Choose Life Southwestern Tour April - May 2003 [ February 2002 ]     [ June 2002 ]     [ April 2003 ]     [ Links ] Jill and I thank everyone for helping provide the finances for our trip to the Southwestern states to help start Choose Life license plate efforts there. The day to day operating expenses of this ministry are covered mostly by product sales, but the trips to share this idea with other state groups come from contributions from individuals and Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Maternity Homes and non-profit adoption agencies in Florida wanting to help spread this idea across America. This is the first year that we combined a business trip for Choose Life and a personal vacation. We shared the costs ourselves to keep the expenses down for Choose Life, Inc. Therefore, this report will include pictures and details of some of the things we were able to do between stops, while on the road for Choose Life. We contacted the Choose Life Representatives in nine states and started up Choose Life groups in three more states. We stopped for a quick lunch with Kathleen Benfield, our Choose Life Representative in Louisiana, but the official part of our trip began in Texas, where the bluebells greeted us almost as soon as we crossed the border and they put on quite a show. Point to individual pictures for more information.  Click on the hyperlinks in the paragraphs above each set of photos or on the photos themselves to see larger versions of each picture.     We were able to visit with an old friend Don Adair, a nationally renowned artist who has designed several postage stamps for the US Post Office and created the famous Campaign Poster for the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas where Ronald Reagan and George Bush were nominated for President and Vice President. We were also able to worship on Sunday with my former pastor Jess Simon of Westridge Baptist Church and his wife Keli and family. We enjoyed a visit with Alan Caruthers, a former member of our singles ministry, who is now serving at First Baptist Church of Waco & his wife Laura. We had a great planning and strategy meeting with folks from the Texas Alliance for Life (left to right in center picture) Executive Director, Joe Pojman, (Russ Amerling) and Legislative Liaisons Davida Stike, Christopher Velez and Peggy Gerke, along with Gregg Terra of Gallery Watch who joined us to learn more about the effort. The Texas Alliance for Life has been the leading driving force for to bring this plate to the Lone Star state for the last two years.         From Austin we headed across the “bad lands of west Texas” to New Mexico where we were able to make a brief visit to Carlsbad Caverns to see some of God’s wonderful creation. The Great Room is the size of four football fields and is 750+ feet underground. It took us over an hour just to walk around it. Flash photography is totally insufficient to show this wonder.         The next day we had what we hope will have been a formation meeting with some interested folks in Roswell, NM at Chaves County Pregnancy Resource Center, hosted by the director Shauna Adkins and arranged by Attorney Mark Taylor. Our host family was Lyman and Carolyn Graham. While there, we could not pass up a visit to the famous or infamous Roswell Museum giving all the “facts” about the alien spacecraft that crash landed there. As we headed north we could not pass up the opportunity to visit the famous attraction right out of my school days. Who my age could ever forget? “Smokey the Bear, Smokey the Bear; Howling and a growling and a sniffin’ the air. He can spot a fire before it starts to flame, That’s why they call him Smokey, That’s how he got his name.” Our visit over, with a tear in our eye for the “late Smokey the Bear”, we drove on through ancient lava flow, over the Continental Divide into Arizona.         We had several days with dear friends and strong Choose Life supporters Bill & Marci Calhoun in Arizona before the scheduled meeting in Phoenix, so we got to see many of the sites of this beautiful state.         The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert need a full day, but we were only able to drive through, with a few stops for photo opportunities. The center picture below is a fallen petrified tree over a ravine with a concrete support beam underneath.         A brief stop at Meteor Crater, a 1¼ mile wide hole in the ground caused by the impact of a 150 foot meteor with the explosive force of a 20 megaton nuclear bomb. From the heat of the desert to the cold of the mountains and the next morning we awoke and saw some white stuff we seldom see in Florida.     Bill Calhoun took us on a wonderful tour of the Grand Canyon and it was grand indeed. However, the ever changing weather gave us snow, hail, rain and fog the day we were there. But we outlasted it all for some magnificent vistas and these small snapshots do nothing but whet your appetite.         Bill drove us out to the West end of the South rim where Russ tried to demonstrate his Samson abilities without success. It was hard to believe that the Colorado River was one mile below where we stood.         