A change of plans…

October 27, 2015Leave a comment

October 26, 2015

It’s mom’s turn to write. So, here is goes.

We left Talladega this morning with intentions of heading to Florida. Those intentions changed when we realized that the weather was still not pretty that direction due to the hurricane in the Gulf. Since I’ve lived in MN all my life I can honestly say I’ve never watched the weather for hurricane warnings, but since being on the east coast we’ve done plenty of that.

My mom called as we were headed down the road for the day. In conversation she told us about a movie that she had just gone to yesterday with a friend. The movie: Woodlawn The location of the true story: Birmingham, AL At that time, we were 29 miles from Birmingham and it was raining out. We decided that it would be a good day to head to a movie theatre and why not see Woodlawn right in a Birmingham theatre and then drive to Legion Field where the big game in the movie took place.

We’ve watched our kids walk hand in hand through the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in DC. We’ve learned a lot about the Civil War and have seen battle sites such as Gettysburg. We’ve listened to President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. We’ve sat in the bus that Rosa Parks made her stand in. And today we went to the movie Woodlawn that again talked about civil rights – in the 70’s. It’s sad, it’s liberating, its painful, it’s freeing and it’s crazy for my mind to think about the changes that have happened in this country in my life time alone. The first winning game shown in the movie Woodland was on my exact birthdate! This storyline happened while I’ve been alive.

Here is the thing that crosses my mind as I think about all these different things we’ve seen. This world is full of adversity but it is amazing to see how when one person makes a stand to do the right thing and has a team that comes along side them change is made. Even when things seem so bleak and unfair, miracle happen and miracles are seen!

In the movie Woodlawn before one of the games is started one of the main characters, Hank is asked to pray. When asked what he is doing, he said he is giving “credit where credit was due” and continued to pray The Lords Prayer. I can’t tell any more because it will give away that part of this storyline, but it was a really neat. I pray that we all realize our significance in life and stand up to do the right thing. To me, that often seems like it involves being a voice for those who do not seem to have a voice. And then, give credit where credit is due.

“When you play for yourself, you can be great. When you play for something higher than yourself, that’s when something extraordinary can happen. God has a purpose for all of us and it is not insignificant…God wants you to be a superstar.” – Hank

There you have it. A movie review and my scattered thoughts after walking through this side of the country for the last few weeks. Go see the movie!

After the movie we drove to see some friends that live in TN. We gave them a couple hour notice we were heading that direction and they made time for us to come and see their beautiful home and enjoy an evening of catching up. Thanks, Kenyons! It was awesome to see you! I Wish I would have taken a picture, but I forgot to pull out my phone and snap a few pictures.

Race weekend at Talladega Super Speedway

October 26, 2015October 26, 2015Leave a comment

We had had little to no internet for the weekend, so here is the update for the McCleary Tribe since Friday.

October 23, 2015

We started the day near Atlanta, Georgia. On our list for things to do on the trip we had the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama. So, we headed that direction. The Unclaimed Baggage Center is a place that purchases stuff that isn’t claimed from the airport baggage area.

When we got there we all split up and looked around. There were mainly clothes, but there was other stuff too – like cameras, IPads, IPhone cases, shoes, etc.. There were two buildings with different things. We went to both then Dad, Hannah, Burka, Buche and I decided we wanted to go back to the RV. A little bit later Grace and Mom came to the RV. We found a few treasures.

After the Unclaimed Baggage Center we drove to Talladega, Alabama and slept there for the weekend

-Greta

October 25, 2015

We went to the Camping World Truck Race at the Talladega Super Speedway. It was a 250 mile race to get us warmed up for Sunday’s race. In the evening we took in an infield concert featuring Easton Corbin.

October 26, 2015

We woke up and went to the Talladega Super Speedway church service. It was put on by a Baptist Church from Alexandria, Alabama. We almost felt like we were at home in Alexandria, Minnesota. It was neat to worship at the base of the race track.

