Here It Is - 14 Days Compacted Into One Blog
Thursday, March 19th 2009 @ 7:53 AM 
(2 ratings)
BLOG - Fighting Fathers US Tour
Day 1 Sunday 22 Feb09
After the in-flight hospitality of the flying kangaroo - and John Grisham's latest novel I arrived at San
Francisco Airport - 4 hours before I actually left Australia according to the clock. Just a slight confusion with US customs officials - apparently 'various stops with Father Dave' is not a satisfactory explanation under 'accommodation details, then onto the BART (not
Springfield's mischievous young offender - although he has been mentioned several times this trip). The BART is the Bay Area Rapid Transit Train - think MRT in Singapore, Eurostar or even the Springfield
Monorail (there's the other 'Bart' again. After a short ride I walked from the BART station to St Thomas More Church - San Francisco
(according to the Parishioners walking is quite an achievement - this was later confirmed by Father Labib who said that he did not know how to
find the Church from the train station). The Church and Rectory are located on Brotherhood Way - an aptly named street where Catholic,
Armenian, Jewish and other places of worship line one side of the road.
I arrived at the rectory during a service - Father Dave was at his conference - say who's that fellow in the Virginia Military Academy coat http://www.igroops.com/members/fightingfathers/gallery/album019+startat+5#oneatatime- so I felt quite 'out of place'- which lasted for about 10 minutes - until Father Labib came and found me after he had finished the service (one of three for the day) and welcomed me with 'thank you for
coming' (an early indication into the amazing warmth and generosity of the man - thanking me for visiting). I was introduced to Carlton and
Lucky, the house hounds who are part of the congregation and family (incidentally there is a magazine cover of Father Labib and Lucky on
display - 'Celebrities and their dogs'). I had a room upstairs in the Rectory - with a view towards the Church Gardens.
After a quick nap I caught up with the legend - Father Dave Smith - who arrived back from his conference and we shot the breeze about our (soon to change) schedule and the amazing hospitality we had received from Father Labib. Then it was time to undertake my semi-official role as
video manager for the pod casts and cheif dish washer. Father Dave had a father to father
interview with Father Labib (see the main page) - a great exchange between two like minds - and an inspiring insight into Father Labib's ministry, his
moral courage and his work for the middle east peace process - watching the two men of the cloth find common ground - reminded me of Reverend
Lovejoy's 'Gabbing about God' program with Monsignor Kenneth Daly and Rabbi Krustofsky
- but in all seriousness listening to Father Labib I was in awe how one person can lead such an examined life - very humbling.
At 8pm (which was 3am at home - the next day) Father Dave and I went to Father Labib's service - the first catholic mass that I had been to for
a long time - a beautiful service with a mostly Tagalog congregation - many of whom joined us afterwards for coffee and cookies at the rectory
- where we had a great time chatting with people about faith and we discovered that I knew about Lapu Lapu and that Dave and I both
pronounce 'here, near and beer' differently - darn that WA inflection.
I was ready for bed but pretty excited after an interesting first day - and humbled being around Father Labib - a real Fighting Father.
Day 2 Monday 23Feb09
It was raining when we woke up in San Francisco - what happened to this West Coast weather? After Dave and I grabbed a 'Dave diet compliant'
breakfast we started to pack up the car for our next trip. Father Labib told us that it was a serious sin if we left San Francisco without seeing at least a couple of must see venues - faced with this
declaration from this inspiring man of god we had little choice but to agree - and we headed off for a Labib's eye view of San Francisco - a tour which featured more insights into this amazing, passionate and warm man - as well as a stop in Chinatown for a beautiful lunch, a ride on
the famous cable car (where Fathers and their companions ride free) - remember when Dave was on 'Enough Rope' and Andrew Denton asked what
benefits came with the collar? We found one in San Francisco(see Father Labib and I riding the cable car for free in Dave's photos http://www.igroops.com/members/fightingfathers/gallery/album019+VIEW+LABIB-SCOTT.jpg), a look at
(and a drive down) crooked street, the California Coast and the Golden Gate Bridge. In what was to become a recurring theme of this journey it was all too short a time in San Francisco and with
Father Labib - as we headed off, arms laden down with gifts - to our next stop - Reno, Nevada.
