How much life can one person stuff inside a five hour window 🪟 ? The answer is a great deal if you are fortunate enough !

4:45 was the departure time ⏲️ from the center of the campus at the James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The next stop ✋️is down in Salem at the Exit 140 Park & Ride.

  Yes, there was one very important piece of business that HAD to take place and did, but the rest of the day was answering the question – how much fellowship can you fit in one time slot ?

BWW was our headquarters !

Alan Knight is about to be the color commentator for ESPN+ tonight as the network covers the JMU – South Alabama match at 6pm.

The first bit of humor was about the two things that he loves most about his part-time gig. Let’s start with his love for the sport, but follow it with the fact that it is the one thing that I can not find a way to take credit for. In a lifetime of joining up with someone to accomplish something, the bond between Alan and I was created in a special place!

Old Coach, Young Coach

Chris Carter is the fourth of five children whom I was blessed to father, and the bond between Alan and Chris goes way back, and the ties 👔 run deep. Chris coaches a multitude of youth sports in Page County and enjoys picking the brain 🧠 of someone who has collected 1,100 high school victories in his career.

Christina, pictured here, is connected to four of our nine grandchildren  and is a great role model for each of them ! Noah, Ana, Melody, and Madison each feel protected by this young lady.

The next member of the extended family to swing by was Brian, who also answers to Big Daddy. The push 💪 for his health is to the point where we might need to revisit the nickname. The before and after photos are pretty wild !

The next guest was a great unexpected surprise as the son of Frank Comer, Quentin, stopped by. Frank is the one who called the balls and strikes the day that Rick Nester led Carroll County High School Softball team to the very first State Championship in Lynchburg.

Father and Son are about to team up to officiate an area high school football game.

We missed out on Bill ” Pappy ” Meade and Dennis Zimmerman but will get to see 👀 both Pappy and Barb in Durham tomorrow.

When you factor in that I didn’t know that I needed to make the trip up until last night, I feel blessed by the turn-out !

Approaching exit 205, the home of Nancy the book 📖 publisher lives. There is a solid room for a nap….

Rest Area #3 means almost there, and it’s time to once again take a break and tell a story. Let’s call 📞 this one : The next 5 minutes or the oldie but goodie, don’t judge a book by its cover.

That sign has a crazy story to it as well, and I look forward to telling it later !

The goal for me was / is to create a set of books 📚, seven in number, with the 7th one being a faith-based 🙏 non-fiction tale of the role that God played in my life. That one is designed to help people who face serious struggles and could use inspiration.

The thing that sets me apart from most people who write ✍️ is that I have never asked for or seeked compensation. Even the years of writing for Mike Petre and Chuck McGill at the Northern Virginia Daily, that money 💰 went towards producing the volleyball 🏐 book we did for the Strasburg Rams 🐏 after they won their State Championship.

The other thing that sets me apart from most writer’s / storytellers is that I will take a hard pass on a story that I know to be true, if I can not tell that story without casting another in a bad light because I don’t need money or fame, just need an audience to try and make smile.

I mentioned earlier ( two Rest Area’s back ) that today is Ryan McCafferty Day here on our site because of his birthday. Earlier this week we shared a thought or two about people who are quick to judge others.

Someone who will absolutely be part of the seventh book 📖 is Delilah Brady !

If you go back to the only time that I knew to be in the same room with her, the conversation was very different. There were days that I would drive up to Omega Office and spend hours swapping stories with Ron Cochran. I miss those days, as Ron would tell a story about the person who walked in, and then that person could decide if they wanted to engage in a conversation with me or not.

The day that Delilah walked in, it was a different type of conversation, to day the very least. She didn’t call me any names or show true disrespect, but it was different.

See, most people only have minutes, but a great deal of knowledge comes from the next five minutes. A lot of people take pleasure in running other people down, a part of life that I will understand, nor will I ever, but my next 5 minutes included asking Ron about the Lady I had just met.

Her story intrigued me to the point that I went home and spent another 15 minutes learning about what matters to Delilah Brady and her friends.