Rachael and I were able to get some pit paces, so we walked around the pits before the race. It was pretty neat to get up to the cars in pit row before the race started. Then the race started! It was fun to see all the lead changes and shuffling for position. It was interesting to listen to the headsets and how much work the spotters do as they are constantly instructing the drivers as to what is happening on the track and where their best lane may be. The end of the race had a couple of crashes and unfortunately they were out of the view of our seats so we watched it on the TV that is across the track, just like everybody at home. It was a great experience and we all had fun.

Ryan

Atlanta, Georgia

October 23, 2015October 23, 2015Leave a comment

October 22, 2015

Yesterday we went to Martin Luther King Jr.’s home town. We saw his childhood home and his tomb. We also saw the church that was in his neighborhood. His internal flame was pretty cool too.

Martin Luther King Jrs Home in Atlanta, Georgia

These pictures are from Ebanezer Baptist Church. This is the church that Martin Luther King Jr was a pastor at. As we walked through these buildings you can only image what went on between their walls.

There pictures are of Martin Luther King Jrs tomb and an eternal flame in his honor.

We also went to the doctor yesterday to get an x-Ray of my foot. The x-rays confirmed that I have a small fracture. It’s getting better though. In the waiting room my mom and I where accompanied by a man with an unknown rash, a couple who had bee stings, and a lady who had the stomach flu.

We then went to the Coke factory. We were able to watch a 4-d movie. The boys thought that was super cool. They also had a bunch of history about Coke. They also had a super cool area on the top floor. It was a bunch of pop machines labeled with a different country. They had a bunch of options. It was super cool to try all of them. We did this thing where we took a tiny bit of 3 different kinds of pop from each country. Then we all tried it. Greats was definitely the grossest.

Overall it was a super fun day. My favorite was trying pop from all the other countries.

-grace

EdVenture in South Carolina

October 22, 2015Leave a comment

October 21, 2015

We woke up in North Carolina and headed to Edventure. When we got there we ate some food in the RV then headed in for some fun. First, there was a firefighter area, a grocery store and a farm area. We spent some time at each of them then we went to the world’s biggest boy.

We walked over to where he is and he is huge! He is 40 feet tall! We climbed up the stairs then entered his head. It was like a giant McDonald’s play place. It was very confusing climbing though him but super fun! We went on a slide through his intestines. Then went to the next spot.

We were then able to be a doctor and a dentist for a while. After that we went to a craft area. Burka built a really cute creature out of tape, cardboard, wires and many other things. Buche and Dad were building parachutes. Grace and Hannah colored pictures.

The boys and I played at the pizza place while the others ordered the pizzas. They were about to close so we only had a little bit more time. Grace found a game we should play called grossology. Grace won most of the rounds. We all had lots of fun playing. Dad made a 3-D picture too off a 3D printe. It finished as soon as they closed.

I had a lot of fun today at Edventure. It’s in my top 5 favorite things we’ve done on this trip. I definitely want to come back someday. Now we’re headed to a campground in Georgia.

-Greta

Grace put together a couple videos of the “EdVenture” we were on today in Columbia, South Carolina.

Race City USA

October 21, 2015October 21, 2015Leave a comment

We woke up north of Mooresville, North Carolina. Mooresville is known as “Race City USA” as over 30 race teams call this area home. The girls needed a day to catch up with school work and Grace needed a day for her foot to be elevated so this day became all about me as Rachael and the boys and I toured several race shops. (Grace is doing much better by the way… thanks for your concern with her foot)

We decided to start our day with the race shop furthest away from our campground which was the Hendrick Facility. The Hendrick campus was quite overwhelming and we clearly discovered that this is a VERY big business. We were told that each team has 72 cars for the season so that is 288 cars for Hendrick and they build over 700 motors a year! The cost of a NASCAR engine was approximately $120,000 each and when a hauler is loaded up and ready to go to the track with the cars, engine, spare engine and parts is is approximately 2 million dollars rolling down the road to the track! To run a competitive team it costs between $35 and $40 million a year. That averages out to be about $1 million dollars per race weekend. One of the guys who works at the Hendricks shop on Kasey Kahne’s team is from Willmar, MN. I actually knew him when we were in college. Unfortunately he was not at the shop yesterday. After seeing the Race Shop we went the the gift shop and museum. It was fun to look at many of their past cars and buy and few souvenirs.

