Just wanted to let those of you who knew him know.  He was a true Soldier of God. 

But I will do that now.  Actually to relay to you how God or Dumb Luck helped us out in Prague (no, they are not related, but sometimes it's God working on your side, sometimes one just gets lucky, I'm not sure which it was here).  Okay so let me set up the scenario.  It was our last day in Prague and we wanted to do a few last minute souvenir/gift stops as well as mail some of our other stuff home so it would not get broken on the plane.  I took out some mulla for the postage (not cheap) and we bought a few other souvenirs and gifts.  Well we had been looking for a charm for Michelle's charm bracelet that represented Prague, but we were having a heck of a time finding anything sterling silver or just silver for that matter and not gold.  So on our way back to the car I decided to make one last swing down a street we hadn't been down yet.  Low and behold I see an Art Gallery.  Well we had also been looking for an impressionist style painting of Prague (or other places we visited) to go along with a painting of Paris that I had bought a number of years ago.  What should I happen to see in the window, but a nice impressionistic painting of the Charles Bridge.  So we walked inside and I saw yet another painting of the Charles Bridge in impressionistic style that was even nicer, and low and behold yet another; this one of the Old Towne Square and Astronomical Clock.  Well we gazed at them both.. stared and gazed.. gazed and stared..  I heard the lady working the shop tell some people "Ja Ja" as they left and realized she wasn't from Prague.  I asked her where she was from as "Yes" in Czech is "Ano" and in Serbian/Russian it is "Ja".  Well she was from Russia and we talked a minute and she asked if we wanted to look at the paintings on an easel.  We did and looked and gazed and stared some more.  Well we were happy in finding something we liked and I was able to talk her down a little bit on the price.  So we agreed to buy it.  However, they only accepted cash.  Now here comes the fun part of the story.  I said no problem, I'll run down the street and get cash.  I did.  Except I forgot that our cards only allow for a certain amount of cash per day.  Hmm. No prob, I have another account to draw from too.  Yes  prob.  Used that limit to pay for postage/other stuff.  So I went back to get Michelle's card.  Different card = not limited yet, right?  Not so fast.  Her card wouldn't work either.. seems the pin got screwed up right before she left the States and as it was Sunday and 7 hours ahead, the bank was not open to fix that problem.  Damn I'm thinking.. is this one of those signs that maybe we should pass on this purchase??  Well it then dawns on me that I have 100 euros in my pocket plus a few Czech Crowns left as well.  However, we were going to save those Crowns (not worth too much) as a souvenir since the Crown is switching to Euros in a year or so.  I exchanged the euros and used all but 50 Crowns of what I had in my pocket and we were able to make the difference on the painting.  All's good, we're pleased with the painting and after about an hours fiasco of bank issues we head for the car and out of Prague. 

No not the end of the story..  We're headed out of town, getting on the freeway and all of a sudden, I'm being motioned over by a Czech cop to the median leading onto the freeway.  What in the world could he want I'm thinking.   He walks up as I roll the window down.. reaches in, points at the headlight switch and says "Czech Republic lights on all times!"  Now it's like 1pm and the sun is out in full force, but rules is rules I guess and this one is a dumb one, but anyway.   I say "Oh sorry".  He says "Passports!"   So we fork over the passports and he then rattles off some german to Michelle (her passport shows her birthplace of Stuttgart, Germany).  Well she explains that it (her german) ain't that good (which normally, it's not that bad, but at this moment it's good that it wasn't).  He then says in broken english; "Max fine for no lights 5000 crowns, minimum 500.. (then he slaps the car door and says) 300 crowns..."  I look at him and say (i'm not really following just yet) .. "So your saying that's what the fine can be?" ; he slaps the door again and says "300 crowns".. (now i had read as i was researching this trip that the police in Czech Rep and Hungary could fine you on the spot...of course I've also realized that he's just gone below that minimum of 500 Crowns and this 300 is likely not gonna make it to the City Accountant) so i reach for my wallet and pull out ..... yes the only remaining bill of Czech currency that we posses.. a cool 50 crowns.. 250 short of 300.. so i say "This is all we have, will you take 50 crowns?"... he slaps the car once more and says 300 Crowns.. well i did have some euros left but i still had them hidden in my wallet.. so i'm about to do the fuzzy conversion math in my head to figure out what 300 Crowns equals in euros when all of a sudden he says "Agghhh, Go!" and waves us away, (i think he's gotten frustrated with us and is seeing a line of cars begining to pile up.. or maybe he felt sorry for us dumb americans), so we told him "Thanks" and I didn't waste a moment getting my butt out of there. 

So we headed out of Prague and soon the Czech Republic and were on our way to ... you guessed it... getting lost once again... this time destination Frankfurt Airport..

