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I don’t think I mentioned on the Day 5 post the issue with the car. During the Yukon drive, the hose to the radiator overflow came loose and I lost a lot of antifreeze. Now normally, I would have smelled that quickly but still fighting a sinus infection, I couldn’t smell a thing. What I did notice was that the heat seemed to stop working. We had stopped a few times, so at first I assumed that the car was cold from opening the cab at 30 below, but after several miles and still no heat, I realized there must be an issue. I hit Jeremy up on the walkie and we pulled over. I was shivering from the cold and Jeremy showed more concern for me than the car – for which I am grateful. He jumped out of the SUV and started to pull out the travel heating blanket his wife had purchased despite Jeremy’s hazing her for it.

“I’ll plug this in so it can start to get warm, you can sit in the SUV to thaw out” He said. Jeremy even offered to trade vehicles for a while since the heat wasn’t working. I was more concerned about the car. We popped the hood and I noticed the hose. Now I don’t think Jeremy quite understood how bad it was, but he knew it wasn’t good. I figured the car had lost enough fluid that it couldn’t circulate through the engine to keep the heat going, but it also wasn’t cooling the engine. And I have no idea what these temperatures would do to the car, the thermostat, etc. What I do know is that we don’t have any antifreeze and pouring in water at 30 below would be bad. Thankfully, a couple of motorist stopped by and offered to assist with a bottle of antifreeze. We were only 30 or so miles from Tok but the car was so overheated that we waited in Jeremy’s SUV while the car cooled down.

So back to Day 6 – we stopped at the gas station in Tok and had the attendant top off the radiator with the proper water mix for these conditions. We stopped at the local restaurant for breakfast, but missed it by five minutes and had to order lunch instead. After that is was all road ahead.

Proof of Insurance Issue:

To get into Canada and back into America, Jeremy gave me several pieces of paper, including proof of insurance for Canada and the US. apparently, during the boarder crossings I misplaced the proof on insurance card. You cannot drive onto base without it, so when we finally got into North Pole, we had a problem. We are parked in front of the visitor center when I notice the paper is not in the glove box. Jeremy and I had both seen a couple of long days and were exhausted. As I looked for the card, Jeremy must have said how important it was that we find it 3 or 4 times before I snapped at him. I was tired and cold but I knew the card had to be in the car and it would just take some digging to find it amongst the cargo in this over stuffed car. But in the back of my head I was thinking, “its not that big of a deal – he has insurance and we can always get another card printed”. What I said was “Jeremy – I get it – I know how important it is!” I felt bad about snapping at him, it was entirely my fault that it was missing and he has a lot more invested in this trip than I do. Luckly, only moments after snapping at him, I found the card and all was forgiven.

The Hotel:

Dana and Logan were already on base waiting when we got there. Logan seemed very happy to see his daddy! The hotel on base was likely a very nice room as far as hotels go, but felt extremely small when trying to fit three adults and one toddler along with several bags. We ate dinner from the left overs that Dana had at the hotel. I think Jeremy and I went out to meet the Realtor and his new home, but it may have been on Day 7. I know that Jeremy and Dana went to a friend’s house on base (Dana met a friend online a year earlier that lived on this base), allowing me some wind down time to just relax.

Ok, I finally concede defeat. I’ve installed and used my own picture gallery software for the last few years, but it seems that many of you guys do not like the user interface and have had difficulties using it. And its slow.

Google now has Picasa2 and the interface is easy, the site is fast, and uploads are simple. The thing I don’t like about it – it has a space limit on my photos and it resizes everything. I’m sure that is part of what makes it fast, but my pictures are not a good downloaded from there as they are from my own picture gallery. Anyway – you can now view my family photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Dale.Sackrider

Well, that’s the bad thing about having a public blog. You may be able to run away from last year’s resolutions. You may be able to escape the fact that you haven’t made one ounce of progress in those lofty goals you set last year. But I cannot…

It’s here again – The new year. I read my post from last year – it was in my not so humble opinion, well written, well said, and well ignored. Every year, no matter how hard I try to NOT create ‘new year’s resolutions’, I find myself wanting to start anew and lose weight, reduce debt, go back to school, read more, etc, etc, etc. Last year, I started talking about setting goals instead of making resolutions (not in my blog entry, but among my family). Maybe this year, I will create a constitution for myself and my family. I don’t know how to make this time any different than before, but as with every preceding effort, I want to believe this time will be different…. My prayer from last year still holds true today:

What must I do to be saved from ‘eating too much’? What must I do to be saved from ‘credit card debt’? What must I do to be saved from ‘realism’? What must I do to be saved from ‘my same old ways’? What will make this different from last year, last week, last night? Am I the only one asking these questions?

