The Search for Rachel, a father's journal

Monday, April 1

I gave coworker Kelly 4,000 of the Run/Walk for Rachel registration forms. Another race has agreed to pass them out. My sister Diane picked up another good sponsor. It looks like those who register early will get a bonus. I will explain that tomorrow.

I finished entering the Texas EquuSearch records on Rachel's search into a spreadsheet. Now my cousin Lanny and I are ready to go to Houston to copy the team maps of the search. We should be able to mark a huge wall map after we gather everything together.

I will send out a search announcement for this Saturday on Wednesday. If anyone wants to volunteer, they can e-mail runforrachel@yahoo.com

Tuesday, April 2

Today was a very long and busy day. I picked up my cousin Lanny at 6:30 a.m. and we drove to Houston. Upon arrival, we met Jeff Ezell from Texas EquuSearch and Beth Alberts from Gabriel's Gifts.

After a short greeting Lanny and I got to work. We started copying the search record maps from January 18 to February 1. It took a lot of time because each individual search was stapled, and we had to match each of them up with the search records that we had brought with us.

After lunch Tim Miller, the Director of Texas EquuSearch, came over. We had a nice visit and I showed Tim, Beth and Jeff the tape of the INSIDE EDITION story on Rachel. They thought the show was really well done just, and as I do.

Gabriel's Gift's has taken on the task of uniting different search and missing persons organizations to work together. Beth really wants to eliminate "reinventing the wheel", so to speak. They had their monthly meeting with six of the missing person organizations. I spoke for about ten minutes, telling them about what is happening with the search for Rachel.

Lanny and I didn't finish the copying until 9:15 p.m. We immediately headed back to the Austin area. I dropped him off at his house and then drove home. I arrived at my house around 1:15 a.m.

Wednesday, April 3

I received this in a prayforrachel.org private message, "I had a friend of mine that traveled to Las Vegas, NM this past weekend and when they were returning the attendant that was taking their boarding passes noted they were from Georgetown,Tx. and asked about Rachel. She had seen her picture on some of the posters that someone had left in the area." Thank you, my friends and family. This means a lot to Janet and me.

We received two more sponsors today for the Run/Walk for Rachel. Now everyone will have a Dr Pepper to drink with their Outback meal after the event. The support has been wonderful!

By the way, Texas EquuSearch will have some of their members, including Director Tim Miller, attending the Run/Walk for Rachel. They will be setting up a table with information, membership applications and donations. They may also be supplying children's Identification kits also. Donations to Texas EquuSearch can be made at http://www.texasequusearch.org/ or by calling (281) 309-9500. I plan to send a donation myself this week.

Thursday, April 4

My wife Janet and I met with the Sheriff's Department this morning. They have a few action items they are investigating. I can't comment on those yet.

I have decided that I need to go back and write journal entries for the period of time between when Rachel disappeared and when I started this journal. I will begin on January 10th and will try and enter as many days as I can remember. I want it to be correct, so some days will not have entries if I can't remember the details. After I am done I will post them.

We are still receiving some sponsors for the Run/Walk for Rachel. I've been adding them to http://www.rachelcookesearch.org as we get them.

I attended my daughter JoAnn's choir concert tonight. They were very good but it's hard to function as a "regular" parent now. Janet and I have to support JoAnn.

Friday, April 5

Several people e-mailed me about tomorrow's search. We will go out if the weather holds. I had an area that hasn't been searched that I want to do.

I'm also going to start on my journal entries beginning with Jan. 10th this weekend. Hopefully I will have those posted soon.

We picked up some new sponsors for the Run/Walk for Rachel. Businesses are really being generous. Several radio stations are also announcing the event.

I am scheduled to be on the Dudley and Bob Show on KLBJ/FM Monday morning at 8:10. Then I will be on KGSR on Monday morning April 22 around 7:00. My wife Janet will be doing some radio shows also.

Texas EquuSearch will be accepting new members at a table at the Run/Walk on April 27th. I hope a lot of people will join their organization. They are very giving and wonderful people, and they just found a 17-year-old girl and are reuniting her with her family!

Saturday, April 6

We did a small search today. Seven searchers covered a few wooded acres. It was the kind of place that needed to be searched completely.The rain held off long enough for us to cover it.

I started making the tapes of Rachel to send to UNSOLVED MYSTERIES. It was very difficult to watch Rachel on camera, but it had to be done. I had to stop several times to regain my composure.

I also began typing up the missing days of my journal starting on January 10th, the day Rachel disappeared. The first three days span almost 300 lines. I will begin posting them after I proof them well.

This was also a very hard thing to do. I had to relive the worst days of my life. I had to relive losing a daughter and realizing I was helpless to get her back.

All of the guilt, the anger and the despair hit me as hard as it did three months ago except this time I know that it is still unresolved. Still we have not found her. Still we have no substantial clues.

