"Oh The Places We'll Go.................."

Not long ago the Marshall that everybody loved, James Arness who played Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke passed away.  So in his honor, we started to watch the Gunsmoke series on Netflix - oh what fun we have been having doing this.  So part of our trip to the Midwest included an overnight stay in Dodge City, KS.  We walked through the western town that replicated the scenery of the show.  They had several actors that performed gunfights, etc, in the streets of Dodge City.

My work assignment was to attend the SAIGE conference in Tulsa, OK where I was a presenter during the conference.  I did two different things.  First of all I was on a panel of "Tribal Governments negotiating with Other Governments".  Because I have had experience dealing on local levels to Federal level, I was asked to share my best practices and how things worked.  The second workshop that I did was entitled, "Disability Etiquette" and had interactive activities for the attendees putting together puzzles while they were "given" a disability (I had someone that was right handed tie their right arm down because their disability was not having the use of their hand or arm they are use to having).  I showed a DVD and we talked about the "labels" that we have to deal with in life.

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, OK for 4 nights and 5 days.  It was lovely.  There were several outstanding presenters that took part in the conference.  Autumn, Starr and Derwin were allowed to also be in attendance to whatever they wanted since I was part of the program.  It was awesome!  I loved working with these individuals and all they have to offer.  I even did some missionary work while I was there. 

Also work related.............because I work with a team of people that are located all across the US, it is not often that we get to see one another in person.  My manager is located in Austin, TX.  When I told him I was going to extend my trip and come to San Antonio, he wanted me to stop in Austin to meet and have dinner with him.  It was a little late (we started having car issues) but he took us to a restaurant which was located downtown Austin.  Austin is a piece of art work at night with the creative way that they have created lights to highlight their city.  We visited with Tony (my manager) and his significant other, John.  John and Tony are incredible people and it was good to get to know them a little bit better.

We were then at another destination - San Antonio, TX.  This is where we visited with Quinn (Derwin's brother) and Kathi (his spouse).  We loved being able to spend the time with them.  We told them that we really had no plans to do any of the typical tourist things because of Derwin not having the energy plus we really wanted to just visit with them and spend that time there.  We did go downtown to the Alamo so the girls could see it and also to take some fun pictures where you can dress up like the gunfighters, etc.  That is what I wanted to do for Derwin and Quinn for Father's Day......have those two in a special fun picture like that. 

I am planning a couple of other posts so that you can see the family that we spent some time with and a couple of others things that we did on the road trip.