I’m still asking those questions. I still don’t have the answers.

A&E recently aired an independent film titled Jesus Camp. It features pastor Becky Fischer’s “Kids on Fire” camp in North Dakota “where children as young as six are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in ‘God’s army’.” The film follows a few of the children that attend the camp and their Christian families. In one scene a mother that is apparently home schooling her children (a sign on the kitchen wall reads, “Home sweet Classroom”), teaches her son that global warming is a political issue and that it isn’t a real problem. In another scene a little girl is praying that Jesus will help her bowl well at a youth bowling event. In yet another scene, another girl explains that God doesn’t go to all churches, that “some churches are dead churches, and in those churches the people do not act excited, and they sing 3 songs, and listen to a sermon, but God likes to go to churches where they jump up and down, shouting his name, are not quite and depending on how they invite him, He will be there or not.” At one point, Fischer explains to the children that warlocks are enemies of God and that if Harry Potter lived in old testament times “he would be put to death“. Two children in the film were watching a Christian ‘science’ show that asks, “Did you start with a Bang? Is evolution science or belief”. Fischer prayed over the sound system before a service, “Devil, we know what you love to do in meetings like this… no microphone problems in Jesus name“.

One crying girl that was given the microphone during a worship service states, “I just brake the chains over our nation, and proclaim the Lion of Judah over our nation”. Fischer goes on to say “this means war, are you a part or not?” Later, they brought up a cardboard cutout of President Bush and prayed over it saying “he has surrounded himself with spirit-filled people, so pray in the spirit over him”.

I was bothered by the film. I was uncomfortable watching it. At first I thought I was upset that this is how the world sees us, but then I realized that its not how the world sees us – its how we are. What bothered me was that I know this stories are not the exception. I grew up in the Pentecostal movement and scenes like the ones in this documentary were normal. It was as difficult to watch the entire film as looking in the mirror for the first time after being in a disfiguring accident. Do we really believe that God wants to help us bowl a 300, or that the devil caused a microphone to fail during a church service?

The film highlighted a few things that bother me: Our (the church’s) rejection of science, and our desire to outlaw acts of sin. Allow me to explain. Minister Rob Bell told me once (through his book, Velvet Elvis) “All truth is God’s truth”. Yet the Church as a history of rejecting observed scientific truths to protect its views. The earth had to be the center of the universe because we are made in God’s image and so we must be at the center of all things. The earth must be 6,000 years old, because that is all the time we can account for in the bible. There is no evolution because the bible says God made us out of dirt. Global Warming isn’t true, because… well just because we don’t trust those science guys at all.

1 Thess 5:21 says “Test all things; hold fast to what is good.” and Rob Bell said,”All truth is God’s truth”. If we learn through observed science that the earth 4.5 Billion years old, we should apply that truth to what we read in scripture and find a greater understanding of scripture. If science now tells us that the earth is heating up through global warming, why would we reject it? What if they are wrong? Do we believe the fumes pouring out of the back of our SUVs are good for the environment? Does the Bible not tell us to be good stewards of the earth? If science teaches us that there was a big Bang – should we reject it, or point to that beginning as proof that a creator began the universe with a spectacular explosion? If science were to observe that there is a genetic or chemical makeup that causes homosexual tendencies, will we also reject that? Or would we find greater understanding in that truth – would we reject that because ‘Gawd don’t make homos‘? Or would we realize that people are born blind, deaf, deformed, mentally and physically challenged and just because someone is ‘born that way’ doesn’t ring forth as an endorsement by providence any more than a down syndrome child is the will of God.