Where can she be? What happened to her? How could someone do this?

I miss her so much.

Sunday, April 7

I had to do some normal work today. It's getting close to April 15th, so I had to do my income taxes.

After that, I worked on journal entries for January 13-18. The first few days took a long time because of all of the information but after that the entries are smaller. I think it will take another week to finish the entries up to February 24 when I started the journal on kvue.com.

Friend Robert S. will pick up some new county maps tomorrow and we will finally start marking down all of the searches down. I have a good idea of most of the Texas EquuSearch search locations but I want to make sure we have 100 percent coverage of Williamson County. This is something I've wanted to do for over a month.

Monday, April 8

I appeared for a few minutes on the Dudley and Bob Show on KLBJ/FM this morning around 8:25 a.m. They dropped their normal comic routine for a few minutes and interviewed me about Rachel's disappearance and the Run/Walk for Rachel on April 27th. I thought that they did an excellent job.

After I left their broadcasting booth I stepped across the hall and did a similar interview on Oldies 103 radio station. Finally, KLBJ/AM taped an interview of me that they will play between now and April 27th. Everyone there was highly concerned about Rachel.

After work KVUE came out and did an interview which will appear on their web section starting this Wednesday. They can put a lot more information on the web than the time allows on the broadcast news. I am going to scan several pictures of Rachel, and kvue.com is going to make a slide show for the Rachel section.

Friend Robert S. called and said that there were over 200 individual sections of the Williamson County map west of I-35 that have to be copied for us to assemble a complete map. I am going to pick up a Texas Department of Transportation map of Williamson, Bell, Travis and Burnet counties to do the rest of the area.

I have now completed the section of my journal from January 10th through the 26th. It is moving faster now because the amount of information per day is less. I have four more weeks to document.

Tuesday, April 9

I met with the sheriff's office this morning at 9:00 a.m. We drove to see an area where we searched last Saturday. I wanted to show them something, but it turned out to be nothing.

After work Janet and I met with the coaches and other representatives from Georgetown High School. They will lay out the course and do the competitive run timing for the Run/Walk for Rachel. Members of the basketball booster club will be helping with the on-site registration that morning. Our friend Ginger will be in charge of the food and drinks. Two Girl Scout troops will be helping Ginger.

I have decided to have the first three days of my journal posted, which will include January 10-12. Then every other day I will send a week at a time to be added. These journal entries should be at the bottom of the journal.

Wednesday, April 10

Three months without Rachel. Three months of hard work to find her. Three months of failure. What are we doing wrong? What have we missed? Who have we not talked to?

We have searched, we have posted flyers, we have done television, radio and newspaper interviews. I have made good new friends and have enriched family member relations but still we have not found Rachel. The answer must be that I'm not working hard enough or not working smart enough. I have failed in other tasks in my life before but this one is different. I CANNOT fail.

I am a different person than I was three months ago. I'm not sure that I like it but that cannot be changed. I will never be the same again. No one can go through this and recover to a normal life. You just have to learn to live with the pain, the sorrow and the other emotions.

Enough of this. It's time to get back to the job of finding Rachel.

Thursday, April 11

I made a videotape of movie clips of Rachel jogging, singing and clowning around with her friends in San Diego. My wife Janet is mailing them to UNSOLVED MYSTERIES today.

My cousin Lanny came over tonight and we worked on the search map. It will still take several more days to complete marking all of the search areas on that map. I will do a little bit every day until it is finished.

I received an e-mail from Jeff Ezell today. He is a member of Texas EquuSearch. He told me that he and four other Texas EquuSearch members are coming to the Run/Walk for Rachel. I look forward to seeing them again.

kvue.com has added the first part of my journal, beginning on January 10th, the day Rachel disappeared. I will send them some more entries later today. They also divided the journal up by month. I think that will make it easier for new people to catch up.

Friday, April 12

Today was a very hard day for some reason. It's probably because so many important things came up at work. I used to be able to handle the pressure, but now it's a lot harder.

I did remember to order the bags for the Run/Walk for Rachel materials and T-shirts. Hopefully they will arrive by the middle of next week. I've got a big group of people lined up to prepare the bags next Saturday. My sister Diane gave me a big stack of Run/Walk for Rachel registrations from her Johnston High School PALS and some other people. On the way home I dropped off some Run/Walk for Rachel registration flyers at the new RunTex Store in Round Rock.

I mapped out a lot of the searches on the large Williamson County map. It's going faster than I thought. Maybe I can finish it this weekend.

Saturday, April 13

My wife Janet and I will be guests on the Fox 7 morning show this Monday morning, the 15th. We should be on between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m.

Friend John came over and brought some new Williamson County topographic maps. He and his friend Charlie searched the south fork of the San Gabriel River for Rachel. I told him thanks for doing that because Janet really wanted that searched. It was a very long and hard search for them to do.

