Tampa

I am in Tampa and Dave and the boys are in Minnesota.  I have been emotionally drained and have not had a chance to post.   I promise to post again on Monday.  Love you all!

Wisconsin

The last few days I have been working in Wisconsin helping to put on the Get Motivated Motivational Seminar.  It is great to be in a nice hotel for 3 nights again but I always have a hard time finding a moment to write during these days.  This show was particularly difficult.  My wonderful boss, and dear friend Marlo, headed to the airport when he found out that his wife Jheri (they live in Tampa, FL) rushed their 3 year old son to the ER.  Before he was able to board the plain he learned that his son had passed away.  This happened just a week after he had lost his mother to cancer.  My heart is completely broken for him and his entire family.  Marlo's faith has always been an inspiration to me. He is a man of God and lives his life as a testimony to his faith.  I know God has big plans for this family.  Their love for each other and for God will give them amazing strength.  

As you can imagine I (all of us) had a very difficult time getting through that show, but I also realized how blessed I am to work with such a great group of people.  We all held each other up and we gained strength from each other.  Dave and my boys even came down to the arena to help support the team.  I really do thank God for the many very special people he has put into my life.  I really am blessed.

So I guess I have very mixed feelings about Madison, Wisconsin.  It's a very pretty city with a lake right downtown.  It has a college town feel (University of Wisconsin) with a hint of class.  Although I did speak to the rudest lady I have ever met in Madison (we actually had to kick her out of the arena).  We had our RV TP'd which in a strange way made us feel really loved.  Maybe it was the, "We love the HustleBUS's" that was written on the window, or maybe it was the smiling faces of my entire team covered in toilet paper sitting on the seventh floor when the elevator doors opened.  Not sure, but it did help to lift my spirits in the mist of such a difficult day.  I don't think I ever want to return to Madison, WI but I am thankful that God is good even when things are bad.

After Madison we decided to drive toward Minneapolis, MN.  I have decided to catch a flight with my United Airline miles to go to Tampa on Friday and Minneapolis had the best flight options.  We stopped in Osseo, Wisconsin at this great spot called Stoney Creek RV Park.  This place is exactly what we needed after Madison.  It has a great pool, a full volleyball court, basketball court, mini golf course, cafe, arcade and even a skateboard park.  The kids had a blast until it started storming.  Actually, they have really enjoyed the storm as well.  At about 11pm we had our second fire department warning... they drove through the campground and on a loudspeaker warned of a severe storm warning.  They said to take shelter because the storm was getting worse.  I'm writing this with the thunder and lightning at their worse.  Good thing we have one of the larger "houses" on the block.

I also have to mention that Dave worked really hard today fixing things that needed fixing, handling things that needed handling, and paying things that needed paying.  Thanks Dave!

One last item of note... Thanks to our English side of the family we have our first International reply on the hulsebusfamilydream.blogspot.com!  Thanks for the comment Alastair (Dave's youthful, debonair, 007 uncle)!  We have our eyes pealed for an Alastair and a Clova sign.  Take good care of your house guests.  (FYI to the all readers... Pop and DeeDee are visiting all our family in England).

Here are some pics of the boys enjoying the campground:

Posts and name game

We will begin posting again tomorrow...So check back!  In the mean time here are some more of the names we have found along the way!  If you didn't read before, we have been playing a game in the RV to pass the time on long drives.  We find names of our family and friends and then all rush to grab the camera and snap a picture before we pass it.  We have passed quite a few, but have also found a lot.  If you do not see your name, don't give up.  We still have a long way and a lot of signs to go.

