On the road again!

Due to some weather issues, Nikolai was the only one at the school very briefly on Saturday morning, and he nearly had to take the robot out himself. He was a little panicked at that moment, but with some advice of another mentor, he set to work checking things out and thankfully (to his relief), the rest of his team arrived just in time to get out to the field.

By Allan Olson

In the last month I have put on over 4,000 miles on my poor old jalopy, and thankfully it still keeps going. Of course, so do the repairs, but as such is life. This past week was no exception, as I found myself traveling here, there and everywhere – as Dr. Suess once said. I knew a long time ago that I wasn’t going to be at home this weekend; I was heading to robotics in Duluth again.

Only half the family was going to make it this time, however, because we had no dog sitter for our mutt that needs meds twice daily to avoid having seizures. It was a difficult call for us, but in the end it was probably better, and to some extent it was easier for me to get photos and stories and not have to worry about feeding the family or hearing the “…I’m bored” cry from children trapped inside an arena all day.

Thankfully, my lodging for the event was free, thanks to my cousin and his family who live in Duluth. But our stay was short. I finally made it to their home at about 6 p.m. on Friday, and after a short visit, my cousin and I made the decision to get after a couple of geocaches. The one he really wanted to head to was across the bridge – the one where a large ship was just getting ready to pass under, the one where traffic was blocked up for several blocks – so we skipped it. He directed me to another one we hadn’t found previously – it was a pretty simple find, but there were some individuals a couple hundred feet away who were very possibly doing some “unsavory” things, so we were quick to get out of there. 

Then the rains came – and came hard – so our evening plans were dashed early. We headed back to his home on the top side of the hill, and spent the remainder of the evening visiting.

The next morning, Nikolai and I were back at the robotics competition again. My cousin’s wife graciously suggested that Abigail could stay with them. That made Abigail and I both happy – no complaints.

I enjoyed the robotics competitions, capturing photos for three different teams, along with some video. The only tricky part was recording and shooting at the same time. As I was leaving the house on Friday, apparently my body needed a little wake-up call and (stone-cold sober as usual) I managed to stumble while crossing my deck and fell to the ground, giving my body a solid jolt. As I laid there on the ground checking to see if anything was broken, my wife called through the window, “Do I need to take you to the ER?” Thankfully, the only thing I needed was a little assistance getting up from my awkward sprawl on the ground, which was offered by Nikolai. 

My only noticeable injury was a nice scrape to my left wrist. However, four days later, it still hurts to fully extend and rotate my arm, although it seems less each day. So it was tougher than usual to support the weight of my camera and heavy lens extended forward, and hold my phone in the other arm for video. I was happy to pass the camera off to one of the robotics kids to take photos if any were available. 

Interestingly, any time I passed the camera to one of the kids and cautioned them to use the strap, they quickly rubbed it in that it’s only me that drops my camera and breaks it, not them. Of course, that only reaffirmed my position that they need to do as I say, not as I do.

Since none of the three teams I was covering made it to the final alliance, instead of watching the final rounds, I decided that it was time to go. Nikolai helped the team pack what they needed packed, and then we hit the road. I made a couple store stops, then we went and picked up Abigail and visited for a bit before heading back for home. The kids were required to complete a few chores when we arrived back at home, while I did some work with my photos and videos and other such things, and then it was time for bed.

I slept in on Sunday, and my wife made breakfast. By 12:30 I felt a strong urge to go back to sleep again – so I did. I did manage to get a few more work tasks done in between, but I was really feeling exhausted, and I knew sleep was really what I needed. That afternoon, we made some camping preparations, took a quick trip to town, my wife got supper ready, I did the cooking and the kids did the cleaning. It was probably the first time in several weeks that all six of us sat down for a meal at the same time, with no kids missing and no extra people in the house.

So that’s my life in a nutshell last week. We did find one evening to get both the canoes in the water. It was pretty late when we got in there, but we still managed to paddle around North Twin for about 30 minutes. Alas, my boat is still waiting for some attention. Thankfully, no additional ER visits were required this week, and we all hope that trend continues going forward.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also, snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.