Fair Days in 2026

My last summer activity most years is attending the Iowa State Fair and volunteering at the gospel outreach booth. I was at the booth on the mornings of Friday, August 14, and the following Tuesday. This year, I actually got into a few conversations with people.

The Saturday before the fair started, the booth organizer asked for help getting everything setup. Dad and I joined other volunteers of various ages and helped erect the steel structure, electric lines, banners, and everything else. I talked with a friend I hadn't seen in person for a few years and another one of the regular outreach volunteers. I knew her face well as we've served together in different functions, but it took a while to remember Mary's name. It was a great time of fellowship with like-minded Christians. Shortly after lunch, everything was complete, gospel tracts and booklets were on display, and the booth was ready for guests.

Friday morning took over 40 minutes to get in the parking lot, which meant Sara and I arrived a little late to our locations. Soon after, three older teen boys caught a glimpse of a million dollar bill gospel tract and picked one up. As they did, I directed to read the million dollar question on the back. Most people walk away as they read, but this group stayed. I waited a few seconds for the young man to read and then asked him, "Would you say you're a good person?" He responded, "I would say so, but they might not."

Using this, I bounced the question to his friends before taking them through a few of the Ten Commandments. They had all broken at least some of the commands, so I continued with all deserving of hell and Jesus paying our fine. It has been a while since I actually got to take someone through the "good person" test one-on-one, but they seemed to understand and take it seriously.

Later in the day, a lady from a neighboring booth stopped over and I noted her cross necklace. She quickly got to the question she had in mind; do I believe the world is flat or a globe? I answered globe and cited the Bible speaks about the circle of the earth. Before I could get to other scientific proofs, she cut me off and responded with her stance on flat earth and we'll just have to find out when we die. I attempted a reply, but she ran off before I received a breath. I have studied the beliefs of flat earthers and how they deny evidence we can test and accounts from Christian astronauts, but this was my first time speaking with one. Tuesday's notable conversation was with an older woman who believed dinosaurs were primarily made up. I gave her passages from Job and volunteer Mary gave her a booklet on the subject.

Regular conversations about the Ark Encounter were had both days with some people wanting to go and others already had. It was a great time though and I'm thankful I was able to volunteer again. Sara and I both commented on Thursday that it's a lot of work, and we don't really see much of the fair, but we already miss not having more outreach opportunities.

This week will be another busy time of doctor's appointments and annual tests. On Tuesday, I'm scheduled to get a temporary crown on one of my upper back teeth. I'm a little concerned how it will affect my stick use, but I will wait and see. It will be another fun time of adjusting in the quad life. 

Three Cold Days

For the past several years, I have volunteered with the gospel outreach group at Tulip Time in Pella. The last three days saw this year's event, and I'm thankful they're finished.

As I posted last week, my dad has been on vacation and I had an extra caregiver to help while he was away. Thankfully, this allowed me to continue volunteering all three days of the festival instead of just two. Since I am one of team leaders, I think it is best to be available the entire time to allow consistency for outreach teams. Unfortunately, that didn't quite work this year.

Spring has been reluctant to come this year and temperatures have been quite cool compared to previous years. Initial predictions for May 1-3 were for low 70's, but that continued to decrease as the days came closer. As it turned out, actual temps were at least ten degrees cooler with scant amount of sun and plenty of rain.

Each morning started with two one-hour training sessions at a church near downtown. They were all well done and great for learning how to share your faith and navigate current events. One session dealt with Marxism and covered several topics, such as climate change. My thoughts went to previous alarmist propaganda of the earth getting hotter. More warmth would have been welcome these days, but it seems to go more the opposite.

