Medallion Hunt

Prelude

Wow...wow! I'm (Sal) just excited with unbelief right now (late evening on Thursday, December 6th of 2007) after an awesome day that came to a good end. The day started early with my weekly racquet ball with my co-worker (Stevens County D.A.C.) at the RFC at 7am. I then went back home to study a little bit for my Class B License (driving a bus for my work), which I went to take it for the 3rd ($20 fee!) time-yes, embarassing! However, I know a lot more now about bus-truck driving after months (since end of August) of studying. Well, I passed-Halleluah (I was asking God for guidance)! I left the Eagles very happy and went around the are to finish my errands (get house stuff from Eul's Hardware and entered a drawing there & grocery shopping at Willies). I came home and continued my computer "stuff" (e.g. new online ministry website I'm currently designing called goodnewseverybody.com). With computers, we all need to take breaks from watching that screen all the time. I went to work on some "home" stuff (e.g. winter weatherizing). Just as I was about to start more of my computer "stuff", I got a call [3:45pm] from a co-worker (Paul J.) to help load his fiance's (Angie M.) snowblower to transport it to his mother's house to finish removing snow from the recent snowstorm. Well, we got to Angie's house and she wasn't home. Paul and I decided to just do some finishing touches from the recent snow (less then an inch or so this morning) fall. As we were finishing, Angie arrived home with her children (Anika & Hunter). We took her van and loaded the snowblower (with another former D.A.C. co-worker-Mike L., who happened to be walking by along Columbia Avenue). Paul quickly got to work as the sun was setting down [around 5pm]; plowing her mother's (Ruth J.) driveway and a new temporary "walk way" through his yard. I took a shovel and did some special touches that the plow couldn't do. His mother invited us for supper, which I couldn't refuse. We took Angie's snow plow back to her house and went back to Ruth's for supper.

The Clues?

As we ate a good home cooked meal, I somehow brought up the "Medallion Hunt" with Paul and Ruth. I told them I regularly read the Morris Sun Tribune online to get the local news everynight before I go to bed. I told them the clues that has been posted each day this week. However, I could only remember the first and second clue (see down below) only. This got Paul's curiosity up and was immediatly thinking that the only 2 Morris stoplights on Main Street could be pertaining to the first and second clue. I was amazed and thought-I never thought about that. I kept thinking it was the color of Christmas decorations somewhere in town. Earlier during our meal, Paul kept sharing his desire for his Mom to buy "ribs" or "steaks" to eat. He then jokingly said that he can use the money if we found the medallion to help pay for this. This whole time, Ruth (his mom) thought he was just all talk.

The Search Begins

Paul and I got out of house [around 6:30pm] (I was not sure if he was really interested in searching for the medallion at this time) and we then decided to drive up (that's when I knew he was for real!) to the Morris Public Library to look up in the computer the 3rd and 4th clue in the Morris Sun Tribune website. I wrote down all the 4 clues and we decided to walk to the first stoplight (corner of 5th and Main Street) from the library. Paul and I spent a lot of time around that intersection (I kept looking around Bella Cucina because of all the lights and it had the only blinking lights on the tree; and it was one of the most recent businesses). The workers at the restaurant were probably wondering what I was up to. A family walked out of the restaurant and their kid said out loudly, "look at the beautiful ? (ornaments) on the tree" as he was being carried by his dad. I thought this was a sign, which I instantly started to pray and ask God on where this medallion could be. Paul came back around after walking the whole block (First Federal->Benson Thrifty Drug->Radio Shack->Common Cup), which I was so focussed on the area around Bella Cucina. Well, we decided to try the other stoplight. We walked slowly northwest on Main Street-looking very closely around us. We were attracted to the only "tree with ribbons/bows" by Hoffman Realty-Keepers, which we both look very closely.

"Bow" or "Bough"-4th Clue!?

I told Paul that it has to be around a "bow" because of the 4th clue. He told me to check the clue again, which we both looked at many times already. I then noticed the spelling of "bough", which I thought it was a typo. Paul then told me that it was a word, but couldn't remember what it means. Our brains were feezing up, which we couldn't really think at that point. Angie and her children arrived at this point in the van along Main Street, which I was already thinking of giving up because of the COLD. I decided to continue on as the children and Angie arrived to partake on this "adventure". I told Paul that I needed to get a break being inside Keepers as it was COLD and to ask what "bough" means. I got inside to warm-up and a store employee approached me to ask if I needed any help. I then asked what "bough" means, which I can't remember right now if she or Mary Hoffman first/both gave me the definition. I told them that this was for the "Medallion Hunt", which I left and was ready to look more. I explained the definition of "bough" (see Meriam-Webster Online Dictionary) : branch-the light bulb went on!) to Paul, which Angie confirmed this. We contined north west on Main Street (by Unger's now), while the children went across the street (by the Mall and Second Chance) to cover more ground. I continued on by myself on the same side towards Bremer Bank, while Paul&Angie joined the children across the street (by Eul's) going towards the same direction on Main Street.

Is this it?!

I kept on looking at the trees' "This Tree is Sponsored" sign (suggested by Paul before we broke-up by the corner of 7th and Main Street). I then looked at "La Tienda" from far away and had that "moment" (Awww....). I thought about Bella Cucina as being a recent business when I passed by that place earlier, but I thought to myself that "La Tienda" is the most recent. I looked at the tree in front of it and flipped the "This Tree is Sponsored" sign and read Morris Sun Tribune with a silver star! I thought this might be the medallion, but wasn't 100% sure because I kept thinking the medallion would be circular in form. To get confirmation, I ran across Main Street and yelled to my group "I think I found it!". I showed it to Paul and he was observing it with his hands. He then confirmed that this is the one! We gave "hi fives" to each other. They were in front of Ace Hardware, which a staff from Morris Sun Tribune happened to be watching all this unfold and confirmed that this was the medallion. We then walked back down Main Street from where we started. As we walked by Keepers, I told the group that I would like to give them a "Thank You". Paul wanted us to go there together and give them a BIG "Thank You". After sharing our appreciation and the good news with them, we decided to head to Common Cup [around 7:15pm] to celebrate in a "warm" way! Halleluah! (Paul shared how he was praying too during the search and we thank God and each other for being a "great team", which we couldn't do this without each others' help!)

We went over to Paul's house to share this great story with his mom (Ruth). Paul was sharing how we should plan on doing the next medallion hunt. He also shared how this hunt is really a great time for groups (e.g. families) to get together. Yes, we won $100, but the whole "process" of getting it was worth more (it's "something that money can't buy")!

*Note: I tried to best write this from the group's perspective, which I'll change and edit this more after I get this reviewed by them.

Christmas Medallion Clues Morris Sun Tribune Published Monday, December 03, 2007
" Look for clues right here each day this week Dec. 3- Dec. 7!
Monday, Dec. 3 - Clue No. 1
Eastside, Westside, North or South...
Do you have a clue what this is about?
Tuesday, Dec. 4 - Clue No. 2
Red, green, gold and silver...
To get this right you need to be clever!
Wed., Dec. 5 - Clue No. 3
Twinkle, twinkle, shiny star...
Somewhere in Morris is where you are.
Thurs., Dec. 6 - Clue No. 4
Up above the bough so high...
It’s so shiny it will catch your eye.
Bring the medallion to the Morris Sun Tribune Monday through Friday.
If you find it on Saturday, bring it to the Morris Sun Tribune on Monday morning.

Article

Clue No. 5 -- Be careful when you scale the bough...
It might just �Snap� and you�ll yell �Ow!�
Thanks to all who participated in the hunt this year, and sharpen up those skills for the 2008 medallion hunt!