Clocks and Rocks - NY State

New York.  So often limited in the minds of those who have never been there to the bustle and over-crowded city.  Not so.  We have learned so much about the beauty that up-state (and side-state) New York has to offer.  The morning after our concert near Roanoke with the youth group, our generous host Kevin Kimble showed us his clock workshop.  He and his wife have found the training to work on almost any and every clock imaginable.  Cuckoo clocks, chime clocks, grandfather clocks, you name it.  Clocks surround their house and clock parts fill their basement.  The mechanics of a clock are impressive and the material that go into a simple time-keeper held more than a few lessons for us.  It was so cool to see that there was a time when men built things to last; that is, they built things to be fixed.  When something was fixable, you could tinker with it and hand it down generation to generation.  I will not do that with almost anything I own.  My computer won't last that long, certainly.  Cars don't last that long anymore.  What is there that is left that humanity (especially in the West) doesn't approach with the careless attitude of consume, destroy, replace?  This clock workshop showed us that some of the greatest things to be preserved are those things capable of being understood and tinkered with the human mind.  There is something more organic about a clock--cogs and all--that is far more humane than the digital world which we understand less and less and rely on more and more.  

        After being wowed by the clock workshop and amazing hospitality, we headed out to Keaton's Dad's house in Oneonta.  We sang for a very receptive and bit larger crowd than we were used to. The concert was recorded well by Keaton's dad and we have a CD now to help critique our concert and make it even better.  We stayed after the concert and talk about all things good, true, and beautiful.  As expected, Hillsdale came up a lot.  Hopefully we drummed up some interest; a few of the kids I met seemed like they'd be a great fit there.  That night we chilled with Keaton's Dad, Martin, who is ridiculously musical.  Nathan and I hit the hay pretty early, but Allen and Keaton stayed up late jamming and just talking with Mr. Christiansen.  The sun rose and we decided to try to run.  The area around Oneonta is very hilly.  Deciding to run when you know you're out of shape is mostly stupid.  We started downhill (always a bad idea) and ran about a mile and a half away.  The entire, ENTIRE way back was uphill.  None of us ran the whole thing (pansies that we are), and we wanted to die at the end.  Perhaps, someday, we'll be back in shape.  None of us even like running... but it is a good way to see the beauty in nature. We packed up the car (which always takes a while...I am always the mean guy rushing us out the door to our next stop) and headed up to Keaton's old house.  We had sung the night before at the Lutheran church that Keaton attended until he was 10; today, we saw the house he lived in before he moved.  He showed us the beautiful forests around his house which included sweet rock formations coming out of the ground in their steel grey sedimentary layers.  The gray and the green combined for a beautiful, albeit wet, hike up the hill to Keaton's favorite climbing tree which, alas, is no more.  We got a good view of the rot it has been experiencing since it fell (looks to be of natural causes).  The forests around were fairly new growth, probably sprouting up in the last sixty years or so.  We got to see the history of the forest which used to be a field.  The entire area reminded me of the beauty of almost every Robert Frost poem.  We saw many crumbling field-stone walls and I thought of Frost's poem "Mending Wall."  Good walls make good neighbors, right?  :) We then drove up and over the Appalachians into Massachusetts and on our way to Boston.  We're now in Boston; I will update you on our way out.  We're having a blast!!  

oHIo and The Falls!

In every adventure there are the unplanned bumps, the blind corners, and even the occasional false crest.  Coming into Cleveland, we believe we hit all three.  In any road-trip, a bit of planning is necessary.  This is infinitely more important when people are expecting you to sing (and even to sing well) at the end of your travel day.  We learned as men often do, from that most difficult teacher experience.  Confidently re-arming ourselves in Hillsdale with a bit lighter loads, we seem to have forgotten the directions to the high school at which we were scheduled to sing that evening.  Thus, we knew it was in Cleveland.  Arriving in Cleveland, we decided to rectify the situation and grab directions from what Keaton thought was Lutheran High East.  Calling my cousin, she successfully navigated us to a campus at which we were never scheduled to sing!  We found this out 45 minutes before we were supposed to be singing across town in Lutheran High East.  Needless to say, it was a bit stressful.  Add to that the fact that we could not always understand directions (every big city has its own confusing network of changed names of highways, reversed directions, and counter-intuitive EVERYTHING).  But, I will never say we were truly lost...perhaps just mighty bewildered at times.  The concert was in a gym this time and we're learning just how different rooms can affect our sound.  In some rooms we have to work quite a bit harder to make four voices fill the space. 

