The Missouri Convention, Part ##

File Under: Extended Series

Oh... Hehe... This was kinda a month ago, and I forgot to write about the last day of the Missouri Convention. And you guys are still waiting for photographs from then! My humblest apologies. I left a "hook", but I think I left it sitting too long, and it's become rather boring. So, without further ado, here is the conclusion to The Missouri Convention. (the other parts will be made readily avaliable by the end of the week)

- When we went down for breakfast, we had to check out as well, and bring our luggage on over to the bus.
- Figures. The LAST morning bible study, the "SON-rise" small group study, was REALLY good.
- Last session begins around 10 am CDT.
- Uh-oh. On Thursday, a conventioneer was sent home. They wouldn't say, obviously. They just asked us to pray for this person.
- There's general announcements and thank-you's. They thanked the entire RYS staff as a whole, individual members, and more! Whoooooo!
- I don't remember when the last speech by Rev. Grotenhuis was... And I don't remember much about it, seeing as I didn't TAKE NOTES, because my notebook was WAITING FOR ME ON THE BUS. And I'm SHOUTING ABOUT IT, REALLY LOUDLY. Basically, it was expounding upon his other lectures. So, um, yeah. Glad to be of help.
- At the end, they showed a slideshow of pictures taken throughout the duration of the week. See, on Wednesday, Todd Hilton had borrowed my memory cards throughout the day, and the RYS techies copied my photo's to their hardrive. They were going to see if there were any photo's they could use in the slideshow. And there were!

I didn't really reckognize until looking at all of the photo's on the bus that they had used ALOT of my photo's. I thought it was just a couple, but it was over a dozen, I think. I even took some pictures of flowers on-campus, 'cause, and they used those as a background for the titles. There was one kinda unflattering picture of a fellow Bethany URC'er, Corey, and it was used in the slideshow. And when it came on screen, there was a VERY audiable, unhappy "DUDE!" shouted. I laughed. A fair amount, too. I enjoyed that reaction. Hehe.

I had no idea which photo's they would use in the slideshow, so it was interesting for me too to see what would make it. The other photo's were one's taken by RYS staff members, and Ed DeGraff himself. At the end, they announced where next year's convention would be: Lookout Mountian, Georgia, at Covenant College.

The session ended, and we all headed for lunch. And after lunch, it was time to leave! Well, the group that I was with managed to get in line fairly early, and as such, had some time to kill after lunch. We joked that even though we were on a tight schedule that we still managed to find a load of time to do nothing. I had to use the facilities, so I told the others to wait for me here in the lobby. I say "here", because we were, in fact, in a lobby. When I finished and walked back, they were NOT there.

Agast, I walked all over, looking for them. I then went to the bus, to see if they were there or not. The bus driver said that I was the first one to show up. We had talked briefly before on the ride down, and then we talked some more, and it eventually wound up on girls, and then, long and short, I found out that she is the Mom of one the salad girls at the Grandville Russ' (where I work). It's a small world after all!

It turns out, the guys who left me heard "lobby", and assumed I meant the lobby of the dorm hall. Weirdo's. We eventually boarded the bus, and left around 1 pm CDT.

