From Ohio to Maryland- Pretty Awesome!!

The Cleveland PowerPlant project ended last Friday morning and the staff and I went straight to Cedar Point Amusement Park- a self-proclaimed Roller Coaster Capital of the World. True enough, there are 17 roller coasters on-site and I think I rode 10 or 11 of them. The Top Thrill Dragster topped out at 120 mph and rose to a height of 420 feet! The Maverick was like flying in a fighter jet. A old wooden roller coaster was over a mile long and it is probably the last wooden roller coaster I'll ever ride- I thought I was going to pass kidney stones right there on the ride.

After the day and night at Cedar Point I left the PowerPlant team and went back to a hotel in Cleveland. After a good night of sleep I visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the next day. I was a little underwhelmed. It was like going into a glorified Hard Rock Cafe. Later that day I drove to Columbus, Ohio- home of The Ohio State University. It's an amazing campus and the neighborhoods around it are just smothered with students- even in the middle of the summer. I have to admit though, I would like to make a t-shirt that says "Tradition: Ohio State University. Losing Championships to SEC Teams since 2007." Or something tacky like that.

Sunday morning I drove down to Dayton and spent a few hours with my fellow World Racer Joshua Daniels. We had a great visit. Before going back to Columbus that afternoon I discovered the US Air Force Museum and all the Wright Brother historical sites surrounding Dayton. I determined I'd have to come back the next day for a longer visit. Back in Columbus I was able to visit with and spend the night with Allison Johnston- World Race C Squad Leader. We also had a wonderful visit.


As previously determined, I drove back to Dayton on Monday morning and spent ALL DAY in the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Field. What a place! I think it may be better than the Air & Space Museum in DC. Three HUGE hangers with over 300 planes. I bought a book about the actor Jimmy Stewart's expoits as a bomber pilot in WW2. My Uncle Jack flew with him.

While I was still in Cleveland my buddy Chris Thomas- long time student minister at FBC Aberdeen, MS invited me to drive over to Baltimore since he was bringing his students to the PowerPlant project there (now in progress!). Having nothing else to do until July 12, I made the drive to Baltimore yesterday. I'm having a blast because my PowerPlant Staff from Pittsburgh is here too and they are amazing kids.

I arrived at the Baltimore project just in time for the night-off activities which included catching a Baltimore Orioles game at Camden Yard. A big highlight for me was getting to see the former Laura Barnett- now married and pictured here with me and her husband Michael. They are in Baltimore for a few months with his job. Back when Kim and I bought our first house we had one bedroom that was affectionately known as "Laura's Room" since she helped paint the house and then spent nights with us on several occasions (as well as occasionally rolling our yard!!).

I brought a group from Bayou View to this area to help with a church plant- Journey Fellowship- back in the summer of 2003. Some of the teams this week are working with this now 5 year old church. PowerPlant is having worship this week in the new building of the Church at Severn Run- which was the parent church of Journey. I even ran into an old acquaintance from that trip- Brent Rawson- who is the student minister at Severn.

I'm going to skip out on the PowerPlant tomorrow and spend a day at Gettysburg and then figure out what to do this weekend. Chris and his students from Aberdeen are spending all day Friday and Saturday in DC so I'll probably do that too and then "camp" and hike my way back south.