After training sessions, we then broke into teams and went out to designated areas to talk with people and give out gospel tracts. On Thursday, I was stationed at the prayer booth. We didn't receive any prayer requests, but did hand out gospel tracts and information on the town's Christian foundation. Friday saw an abundance of rain, which meant I reluctantly headed home after training and left my group with another leader. I felt bad for ducking out, but everyone seemed to understand that electric medical equipment and rain don't mix well. Finally, yesterday, my one team member and I parked ourselves on a very busy sidewalk corner and handed out gospel tracts as throngs of people walked passed. This final day did result in some short conversations, but nothing substantial or argumentative.

Despite wearing insulated jeans, sweatshirt, and coat, I returned home very cold each day. Saturday evening, I also felt quite tired after three days of activity and getting up early. I don't like to admit it, but leading an active quad life is getting harder, especially in non-ideal weather conditions. I'm looking forward to this week of staying home, and hopefully warmer temps as well.

The New Schedule Begins

I posted a few weeks ago that my main day-time caregiver would be having surgery and be gone for recovery up to six months. Sara's procedure was on Wednesday and went well. I pray her recovery period goes well also, but my new caregiver schedule has started.

Thursday afternoon, one of my infrequent caregivers came to stay with me for a few hours. She doesn't do anything major like suctioning, but can help with putting me up and down in bed. Therefore, she came after lunch which allowed mom to go to her office and work on paperwork. Dad also stayed in the morning to do some of my needs before going to work and returning at 4:00 for more cares. It's a hybrid system that works and allows everybody to do what is needed. The same scenario, with different afternoon help, will repeat four more Thursdays in July and August.

Friday is generally the day when dad can get off work so he and mom can run errands and have their "date day" of sorts. Without Sara, it means I need to tag along with these outings to supply the household and just get out a while. Therefore, late Friday morning, the three of us ventured an hour east to Ottumwa and arrived around lunch.

Since Ottumwa is also a train town, we picked up fast food and ate by the tracks. Unfortunately, Friday was yet another day of thunderstorms and heavy rain. The best place to park was under a bridge as we dined on garlic bacon cheeseburgers from Sonic (which I highly recommend, along with a breath enhancer).

After lunch, we drove to our first destination of the Aldi grocery store. I've heard many tales of red bag chicken and other delicacies from Aldi, but have only visited a few times. Unfortunately, the downpour continued while we sat contemplating our next move. After several minutes, the deluge decreased

enough that dad could get everyone out of the van without getting completely soaked, just mildly wet. I followed my parents around the store, making occasional suggestions for items to purchase. After visiting the dairy section, one portion of the master list was complete and we could move on to other retail establishments.

Thankfully, the rain had now stopped and it was much easier to get in and out of the van. We moved on to Walmart and another grocery store before the list of needed items was mainly complete. Our group returned home about five hours after we departed. Once I had laid flat for a while and had supper, I spent the late evening with my regular Friday activity of updating church bulletins.

Thus, living the quad life has times that are needed to adapt. Other than a few Fridays when I have meetings, this will likely be a similar scenario for several months. I like getting out in summer, but hopefully we'll have a warm fall into November. More adventures will come, but I'm sorry my parents don't get time alone.

Outreach without Reaching Out

May has arrived, and with it my annual volunteer time with the Tulip Gospel Outreach. I had the same time constraints as last year, but with a few different twists.

As what seems to be the norm, weather during Tulip Time was quite cool for most of the festival. Thursday started out with thunderstorms that continued for most the day. Dad dropped Sara and I off at church so we could stay dry and picked us up again over five hours later. Due to weather, the first parade was canceled and some of the events were moved inside to where we were meeting.

Gospel outreach volunteers moved to the basement and had a demonstration of sidewalk painting that leads into a presentation. The group's leader was very nice in getting lunch for Sara and I so we didn't have to battle the rain, but it meant we never left the chilly church. It was a good day of learning and fellowship, but I went home well before any outreach activities happened.