After leaving Hendrick Motor Sports we went to Joe Gibbs Racing. This was another very impressive facility and another 4 team operation. It was cool to see Joe Gibb’s football trophy case which included his SuperBowl Rings After viewing the Race Shop we went to the gift store and the boys found their favorite part of the day – an arcade racing game that was free and they could play as long as they wanted!

Our last stop for the day was Michael Waltrip Racing which we had heard gave the best tours, however we were unsure what we would find as we heard they were laying off over 200 employees at the end of the season. This was a great facility that had a catwalk that went out over the Race Shop and out of the gift store their were different areas that you could view their shock and suspension room, their rear-end and gear room and their water jet fabrication room. We then went on our tour of the grounds. We looked inside the chassis fabrication facility and their hauler bay. We were told that everything that we saw was “for sale” because at the end of the season this racing operation will be shutting down. I am very thankful we were able to see this facility prior to that happening. An interesting fact that we learned at Waltrip Racing was that their tire bill alone for the season is $1.5 million.

I have to say, touring these facilities was one of my funnest things on this roadtrip! The people at each facility were very nice and if you are in any way a race fan I would recommend you add this to your “to do” list.

Below is a great video that Grace put together for me of the day.

A day at the caves

October 20, 2015October 20, 2015Leave a comment

We woke up in Maryland and headed to the Luray Caverns. (Here are some state pictures that we’ve taken over the last couple days.)

When we arrived at Luray Caverns in Virginia we had lunch in the RV. Then we went to the cave. In our first couple of steps grace stepped wrong and hurt her foot somehow. We aren’t sure whats wrong with it. She had troubles the rest of the way in the cave.

Here was the wishing well. Every year they empty it out and donate it to charities.

Here were the two eggs. They were super cool!

After the cave we went to the gift shop. Grace got a wheelchair to go the camper in because her foot was all swelled up. Then we drove to Greensboro, North Carolina and we went out for Cold Stone with the Croatts. Thanks for coming on such short notice! It was awesome to see you!

After eating our ice cream we drove to our next campground.

-Greta

Washington D.C third day

October 19, 2015October 19, 20151 Comment

October 18, 2015

Today we went to Washington D.C (again) but this time it was our last day. Because it was our last day, we were running out of energy. So we wandered around a little. Our first stop was the Fords Theater.

The Fords Theatre, for those of you who don’t already know… Is the theater where Abraham Linlcon was assassinated. When we got in the theater we went to the higher level so we got a very good view of the presidential box. We didn’t watch a play or anything, but just listened to a man tell us about what happened there. Let’s see what you know about Lincoln by answering these true or false questions. The answers will be at the bottom of the page.

T or F: Aberaham was the 16th president

2. T or F: Lincoln is buried in Kentucky

3. T or F: Lincoln’s middle name is Thomas

The next place we went was to see the White House. We didn’t get very close but it was still cool to see. Let’s see what you know about the White House. These questions are going to be True or False as well.

4. T or F: George Washington oversaw the construction of the White House, but he never lived in it

5. T or F: The White House is not open to the public

6. T or F: Presidents are allowed to make changes to the White House décor during their term of residency

The answer to these questions are:

True
False, although he was born in Kentucky he was actually buried in Illinoise.
False, he doesn’t have a middle name!
True
False, up to 5,000 visitors go inside daily
True

We encourage you to comment and let us know how many you got right!

Here is a video I put together over the weekend. The audio is Martin Luther King Jr. , I have a Dream , and the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln.

-Grace

Washington DC Take Two

October 18, 2015October 19, 2015Leave a comment

October 17, 2015

We woke up and headed straight to DC. We first went to the Holocaust Museum and Memorial. We got a good parking spot so we didn’t have to walk miles to get places like yesterday. I found this museum really interesting and sad. Millions of people died during the holocaust.

We walked through Daniel’s story. He was a boy that was jewish and it talks about his life during the holocaust. Burka and Buche colored a picture for him. Then we saw the holocaust Memorial.