Bridges of Madison County

Today we had a very slow start.  We had stayed the night in a Walmart shopping center so we decided to go to Sams Club, Best Buy and Toys R US.  We finally started driving around 3 pm.  On our drive we stopped at the Freedom rock to see the art work of Ray "Bubba" Sorensen.  Every year he paints a new patriotic theme.  It was really quit impressive how detailed the painting was.  After the rock stop we headed to Madison County,  you know from the book and movie, "The Bridges of Madison County."  We went to the town square first which reminded us of the Back to the Future movie town square.  We were waiting for a Dolorian to go speeding toward the courthouse.  We then drove to the Cutler-Donahoe Covered Bridge.  It was very pretty but I was very disappointed with all the graffiti that lined the inside of the bridge.  It is really to bad that people have destroyed such a beautiful piece of history.  We then drove by the home of John Wayne.  It was very cute.  After that brief stop we had a gorgeous drive thru the country on our way to another covered bridge.  The Imes Bridge was as beautiful as the last one on the outside but it to was covered in graffiti on the inside. The two bridges we saw were the 2 earliest bridges.  They were both erected in 1870.  I'm glad we had a chance to see 2 of the remaining 6 bridges.  

After the bridges we continued our drive into Des Moines.  We got lucky to find a spot at the Cutty's Campground.  They have 550 sites but were totally packed for the 4th of July weekend.  This is a really cool campground with a small lake and 3 pools, a sauna and a jacuzzi.  They even had an impressive firework display tonight that we arrived just in time to see.

Schlotzhauer Family History - Kansas City and Oregon, MO and Omaha Fireworks

Today was a really fascinating day for me.  I have always been proud to be a Schlotzhauer since the time I was paid a silver dollar to learn how to spell it.  With a name like Schlotzhauer you have to either embrace it or try to marry out of it as soon as possible.  Well, I now am a proud Hulsebus but will never stop loving my Schlotzhauer past.  Anyway, the reason I am going on about this is because today I took a step back into my family history and learned a little more about my roots.  First we visited my great-great grandfather Rudolph's house that he built in 1897 located at 4104 Wyoming St in Kansas City, Missouri.   My great grandfather moved to this house with his parents and his 6 other siblings when he was 7.  We were hoping it was still going to be there when we decided to drive across town in our 40 ft beast.  When we got closer we realized it wasn't going to be easy to get the big rig close to the street.  The streets were very narrow with low lying trees and sharp turns.  Dave managed to get us there but the block was closed off for a 4th of July party.  So we parked at the end of the street and walked to the house.  When I saw it I knew immediately that it was the one.  I'm not really sure why since I ha

d never seen a picture of it.  Next door the neighbors were sitting outside having a 4th of July party.  We got to talking to them and he told me a little history of the house.  He had lived in the neighborhood for 40 years and knew the owners prior to the current owner that bought it in 1989.  I took a few pictures of the house and was about to leave when I got this wild idea that I wanted to see the inside.  So I knocked on the door and a very nice lady, Teresa (who is the current owner), allowed me to come in and look around.  She knew a little about the house but was excited to hear what I knew about it.  Then she went to get something to show me.  When she came back she brought some old pictures that she had found a while ago in the basement.  They were pictures of the house taken sometime in the early 1900s.  She told me that the previous owner had found a lot of old pictures and things in the attic but had thrown them all away since it wasn't their history.  She had asked to keep those pictures of the house.  I was pretty bummed that all that great history could have been from our family and it was no longer around.  Teresa allowed me and Tanner to take a look around the house.  I was amazed that

all the original molding, doors, a built-in China cabinet and the floors were still intact.  The staircase also original.  When I was walking around it was very eery in a good way.  I honestly felt as if I could feel my family from the past walking with me.  I had a sense of bonding and connection with them that I had never had before.  I was so glad I was able to tour the house and on my way out Teresa handed me the old photos.  She felt that since it was my family history I should take them with me.  I was very thankful to have them and am very excited to share them with the rest of the Schlotzhauers.