After the concert, we got to catch up with some of our old friends from college.  We stayed at Rebekah Keller's and appreciated the tasty food as well as the great time to catch up around the s'mores fire with old friends.  They saw us off this morning to NEW YORK!  Allen and I have never been in New York and we followed the 90 along Erie all the way to Buffalo.  We turned off and, you guessed it, headed straight for Niagara Falls.  I have always enjoyed large bodies of water (having been raised near the Pacific Ocean), but this was impressive.  It felt as if Erie had been tipped like a large bowl and the entirety of its contents poured out every second.  We stayed on the American side, but saw both falls (American and Horseshoe).  After the guys convinced me that it would NOT be a good idea to go over in a barrel, we did the next best thing and just took a long walk enjoying the weather and the rush and roar of the rapids and the falls.  We got a little camera happy and have decided two things: first, we have little to no talent with a camera.  Second, we don't take very many pictures with people in them.  The sunsets and sunrises we have photographed are already beginning to run together.  :)  Keaton would like to share a cloud we found in Minnesota while reading the first half of Ballad of the White Horse.  We thought it looked like a dove.  What do you think?  Hopefully we'll be sharing more pictures as we get braver and take more.  Perhaps they'll even improve (and perhaps we'll clean the lens!).  God Bless!  Keep us in your prayers, for you are all in ours.  Tomorrow, we head to Oneonta, NY.  

28 hours of driving

Driving into a sunrise was an absolutely amazing experience that I don't do as often as I'd like.  God played a light show on the horizon.  The sky really does feel bigger in Montana, and the sunrise played on the horizon for a long time before the blindingly saffron orb reached over the top.  We're returning to Hillsdale on the same interstate (I-94) as we came on, so it's like reminiscing early!  We get to see everything we saw less than a week ago.  It will be nice to get to Hillsdale for a break and a chance to re-pack a bit more wisely.  

After I took the first leg, Allen drove the second leg until we ended up in Minneapolis-St. Paul and had dinner with the Stewart sisters (one an alumna, the other still at Hillsdale) and their brother.  We sang barbershop walking in a park by the Mississippi and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a bit city (after a long time exposed to little cities like Hillsdale, Grafton, and Laurel/Billings...I was pretty excited).  Some say all cities are the same.  I say any area where people can live close to where they work and pray is that much closer to community.  Random tangent: The Mall of America is the most heinous blight of consumerism in these great, free states of ours.  They worship at the altar of novelty and shallow advertising.  Advertising also tends to destroy language treating it as a tool to manipulate our thoughts and feelings rather than a medium of communication of fact or knowledge between equals.  Done ranting.  

Keaton assumed the wheel after MSP, my nickname for the twin cities (and apparently the airport code).  Though the city had a rather blunted understanding of the directions that freeways ought to go, we eventually found our way out of the labyrinth without running into any Minotaurs (whew!).  So we assumed our waxen wings and flew away; not too close to the sun.  Spring was beautiful in all the states, but I was glad to be back in Minnesota and Wisconsin because they understand that trees are a big part of natural beauty.  It was as if, during the week that we were in Montana, Spring cast the full array of her viridian cloak over the Great Lakes States and we go to see her upon returning.  The forests in the late spring are splendid...and something I'd never seen because I had always been back in California up to this point.  