Reno is about 4 hours (easy drive from San Francisco) - however it meant traversing the Lake Tahoe ski resort area - and I was about to learn -
that as occurred at Binacrombi in 2008 - our man Father Dave attracts snow in a way that would keep Mr Plow and the Plow King in $1000 notes
(all Simpsons fans note the ongoing Simpsons reference). We hit snow about 2 hours out from Reno - and coinciding with a fuel stop Dave gave
me the honour of filling the car and then meeting the worlds most unhelpful service station attendant - who sold me a set of limited edition fighting fathers snow chains - available soon with free
instructional video!! After not fitting the snow chains we headed through some pretty trying snow to Reno - thinking this would be the worst of the driving - hmmm - what was that about famous last words!! Uh huh - you guessed it - more to come - but thanks to the big fella upstairs we arrived at Reno - where Fighting Father Tom K (senior2senior.org) had put us up in an amazing Casino Hotel - clad in his Virginia Military Academy trench coat the Confederate Father Dave
(action figure sold separately) was quite the hit with Reno's finest and Tom and Maureen treated us to an amazing buffet dinner in a Casino
that had to be seen to be believed - check out
(http://www.peppermillreno.com/) and you will see what I mean. Dave and I were both humbled by the generosity and kindness of these amazing
people.
Day 3 Tuesday 24 Feb09
When I took up the awesome opportunity to accompany Father Dave I had visions of a travelling Fight Camp - kind of like have hand pads will
travel - and Father Tom started training camp with a 0530 am gym workout - I trained at what must be Reno's best gym - and had a chance to watch
Fighting Father Tom in training action too. After meeting Dave and Maureen for breakfast (memo to slef - Dave and dircetions - think of the sound from the wrong answer on family feud) it was time for interview number two - where the passionate Fighting Father Tom and Father Dave put together the next Fighting Fathers profile. Again I was privileged to film an interview with a man
who really does fight for the things worth fighting for - and a mixture of trepidation about the 17 hour drive ahead of us (after about 4 hours
sleep) and humility at the generosity of our hosts again made it difficult to say goodbye. Tom and Maureen - thank you.
Our drive to Fighting Father Doug was another highlight - my number dyslexia with the 80/90 speed limit was a sticking point for Nevada
State Trooper's finest - but the fighting father's collar and my broad Australian accent saw us let off with a kind warning, we drove past the
penitentiary's (a no stopping zone - and though we looked we couldn't see the Fox River 8 sprinting across the Nevada plains), some amazing
countryside, found a new way to experience the USA (by night - watch out for Moose's) and drove through a snow covered icy roads in Yellowstone
National Park (no Yogi, no Boo Boo and no "pick a nick" baskets) - our well liked GPS - 'Sonja' took us the most scenic route - which we later
found out included the territory of a 900 pound 'Grizzly' - however somewhat bleary eyed we arrived to what is obviously a Montana welcome -
met by Fighting Father Doug with a grin and (again) hospitality like we were long lost family (even at 0430 in the morning).
Day 4 Wednesday 25 Feb 09
Another quick nap before we were up to meet Father Doug's lovely family - wonderful, polite and generous people who made us feel more than
welcome. Father Doug is another true fighting father, a good man, great dad, committed christian and an awesome BJJ practitioner. After breakfast we had the chance to roll BJJ with Father Doug, his training partner Jim Morrison (who ties knots in people), and their good buddy Dallas - an up and coming UFC fighter. The punching pastor showed that age had not wearied him in his sparring sessions with Dallas while I
quickly found out that my Rampage Jackson (who beat the Dean of Mean a couple of weeks ago to get another title shot - go Rampage) inspired slams
were no match for Father Doug's armbars par excellence. It was great fellowship with Doug's BJJ crew, followed by a tour of the city, with Doug giving a perspective to his excellent work in the local area and an outline of some of the challenges and issues faced - some of which are all too familar to the Ripping Rector and a great roadwork
run around Doug's snow covered block. We were treated to Doug's specialty chicken and ribs for dinner then met with the Men's Ministry
Group from Doug's Church - they were treated to the Father Dave experience and were eager to hear about how Dave's unique mission and
ministry bought him all the way to Montana. What was supposed to be an hour long meeting, drifted well past time with an engaged and
enthusiastic group. Later it was time for an important cultural exchange, with Fighting Father Doug introducing us to Dave Chappelle,
and Father Dave sharing the wisdom and insights of Summer Heights High.