Friday morning was the best weather of the week with clear skies and temps in the low 70's. After the morning lessons, Sara and I headed out to lunch. Afterward, we returned to the church parking lot for a demonstration of good street preaching, not street screeching as some ministries do. By the time it finished, we had about 15 minutes until it was time to leave. Therefore, instead of going to our designated location, Sara and I returned to the van and home. We handed out two gospel tracts at lunch and three while going to our vehicle, but that was all.

Saturday was the final day of the festival and another soggy morning with full cloud cover. After dad brought Brenda and I to town, we listened to a couple excellent messages given by Mark Spence of Living Waters. During his first presentation, I looked at my chair's computer screen and realized I forgot to have someone plug it in overnight, it was only 50% charged. That meant I only lost three levels of charge over the previous two days, so I figured it would be okay.

Once again, we headed out to find food after coordinating plans with my team. I drove a little over two blocks from church, found a nutritious meal of strawberry funnel cake, and parked beside a nearby picnic table. While eating in the frigid air, I noticed my power level now read empty and displayed a message "recharge batteries." I gave out one tract to picnic table neighbors, who I could barely see, before informing my team I would have to leave. Brenda then pushed me, all 500+ lbs, through the bumpy sidewalks to the van.

Over three days of the outreach, I gave out six gospel tracts and had zero conversations. I did help my team in practicing conversations and gave out eight of my books, but that was it. The question I answered the most was, "Aren't your feet cold?" It was definitely a quad life experience, but I pray the very little interaction I had will result in eternal benefit for someone.

A Fair Visit

As many Iowans, I make sure to visit the Iowa State Fair annually. A few years ago, I experienced some accessibility problems with parking. Since then, I have mainly had the same issues and have had to work around it. However, I don't like to let accessibility issues slide, especially when it may impact others.

In 2019, I wrote to the fair to let them know about parking problems, but it didn't receive much attention. Last year, I noticed some improvements on the fairgrounds, but more that needed work. Therefore, I composed another letter, but with more backing.

I am now in my fourth year in the Olmstead Consumer Task Force, and was recently elected to be vice-chair. Instead of sending the letter on my own, I included the task force as well. After several rounds of edits and approvals, it was sent to the Iowa State Fair. This time, they were happy to hear from us and wanted to meet in person to discuss changes.

On Friday, two other team members and I gathered at the fairgrounds and talked with their new CEO. We addressed several issues such as parking, restroom availability, bench access, and more. It felt like we were important and the offered suggestions would be addressed and hopefully improved.

With this year's fair less than two months away, it's unlikely any of our suggestions will be implemented this year. Thankfully, we were told that our timing was good as next year's budget is being considered and what to include.

I'm very thankful for all that I have been allowed to do. I do not like to complain, but want to try and make activities like the fair accessible for everyone. I will have to wait and see what changes, if anything, come in 2024, but I hope this quad life can help others.

Tired Outreach

The past few days were my annual volunteer time for an outreach group at the local tulip festival. Last year, I was only able to serve for two days due to weather and caregiver concerns. This year, I volunteered for all three days, and I can feel the extra effort.

May in Iowa is always a mixed bag of weather. The last few weeks have been chilly with highs in the 50's and 60's. However, last week's forecast predicted these three days as low 70's and partly cloudy. It ended up that Thursday was mostly sunny with a high near 80°. Friday and Saturday were cooler and cloudy with rain Friday afternoon and a tornado watch cancelling Saturday's evening parade.

This year's schedule had training sessions from around 9:00-12:00 each morning and then two-hour time blocks of each team canvassing a certain area. For me, it meant getting up early every day to start my morning routine so I could get to church on time. The first thing my team and I did after training was find lunch.

By the time we got through long lines and were actually ready to go out, it was between 12:30-1:00. That meant we only had about an hour to hand out gospel tracts and speak to people. When 2:00 came, another leader took over my group and I headed home to do my afternoon medical needs before my caregiver's shift was finished.