The conversations up to this point in the car had been phenomenal.  We had talked about everything from science and the 'grandeur of God' to life, cars, jobs, and girls.  It was pretty awesome.  Amazing car rides with men who know you well and can engage in good conversation...not sure there is anything better you can be doing in a car.  Perhaps these conversations would've been better at a pub over a beer, but this is the next best thing.  We read three books of Ballad of the White Horse and every time I want to drink Chesterton's language in.  It is such a powerful epic-ballad about the beauty and importance of suffering for the Christian.  This life is not easy; it is a valley of tears.  We are called to fight and it is beautiful that in the humility and meekness to which we are called we ultimately find adamantine armor and infrangible blades.  The Christian witness that  I have experienced on this trip already has been amazing.  The people and friends who open their doors to us and take us in for a song (literally).  True community has always taken in the wanderer, from Odysseus to Aeneas to Paul and beyond, the traveller always finds himself protected by the communities he puts himself in.  The quartet is extremely grateful to everyone who attends our concerts and feeds and boards us.  :)  

Keaton handed the baton to Nathaniel for the final leg just outside of Madison.  The conversations continued but with fitful sleeping in between.  Keaton and Nathaniel kept each other awake in the front seat.  Allen and I attempted to sleep in the back.  We arrived at Hillsdale this morning at about 9:30am Hillsdale time.  We had left Billings at 6am Hillsdale time.  Total travel time: 28.5 hours.  Will we ever do it again?  Not on this trip.  Was it worth it?  Most definitely.  You are all in our prayers.  We love you and can't wait to sing for you.  

Seven states already under our belt and 3,000 miles behind us, our next concert lies ahead at a high school in Cleveland on Tuesday.  From there, we will strike like LIGHTNING down the East Coast...in a blitz-sing maneuver.  So far, things are beginning to fall into place.  We still don't have a place to stay in Boston...any fans?  God Bless for now.  I hope our next blog entry will be able to be more entertaining and less "informative."  Our drives should get smaller for a while which equals an increase in adventures, not just the dining adventures.  :)  You are all in our prayers, contact us is you need anything.  Have a great Memorial Day weekend!  

Montana - Nutshell

So, we have failed at updating you all...and much has happened.  This should be the last behemoth blog entry.  The rest we will try to keep in easily digestible tidbits that can take you along on our adventure.  Pictures should be coming too; we warn you, though, we are rather amateur photographers.  All hints and tips are welcome.

Well, our first drive was a few short hours and I got us the whole way.  Just a bit over six hours brought us to Grafton, WI--Keaton's home town.  I must admit that I am the one on this trip who will have most of his stereotypes of the county shattered.  My narrow Orange County mind has been forced to admit that beauty is all over the United States.  Grafton, WI is no exception.  A cute little town (yes, I just admitted it was cute) with quite a history in the jazz era, and a good swing club which we'll hopefully hit up on the way back.  We stopped by a Kohl's and Target to pick up everything we had forgotten to get in Hillsdale and met up with sophomore Lauren Moroder.  Lauren and I hung out and we saw Port Washington--proof that Wisconsin can be truly BEAUTIFUL.  Watching the sunset from a pier on Lake Michigan is an experience I will not soon forget.  Later that night, we sang for a family friend of the Christiansens.  It was fun to sing for an experienced ear; Mrs. Schwartz had an ear trained for barbershop and many helpful comments.  We also sang Disney songs as Allen accompanied on the piano.  Needless to say, I had a good time.  We didn't end up getting much sleep that night; the Christiansens know have a good time.  :) 