Day 5 Thursday 26 Feb 09
The fighting fathers Dave and Doug (now that has to be a radio show that rivals Reverend Lovejoy's "Gabbing About God") had chatted late into the
night about faith, fighting and friendship, and Father Dave was up again relatively early to conduct an interview with the local newspaper on his work, the concept of the fighting fathers and what bought him through Montana. While Father Dave went back to running the Dulwich Hill Parish
via the internet, Father Doug took me for some fight lessons, Montana style (see the blog header picture). A quick lunch with Fighting Father Doug, and it was another melancholy goodbye as we headed off to another snowbound journey. (In side notes, Doug could almost be my faster, more skilled
and more cultured brother AND Father Dave and I wondered whether we should perhaps stop singing our Simpson's inspired Mr Plow and Plow King
songs - because they seemed to attract more snow the further we went - where literally every place we stopped - scores of locals advised us
that the snow was unseasonable - courtesy (apparently) of Father Dave). (check out the photo of our car - and me in short sleeves - http://www.igroops.com/members/fightingfathers/gallery/album019+startat+12#oneatatime).
Our cross country trip took us through Wyoming and on to Rapid City - with a quick stop to check out the country side where we just managed to beat (another) heavy snowfall to arrive safely.
Day 6 Friday 27 Feb 09
Day 6 will always be remembered as Scott and Dave's excellent snow chain adventures - after we abandoned our proposed hand pads training session at Mount Rushmore due to another series of heavy snows - we had a slight falling out with our GPS Sonja and we settled in for a drive across the Badlands. Unbeknown to us we were heading into (not away from) the biggest storm (featuring old man winter and not the Grandpa Simpson version) that the northern USA had seen for over three decades.
After some slip sliding snow driving - thanks to the big fella for looking after us a few times - we found Father Dave's Holy Trinity Church (snowbound and on the other side of the world - what the??) (and
it was in one of the Dakota's) - where obviously we had to stop for a photo - even if the white powder was up to the axles - see it in Dave's album. After lunch the much talked about snow chains finally got their designed usage - even if the hand brake that had been left on by the (ahem) driver was what got
the wheels spinning - and not the ice and/or snow. After several laughs the Dave and Scott comedy driving routine (available for parties and shows) was back on the road criss crossing the country and ending up in Kansas City - Missouri not Kansas - where our host Mahatma Coat found us a great room at the Days Inn. (Side note - clean, comfy and cheap way to see the USA - Days Inn)
After some discussions on pugilism and some advice on how I could improve my round kick (more hip) - It was early to bed for me - with what I believed would be the last of the snow driving putting me in a deliriously happy mood - and Dave settled in to watch Bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard (lots of people note the obvious similarity
between Holy Trinity's Fighting Father and the action hero John McLain of the Die Hard series - it was good for Dave to see how closely his
Doppelganger matches Dulwich Hill's finest and based on the emails and issues that Dave deals with on a daily basis I am not too sure who has a
harder day)
Day 7 Saturday 28 Feb 09
You know when you go to bed expecting it to be a sunny day - and it snows - and you wake up and the car is just covered in snow - not
really? Well that is what happened on the morning of Saturday the 28th. I looked outside and the reliable car was again completely covered in
snow - DOH. After shovelling it off and managing to prise the Combative Chaplain away from a fellow Civil War buff (Dave made friends everywhere
with the seemingly endless swathe of re-enactors that dotted our trip across the USA) we headed out of Kansas City - this time the snow was at
its absolute heaviest - and as crossed Missouri heading towards St Louis the Emergency Services were literally closing the roads behind us - we
gave thanks as we saw 16 - 20 cars of all descriptions that had come to varying levels of grief in the heavy snow - again - we were blessed - as
even an icing windscreen didn't stop us - and we headed straight through - Father Dave grabbing a much needed nap (not while behind the wheel
this time) as we passed the St Louis Arch and headed into Tennessee - the Volunteer State our next stopping point for a Fajita Feast with the
Pankration Priests good buddy John and his son. A great stop for dinner with some great tales of Dave's Pankration days and some fascinating
insights from John into the early days of the American martial arts scene - John has seen the development of the martial arts scene in the
USA and has stories about all the big names - Chuck Norris, Skipper Mullins, Jim Harrison, Joe Lewis, Howard Jackson and Randall "Tex" Cobb
(the star of Uncommon Valour and a accomplished kick boxer) - who KO'D Ernie Shavers and went 15 rounds with Larry Holmes - read about Tex Cobb
here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_%22Tex%22_Cobb) - then it was back into the car and with the ever reliable Sonja in charge we were
off to Georgia - just a couple of 5 hour energy drinks away.