After winter hibernation, this was my first extended period of being active. Saturday evening, I didn't feel like eating much for supper and just wanted to rest. With the short time period, I wasn't able to give out many tracks or have conversations. Sara and I did come across a Spanish speaking couple on Friday afternoon. I had prepared by studying apologetics, world religions, and taking someone through the ten commandments, but not Spanish. The encounter caught me off guard and I managed to speak with them some, but not as much as I potentially could have.

If I'm able to volunteer next year, I may consider only doing two days and study Spanish further. Like it or not, this quad life is starting to get older and I can't bounce from little activity to super active as well as I used to. This coming week just has one school visit and I look forward to time of recovery.

Cold Start

St. Patrick's Day is now behind us, that means my regular time of hibernation has ended. While the calendar says spring is one day away, it doesn't feel like it.

This weekend, a model train show is being held in downtown Des Moines. Advertising said it had 150 tables for vendors along with several train displays. Dad and I considered going yesterday to give support for such events and see if we could find anything to purchase. However, it was the second night in a row of no nurse and wind chills were around -4°F. We would have enjoyed going, but decided circumstances weren't favorable and decided to stay home.

Most years, late March is starting to get warmer and it is more favorable to get outside. Today was forecast to start out around 12° with highs eventually getting into the low 40's. According to dad, the pants I normally wear when preaching are thin and not very warm. As the barefoot preacher, breeze also has easy access to go up my pant legs.

Despite getting new shirts for preaching last year, I have never warn them in public and they still don't fit correctly. Therefore, I continue to only have one shirt/tie combination that I use when preaching and it isn't very warm either. Figuring out how to stay warm, and awake, while in church is a challenge I try to avoid.

Looking at the remainder of the week, I have outings scheduled for three different days. Thankfully, the weather forecast sounds better than today, but still colder than I prefer for going outside. I have wondered if I should delay my end of hibernation longer, but don't want to miss on activities while I can. Two churches contacted me to preach today and it sounded like I was the last person contacted and they were getting desperate. Each one said they knew I tried not to go out in winter and that was why the delay. I'm hoping I'm not the last contacted due to preaching ability.

The quad life is interesting with trying to manage activities and weather. I'm thankful that this week should return to full nursing schedule and will help with having more energy to get things accomplished.

Watch the Squirts

I posted recently about using natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals as much as possible. However, now it feels like I'm the target of a sprinkler after this week's doctor's appointments.

First on Tuesday, I visited with my dermatologist to check on my skin sores. He was very happy to see the progress and decreased the amount of meds I need to use for treatment. I pray that my next visit this spring will see as much progress again. Following the skin check and checking out Ben's Burgers for lunch, it was time to work on my neck.

As I rolled back to the exam room, I wasn't sure what to expect. Soon, the doctor arrived and discussed the plans we already knew. With removal of my button's closure plug, I had to mouth any words to my caregiver to interpret. After a quick scope of my throat, he carefully popped out the button that has been with me for seven years. Thankfully, the anticipated painful extraction was very minimal discomfort.

Now, I sat quietly as the doctor investigated the opening in my neck to decide what to insert. Thankfully, he went with my spare button first. Unfortunately, the new device didn't fit quite right and was promptly removed to adjust spacers. Just like the previous extraction though, it wasn't very painful and the second insertion was satisfactory. Finally, with everything in place, I could speak once again. My neck was sore, but I was glad to be finished.

For follow-up, I now have to do drops of a steroid medicine around it as well as inside for a few days. Therefore, at bed time, I now do liquid medicine around my neck, in my button/lungs, and another one in my nose. It feels odd to use so much stuff for bed and morning, but it's the current part of the quad life.

It has been a few days since the button change and medicine started and I'm thankful to see excellent progress. The drainage problems have basically stopped and redness decreased drastically. Hopefully this has solved the issue and everything will go well for a long time to come. With everything going on, my friend John and his sons also visited. However, that will be the subject of an upcoming post!

Took a Year Off

The first few days last week felt like spring with highs in the 70's. With the temporary warming trend I took the opportunity to do something I haven't in over a year, run my own errands.