FullSizeRender IMG_2456-1

After the Holocaust Museum we drove to Smashburger to have a bite to eat. Then we went to the Air and Space Museum. We got to see the first airplane that ever flown by the Wright Brothers. We saw lots of rockets and airplanes. I learned a lot here too. It was really fun here because we got to do hands-on things.

After the Air andSpace museum we went near the Ronald Reagan Airport and got to see the airplanes fly right over our heads. Press the link to watch the video.

After the airplanes we came back to the RV.

-Greta

Washington DC

October 17, 2015October 17, 2015Leave a comment

Today we spent the day in Washington DC we were able to see quite a few monuments. It was a lot of walking (over 10 miles) and some sore legs but totally worth it. We started out by our car and walked to our first stop, the Washington Memorial.

The Washington Memorial is a Tall Building standing at 555 feet tall. It took 36 years to build, 1848-1884. When it was finished this building was the tallest building in the world. This monument symbolizes the awe, respect, and gratitude the nation felt for its most essential founding father, George Washington.

Another Monument we went to was the Lincoln Memorial. Considering we learned a lot about Abe yesterday it was cool to see this statue of him. The whole Monument has 36 columns surrounding “Honest Abe” representing the 36 states that where established in the time the he was elected. He was the 16th president to be elected. He was also considered on of our “best” presidents. It was him who had a major roll in stopping slavery and that is one reason of many why we honor him. This monument opened to the public in 1922.

Next we went to the World War II Memorial. My great grandpa Clifton served in this war. This monument was one of the saddest ones. It honors all of the more than 16 million who served to defend our country. And the 400,000 who died during the process. This monument opened to the public in 2004. And It is open to visitors 24/7. It was a very cool place to be and see.

The next place we went, my favorite of the day, was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is a very special place where active soldiers protect the tomb. What’s so special about this tomb? This tomb has three very important people inside of it. They fought for our country and died doing it. They fought for what they believed in and for what they loved. The only thing is that we do not know who these people are. This tomb located in Arlington National Sematary represents all of the soldiers who are killed in war and we are uncertain of who they are. Thus its name “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier”. During the time that we where their we where able to witness the changing of the guards. The guards are there 24/7 to guard the tomb, rain or shine. On the front of the tomb is written “Here rests in honored glory an American soldier known but to God”.

We would like to know how many states YOU have been to. We invite you to take participation in this poll. And we cant wait to hear from all of you!

These are just some of the places we went today. Here are a few pictures with some of the monuments. -grace

The Sculpture Gardens

World War II Memorial

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

The Washington Monument

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial

The Vietnam Memorial

The Korean War Memorial

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

John F. Kennedy’s gravesite with the Eternal Flame – The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – Arlington National Cemetery

Gettysburg, PA

October 16, 2015October 16, 2015Leave a comment

October 15, 2015

We woke up in Coatesville, Pennsylvania and headed to Gettysburg. When we got there we went to go see the twenty minute movie about it. Then we saw the cyclorama about it. There was a huge painting in the cyclorama. The painting is one hundred thirty-one years old! It was really cool to see the cyclorama!

After we saw the super cool cyclorama we went to the gift shop. We got some stuff including a audio cd that would tell us about Gettysburg while we drove around. After the gift shop we went to the car to drive around the battlefield.

These pictures are from “Little Round Top” on the Battlefield.

When we were driving around there were so many memorials. We walked up a few flights of stairs at one spot and it was a really pretty view from the top. We stopped at about fourteen spots that the audio cd told us about. It was really pretty because the sun was setting.

I learned that 252 of Minnesotas men went to fight in the war. Within the first few hours 85% of those men died. After the day at Gettysburg we drove the rv to our next campground in Millersville, Maryland. One of my favorite things about today was looking at the battlefields.

-Greta

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McCleary Kids

doing life together

A change of plans…

Race weekend at Talladega Super Speedway

Atlanta, Georgia

EdVenture in South Carolina

Race City USA

A day at the caves

Washington D.C third day

Washington DC Take Two

Washington DC

Gettysburg, PA