Day 8 Sunday 01 Mar 09
After another very early morning arrival and a camp out at FF Hugh's place we were up early to sample the world famous Waffle House - before
guess what - more of the snow. After the famous waffles Sonja took us into the heart of downtown Atlanta - to the famous Ebenezer Baptist
Church - original parish of both Dr Kings - and the place renowned as 'where the dream started'. On the Enough Rope show that I mentioned
early in the blog - Andrew Denton asked the ministers present whether they gad ever delivered a five star sermon - in the last month - I have
seen three - Father Dave's at Dulwich Hill February 8th, Father Labib's on the 22nd of February and the sermon delivered by the Rev. Raphael G.
Warnock, the Senior Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. The Church has an amazing history, even from is first pastor (see
http://www.historicebenezer.org/History.html). I hope its not flippant of me to say that I guess as a Baptist Pastor the role at Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta must be the heavy weight championship of ministry - both in achievements and expectations - not that my opinion counts but Reverend Warnock delivers a polished and professional faith based
service that appeals to the visitors that stop in to Ebenezer Baptist from all over the world.
We were privileged that Dr Kings sister Christine King Farris, was at the service and Father Dave and I grabbed the opportunity for a photo with her. Mrs Farris has written extensively about her brother, with my favourite quote where she described her brother Martin Luther King as ''no saint, ordained as such at birth. Instead, he was an average and
ordinary man, called by a God, in whom he had deep and abiding faith, to perform extraordinary deeds''. And just to confirm that Father Dave will
be changing his ring moniker to the Snow Maker, Reverend Warnock noted that it was the most unseasonably heavy snow that he could remember in Atlanta. (Dave's album has the photo of us and Dr Kings sister at http://www.igroops.com/members/fightingfathers/gallery/album019+startat+15#oneatatime)
With the snow still a falling (apologies to Linda Ronstadt) we visited an Atlanta institution - the Varsity (which would later be surpassed by
our experience with the Beacon - but wait til the blog on South Carolina) and then hid ourselves away from the snow - I took the opportunity for an afternoon nap - before we braved the icy snow
conditions venturing out for Pizza and Red Wine with Hugh at a recommended local establishment.
Day 9 Monday 02 Mar 09
If Ebenezer Baptist was the spiritual part of the fighting fathers trek across the USA for me - then the trip that we made Stone Mountain was the highlight of Atlanta for the man who would have felt well at home pastoring to the troops before the charge on Gettysburg. The Fighting Father met a kindred spirit at Georgia's Stone Mountain - in his new mate "Eugene" - the local guide who knew the monument as well as Dave knows the Civil War battles.
It was a less snowy trip out to Stone Mountain, where Lee and Traveller, Jackson and Little Sorrell and Davis and Blackjack are carved imposingly
into the mountainside - the monument is bigger than the Mount Rushmore memorial and well and truly eclipses the breadth of both the Great
Buddha's and the Statue of Liberty (See the great descriptions in Dave's photos - only completed in the 1970's its quite new - and after completion - 60 men ate a (no doubt nervous) celebratory dinner on Travellers rump - which indicates the 'depth' of the carving).
