The LONG trip

I have to credit John Bond of Northern California for helping edit the photo shown at the left. He dropped out the background and put in the clouds. Some people accuse me of having my "head in the clouds" all the time.



My vacation trip was a LOT longer than I realized it would be. We left Eureka, California near the end of April and did not get back home until the first week of June. During that six weeks we drove all the way from Eureka to North Carolina.



As I was approaching Ohio, somebody kept adding more states between me and my destination! I thought that Nebraska was nearly to Ohio, but NO!! After Nebraska we had to drive through Iowa, Illinois and Indiana BEFORE we got to Ohio.



The scenery was extremely beautiful. From Iowa on east, the grass was so green and verdant, and the trees were a wonderful color of living green. It made me wish I lived in one of those states. But.... the weather was a LOT hotter than it is in cool Eureka.



My wife bought a squirt bottle and kept misting us to keep us cool. In fact, I went into a bathroom and soaked my t-shirt one day just to help keep cool. I got sunburned on my left arm through the open window.



We had three people in the car: my wife, a little old lady of 91 years old, and me. I got to do all the driving. As I drove the thousands of miles across the United States, I thought about those intrepid pioneers that traversed the same trail about 100 years ago in covered wagons. All I can say is that I am so glad I wasn't born 100 years ago. I never would have survived the trip!! Those people must have been cut from a different cloth than I am. I don't know how any of them survived the whole trip!! And in covered wagons no less!!



I got so tired of driving in a car. I can't even imagine how tired those people must have got walking the whole way!! Wow--The United States is BIG!!! Driving through some of those states like Nevada, Utah, Indiana where there was hundreds of square miles of NOTHING!! Oh there was evidence that people had been there, but NO houses for miles and miles and miles. Population explosion??? What population explosion? There are whole states with almost nobody in them!!



Iowa has done something really cool. In all their rest stops, they have provided FREE wireless internet connections!! I wish all the other states would take the hint and do the same thing. It was really neat driving up to a rest stop and getting out the laptop and making a motel reservation.

Fortunately, we did not see any tornados or hurricanes. One motel we stayed at had directions on how to go into the basement in case of a tornado.

In future blogs, I will tell more about the trip.

Have a great day,

David

Can a can of soda pop kill you?

Today the timely message about health is by my great friend and health motivator, Steven Jenkins. Steven is also an incredible health coach, and has affordable life-changing seminars and body "cleanses."

Take it away Steve.....

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. " -- 1 Corintheans 10:31.

Would you like to improve your health and save money at the same time? I have a healthy suggestion. Avoid drinking soft drinks! This can be a challenge, because it's easy to drink 4-5 a day without even thinking about it! They are really hard on the bones and the rest of the body.

Phosphoric acid gives drinks the bubbles along with C02. Though it tickles going down, phosphoric acid is no laughing matter. It robs the body of calcium and can contribute to osteoporosis. The lack of calcium causes the bones to be porous and prone to fractures.

A study from Harvard showed athletic teenage girls who drink soft drinks are five times more likely to suffer bone fractures. My 18 year old daughter used to consume soft drinks like I consume water and her weight gain was evident, not to mention the ravenous effects from the acid and sugar. Fortunately, she no longer is "addicted" to them, but she is still dealing with being over weight.

The average cola has 12 teaspoons of sugar in each can. This gives it a sweet taste, but at a high price. The over consumption of sugar can lead to diabetes or hypoglycemia. In children, studies show an increase in both tooth decay and obesity.

In an attempt to be healthy, many people start drinking sugar-free products. Splenda is not a good substitute for sugar. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, Splenda has been linked to a number of toxic side effects including shrunken thymus glands (up to 40 percent shrinkage), enlarged liver and kidneys, reduced growth rate, aborted pregnancy, and diarrhea.

