More good news!

Today's news update!



The 1966 GTO is running and has been driven! It's fast and good running. There was a
*slight* problem with the Steeroids rack&pinion steering system put in the car. Talking with Kevin Oeste with V8TV today he found that there was a lot of play in the toe-in of the front wheels. What this really means is several things:

- excessive tire wear
- steering that is loose feeling
- a car that will tend to "dart" and change lanes while braking (not a safe situation)
- it's hard on the steering parts
- requires a lot of driver input to keep the car going straight

So what's the solution? Find the adjustment for the steering rack and tighten it down. (ok, so I'm simplifying it, but that's the main point)

To say it simply the car is mean and loud! (there was no interior today other than the drivers/passenger seats, so it will get better with the carpeting and back seats.)

Changing gears a little bit, we were out today having dinner with a good friend Randy Lofland and his family. Randy was kind enough to loan us his 2nd car - an older Kia Sephia. Compared to driving the 37' motorhome thru the mountians, the Kia is like driving a formula 1 racecar! I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed carving the canyons in a faded burgundy Kia... The car has been a huge blessing to us while the GTO is getting dialed in, and I'm eternally grateful to Randy for allowing us to use it.

While out to dinner with Randy, we came across several people we were able to talk with, one of them being a street vendor named Gaius (hope I spelled your name right...) who was selling Christian t-shirts. I bought one for my 3 year old son, and while we were talking the Driven-1 project came up and we were talking about the Hot Rod Power Tour. He is originally from Springfield, MO - which is the second stop of the tour. He then offered to give me one of the t-shirts to wear on the tour, but I told him we had special shirts made for AVE and Driven-1. I've included his photo, so if you are ever in branson and see him - please stop by, buy something and tell him that Stefan says HI!


Tomorrow we will be off to a few other places, and the Driven-1 crew will be leaving the Minneapolis headquarters heading down to Little Rock. 3 days until the Power Tour starts! The excitement is building!!

For those of you wondering this trip is not at all about a cool car - the car is just a tool to make connections and being able to talk to people. Not even having the car yet I have had the opportunity to talk to many many people about both AVE and the sound, video and lighting systems AVE designs, sells and installs as well as the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

While we were at the swimming pool today I got to talk with Gary and Sherry - an retired navy man and his wife who are now a full time RV'ers. (that means they no longer have a house - he and his wife live out of their camper and move around the country wherever they want to live) He was telling me that the process of selling their house they had to get rid of a lot of "stuff" - and having lost one of their kids in a tragic car accident, he now understands that none of it really has any value compared to the life of their kids and grandkids. They are camping at the Tall Pines campground (where we are staying) for a month and took 2 of the grandkids and are keeping them with for the month. The boy was 9 - he's the one that lost his mom to the accident and the girl was 3 years old. It was really refreshing to see that perspective in life from them. Life is really about more than just the toys that people tend to accumulate... or living just a 1/4 mile at a time...

It's time to be DRIVEN by the ONE who will take your life and use it~