Orlando or BUST!!!!

You know, when I was a kid, I remember seeing those signs on the wagons in pictures of pioneers, headed across the plains that said: 'Oregon or Bust' or even on some crazy vehicle traveling down the road, and thinking to myself, what does that really mean? Now, as I have one day left to pack six people for six days and travel 4 hours to drop off kids, another 3 to the airport, and then across the US to sunny Florida,  I think I understand.  I'll get there or BUST in the process of trying, and I am trying, I am really looking forward to this trip.  Of course, major snow storms have shut down thousands of flights today and tomorrow, but hopefully, the impact to southern travel will continue to be fine (like I said, or BUST!)

 Anyway, the last couple of years have taught me something important about National YF&R Conferences--you do not go to them for a vacation (sniff, sniff, since I will be in Florida, I am definitely having twinges about all the things I would like to do, places I would like to see), but you also never leave them without so much more than you came with. 

 So, I am looking forward to this trip.  And, not just because we are staying at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort and there is a slight chance I might convince my hubby to hang out at DisneyWorld with me for a few hours on the only day we have that is partially free!  Every other year the National YF&R Conference overlaps the final day of the National Leadership Conference for Farm Bureau leaders from all of the states, so there are more workshops, more people, and even more to learn.  We jump (okay, we crawl, exhaustedly out of bed, cursing the alarm clock) out of bed each morning and hit the ground running.  We usually go all day, though between meals and snacks, we are refueled enough to come home a little bit heavier, too, in order to keep us going.  In the evenings we are beat, but full of new ideas, new friendships, and new goals for our state YF&R program.  We come home needing a vacation.  But, it will then be time to form reports and thank yous to the Board for the budget to send us and to let them know what we did that was really worth the money spent. 

 I can honestly say that the last few years I have gained leaps and bounds of better understanding how to promote and educate about agriculture, how to use technology do so, to tell the story of agriculture that I know and see around me.  I have learned about agriculture in various forms and states that I never dreamt of--I mean, really, I did not know that peanuts were a row crop, more like a bean than most nuts that grow from trees--thanks to Georgia Farm Bureau for educating me on that one!  One thing that is a huge highlight of the trip is the final day of tours, getting to see Ag production in the state that we are visiting.  It is so cool.  I know, how old am I, but I am very serious and very much looking forward to this year's tours.  I will hopefully be bringing back plenty of pic's to share and maybe even some video.  SO, I hope you are looking forward to my report (which will be up as soon as I have sufficiently recovered, got the kids back to normal schedules, and have the laundry started ;) ).

Oh, here is the schedule in case you want to know more about what we do there:
http://fb.org/programs/young/2010-11/2011-Leadership_Conference.pdf