We grabbed a taste of Atlanta cooking at a local restaurant that Hugh looks after the marketing for and I worked hard on my my new comedy routine
- Minchy and the results of snow day (snow days are days that are built into the education system when school cannot be opened because of the depth or severity of snow) -
then headed on to South Carolina - where surprisingly (yes readers you guessed it) they had
experienced unseasonably heavy snow. When we arrived - the snow had taken out the local power grid - so Dave's CSA buddy Cibby and his
lovely wife Debbie, and Emily, Natalie, Michael and I headed to sample some local Indian cuisine - amazingly the restaurant featured a
Bollywood film being played featuring Tania Zaetta (Australian's - they are everywhere) and again - the apparent difference in Father Dave's and my regional dialects were obvious - the poor waiter needed subtitles to translate my ordering - think about it - an Australian doing Indian
pronunciation in the CSA region of the USA - hmmm. After dinner it was time to check in with the Griffins on Family Guy and then I left Cibby and Dave to reminisce about the days of Bushwhackers, Jayhawks and one Virginia.
Day 10 Tuesday 03 Mar 09
While Cibby and Dave headed off to tour the history of the war between the states - Natalie, Michael and I ventured out in the snow to do some
trackwork - which was rather fortuitous given the recovery meal planned for later that evening. We entertained ourselves with Forrest Gump, then
it was a family pad work session featruring coaching by Father Dave and rips by Iron Mike Tyson in the afternoon before we headed to a local South Carolina Institution, the Beacon, not quite a health food restaurant ;0) - where the serves are almost bigger than Stone Mountain and the local celebrity JC 'calls it' and keeps the crowd entertained for
hours with the full Beacon experience. After dinner Father Dave led us through a blessing for the family and it was time to pack the bags again.
Day 11 Wednesday 04 Mar 09
After Cibby's excellent breakfast of fat free bacon - it was back to the car and the snow covered (although like the wicked witch of the west -
rapidly melting) roads again - as we covered 6 states - South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania -
thanks to the ever reliable Sonja - on our way to meet Richard and Marty in Chambersburg. We stopped (as if we had any choice) at the Robert E
Lee Chapel - and I had to purchase Lee's principles of leadership - they now adorn my workspace - 18 principles of a man of amazing character -
not to mention military genius. It was getting dark and we hit the road again working on the concept of a new movie - after agreeing (and
convincing many of our hosts) that the story of Max Schmeling is begging to be told (check it out here - it is amazing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schmeling) we decided that Binacrombi productions and Fighting Fathers Films should probably start off smaller
- with a lower budget enterprise featuring the story of a whiny Australian who combines the "best" qualities of some of our political leaders to moan his way to a title - get ready for 'Enter the Whinger'.
A great dinner - ribs at TGIF - highly recommended - before I realised that it's a good thing I wasn't born in the age of the gladiators were man faced off against beasts - as I was despatched to bed nursing a bleeding finger courtesy of the Dachshund K9 patrol.
Day 12 Thursday 05 Mar 09
It was another goodbye as we headed off to the Gettysburg visitor centre - watched the new film - narrated by Morgan Freeman and Sam Masterston
amongst others, watched the Gettysburg Diorama (amazing - so realistic and stunning in its 3D effects) and ate Gettysburg Chilli - before heading off to recreate the final charge - a sobering experience - both in the thought of how many lives were lost and the strategic significance of this battle in the war between the states - but also in how difficult a march I would have been. A trip back to DC, some mandatory Barrack Obama souvenirs and then it was time to get on board the planes and travel forward in time to Saturday March the 7th. When we dropped off the car it noted that we had travelled over 4500 miles - but even with Sonja it couldn't have been a more diverse trip. Was it a
trip of a lifetime - I guess so - I drove more than I had ever driven and crossed the entire USA - I spent nearly two weeks with one of my
heroes who also happens to be a mate of mine - and met some unforgettable people and saw some amazing sights - even if most of them were covered by snow. I'm trying to encourage our Martal Arts Minister to make it a bi-annual event - connecting with his online flock - and seeing the work of Fighting Fathers in action - across the USA - whilst
indulging in his three passions - fisticuffs, faith and the (confederate) flag).
Fighting Father Scottie Minchin
