The Ministry of Happiness

On the road and across the middle

Sunset in Nebraska

Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in this world ~ Gustave Flaubert

So it’s been a fast and wonderful week.  I had hoped to be doing individual posts about each of my stops and will try to get some of that out this week.  Happily, my days have been busy and exciting and that has led to be me being tired and crashing at night without the energy needed to crank out full posts.  I have been getting out quick Instagram posts and you can find those at @reverendmichaelkane on that platform they also get posted to Twitter at @ministryofhappy.

Walked a mile on the Kit Carson Trail in Carson City

Royal Flushes and Road Miles

So this week I did a LOT of driving, basically Reno to New York a little over 2500 road miles.  But it was an adventurous run.  Saw some good friends in Carson City and even walked a mile of the Kit Carson Trail.  Not so tough consider this part at least runs down main street in Carson City.  Went back to Reno and took one last shot going after a jackpot at the Silver Legacy Casino, it was only $500+ on a nickel machine but I’d invested some time and money into it thinking it would hit, and well…

It did!!! and has you can see, I only held the Ace and the machine gave me the other four.  Good to know one of my rules on video poker panned out the way it was supposed to.  So I left Reno on a happy note and drove to Salt Lake City, nothing adventurous about the drive but Utah is a really beautiful place.

Salt flats in Utah

And maybe never prettier than when there is a thin layer of water on the salt flats.

On the Oregon Trail

I also stopped at the Oregon Trail road stop, I think it was this day, I honestly am not sure.  But it was really cool, a nice quick stop and a nice little free museum with some interesting displays, I really liked this little place.

The great state of Nebraska

I left Utah with a short driving day heading for Sydney, Nebraska from what I can tell known for having a really big Cabelas Store there. On the way while driving through Wyoming I was continually driving into a black skyline lit with lightning.  No rain on me, it just always seemed to be on the horizon, until it wasn’t.  In the span of 5 minutes my phone started buzzing with flash flood alerts, a highway sign gave me a thunderstorm and hail alert and the next one, well I got focused on one word, tornado.  Just as smidge before the sky cut loose and all that nastiness on the horizon was suddenly right overhead, super heavy rain, lightning, a brief hailstorm and just general blackness.  Then, as suddenly as it had all come on, it was gone and eventually I returned to blue skies.  Arriving in Sydney the skies were ominous for a bit and we got some rain but that all really paid off as you can see below… and yes Hampton Inn that picture is copyrighted, contact me, we can work a deal.

Sunset in Nebraska

An old friend

It is amazing how quickly time gets away from you.  Here I am pictured with my friend Mark and his wife in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Mark and I went to grad school together almost 30 years ago, man that took a while to sink in.  This fall it will be 30 years since I started graduate school.  It’s been almost 20 since I’ve seen him and it was wonderful catching up, he hasn’t changed, our relationship hasn’t changed and it was great to just have a long comfortable conversation over dinner with a good friend.  I did have to chuckle though, at one point after we’d been talking for about an hour his wife looked at him and said, “how did you two become friends, you’re sooooo different.”  We are different in a lot of ways, but when the core of two people is that they are both open, honest and don’t have time for bullshit, it’s pretty easy to get along.

Take me out to the ballpark, but first I’m going to Graceland

As a baseball fan and in particular a National League fan, seeing a day game at Wrigley Field in Chicago has been on my bucket list for a very long time.

One of my other passions is photographing cemeteries, I love the peaceful settings, the little spots of nature inside of busy cities.  And I long ago fell in love with the sculpture work done on the monuments.  Graceland Cemetery and two others are just a half mile north of Wrigley Field, so before the Cubs game I went up and spent some time shooting there.  The first thing I noticed were that there were more obelisks in this cemetery than I’ve ever seen anywhere before.  It was a beautiful cemetery and I really enjoyed shooting there and hope to get a full post up about it this week.

Wrigley Field is a wonderful park, right in the city, easily accessible by mass transit.  There doesn’t seem to be a bad seat in the stadium or on the roof across the street for that matter. I had picked seats in section 415 down the third baseline for a number of reasons.  They are under the overhang so shade and rain protection if necessary, foul ball accessible, right over third base and not horribly expensive.  I sat next to a really nice family and even played academic career advisory for a few a minutes for their incredibly smart daughter who is about to go to college.

Rev Kane at Wrigley Field

Of course, no trip to Chicago and especially not to Wrigley would be complete without a hot dog.

My other day in Chicago I flipped down to the navy pier and walked around the water front for a bit, then on the recommendation of a friend did the river architectural boat tour and my friends I can not recommend this more highly, what a great way to enjoy Chicago, take a nice boat ride and learn a lot about the city.

Finally of course, much like a hot dog at Wrigley you can’t pass through Chicago without a little deep dish, now to be clear, it’s not real pizza, but it is real good food.

Here we go Steelers

From Chicago I hit the road to check off another bucket list item, a visit to the Pittsburgh Steeler Training camp at St. Vincent’s University in Latrobe, Pennsylvannia, also the home to Arnold Palmer.

It was a fun day, got some autographs and some great photos, still on my camera unfortunately not yet downloaded, of some of the jets practicing for a big airshow this weekend.  Just a really great day except for a little thunderstorm that rumbled through early which led to an interesting moment.  I’d checked the weather radar and timed it well, got to the field with only one more little storm cell needing to pass.  That went over while I was in the merchandise tent and then I wandered over to the field.  At that point the emergency sirens for the college went off and the speaker clicked to life, “the emergency is over, thank you for taking appropriate precautions.”  Apparently we’d been under a severe storm emergency warning and I had missed the start of the emergency.  It suddenly made sense why I was the only person leaning against the metal rails of the metal bleachers, oops!

A couple photos from the Steeler’s Training Camp, hoping to post a lot more in the next couple of days.

Coach Tomlin giving me a thumbs up for a photo

Traveling is such and awesome thing and yesterday evening I made it east to where I grew up and have been hanging with nieces and nephews.  I can’t believe it’s only one week til I board a plane a for Scotland.  It’s been a grand adventure so far and I hope, as always, that you’re having a happy day my friends.  ~ Rev Kane