Living the quad life, I'm dependent on others to help me with pretty well everything. I can blink without assistance as well as chew and swallow, but only if someone gives something to eat. Therefore, what I can do that resembles anything of independence, I try to do as much as possible. One of those items is being responsible for the supplies my nurses and I use.

Usually a couple times a month, I would get a list together and go to Walmart, or elsewhere, and get whatever I needed. Purchasing vitamins, protein bars, toilet paper, and other items isn't anything too extraordinary. However, it's a little part of independence I could do without relying on anyone other than my caregiver and I. It wasn't uncommon to get home from the store and immediately find something that was almost out and I would have my parents get it if they were heading out.

Then, like everyone else, March of 2020 hit with a pandemic and everything changed. With all the regulations and trying to avoid people, I gave my list to my parents. That has now been the case for at least a year, until this week.

Getting out and doing my normal routine felt good again. It was different seeing people at check out behind shields and marks all over the floor indicating six feet separation. I didn't see many other people in the store anyway, so it was a simple task to complete.

Hopefully, this won't be the only outing for this year. With so many uncertainties and rapid changes, we can never be sure what's coming. No matter what, I'll continue to trust God in all ways and do as He allows.

Down to Two, Maybe

I have been making my regular summer visits to my doctors since mid June. A few weeks ago, I saw my dermatologist to check on my pressure wounds. They have been doing well, so I was looking forward to hearing his comments.

One of the areas has been giving me trouble for 13 years. Thankfully, as we had hoped, the doctor said it looked like there were no longer any open areas, just new tender skin. Therefore, he decreased treatment from two times a day to only once a day a few times a week. I still have two other open areas, but I was very thankful to hear the good report.

Every day, I also check my skin with mirrors to monitor problems and see if anything needs attention. Looking at an area that has had tape and gauze for over a decade to just observe skin again was exciting to finally see. Yes, I get enthused over odd things, but it's part of the quad life.

Thursday morning, I had an early doctor's appointment in Des Moines that didn't take long. Instead of coming straight home and in bed, I decided to enjoy the nice weather and free time. After a picnic by the river, Sara and I took about a casual stroll around the bike paths below the nearby dam. It felt great to be out enjoying God's creation and giving thanks for His care.

Friday afternoon, my supervisor from the nursing agency came for her regular 60-day paperwork. As part of it, she measures and documents my skin problems. The two areas were 0.1 cm smaller than the previous visit. It isn't much progress, but better than nothing. However, carefully examining the third area, she found a tiny opening in a fold of skin. I'm not sure if it was there when I saw the doctor and he missed it, but it wasn't what I wanted to hear.

With or without the new finding, I will still be continuing my schedule of sitting for 45 minutes and down for several hours. It is what I have become used to the past few years anywhere and I have almost forgotten what is was like to have more time. No matter what, I'll continue to rely on God's healing and direction, whether I have two extra holes or not.

Ark Encounter

For the last three years, I have volunteered at the Ark Encounter booth at the Iowa State Fair. I have read a lot about it, watched videos, and talked with people who have been there. However, I hadn't ever visited myself. Since Dave's church is about 90 minutes away from the Ark, we took the Monday of our trip to finally see it in person.

My caregiver that came along to help at night also wanted to see the boat with us. Therefore, my parents took over in the morning while she tried to sleep for a few hours. Dave met us at the hotel along with another camp friend who wasn't able to come Sunday.

Our group left the hotel around 11:00 and started the commute east. I'm used to rural Iowa roads, but Kentucky has some very twisty, bumpy, and scenic back roads that make for an almost uncomfortable experience. Fortunately, we all arrived in one piece and navigated the expansive parking lot to the ticket booth.

