Happy Birthday TJ!

She would have been 44 today.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

We have absolutely nothing specific for our day. We'll just go with the flow!

Rian, Erica, Reid, Holt, and Drew left this morning headed to church camp in Sacramento, New Mexico. They will return next Saturday. I'm not sure how many campers are going but Rian said he and the other youth minister will be in the church's fifteen passenger van accompanied by a large bus. Reid and Holt were going to ride with Rian while Erica and Drew will ride with the other youth minister's wife in their personal vehicle.

For any of you who might want to send Reid and Holt some mail, their address is:

Reid and Holt Freeman
% Pine Springs Summer Camp
132 Spring Canyon Road
Sacramento, Nm. 88347

I can't think about them leaving for camp without thinking about the tragedy of nine years ago when the Greenlawn bus was sideswiped and six campers were killed. I'm sure it is also on the minds of the Greenlawn church members.

It is almost unbelievable, how readily we accept the risk of travel. We hardly acknowledge the dangers. It seems that we just drive more and more miles every year and you have to believe that with more miles there is more risk.

I can remember growing up when a trip fifty miles to Abilene was "once in blue moon". A trip to Sweetwater (eight miles) was once a week. Now many people commute greater distances.

I don't know about you, but with fuel prices what they are, I now find myself trying to combine trips, and making sure that the travel is necessary.

One thing that is adversely affecting me is that my little pickup is out of commission. Last September I was headed for the the parts store early one morning when it had a problem. I don't know exactly what it was, I haven't opened the engine up. But, I do know it is terminal. I think the aluminum head suffered major damage. I decided to replace the engine and just last month the replacement engine came in. It is sitting in the floor of Chris's shop in Roscoe. I am going to have to get it into my list of "things to do". There is considerable difference between fuel consumption when I compare my little fourteen year old pickup and my full size truck.

Yesterday I was on my way to K.O.'s and passed a popular convenience store. Gas was 3.889 and every single pump was in use, some lanes had cars waiting. Yikes!

I have been trying to work up a job bid for some trucking. I use a variable rate Fuel Surcharge that protects the trucker if fuel goes up, yet protects the shipper if fuel goes down. It has been a big project because first of all, the top end fuel on the old fuel price list was $4.009. That meant I had to extend the fuel pricing, with corresponding freight percentage increases for each step. Another factor that complicated this process was that the old fuel surcharge lists used base line fuel costs of $1.259. I don't know about you, but I doubt we will ever see that kind of pricing again. I have been working on a new baseline of $3.509. Long story short, it means that all the existing pricing was "out the window".

I did some quick figuring, just out of curiosity, on the seasonal jobsite fuel use and costs. An average bill for a week this past year was $23,000.00. With current pricing it would push it over $31,000. For a week!

I must be nutz!

Have a day!

FATHER, thank YOU for all the Dads, I ask a special blessing on them on their special day. I ask safe travel for Rian, his family and all their campers as they make their annual pilgrimage. I ask YOUR guidance as we make important decisions.