From the cold of the mountains down to the desert of Phoenix, we headed for the best arranged and best attended meeting of the whole trip, thanks to Risha Zertuche and Shane Wilkfors of Arizona Right to Life, working with our Arizona Choose Life Representative Gary Paisley. Our host family was our dear friends Mark & Cindy Ziegler, missionaries to the Indians of Arizona through World Gospel Mission.         We also had the privilege of meeting Miss Arizona 2003, Shara Lawrence, who is a strong pro-life voice for the Choose Life license plate in Arizona.     Shortly after entering California, we made a brief unplanned trip into Los Algodones BC Mexico where they warn you about guns, but made no mention of needing a “green card” for my alien wife Jill to re-enter. That oversight cost us a $190 fine for not carrying her Alien Registration Card, thanks to Osama Bin Laden and 9-11.     An overnight stop in La Jolla Beach with the Patty Bothamley, mother of Dr. Elizabeth Rex (our New York Choose Life Representative) and it was on to a meeting with our California Choose Life Representative Dana Serrano-Chisholm, Director of the Women’s Resource Network and a dynamite bundle of lady who would love to live in Florida, but thinks since she was born in California, God must have wanted her there to be a “Voice for Life”.         We stayed a few days with Mike Mason, another former member of our singles ministry, who is now a pastor in San Diego. While there, we drove up to Yosemite National Park for more unbelievable sights and sounds. We were fortunate to be there in the spring when the falls were in full flow, as they mostly dry up in late summer. California was showing off its brightest colors to compete with the Bluebells of Texas. The Sequoias forest boggled the mind and once again, pictures cannot tell the tale. The sheer mountain cliffs made me wish to have rappelling gear and scale down some of them, (Not!)             Our trusty van groaned its way through the mountains and away from these lovely reminders of God’s creative genius and rolled on toward the desert of Nevada and “Sin City” Las Vegas. Yes, we stayed in a Casino It was the cheapest place to stay and was paid for by our Nevada Choose Life Representative Jim Blockey, President of Christian Educators Association, who admits it is hard to be a conservative in Las Vegas, but he is a fighter and knows the Choose Life plate is a great idea for Nevada. Our meeting and training session with Jim and his lovely wife Joanna solidified their resolve to see a Choose Life license plate in Nevada and even though it failed this year, they will try again when the legislature meets again.         Before “shaking the dust off our feet” (Just kidding, folks.) from Las Vegas, we had a chance to visit Boulder Dam before heading north for a meeting in Provo, Utah. But along the way, we were blessed to see one of the most unbelievable sights, Bryce Canyon with its 10,000 gigantic chess pieces.         Our meeting was delayed because of a death of a prominent pro-life person, and we were able to go spend a few days with Gordy & Kim Kokx in Twin Falls, Idaho, another young couple from our singles ministry, where we saw the Snake River Canyon, that Evil Kenevil tried to jump/glide his motorcycle across.         The drive back to Utah was quite scenic and we made a brief stop at Promontory Point where the Transcontinental Railroad finally met, after laying track 250 miles past each other. It seems the two railroad companies were being paid in land grants for every mile of track, so they purposely bypassed each other and kept building, until Congress stepped in. However, Old Glory, with the snow covered mountain peaks reminded me again, that despite its faults, it is a joy it is to live in the USA. The planning and training meeting in Provo, UT was won of the most enthusiastic meetings we had on the trip. There were five in attendance, but they were excited about seeing the Choose Life license plate coming to Utah and they felt sure the citizens of their fair state would embrace the idea.         Meeting Attendees (right picture, left to right) State Representative Mike Morley; Gayle Ruzicka, State Director Eagle Forum; Vickie Peterson, member, Eagle Forum; State Representative Mike Thompson and Utah Choose Life Representative Schipper Clawson (not shown). We made a hurried trip over the mountains, across the Continental Divide again and into Wyoming and down to Colorado.         We spent a night with Choose Life supporters Warren & Yvonne Williams in their lovely adobe style home. They have been very active in the pro-life efforts for years. Warren drove us to a nearby mountain top for the view.     We were able to attend several meetings of pro-life folks in Denver and held a training/kick-off meeting of the Colorado Choose Life team (left picture) Matt Piper (left) & Kyle Alons (center) & Russ in the church basement of my former pastor and host family Duane & Joanna Brigman, Ryan, Nathan & Tyler of Fellowship Church, Morrison, CO. Of course, what would Colorado be without more snow and it was already the middle of May.         