An update on my life...

I wanted to share this earlier this week, but I didn't have time to get it up here... So here goes...

Sabbath morning we went to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge (or WMWR for short). We had heard about a fault line that was over by Meers, a few miles away, and was said to be responsible for the presence of these mountains in the midst of an otherwise ordinary plain.Before we left, we had looked up some info about the fault on Google, and looked at the fault on Google Earth. You can see it pretty well from the air. Not so well from the ground, as we found out later, but we didn’t know at the time. Before we left, we prayed that we would learn as much as possible, and be able to have a positive experience, even if we couldn’t find the fault. So we drove down to Meers, and went to the place that we had pinpointed on Google Earth. Of course, we couldn’t see anything that resembled a fault. But we had heard there was a seismograph in the Meers general store and restaurant, so we drove a few miles over to the store to find out what we could.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

We walked in the door of this store, and we definitely were not prepared for what we saw inside.The building was over 100 years old, and had been moved twice. The walls were covered with signs, decorations, and old advertisements – kind of like a Cracker Barrel, but this was truly authentic. Apparently the main attraction is their hamburgers, which of course we weren’t interested in, but they must be pretty popular, because the line was packed up to the door, and later when we drove by again, it was out on the street.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

They did have the seismograph in the store, but we were told that it didn’t work anymore, and that they had switched to computer monitoring of the fault. I could see why, when I looked at the seismograph – very old, antiquated, the kind that has the reel of paper and a moving pen, etc.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

However, their computer didn’t look terribly new either. It was Windows 95…

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

My mom asked someone from the store how to get to the fault, and she told us approximately where it was, but that it was hard to see from the road, and that it was easier to see on private property. Our hopes plummeted, but we decided to try and see what we could, as long as we were there. First, though, we went to the Refuge and ate breakfast, had worship, and hiked around. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining, a nice cool breeze was wafting across the landscape, and it was just gorgeous.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

In the afternoon, we headed out to Meers once more. We followed the roads, as we had been told, but we got to the place, and we couldn’t see a thing that looked like a fault. We passed a marker by the side of the highway, and pulled over to look at it. It was about the Indian chief for whom the pass was named. Just as we were ready to pull out, two vans passed us. My dad noticed the side of one of them said, “School of Geology and Geophysics” We couldn’t believe it!So what did we do??? We followed them, to see where they were going. After all, here they are, just miles from a major geologic feature. Surely they must be going to see it. They turned around, and pulled into a driveway of a ranch. We pulled up to the driveway too, but weren’t sure if we should follow them into it. Fortunately for us, there was a little Indian boy that just happened to be getting his mail right then. Poor little kid! He just wanted to get the mail. But we asked him if the fault was on his property. He said, “Don’t know.”
My mom asked, “So do you know anything about those vans that just pulled into your driveway?”

“Don’t know.” And he started to turn away.

“Well, can we go ask them if we can take a tour or something?”

“Umm… Sure, you can go right to that building and ask Tom.”

“Ok, thanks!”

So to the building we went. We talked to Tom, and the professor of the class, and they agreed to let us follow the class, and join their field trip. We were so excited! So we all hopped back into our vehicles, and drove the mile back to the fault. They pulled over by the side of the highway, and we followed their example. When we got out, the students were kind of looking like, “What are you doing here? You’re not part of this class…” But the professor, (who looked like a real naturalist), explained that we had permission to follow them, and that we were going to audit the class. We hopped over the fence, and walked about ¼ mile into the field, through the trees, and onto a hill. The teacher apparently thought very highly of homeschoolers, and she was very kind to us, and included us in the class (as much as possible). It was pretty neat. The lecture was actually quite interesting. She explained how the different actions of the tectonic plates could have formed the scenery we see today. Now I don’t agree with her time scale of millions of years, but the rest of what she had to say was very well put together, and informative.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

On the way home, we were talking about how amazed we were at what had just happened, and I looked out the window and saw a strange rock formation at the top of a hill. I guess when you learn about rock formations, you tend to notice more things… So we pulled over, and took a picture.

From Wichita Mtns. 9-26-09

Isn’t it amazing how much God cares for us? It was so awesome, getting these opportunities that we weren’t even expecting.

Then, to top it all off, the Seilers came to our house in the evening, stayed overnight, and spent most of the morning with us. That was fun! Even though we had planned getting to bed at 8:30, and actually got to bed at around 10:00. (Do we ever go to bed early when we’re with the Seilers?:)) Then in the morning, we had breakfast with them, and Aubrey, Mr. Seiler, and I went to USAO and took pictures for my CD cover. We took 178 pictures… Most of them were great.Thank you so much, Aubrey! (and Mr. Seiler.) We had such a good time, talking about video stuff on the way home… (surprise, surprise…)

Oh, and by the way, my CD production schedule is just a little delayed. I had hoped to have it out by the end of this month, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I had to learn how to use my new editing software, which took some time, and also take the time to edit the individual recordings. And also I’m collaborating long-distance to get a cover, which is actually going quite well. The hold-up is me! So considering the other projects that I’m doing at the same time, a more realistic date for release would be at the beginning of November. Sorry this is taking longer than I expected… I’ll try to get some samples up here soon. I’m working on our annual Roux Review DVD, and making it substantially more professional (hopefully) than last time, so that’s been taking up a lot of my free time. And of course, you can email me if you want your name on the (currently pretty short) list to be contacted when my CD is ready. (reachingupwardstudios@gmail.com)

Well, I’ve got to wrap up this post… More to follow soon… J

Zachary