At about 3:30am the next morning, Nathaniel and I went to the airport in Milwaukee so that I could fly to Washington, D.C. for an interview.  I'll let Keaton tell you how the drive from Grafton, WI to Minneapolis-St. Paul went and the stay they had there. When I landed Tuesday morning, returning from my whirlwind interview in D.C., we headed straight out for Billings, MT.  Quite a long drive through all of Minnesota, North Dakota, and a large chunk of Montana.  The drive was mostly uneventful; that's what happens when you drive through some of the least populated states in the Union.  The places we stopped to eat were...umm...experiences. Nathaniel and Keaton had fleischkuchle, a large patty of hamburger meat, breaded, folded in half, and deep fried.  It was good with ranch.  We approximated that between Pete's Place (where we ate Lunch in St. Cloud) and Dakota Diner (dinner) we had as much grease as actual food.  We pulled into Billings about 1am and went straight to bed.  Thankfully, the hospitality of the Pullmann's was completely ready for us and we were asleep about 15 minutes after we had arrived.  The next morning (Wednesday) we awoke and adjusted to our new surroundings.  Pullmann's home church, St. John's, was right across the street.  We were at about 3000 feet above sea level and the climate was much drier.  The first day I just proved to the entire family the fullest extent of my awkwardness and became fast friends with Nathaniel's younger sister, Amanda.  Their family worked well with sarcasm and handled puns quite well...they could even handle Keaton's.  We began to rehearse in earnest and set ourselves up for two concerts on Friday. 

Friday morning we performed first at Billings Public High School for two large choir groups.  The mixed choir seemed pleased with what we had to sing, a very eclectic mix of secular, sacred, and barbershop.  Some of them even came later to the concert we offered that night at St. John's.  After leaving a bit of Hillsdale information with the high school students, we went home for lunch (all meals generously provided by the Pullmann family) and then rehearsed for the concert that evening.  In the meantime, we also attended Zach's (Nathan's older brother) wedding rehearsal.  We were scheduled to sing at the wedding the next day.  Immediately following the wedding rehearsal, we started the concert.  Our crowd was small, but we will gladly sing for any number.  The concert is thankfully much improved from the one we put on in Hillsdale, and we are excited to hear ourselves improve.  We drummed up some interest for the college and then packed up and went to the rehearsal dinner.  After a long day, we finished with practicing Bohemian Rhapsody so that we could sing it at Zach and Rebecca's reception.  In some ways I feel busier after college with all the planning that goes into this road trip.  It involves contacting a lot of people and keeping up with a lot of information in our heads.  We sleep WELL at night.  

Saturday I woke up and ran around Laurel, the suburb in which the Pullmann's actually live slightly outside of Billings.  It was another glorious spring day with the dry weather I prefer.  The wedding was simply beautiful and we sang a four-part setting of a hymn as well as our barbershop version of the Lord's Prayer.  We sang through Bohemian Rhapsody at the reception and...well...it's getting there.  :)  Hopefully it will improve with everything else we work on.  We celebrated for a while longer with Zach and Rebecca, enjoyed the last sunset in Montana with the whole family (grandparents included), exchanged stories (embarrassing, funny, frequently both), and then the quartet tried to get to bed early.  Such a fun family was tough to leave, but we were up at four and out the door long before sunrise.  

Alpha

And so it begins. Thank you one and all for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement. We're on our way to our first concert venue, and to sing for Nathan's brother's wedding. A special thanks goes to the folks at Hillsdale College; your support helps make this possible. Larry, Mike, Rich, you guys are great. Thank you. 

As is only right and proper, we began this journey from church. The Word of God has kept us alive in the true faith through college. The community he gave to us has helped us to grow. Everything good I learned about at school culminates in the Word and the Sacrament found at church: God sustains us by His grace. History, literature, political science, the liberal arts, natural science, all these things point to God as the creator and author of all good things. Most problems seem to stem from people forgetting their place in His creation, their place with respect to Him. We begin and end with Him. 

We packed quickly, said goodbye to all our friends on Saturday night, and left from church Sunday morning. The community we've been blessed with at Hillsdale, and at Zion Lutheran in Marshall has been an important part of our college education: teaching us how people live what they believe in the face of a contrary, distracted world. We are meant to live in good communities like these, connected to one another and vivified by Christ. Partings like this sting bittersweet; I will miss this place, but it is time for many of us to go. We have another calling now. 

For this summer, I want to see how God is working across our land. If St. Paul wrote  a letter to the people of God in America, what would he say? I want to see what it's like to be a servant of Christ in Minnesota, South Carolina, Texas, Colorado, California, Louisiana, or Maine. We're going to all of those places, but I bet the Word got there first. 

-Keaton
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