We made a quick trip down to Colorado Springs for a visit to Focus on the Family and met with Greg Schneeberger, Associate Editor of Citizen Magazine and Terry Philips, State Issues Director with Family News in Focus. Citizen Magazine has done 3 or 4 articles on the Choose Life license plate effort and has always been a strong supporter. Before we left, we had lunch at Whit’s End of Adventures in Odyssey.         While in Colorado Springs, we took the opportunity for a thrilling cog train ride up Pike’s Peak named after Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Soldier/Explorer. At 14,110 feet, it was really breathtaking. When I got to the top I could hardly breathe. They told us to drink lots of water on the 1 plus hour trip to the top, to alleviate the problem with the elevation, but there was no toilet on the train, so I didn’t take their advice and suffered for it. The tour guide said they used to graze cattle on the slopes of Pike’s Peak and that is where the term “lean beef” came from. She had many more, but they went downhill from there. No pun intended! The scenic views were awesome. Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words to America the Beautiful while visiting Pike’s Peak in 1893. In Bates’ opinion some countries failed because while “great” they were not “good.” In her words, “unless we are willing to crown our greatness with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved America may go the same way.”         America the Beautiful Words by Katharine Lee Bates, Melody by Samuel Ward O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America! God mend thine every flaw; Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law! Who more than self their country loved And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine Till all success be nobleness And every gain divine! O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife. Our last stop in Colorado was in Ft. Collins with our host family and new friends Bruce & Pam Perry and daughters Haley & Raeden. The next day we had a great meeting at The Alpha Center for Women with some of the most enthusiastic volunteers we had ever met.     Bidding goodbye to the lovely state of Colorado and our many new friends, we headed east to the Cornhusker State, Nebraska. We had a chance meeting with Crisis Pregnancy Center director Rita Williams in North Platte while on the way to Lincoln. We also visited an authentic Pony Express relay station and learned that the Pony Express Rider’s Oath stated, “I do hereby swear before the great and living God…that I will under no circumstances use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors…No wonder they did such a great job. The poster advertising for riders called for young men willing to risk death daily, orphans preferred! The job paid $25 per week and that was equivalent to 2 months salary at the time. It ran for 18 months and they only lost one rider to an Indian attack. It was formed to try to keep California in touch with the east and in the Union as the Civil War approached.         Arriving in Lincoln, the capitol, we stayed one night with our host family Bob & Pam McCabe and attended a prayer gathering in front of the local abortion clinic with them the following morning.         We stayed the rest of the week with family friends Adam & Kate Odell and boys while meeting with Choose Life Representative Greg Schleppenbach, State Director, Nebraska Catholics for Life, several senators, Bob Blank, President, Nebraskans United for Life and Julie Schmit-Albin, Executive Director, Nebraska Right to Life. After a brief stop in Omaha with our host Beth Kiner and a meeting at the AAA Center for Pregnancy Counseling with director Michelle Sullivan, it was off to Iowa for a meeting in Des Moines to try to help get the Iowa Choose Life license plate through the approval process.         We had a great meeting with Kim Gordon, Executive Director, Iowa Right to Life and the prime mover and shaker of the Choose Life license plate effort in Iowa and tried to convince, without success, the new director of the Iowa Health Department to support the Choose Life license plate. Jill and I both came down with colds and laryngitis while there and cancelled our last speaking engagement that would have been in southern Illinois and headed home, stopping for a lunch meeting in Missouri with Sam Lee, Lobbyist with Campaign Life Missouri to discuss his tremendous work over the last 3 years to get a “Respect Life” specialty license plate approved. The van traveled over 9,600 miles and ran beautifully, except the air conditioner died just as we got back into the warm weather in Tennessee, but since we both had colds, we really needed to sweat it out. Thank you all for your prayers and support that made this ambitious trip successful. We will travel to the northwest next year and we will have been in all 48 states except Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island. Keep spreading the word about the national Choose Life license plate effort! Respectfully, Russ & Jill Amerling Publicity Coordinators Choose Life, Inc. Email: russ@choose-life.org P.O. Box 830152 Ocala, FL 34483-0152 Web Site: http://www.choose-life.org/   [ February 2002 ]     [ June 2002 ]     [ April 2003 ]     [ Links ] Please direct questions and comments concerning administration of this page to this address.