And what of the legislation of religion? We want abortion outlawed. I know I do. But as a church, should we seek to legislate morality through government or work to alleviate immorality through ministry? I don’t care if abortion is legal if no one wants to have one. Would our efforts be better served to reach those young women seeking abortion with the true gospel of Jesus Christ? Abortion is a selfish and desperate act from women who either don’t want to be inconvenienced by a child, or feel hopeless with no other option. Doesn’t Christianity address the selfish heart and reach out to the hopeless? I would love to see Roe v Wade overturned, but that victory must be won in the hearts of people, not in the courtroom or even in the voting booth. The reason “Separation of Church and State” is so revered by liberals is the idea that the morality of the few will govern the many. The church should reach the hearts of people, and once that has been accomplished, the people will change its laws. If our government were to pass a law that required abortions – I would say rise up, bare arms, revolt, but such is not the case.

What I’m getting at is this – as long as we teach our children that the devil is why the 9 volt battery in the wireless mic is dead, God helped you bowled a strike, Science is demonic, and government must reflect our Christian values, we are irrelevant, ineffective, and un-Christlike. I hated this film – because I hate the light it shines on us.

My final thoughts are this: I understand that not all Christians are reflected in this film, and I make no criticism of the faith of the people in the film. Their faiths seem fully genuine and some of the things said in the film were very good. I believe abortion should be illegal, and I believe global warming isn’t as much our fault as pundits would like us to believe. But I also believe the church should focus on the Gospel message more than politics, on reaching people more than changing votes. If we pray for so-called evangelical Christian leaders like Pres. Bush, let us pray even more for non-evangelical leaders, like Hilary Clinton.

Juno:

We got into Juno at 4:30am. Jeremy took Kyleigh out but I wasn’t feeling well at all, so I stayed in bed. My sleep was broken by a phone call from Jeremy – he wanted me to bring out a camera – “if you are coming out” he said. I wasn’t. Then I heard the agitation in his voice, but it wasn’t about the camera – it was about his iPod.

The iPod:

Well, yesterday I used a program called WinAmp to load songs to his iPod – songs he owned and wanted on his mp3 player – but because he wasn’t able to get to his desktop computer (its on the back of a truck on its way to his new home) he wasn’t able to load the songs that he purchased. I have iTunes on my laptop – but for those of you that own an iPod, you know that you cannot load songs to an iPod unless it only syncs with your iTunes. When you plug it into a second computer, it asks if you want to delete all songs on the iPod and sync with the new computer. If you say no – you cannot load new songs. This is Apple Computer’s best attempt to stop illegal song stealing. Anyway, WinAmp (freely available from WinAmp.com) allows you to sync any mp3 player with any computer – And it doesn’t mess up your iTunes account or you iPod. At least, that’s what I read online when I installed it.

Jeremy’s agitation was about his iPod – which was now in a diagnostic mode that he had never seen before – neither had I. “um… Dale – my iPod isn’t working. Its on some sort of a diagnostic screen and nothing works – I told you not to mess it up”. All the while, I’m half asleep and fully congested. “Ok, when you get back in I’ll take a look.” I don’t think that comforted him at all. When he finally brought it in, it was a matter of selecting the reset option, which brought it up into normal operation. I don’t know what put it in the diag mode, but I’m convinced that it was a fluke and the WinAmp upload was not the cause. In any case, all is well now and he has those additional songs.

The Boarder:

After we left Juno, it was a few short hours before we were at Haynes – our final port. Jeremy and I drove off the boat, took a few pictures, and hit the road. It was maybe an hour before the boarder, we stopped to put together a trailer hitch and off load some of the cargo we had in the cars – like gas cans. We filled up both cars and the cans – if you get stranded in the middle of nowhere at 30 below zero – your ‘running’ car is your only hope – I’ve seen Ice Road Truckers.

We started up the road a full hour after most of the ferry caravan traffic had gone ahead. We weren’t going to rush – this is a one time trip. We stopped to get pictures of the mountains, the scenery, and my favorite – Bald Eagles. Not one or two – dozens. It was amazing. Then we hit the boarder – where we caught up with the entire ferry caravan.

