then we went for a walk. While we were walking Rose was looking for agates, so I started looking too. I found a few small agates, one banded agate. Then I spotted a small amber colored agate and picked it up and looked at it a mentioned it looked like an arrowhead. It was! Not a full arrowhead but enough to tell what it was. It was the point and you can see the knapping marks on it. I have never found something like that before. Pretty cool.

After lunch I took a little nap that turned into about 3 hours worth! I was surprised to see how late it was. It was almost 4 PM and I had a dinner date with a couple I know but haven't seen in at least 12 years. Tim and April were kids at the church I attended in Sunnyside, OR. Actually April is the same age as my oldest son, just a child. We had a very nice visit and it so good to see them. They are both on staff at a large Foursquare church here in Bend as youth pastors. They are another product of the influence of Rich and Debbie Palmer, two of many. Oh, we meet at Typhon, a Thai restaurant, and as anyone who knows me knows, I love Thai food!

Now I am back at the Davis', relaxing and getting ready to read for awhile and then hit the sack. Day 36 in the books. Goodnight, sleep well and God bless.

Little cottontail at Mike's Mom's

Just a few jack rabbits - there were over 20 when I walked out

Sunset at Powell Butte

WEDNESDAY August 4th

As usually, we woke up early. We decided to go have coffee before hitting the road. So, off we went to the Black Bear restaurant. We got there and the sign was lit up, the lights were all on, but no one was home. The place was closed. Right next door was a donut shop so we had coffee and donuts. Back to the condo to back up and hit the road. Oh, by the way, it is Hot August nights in Reno right now so there were a lot of really cool cars there. Wish I could put some photos on here.

We left Reno around 7 AM and headed north to Susanville where we took Hwy 139 north toward Klamath Falls. What a great road. Nice road surface, a good smattering of easy to do sweepers with the occasional 20 MPH curves. The road went through Ponderosa pine, scrub trees, past an occasional lake with beautiful vistas often. Mike and I really enjoyed that road.

Just before we got to Klamath Falls, we stopped in Tulelake and had lunch. We began to look at maps and our time and realized we would be in K Falls by 12:30 and decided it was to early to stop so we made the decision to go ahead and continue to Mike's Mom's place in Powell Butte, OR, which was only another 2 and a half hours up the road. Plus it had the added benefit of sleeping indoors, a shower and home cooked meals.

The only thing I can say about the road from K Falls to Powell Butte is......boring. And slow. The speed limit on that road is 55 MPH which feels like you are crawling after doing 70 most to the time. In Utah, Arizona, NM, and Colorado, that road would be 65 or 70!

Day 35 in the bag. Good night, sleep well, and God bless.

Well, what can I say about today? Not much. We got up early and headed for our next stop, Sparks, Nevada. As we left town this morning (Ely, NV), we had to stop and take a picture of the sign on the edge of town. The sign read "Highway 50 The Loneliest Road in America". They were not kidding! 270 miles of nothing. No homes, no stores, no rest stops and one town about 160 miles into the ride. Guess where we stopped for gas?

We would go over some small mountains and as we crested the top of the hill we could see the next basin stretched out in front of us. Down the other side of the hills across the basin (20 or 30 miles) and over the next hills.

We made really good time as we drove along at about 80 MPH with the occasional blast to 90 just because we could. When you look out in front of you and the road is 15 or 20 miles of straight, what the heck, it gets boring! OK, so I did hit 100 for about half a mile, but just a half a mile!

So, we arrived in Sparks, NV around 11:30 this morning and checked into the time- share Tammy and I have here. Then we scooted over to the Harley-Davidson store and had the oil and filters changed and the bikes washed. From there we went to Safeway, bought some steaks, shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob, and some mushrooms and we will make ourselves a nice home cooked meal.

Another day in the bag, tomorrow, we will be in the Klamath Falls area, probably camping for the last time. Randy or Janet, do you know of any campgrounds in the area? Preferrable state or national campgrounds.

That's it for today. Goodnight, sleep well, and God bless.