Parking is at the bottom of a hill with all guests boarding buses to get up to the Ark. I wasn't sure both mom with her scooter and I could use the same bus, but it was an easy fit for everyone. I somewhat knew what to expect on the ride, but experiencing it in person was much more amazing. Seeing the full size of the massive ship was impressive and larger than I thought.

After a quick lunch, our group made it inside the vessel by 1:00, leaving about five hours for exploration. When I heard the attraction was built with wood floors, I was expecting a rough ride with lots of seams. However, getting off the elevator I found very smooth driving that was easy to navigate.

Going through each deck and seeing everything how Noah may have had arranged was educational and fun to think through everything. Ramps between floors made easy transition as we started during the storm that wiped out the earth and ended with Noah seeing a freshly plucked branch.

One blog post can't cover everything, but I was very glad to be able to see it in person. With time constraints, we didn't see everything, but did get most of the Ark covered. On our trip home Tuesday, it was again new scenery going through St. Louis and stopping to watch trains in Missouri.

I'm more aware each year how quickly time passes and it did again with this four-day trip. Traveling with the quad life has challenges, but I'm thankful that I was able to preach God's Word and see part of the Bible's history in person.

Tulip Reach

In my sermon last week, I encouraged the congregation to pay attention to the tools God has given us and use them to serve Him. I gave out million dollar bill gospel tracts to everyone with the challenge to give one to someone by today.

Over the last three days, Tulip Time, a Dutch heritage celebration, has been held in Pella. On average, 150,000 people from all over Iowa and other states attend during the festival. A few months ago, another man from the area worked to organize an evangelism training time each morning of the event and then send out everyone to talk with tourists and hand out gospel tracts.

Friday's Group

I helped with it last year and worked to get the training and gathering location based at my church. On Thursday, there were about ten of us and each day increased to Saturday's total of around 30. We started the day at 9:00 and then by 10:30 spread out to the community.

My assistant got in some good walking exercise as we strolled around town. Most conversations I had were short, but productive. Friday, as we worked through a busy sidewalk, a man who I hadn't seen before noticed my t-shirt talked about creation. He excitedly came up and began talking with my assistant, another group member that was with us, and me. The 20 minute conversation covered a variety of topics and we learned he was a student at MIT and spoke six languages, English not being his first. He offered to buy us lunch and continue talking, but ended up unable to join us.

Before church, I had 400 tracts ready to give out. Now with the week complete, I'm down to less than 100 left. Days like these are in a way rejuvenating for me. Getting out and actively working, especially for Christ, makes me want to do more and remain busy.

Only God truly knows what my calendar will contain. Living the quad life, I can sometimes quickly lose momentum and energy. I pray that the work we were able to do will lead to eternal benefits and I will continue to serve and remain active in the coming months until winter returns.

Outreach Burn

This past weekend was perfect weather in Iowa with sunny skies and temps topping out in the upper 60's and low 70's. It's the kind of day that feels cool in the shade, but great in the sun. It was also a great opportunity to meet and talk with people.

Thursday through Saturday was Tulip Time in Pella. The excellent weather and several beds of tulips made for large crowds attending the Dutch festival. On Thursday and Friday I volunteered a few hours at a new gospel outreach stand. It wasn't nearly as busy as being at the fair last summer, but there were still plenty of opportunities to share.

The first day was a short shift to kind of get a feel for how the stand worked and how I could best help. My assistant and I mainly handed out gospel tracts and little information sheets as people walked past. Several kids were thrilled to receive a million dollar bill and show off to their friends.

Friday was a longer stent and with my regular day help out ill, I had dad as my backup. It took a bit of training, but he was catching on to what to do by the time my shift was up. I talked with a few missionaries that were glad to see me out active. A retired couple from Missouri had just started reading through the Bible for the first time and were glad they started. Everyone I had was eager to talk and glad to see the new booth being active.