Although I’m not exactly sure what the real story is, the rumor was that the woman at the front of the line had a marijuana conviction from when she was 19. We sat there for a few hours – which wouldn’t have been so bad except we lost the only day light we had left.

The Road:

After we left the boarder, it was all road all night. There was a bright moon and no city lights, so the landscape was light up pretty well, and it was beautiful! At times it was even overwhelming. Jeremy and I both had two way radios so that we could signal each other when we needed to. There was one point where the view was so large and open with valleys and hills and mountains that I felt very small in comparison – Jeremy called me at that moment and said “how can anyone see this and not believe in God!” I agreed – Creation screams of its Creator.

Jeremy and I stopped at a dinner in Haynes Juncture where most of the ferry caravaners had decided to stay the night. We might have done the same, but despit the fact that it was pitch black outside, it was only 5pm and we both felt like we could push through. We ate at a dinner famous for its burgers, but they were sold out of burgers. It was nice to see familiar faces from the ferry and we enjoyed the company. After dinner, we hit the road and heading on to Tok, AK.

The Lights:

After about an hour or so of driving, we noticed a circle of light around the moon. I later learned this is due to ice crystals in the air that are under 20 microns (I have no idea when, how that happens) but the air was full of them and the moon reflects off them – so we see a perfect circle around the moon. What made this so impressive was that there was another circle of light over our heads and it intersected the circle around the moon and where they touched, they were almost as bright as the moon itself. Then as if this light show wasn’t enough to show off God’s artistic side, I noticed a pale green light rolling through the sky – it was dim, but it was there. We got back in the cars and headed down the road, but quickly pulled back over when that pale green light, popped on like someone flipped a switch. It was now a bright green light rolling back and forth, stretching itself across the sky as it went, slowly reaching from one side to the other like an animal waking after a long slumber, stretching its arms out as wide as it could. That went on for about thirty minutes, but it was about 30 degrees below zero, so we got back in our cars and headed down the road, catching a glimpse every other turn of the road or so of this majestic light show.

We finally reached Tok at about midnight. We checked into the hotel and plugged in the cars and grabbed some sleep.

Today we had three port stops – each for very short time frames (less than an hour); just enough time for Jeremy to take Kyleigh for a walk. The first stop was Ketchekin – we grabbed some groceries so we could avoid paying the boat prices for food and we also grabbed breakfast from a local restaurant to go. The second stop (Petersburg) had nothing open or within walking distance, the third port (Wrangle) had a small restaurant, which we didn’t have time to eat at but some of our new friends from the boat did risk eating at. After walking with Jeremy and Kyleigh for a while, I decided to stop into the restaurant to talk to John, Jeremy and Hailey – which turned out to almost cost me big! They were waiting to pay the check and when they finished we noticed there weren’t any cars left pulling onto the boat – we had lost track of the time and the boat doesn’t wait for people due to port costs – so we ran to the peer, where we were told that boarding was closed! As it turns out the peer staff does have a sense of humor and was pulling our chains.

Other than the peer stops, we spent much of the day setting on the observation deck – occasionally stepping out on the deck to grab a few pictures but getting back inside quickly because it was getting very cold. My sinuses started kicking in fierce – I developed a sinus headache that rated an 8 on a 1 to 10 and my nose was completely clogged so I spent most of the day breathing through my mouth – which is miserable.

Ok, I know I haven’t finished publishing the AK trip – sorry about that guys – but I couldn’t let this one go by without a comment – I’m not a big sports fan as many of you know, but how could I not pay attention to the undefeated New England Patriots this year? The 1972 Miami Dolphins had an undefeated season but the regular season was only 14 games then. There are now 16 regular season games and tomorrow the Patriots will face the New York Giants in the last game of regular season play. This will be a historic game for NFL football. Before this week, you would only be able to watch this game if you had the NFL network in your cable lineup, or you lived Boston or Manchester where it will air on WCVB-TV Channel 5 and WMUR-TV Channel 9 respectively.

