TSA National Conference in Nashville

We sent Adam off with four van loads of middle schoolers and high schoolers to Nashville this morning for a week at the National TSA Conference.

Adam has reconstructed his transportation project with a gear box that he designed as he built it, much like the ever expanding deck that I built on our first house.

When Adam first started thinking about how to do his State project, he tried to drag me off to Lowes to buy tools to make it. One of the tools he requested was a big drill bit like the one we used to install a dead bolt lock on one of our doors. Seeing how that drill bit was larger than his car, I challenged him to draw up a design before we bought him any tools.

While working on his National project this week ( at the last minute, late into the night, way after Lowes was closed ), Adam accused me of slowing him down because I expected him to "make the project with rocks for tools, like I was living in the forest or something".

Being able to improvise was very important as you can see that he needed to make a last minute axle extension. He used a deck screw into the wheel, cut off the head, then hot glued a metal sleeve over the original short axle and the screw.

I took this picture while Adam was taking a break to eat some peanut butter pie that his mother made him. Adam's National project has a much higher center of gravity than his State project so I'm eager to find out if it flips over during the climb. I also warned him not to use it too much before the 16 foot event because I was concerned that the gears weren't quite as robust as his state project.

It wasn't until today, that I realized that his experience this past week reminds me of one of my favorite shows that I have liked since I was a kid. I wish I had more time to watch shows like this one: