Bragg Family South

We returned late Saturday evening from our Thanksgiving trip to Oklahoma. On Thanksgiving Day itself, we drove from Monticello to Idabel, Oklahoma, and had an early afternoon visit with Father Chet, who some of you met during your visits to Arkansas. Father Chet was the priest at St. Marks here in Monticello from a couple of months before we got here in 2000 until earlier this summer, when his missionary order, the Glenmaries, moved him to his current location in Idabel. Father Chet did an admirable job over the years in building up the small Monticello parish into a vibrant community. He also baptized our children, and consoled us during our first miscarriage. Here is a picture of Father Chet with Hope and the kids at his new parish. We then drove north to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to see the sights and watch Coty Skinner, the 12-year-old son of my friend Kevin Skinner from Rhinelander, race in a series of national-level BMX bike races. Coty started racing only two years ago, but has quickly ...

We would like to wish everybody a happy Turkey-Day, especially brother John, who will be returning soon from his real-life experience in Turkey. We regret not being able to join y'all for turkey and stuffing and yams, etc., but we'll be there in spirit, and if the phone system works like it should, we'll try to call while on the road. Don't worry about us, though, as we'll be en route to glamorous Tulsa, Oklahoma, to watch the son of my buddy Kevin race in a national-level BMX bike competition. We also have plans to go to the Tulsa Zoo and visit the Gilcrease Museum, which is well-known for its collections of western art and Native American artifacts. A few days after we return, we expect a visit from Hope's parents, who are taking a brief vacation to the Gulf. As most of at least my siblings are aware, we plan to visit Wisconsin the week before Christmas, culminating in a get-together at Lisa's house in Eau Claire, followed by a trip to lower Michigan an...

For some reason, I wasn't able to post this picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes in my previous message, so here it is separately...

As promised, here is some more on our recent trip to the Northeast. We left on a Friday, and drove hard, with the goal of getting to West Virginia by early afternoon on Saturday. We made good time, which allowed for a couple stops on the way. This first picture is of the kids exploring a small cave near Nashville, Tennessee along the Harpeth River. After staying overnight in Morehead, Kentucky, we were able to get to West Virginia by the next morning, and had a pleasant (if sometimes fog-shrouded) trip across the state. The fog eventually burned off, and we got a pretty good fall color sampling driving along the mountains. Our destination was to visit some friends we made in Monticello who had moved the previous year to West Virginia. The Heitzmans have three kids just older than Kenny, and the gaggle of them played hard this afternoon. We had dinner with the Heitzmans, and then continued on to Pennsylvania. After staying the night in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Hope and the kids dropped m...

Just a quick posting to let y'all know that we survived our 5000+ mile epic Northeastern US trip with our minivan and dignity intact. After two weeks of travel, it was great to get home. The house was fine, the cat was, well, no squirrellier than usual, and we had a lot of fun and got to see a bunch of neat things...more about those later. This has to be a quick update because I'm due home soon for supper. After another gut-wrenching Packer loss, I came in to wrap up some paperwork that had been neglected over the last couple weeks. Tomorrow I leave for a meeting near Asheville, North Carolina, which will take up most of my week. I'll try to post more on our trip next weekend, if time permits. Here's an image from our journey, though... This picture of Hope and the kids was taken at Grey Towers, the family home of Gifford Pinchot, the man considered to be the first American forester, and the first head of the USDA Forest Service. The Pinchot family (including Gifford...