Well my jog down memory lane didn't end there.  We headed north about an hour to Oregon, Missouri.  Christopher Schlotzhauer and his wife Dorthea moved here in 1864.  They owned and farmed 250 acres of land and also owned a steam saw mill.  After retiring from the mill (his son Phillip took it over) Christopher became the preacher of the German Methodist Church in Oregon for 25 years.  Christopher was buried with his wife in the German section of the Oregon, Missouri Maple Cemetery.  Christopher's son Rudolph (my great-great grandfather who I mentioned earlier) moved to Oregon, Missouri when he was 14.  He worked for the local paper "The Sentinel" for 10 years.  He married Anna Kunkel in 1876.  The Kunkel's owned 

a mill and Rudolph soon went to work there.  In 1882 Rudolph and three of the Kunkle sons bought the mill and were very successful running it till Rudolph moved to Kansas City, MO in 1897.  Rudolph and his wife are also buried in Maple Cemetery.  When I went to the cemetery I had no idea where to find any of the grave stones.  I walked along the path passing some of the 1,800 head stones and my eye immediately went to Rudolph's head stone.  I was pretty surprised I found it so easily.  I noticed that Rudolph was buried among the Kunkels.  After spending some time at this headstone I went searching for the other family headstones with no luck.  In the family history it said that they were buried at the German Methodist Church Cemetery.  We were at Maple Cemetery so I thought we must be at the wrong place.  So we drove into town and asked a gentleman if her knew were the other cemetery was.  He wasn't sure so he asked his neighbor.  His neighbor wasn't sure so he called his friend who happen to be the town historian.  Well about 15 minutes later we were back at the Maple Cemetery with the town historian as our personal guide.  He was amazing and gave me more history about my family that I didn't even know.  He walked us to all my family and extended family headstones and even gave me a number of an extended family member who could give me even more history.  It was so wonderful sharing my family history with my kids and Dave.  

We left Oregon, Missouri and drove to Omaha, Nebraska to watch fireworks.  We were surprised at how many people were doing the same thing.  The streets were lined with cars and people.  We got lucky and found a great parking spot with a perfect view of the festivities at Rosenblatt Staduim (site of the NCAA Baseball College World Series.  Before the main show everyone was setting off their personal fireworks.  It was pretty crazy.  We haven't really been anywhere where all kinds of fireworks are legal.  The boys got in on the action and were setting off bottle rockets, smoke bombs, grow worms, firecrackers, ground bloom flowers and sparklers.  They were having a blast!   The fireworks were really amazing.  There were a lot of firework that we have never seen before.  After the show we stuck around and enjoyed watching all the cars trying to pile out at one time.  It was quite entertaining.  Sometimes we really appreciate that we have nowhere we have to go and no specific time to be there.

Thought of the day:  While we were at the cemetery we noticed a section with some small sticks in the ground with tiny rectangular signs attached to it.  It looked like the signs you would put in a garden to tell you what you were growing.  Dave asked our tour guide what they were.  He said, "that's were the Negros are buried."  My heart stopped for a minute as he explained.  This was the only cemetery where blacks were even permitted.  Most of the blacks were just buried where ever they passed away.  These were "free" blacks not even slaves.  Some of these men died fighting next to us whites in battle and we would not allow them to be buried in white cemeteries!  This cemetery allowed them to be buried but most did not even have a headstone.  The ones that did were just small rocks that were placed on the ground.   I cannot even tell you how much this upset me!  

Our tour guide (who Dave and I can't seem to remember his name) went on to tell us that he decided that it was wrong that the blacks did not have a headstone for their relatives to find them.  So he made these little signs and placed them where their headstone should have been.  I wish I would have taken a picture to show you all.  As you can imagine this was quite a lesson for our boys.  After being at the Brown versus Board of Education National Historic site the day before and hearing about the Little Rock 9 a few weeks ago our boys are beginning to understand the importance of equality.  They are seeing and starting to understand what can happen when one group of people believe that they are better then another group of people. They are seeing how we as a society can brainwash ourselves into believing that what we are doing is justified or right.  How we can hurt other people just so that we can feel more important or valuable.  God loves us all equally and we need to learn to love each other the same way.  I wish that all kids had the opportunity to learn these lesson so that history would not have to repeat itself.