2:12 - Passed an exit for Waynesville.
2:19 - Already starting to map out the slideshow.
2:35 - In Doolittle, Missouri.
2:42 - Passing through Rolla. The University of Missouri has a campus around here. Rolla seems to be a fairly big place.
- Billboards galore, on both sides. Mines! Caves! Hotels! More mines and caves!
2:56 - In Crawford County. On Thursday, we went through Christian County, and from afar, I mistook "County" for "Country". ^_^
2:59 - Passed "Bob's Gasoline Gallery". It had a TON of different gas station signs, plus milemarkers, all laid out nicely on the lawn and propped up. It was kinda funky!
- Hey! There's a Cuba, Missouri!
3:03 - 79 miles from St. Louis.
- Passed the Rio Grande Boot/Jean Outlet. It's all jeans, by every designer you can imagine!
3:16 - In Franklin County. Gas is $2.19. While leaving Springfield, we saw it for $1.99!
- Those... stupid... Meramac Caverns! There must be 6,000 billboards for them spread out throughout the entire state. No joke! Just, shaddup, Meramac Caverns. Please.
3:43 - Passing through Pacific City.
3:47 - Passed Jellystone Park and 6 Flags.
3:51 - Gas is $2.27 at Phillips 66.
4:03 - In Kirkwood. St. Louis isn't too far away.
4:08 - There's a Murdoch Avenue? Rupert owns everything!
- Shrewsbudy City. We are soooo close to St. Louis. I reckognize the area.
4:12 - We're here!
4:22 - St. Louis traffic. During a weekend rush hour. Wooot!!
4:31 - Still in traffic.
4:34 - OK, we're pretty much out of the city. Passed Gateway International Raceway. Chicago is just 286 miles away.
4:36 - We're in Madison County, and we just went over a bridge. Hehe.
4:44 - Just passed a campaign signed for Bush/Cheney '04.
4:57 - Instead of working on a busy Friday night, I'm here relaxing on a comfortable bus, enjoying the ride. Inbetween this and the train ride to Chicago, I think I actually enjoy long-distance traveling. Dunno if I'd like it actually DRIVING, but as a passanger, I love it.
5:07 - 60 miles still Springfield, Illinois.
5:09 - A few hours ago, we had HUGE, majestic hills. And now that we crossed the state border, we have FLAT cornland. And as such, listening to dramatic, powerful music while staring at CORN seems just a little... weird.
5:21 - In Litchfield for dinner.
6:09 - Waiting for the other busses to finish. There were a cluster of restaurants right off the exit, so all the busses split up. I ate at Burger King. It was pretty good! Later, in the parking lot, the manager came out and told the adults that they love bus groups, and that if we're ever in the area again, they would love to cook for us. I like that! We had to be on our busses at 6 pm. OUR bus was on time. The others are LATE!
6:50 - I think we're in Springfield now. (um, yeah, we eventually moved.)
7:09 - In Logan County.
7:35 - 153 miles outside Chicago.
8:00 - In Bloomington/Normal. No, I don't understand it any more than you.
- The sun is setting, so I went ahead and reset my watch to Eastern time, before it got too dark. So for a while, I'll actually have to *gasp* think about the time before I write.
8:30 - We're watching Toy Story, AGAIN. We watched on the first bus ride, for pete's sake! Guy...
8:51 - If Buzz Lightyear thought he was a real space ranger, why did he freeze up whenever Andy was around?
9:26 - Passing the headquarter's for craft outlet Michael's, I do believe.
9:49 - In Matteson. Now going through Chicago Heights. Now Ford Heights.
10:08 - Arrived at Lynwood URC. They opened the doors, so ALL busses could use the bathrooms. There were some long lines, let me tell you! We changed bus drivers. And... it got too dark to write notes. And I didn't feel like it anymore. Oh, don't act all dissapointed and upset. You already got more than a "oh, it was fun, we did lots of stuff".

- We watched Ice Age, and not Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, mainly because one of the female leaders didn't want to watch battle scenes. So instead, I had to suffer through the VERY boring Ice Age. I didn't want to sleep on the bus ride home at all, and that movie made it VERY difficult, let me tell you. Also? Humans are eeeeevil. Because they kill animals. But the animals SAVED a human from other animals. Who's the better species? Ggggrrr...
- I almost fell asleep, but then a conversation began with the bus driver and others around me. It helped to jolt me back to awareness, and the conversation lasted all the way until we pulled into Bethany URC's parking lot at about 2:10 am ET.

I then drove home. And thankfully, dispite the fact that I had not driven a car for the duration of a week, I had not forgotten how. And THAT is something to be thankful for.

Pictures to come soon.