Unfortunately, I didn't watch out enough for my own needs. After Thursday, we noticed strips of red on my arms where they were exposed to the sun. On Friday and Saturday, I was glowing with sunscreen on my face, arms, and legs, but I forgot about one spot. When washing my hair Sunday morning I realized my scalp received more sun than I thought in a few spots and is now sore to touch. Living the quad life doesn't make me immune to thinning hair lines apparently.

I'm thankful that I was able to get out and I pray that the contacts that were made will have eternal benefit for everyone. This week looks to be a busy one again with doctors and, unfortunately, a hair cut that could be interesting.

May Flowers

Every May, my town puts on a three-day celebration of its Dutch heritage and has thousands of tulips planted all over town. With the warm winter and spring we had, that meant most of the tulips bloomed early and were down to stems. However, a few flower beds were still in full bloom.

The weather was good for most of the festival, so I was able to get out for at least a short while every day. I did the tourist thing and noticed what flowers were still up and looked at the row of antique tractors on display. There were a couple that would maybe fit on my farm simulator, but one looked like I could almost drive right on and fit perfectly.

With any large event, you have to have plenty of food. I did my share of supporting local organizations by eating from a few of them and finding some new favorites. The real challenge, as with most years, was navigating around all the people.

Using a wheelchair means I take up a larger piece of real estate than most of the other visitors. It always seems that people notice me around, until they're blocking the path I'm trying to get through. Then they just stand and rarely hear me when I try to say "excuse me." To my knowledge, I didn't hit any tourists, just the back of my dad's leg once when he stopped faster than expected.

For the last few weeks, I have been looking forward to this time in hopes of being able to use my new evangelism training. I did hand out some gospel tracts to people, but never felt the opportunity to say much. I'm disappointed in myself that I maybe should have tried harder, but not sure how. If it's God's will, maybe a few opportunities will come this summer.

My assistant and I did learn one thing, remember sunscreen on my neck. With this as my first summer without trach ties, it's something we forgot and I have a small red spot to show for it. You can always learn something new in the quad life. It was nice to get out and enjoy God's creation and I look forward to more days like this to come.

Dodging Rain Drops

The Iowa State Fair is an annual event that my family likes to attend. We don't really do anything particular, we just like going. It started last week Thursday, but the weather was forecast to be very hot and sunny with today being comfortable in the low 80's and a slight chance of rain. You would think in my 33 years I should have learned not to trust meteorologists, but I haven't.

Thursday was a wonderful day that would have been great to spend outside. Today barely got up to 70° and rained all day, sometimes quite heavily. Nevertheless, my dad, main caregiver, and I tackled the fair despite the weather. Getting parking that works for my van is always a challenge, but we easily got to the correct lot with very little crowd. The attendant then gave us a spot that perfectly put my wheelchair lift into the largest puddle anywhere in sight.

Before getting out of the van, we started what became the day's routine. Put a poncho on to cover my chair and myself before going out and take it off when inside a building. While wearing this outfit between buildings, my caregiver and I noticed an odd behavior from people around us. They would give me an odd look (which is normal), look down at my feet, then with even bigger eyes look back at me.

I don't know if they thought my bare feet were indicative of my outfit and that I was naked under my poncho or what was going through their heads. I maybe should have asked, but no one wanted to stay out in the rain longer than necessary. With that being the case, we did go through buildings more thoroughly than normal and didn't mind waiting to see something. At the model railroad layout, we spent about half-an-hour talking with a member about his memories of steam trains and enjoyment of models.

Shortly after we returned home from paddling through the fairgrounds, the rain stopped and sun came out. The added challenge made for a new experience this year, but not one that I hope to repeat. Today's lesson in the quad life is to remember that God has made the earth with its weather systems and fallible man (like meteorologists) is still trying to understand it.

Kids

It's not a secret, I have it posted on my web site, that I think all kids should be barefoot at all times. Today, I came across this post on a blog about a kid who went barefoot. It's unfortunate excuses must be made for his footwear, or lack of. I'm glad to see that he did go dressed as he wished, but more kids, such as his brother, should take after him.