August month end

09H45 Fort Worth Dallas Texas; Monday 27th August 2007

Well, what can I say. Been here inbetween Fort Worth and Dallas. Dallas i must amit was a disapointment but then again its hipe back home, makes you believe it is a far more established city. Again i did not spend too much time there but wandered around town and explored the Reunion Tower. Shara and I had lunch up there and then we explored the site that JFK was assasinated and i collected as usual quite a few pictures showing the area around the shooting and the actual place he got shot. I did also get to take pictures of a factory that had blown up recently and was on the CNN and other large networks here in the states. The factory was a bottling plant for industrial gas bottles and applications and apparently gas cylinders were flying all over the place as they exploded. So much so that the Interstate highway on both sides had to be closed down. But the last three days winding down my month of Amtraking around the states is comming to an end and WOW what can I say. An absolutely awesome time and sad that it has to come to an end. I did not get to do nearly as many things or see as many places as i wanted to but America is big. The pictures I have collected are testimony to the wide expanses and traveling that is required between cities. I will be spending at least the next two months compiling the pictures and creating some artwork out of some of the photo's. I have met some really awesome people on route and will be emailing all of those contacts i built up as and when i get back and settle down into a routine of sorts. I HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO. But i will close off this Amtrak Travel Log when i am back in Austin and sadly that may be the end of my international roaming activities for now in any event. Fly late in September and we will see if and when i can get back.

09H08 28th August 2007 Fort Worth Texas

My last day in Fort Worth and I am taking it easy, Shara has gone to work, Sara gone to school and Bryan sleeping on the couch after a twenty four hour disappearing stunt. I checked my mail and threw sheep at my friends, courtesy of facebook and the internet. I sorted pictures yesterday and have finally got most of them downloaded onto the spare hard drive thingy. It is really hot here at the moment. A bit like the Karoo here in Texas, averaging 35 deg to 40 deg mid day temperature with a healthy dose of humidity. I chatted to my brother on the phone yesterday and he managed to hit a round of 84 on the golf course on sunday. I really look forward to getting back into the swing of things (excuse the pun) and getting onto a course again. Two active pastimes I have rejuvinated whilst here is namely golf and boxing (punch bag) and I really want to take up cycling again. A lot of people cycle here in the states. The cities have catered for the cyclist and especially in the university towns the roads all have cycle lanes. I have allocated two months to my career namely September in Austin and November in South Africa to compile my coffee table books of which there are two. One being my travels and experiences around the states which will be some pictures and a lot of text, and secondly the cities I have visited which will comprise more of pictures than text. I am resurrecting my sales training course and will compile twenty or so chapters or lectures regarding my training that has generated a lot of interest here in the states. The one other task I have set myself is a book along the lines of the guide for dummies, but concentrating on dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is such a need for it here and having dealt with my own for twenty years, I have managed to get an grip on it to a certain extent. This grip is a series of practical mechanisms, that I think have allowed me to handle a lot more than the average trauma victim. A great deal of research will be required for this book and everything will need to be verified, but it will be more of a how to scenario than an explanation of the effects. The explanations will be practical examples taken from my own experiences, but I hope this will give the required guidlines to identify scenarios and trigger points for people to watch out for, and of course crisis management. Whether it is a sellable item or not I still need to research and investigate. 5000 copies back home make it a best seller. That achievement alone will make a huge difference as far as credibility goes. The cost of launching your own book is in he region of R 20'000 and that will take some doing to raise that kind of money. We will see what the Gods have in store for me. Other than that another quite day here and it is really not nice to consider my trip comming to an end but reality has to come back into my life somewhere or other and this is it. My work load has to take preference now and solid steps need to be taken to get my life back on track again.

Well till later then...Ciao