So I guess the moral of the story here is, don't sweat it when your bank account gets frozen because you've reached your daily max.  It may just be a God send that it forces you to spend you next to last Czech Crown.

Here’s the breakdown.  Driving in Europe is a lot like driving in … let’s say… Houston. 

There are roads out the wazoo. 

Roads here, roads there, roads everywhere. 

Roads one way but not the other,

Roads with no guard rail or place to recover. 

Roads with tunnels, roads with no name,

Roads where the signs and exits are the same. 

Roads that lead off to some uninhabited land, 

Roads in a language I can’t understand. 

Roads where the center line is white and not yellow,

If you’re not careful you could die here, fellow. 

Roads through the mountains, twisting and turn, 

Careful the rain, snow, ice or you’ll crash and burn. 

Roads that go from one name, then to another, 

Roads named after some dead guy’s mother. 

Roads where if your brain takes a nap,

You’re sure to get lost, especially if you don't have a map.

Now on the flip side there are some good things you see,

Things we’d have in America if left up to me.  

Roads with no potholes, roads with no cops, 

Roads with no speed limit or frequent stops. 

Roads with no billboards, roads with no fare, 

Roads where the drivers know how to play fair. 

Roads through the mountain, instead of around, 

Roads where gas stations and rest stops abound. 

Roads through ancient and pristine lands,

Roads smooth enough you can drive with no hands.

The roads in Europe can be something to dread,

If you have little patience, take the train instead.

I’ll say this about this trip, we’ve had some fairly good dumb luck.  Most of my wrong turns ended up in beautiful countryside or for a toll tag I didn’t know I needed.  And let me tell you, it doesn’t take much for a wrong turn.  One wrong exit and you are bye bye baby.  You’ll be lucky if you get back on track within an hours time.  And if you’re planning a trip soon, give me a buzz.  I’ve picked some pretty dang good hotels, I’ll write more about the hotels later, but I have a way of putting us right smack in the middle of the action… call it that dumb luck if you want, but if you know the Hall Family Luck, you’d take dumb any day. 

Oh one last piece of advice on driving.  Don’t plan your trip so that your driving times match what Mapquest says it will.  Add at least 3-4 hours for everything.  Time on any vacation is a valuable commodity, but in Europe, it’ll mean the difference of arriving at your hotel during the daylight hours and arriving there sometime well after midnight.  Trust me, it’s hard to account for a mountain when looking at a flat map.

So this past week at Richmond International Raceway, Morgan finally qualified for a race for the first time in over a year.  Due to changes in the qualifying rules; changes designed to benifit corporate sponsors from not being "represented" at any given race due to their drivers bad luck, bad skills or whatever, Morgan has not made a start since July of '05.  He has tried many times this year but does not have the financial backing (as don't many other drivers) to compete regularly.

Now to the best part.  Morgan's primary Hood Logo (ie where the sponsor Logo usually goes) is in fact Christ himself.  Morgan's team is called "Victory in Jesus Racing".  And his car logo represents that name with "Racing with Jesus".  Sadly though in the few years that I've been following his endeavors, his name, car and logo are rarely ever mentioned or shown on network television during a race.  The camera is rarely afraid to focus on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Budweiser logo but I've never seen or heard a reference to Morgan's sponsor (or lack of sponsor).  And most sadly, sometime last year, I believe, when Morgan was announced during driver introductions by Robin Leach (of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fame... see a pattern hear).. he was introduced as "Morgan Shepherd driving the no. 89 Racing with Jesus (that's hey-sue-s) Dodge".  Now that's pretty sad.

But I digress, I wanted to just give a congrats to a good Christian who despite having no real chance of making many races continues to strive and try each week.  Lest you think that Morgan is just about racing, I should point out that his main focus each we is outreach.  He, his wife and team spend most of each race weekend ministering to race fans.  Next year will be even harder for him to qualify due to many new teams with big budgets entering the sport, but I'd expect that one will still see "Racing with Jesus" and Shepherd at the race track every week spreading the good word.  Check out his website.   http://www.morganshepherd.com

A wonderful and blessed day to everyone.

Anyway, this was a hilltop on the way through our sector that kind of had a Mt. Bonnell appeal to it.  For those of you who don't know Mt. Bonnell is a hill in Austin that people walk up to and hang out.  Kind of a "take a date to" place.  A nice view of the surrounding countryside.  There are many such views in Kosovo.  One of the biggest things I fear for Kosovo is the unbridled expansion of capitalism and greed that will one day scar the countryside with billboards, advertisements, high rises, hotels and pay-for-services, like this view perhaps. 

A future post will be some pictures of my interpreters.  I took some good photos of Loula's family while in Pristina (he's from Pristina).