Aspartame (Nutra-sweet) is another popular substitute. It is an artificial sweetener with bitter affects on the body. Based on the research of Russell Blaylock, MD and H.J. Roberts, MD some possible problems are:

• Muscle aches


• Headaches


• Dizziness


• Numbness


• Depression


• Hyperactivity


• Seizures


• High blood pressure


• Brain tumors

Caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands and gives you a "lift" from drinking a soft drink. The old saying "what goes up must comedown," is absolutely true. Caffeine causes over stimulation and leads to mood swings, fatigue, and other disorders.

You are asking yourself, "What can I drink?" Good question. Here are five suggestions:

1. Purified Water


2. Sparkling Water


3. Herb Tea (Caffeine-free)


4. Green Tea


5. Fresh Fruit or Vegetable Juice

The money you spend on soft drinks really adds up. How many do you drink in one week?

• With a meal


• As a snack


• While driving


• While studying


• Whenever you feel thirsty


• Whenever you feel down


• While watching television


• While on the internet


• While listening to music


• While on the cell phone


• While walking through the mall

Multiply the number of sodas you consume per week times the cost of one drink. Then multiply that expense times 52 weeks per year. You could easily spend $500+ in a year on soft drinks. Save the money and spend it on a relaxing vacation instead!

If you will just eliminate soft drinks from your life style, your health will improve dramatically. If you are someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, or some other illness, PLEASE get off of these deadly drinks!

Until next time....

"The Doctor of the Future will give NO Medicine, but will interest his patients in diet and nutrition, exercise and the care of the human frame. He will teach them about the cause of ALL disease."--Thomas Edison

Steven Jenkins,

Health Motivator and Health Coach

Meadow Springs of America

P.O. Box 5595 Corning, CA 96021

(530) 585-2490

"To follow Jesus requires whole hearted conversion at the start, and a repetition of this conversion every day" -- Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1113.

"God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus." -- Max Lucado

Take care and may the good Lord bless you with wonderful health.

A NEW START can be yours today... simply follow the 8 laws of health:

1. Nutrition


2. Exercise


3. Water


4. Sunlight


5. Temperance


6. Air


7. Rest


8. Trust in God.

THANK YOU Steven for that great report.

no more soda pop,

David A. Youngs

http://polybids.com/

A vacation from vacations

I don't know if you have ever come back from a frenzied vacation so tired out that it took you several days to recuperate. I heard about a couple that took a whirlwind tour of Europe with one of those budge tours you can sign up for at a travel agency. They visited a different country of Europe each day. When they got back, the couple co-wrote a book about their vacation entitled, "If this is Thursday, it must be Italy," or something like that. I can't believe they really enjoyed their vacation--at least not as much as they could have.

Some people have so much planned out for their vacation that if they see something that looks like it might be interesting to explore it is "too bad -- we are on a tight schedule." Work-a-holics tend to plan their vacation like it is an invasion or something: every moment filled with activity, and each thing planned out to the minute. It seems to me that this is not really a vacation at all, but just another form of work. And when things slow you down (as they tend to do) these people get super upset because they are "behind schedule."

Once when I was out backpacking in the Marble Mountains of Northern California and hiking a leisurely 6-8 miles a day on the John Muir Trail, I met up with this one fellow who was hiking at least 25-30 miles a day, and some days even more, because he had to get to the end of the trail in about a week. Somehow a forced march doesn't seem like much of a vacation to me. His schedule was like this: 6am eat a big breakfast. By 6:30 start hiking. Hike all day until 8:00 pm snacking trail food along the way. By 8:00 he was setting up camp and since he was so tired, he was basically eating supper and then crashing. Sure, he was hiking in the mountains, but -- was he really enjoying it? I sure did not envy him.

Vacations in my opinion should relax the person. I once spent 3 days camped out by one lake. That is all we did. We went to the lake, and then we camped out. In fact, I had a motor home, so my setting up camp was pretty simple--drive the motor home to the edge of the lake and park it. I really enjoyed this vacation. We swam. We built fires in the evening. We sat around and sunned ourselves. We ate a lot of good food. And we watched the other campers. I went home feeling refreshed.

So if you ask me, if you need a vacation from your vacation--you are trying to do too much. Slow down and enjoy yourself.

Happy vacations,
David A. Youngs