I think the work she’s doing falls under the umbrella 🌂 of doing God’s work ! It is easy to type that and move on, but for me, the natural next step was to write ✍️ her group a check ✔️. I have to answer to the government about every nickle of the $250K we distributed so I know what the amount was, $1,000.00

She is from here, embraces her home, is trying hard to capture as much of the history, and preserve it. Beyond that, she goes out of her way to educate people on subjects that she knows are important to their lives. The kicker to it all is that she tries so very hard not to belittle them while doing so.

It would have been easy to just go to the local restaurant and talk 👄 smack about this lady, to judge her on a five minute exchange. First, that is short sided, second is not very Christian like and third and most importantly, I would have missed out on a great story !

I see 👀 you, Delilah Brady, and I praise your efforts to stand up for what and who you believe in !

I live my life in an open book manner through my site. There’s not a day that goes by where a reader of mine wouldn’t know where or how to find me. What I do every day is anything but the norm. If someone has a question about any part of it, I welcome questions because the alternative is for folks to draw their own conclusions…..

Today will be a Day for Rest Stop ✋️writing ✍️ because of self-inflicted wounds! Que up Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again as we kick things off with the Morning 🌄 Brew from mile marker #108 Northbound.

Today’s writing ✍️ will be a completely different style because of a unique set of circumstances.

Waking ⏰️ up from car sleep 😴 when it’s 44° outside, is the opposite of Not Cool!

But the show must go on !

  I can not write as fast as I think, and that causes me more problems than you can imagine. Today will read somewhat scrambled because it is.

There is a very important reason for needing to get up to Page Valley today, and that’s a story that doesn’t need to be told. I will add that choosing to go over to Martinsville with our volleyball teams instead of going north last night 🌙 is why the term self-inflicted appears in the lead.

I have at least 10 topics in my head right now, and I will get to some of them as soon as I get my body to stop shivering…

Top Ten thoughts 🤔 in my head…

#10 – Happy Birthday 🎂 to young, Ryan McCafferty ! I hope you have a great day !!

#9 – There are so many things that people don’t understand about my thought process in life and I can’t go door 2 door and explain them all but there is one that really,really troubles me.

I sleep better at night because I share The Hill with Seth Greer. In five decades of doing what I do in regards to high schools and College, Seth Greer is at the top of any list. The effect that Coach has on my fictional world 🌎 that I call The Hill can not be measured.

How much respect do I have for Greer ? If Seth asked me to stand on the sidelines next to him, in a dress 👗 and hold his spit cup 🥤, I would ask him what time does he want me there?

I’m different from others because if I had something I didn’t understand that involved Coach Greer, I would simply ask him said question about it.

Thank you to Dr Samantha Reed for this picture 📸 from the other night 🌙

  I have had a backstage pass to some amazing high school programs, Rich Grawer at Desmet, the folks up at Riverheads, Alan Knight at Page County, Jerry Walters at Central – Woodstock, Chris Dodson at Spotswood. A decade from now, that list will include both Seth Greer and Casey Burcham of Carroll County High.

I want to share a moment with those three young men in the photo and some of their teammates. I told them that if it was up to me, I would form a 30 member club in which we would rotate who would go to Starbucks and buy Coach a coffee ☕️ and his favorite muffin.

The response was quick, not Starbucks, Coach hates Starbucks. That was both funny and touching that they all knew that.

Seth Greer is moving mountains ⛰️ and I am honored 🎖 to work in his shadow. The number one reason for having the level of respect I have for Greer is that his devotion doesn’t end with his football players.

My motto / belief is that you can’t fake caring about others, it’s real or it isn’t. With Greer it’s REAL. I would make him the poster for everything, I believe, but I took the time to understand that Seth isn’t a fan of hype, he’s a fan of taking care of Business. Brother, know that we are in the same business, and that is why you don’t see my name on anything I write because it is not about me, it’s about our youth !

Howard Mayo and his Motovational Nugget for the Day !

PS – This fella has an impressive set of credentials !

My first thought when the cold 🥶 air woke me up was about Vickey Ritchie. What does thinking about her look like, you ask ?

Last but not least, my Main Man, my Brother in Arms, the one person who is BRAVE enough to stand next to me at all times…

Travis Osborne and his Bible Verse of the Day :

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

I have to get back to driving 🚗 but I will add more later, for now, have a Blessed Day 🙌😇🙏 and godspeed on the journey over to Patrick County tonight !!!