Many cable companies don’t currently carry the NFL network in their basic package, but do offer the network as an addon. I called Cox Communication and had the NFL network (and NFL-HD) as well as the NBA Channel and about half a dozen other sports channels added for the combined low price of $5 a month. I’m not a sports buff, but for that price, why not?

I know this isn’t what I typically write about, but when my brother-in-law called me to tell me that US Senators have put pressure on the NFL over the NFL network’s broadcast of this (and other) games, I had to blog about it. Yes, you read that correctly, US Senators have decided that this is a matter federal government’s attention. Senators from both sides of the isle contacted the NFL to complain that only about 40% of US households received the NFL Network and threatened to review the NFL’s monopoly exemption if they didn’t make the game more widely available! Can you say EXTORTION?!?!? Talk about abuse of power, here is a prime example. I can’t imagine what would make these senators think such an abuse of their authority acceptable. Do these men have nothing better to do as senators of this nation then to pursue what channel the game is on? Maybe they cannot afford the $5 a month? I’m sure there is a sports bar somewhere inside the beltway that will be airing the game…

Whatever the case, the NFL has backed down for fear of congressional repercussion – the game will now be aired on NBC and CBS as well – which by the way violates their contract with WMUR.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-patriots-giants-tv&prov=ap&type=lgns

Merry Christmas from the Sackrider family!

Day 1 – trip to the airport

Day one of the trip to Alaska with my brother Jeremy. I had to work in the morning but admittedly I didn’t get much done. I wasn’t packed and I was dreading the idea of leaving my family for a week and a half. The trip to the airport was typical – hectic getting the family in the car, lots of traffic on the way, conversation to fill the drive time was all over the board – Stephanie’s new business, the trip, money worries, Zander, Lexi, etc, etc… The highlight of the trip to the airport was stopping at Burger King with the family. Kind of a last meal together until I get back – but what made it so nice was the pace. We slowed down – went inside – took our time eating – talked about life. I really enjoyed it.

The Flight: Typical. I did pick up a book in the airport to help fill the time on the plane – “I am Legend” by Richard Matheson. The movie based on the book is due out this week end. I wanted to see the film, but I had no idea it was based on a vampire story. Anyway…. I was able to secure an isle seat. I know that I’m the guy the rest of you guys hate to see walk on the plane when you have an empty seat beside you. The whole time I walk in your direction, you are thinking, please don’t let his seat be beside me. I think the same thing when I see guys my size get on the plane. I sat next to an older-than-me couple. I’m glad to say, She made no visible signs of discontent when I sat down.

The flight was about 3 hours to Seattle – I was able to get most of the way through the book during the flight. I did take one bathroom break during the flight – not because I had to go as much as I needed to get up and stretch my legs a bit, plus the bathroom has more room than my seat.

Seattle: Wet, Rainy – but still pretty cool. I’ve never been to Seattle before. Jeremy picked me up from the airport, we picked up his second car from the U-Haul where he had left it and drove to the hotel. This is where I started to earn my way on this trip. Jeremy almost destroyed his car topper pulling into the garage at the hotel and I’m sure much damage would have been done to the SUV in the process – he was too tall for the garage by several feet! I honked the horn and prayed “NO, NO, NO, NO!!!” as he swung in towards the garage. He heard the horn and stopped with inches to spare. I did get some pictures of how close it was but those are staged after he backed out of danger so they aren’t as close as the actual event.

After we settled in, we went to have dinner at a sea food place that turned out to be much higher priced than the hotel attendant led us to believe. After dinner we headed for the space needle – but it was closed for a private party for Microsoft. We took a few pictures and headed in for the night.

Day 2: Seattle, then Ferry

We made a second go at the space needle – this time with luck. It was pretty cool but the thing that I noticed is that as soon as you get off the elevator, you see a long row of flat panel TV screens displaying the view you are there to see. It amazes me that people pay $16 a person to ride to the top of this thing and then choose to stare at a TV instead of looking out the window. The attendant at the top said before they installed the TVs, people would look at the pictures on the wall instead of looking out the window. Amazing.

Pike’s Place:

This was very cool. We opted to walk from the hotel to the space needle and on to Pike’s Place from there. This is the place where they throw fish and shout out orders while working the local market. Very cool environment. There were several shops besides the fish throwing one. Many fresh fish places, as well as farmers market kind of places. At any moment, I expected Gordon Ramsey to step out and start talking about getting food fresh from the market. We also stopped at the original Star Bucks. I don’t really drink coffee, but I ordered a caramel macchiato. Very cool – but I do wish I could have shared this with my wife.

The Ferry:

Well, we hit the road having decided to skip lunch until we were out of Seattle. It was an hour and a half drive to the peer. We talked to the ticketing person about placed to grab something to eat and she suggested a few places we could walk to after we loaded the cars onto the ferry. So we drove up, got in the line to load the cars and were told it would take about thirty minutes to load – which would give us about two and a half hours to walk to dinner and get back on the ferry… two and a half hours later, we were still sitting on the peer waiting to be loaded on the boat. Not the best of times. I did get a chance to finish “I am Legend” which as it turns out is more like a short story than a novel. There are several other short stories in the book.

We found our room, brought up our stuff and headed to the cafeteria. Of course the food was way over priced, but it’s the only option if you didn’t bring your own groceries, which we didn’t. We did meet John. John is a pilot heading for Anchorage. Jeremy and John had a lot to talk about. I assume this is what non-computer people feel like when I meet someone in I.T. and start talking geek – I was lost. I did learn that Jeremy doesn’t seem too shy to start up a conversation with almost anyone. That night we met John, Mandy and Robert, and another guy whose name I cannot remember – but he has 12 kids with only one set of twins.

Day 3:

Today we met Jeremy and Hailey. They are a young unmarried couple that live in North Pole, Alaska. They seem very nice. The five of us (Me, Jeremy, John, and Jeremy and Hailey) hung out in their room for a couple of hours playing cards. By the end of this boat ride, I think Jeremy is going to be on a first name basis with everyone of the crew and most of the passengers. This is a very cool characteristic that I did not know about Jeremy. Maybe its from living in small towns for the last two years? No matter the reason, I do enjoy watching him strike up a conversation with strangers and pray that some of that rubs off on me during the next week.

I found out that they have wi-fi internet available on the boat! I turned on yahoo, but Stephanie wasn’t online – I sent her an email and asked her to sign into yahoo, but after watching the movie “Surf’s Up” in the movie room on the boat – I realized that there is a two hour difference from Alaska and Phoenix – so I signed back on at 12:30 am Stephanie’s time – she was not online but had sent me a yahoo offline message telling me that she missed me and hoped to see me online soon… I was glad to hear from her and sad that I missed her.

I’m heading to the North Pole today. Well, first I’m stopping in Seattle, WA. My brother Jeremy is picking me up from there where we will drive his two vehicles onto a three day ferry that will take us into Alaska. Then its a two day drive that will take us into Canada, then back into Alaska, ending just outside of Fairbanks in a town called North Pole. Ok, so its not actually the top of the world North Pole, but its pretty close. Now I’ve been told that it gets as low as -40 degrees there – but its not bad because its a dry cold… (a little Phoenix humor there… Ok a very little Phoenix humor there…)

Anyway, as romantic as heading to the North Pole just before Christmas might sound, its not going to be all that romantic. I’m leaving my family here in Phoenix and the purpose of the trip is to help my brother move there. I haven’t been away from my wife and kids for this long before and I’m going to miss them terribly. I haven’t been away from Lexi at all since she was born and I don’t believe I’ve ever gone more than a few days since Zander was born. This trip is going to be almost 12 full days — and I just now realized how romantic that sounds as well – with the 12 days of Christmas and all. For those of you doing the math, yes I’ll be home for Christmas – Wow – this could have been a made for TV movie (too bad the writers are on strike).

Anyway, I hope to get a few pictures of the Northern lights, and I will enjoy the time with my brother (at least when we are not driving through winding mountainous roads, or unloading moving trucks full of stuff). This time of year the sun doesn’t really come up in Alaska – it kind of rolls along the horizon for a few hours in the middle of the day. Its going to be cold. I even went out and bought some long-johns for the trip.

Here is a picture of winter in Ohio – it was cold there but at least the sun was up.