Friend Robert S came over and we talked about the case and searches. I showed him how I was marking the big map with the search routes. He seemed to like the way I was doing it.

I updated several more search routes this afternoon and evening. I should finish tomorrow or Monday night.

Sunday, April 14

I finished marking up the big Williamson County map with all of the searches. After that, I marked all of the roads that have not been searched on another smaller map.

I drove the county for almost 3 hours checking out the roads that have not been searched. On some of the roads I could see well enough from the car to mark off as not needing to be searched. Other roads will require a foot search. I will send out a search volunteer e-mail for next weekend soon.

While watching television tonight, I typed up another week of the missing journal days before February 24 when I started the KVUE journal. I am almost done with the old entries and will have a week of those entries posted every few days. I will also continue to write new journal entries like this one.

Monday, April 15

Janet and I got up early today and drove to downtown Austin to the Fox 7 studio. We appeared on their morning show and talked about Rachel's disappearance and the Run/Walk for Rachel. We are trying to be a guest on all of the local television stations' morning shows by Tuesday April 23.

On April 23 at midnight the on-line web registrations will be closed. After that, people will have to register at the Run/Walk event on April 27 or come by the RunTex store on Riverside or the new RunTex store in Round Rock April 25 or 26 to register.

Two months after I started contacting Rachel's creditors I have still gotten nowhere. They won't even freeze her account because I am a third party. One company responded with a letter stating. "Dear Mr. Cooke, First and foremost I am sorry to hear about your daughter's disappearance. This must be a hard time for you and your family ..." It goes on to say "In order to protect Rachel Cooke's privacy, I am unable to discuss information with anyone but Rachel Cooke without permission." Her permission? How would I receive that?

At least they acknowledged my phone calls and letters. Another company just ignores the calls and letters, sending Rachel a notice every single week stating: "Dear Rachel L. Cooke., Your xxxxx account is seriously past due. Our attempts to contact you regarding this past due account have been unsuccessful."

Did they not receive three phone calls from me and a Williamson County Sheriff's Department letter explaining things? Also, how hard did they try to contact her? I never saw them on a search with us or posting reward flyers. It's enough to drive a person crazy.

At least I had time to finish the missing days of my journal before February 24. All of those entries will be posted soon. Several people have expressed their feelings to me that I should write a book about our experiences involving Rachel's abduction. KVUE has been really great to post my entries, but I still retain ownership of the journal. I am thinking about a book or other publication to help others like us but I have a more important task to do, finding my daughter.

Tuesday, April 16

Things are coming together for the Run/Walk for Rachel. The bags for the bib numbers and information sheets, arrived today. The bibs or numbers should come on Friday. The T-shirts will be ready on Friday or early next week.

We are up to 180 registrations now. I would like to break 500 by this time next week. Many stores now have the registration flyers available. Almost all of the sporting goods and running stores have them.

We need more competitive runners! Only a handful have registered. The odds of winning one of the 3 medals in each age group is very high.

I have decided to let 12-year-olds run in the 13-15 year-old group. So that group will contain 12 to 15-year-olds. I don't think anyone will object to this. Any 12-year-olds that want to run the competitive race are now welcome. After all, many 12-year-olds will be running junior high track and cross country next year.

Janet took the property maps of Williamson County to be copied. We will use those maps to direct search teams.

Wednesday, April 17

Today was a hard day. Sometimes I get so involved in the search for Rachel and the other things that we are doing I don't take the time to fully grieve. Today I kept remembering that she was really missing and I am still helpless to get her back.

Someone asked me recently if it was getting any easier. I told them that it wasn't getting easier; in fact, it's getting harder the longer this goes on. I think I've said this before but I will repeat it. You can never heal from something like this. You only learn to live with the pain.

Some good things did happen today. I talked to both KXAN and NEWS 8 AUSTIN and will appear on their morning shows next week. Sunday morning I will be on KXAN between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. Friday morning I will be a guest on NEWS 8 AUSTIN sometime after 9:00 a.m.

I talked for a few minutes with my good friend Roberto. He works for IBM in Rome, Italy. We have worked on many projects together and have become good friends. He said that all of my Italian friends there are concerned and are trying to keep up with the news about Rachel. I sent him a link to the kvue.com site so they can read my journal. Many of them have expressed their sorrow to him that they could not be here helping with the search.

IBM is sponsoring a newspaper advertisement in the AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN this Sunday, April 21. The Run/Walk for Rachel ad will be in the sports section. IBM has stayed in the background on this, but believe me when I say that they have been helping my family. I really appreciate their help and understanding.

Some friends and co-workers are just now talking to me and sending me e-mails. They didn't really know how to approach me or what to say. I can fully understand that. It's a difficult situation for everyone.

Thursday, April 18

Today was a better day. My morale was higher and I was able to concentrate on things.

This morning we met with the sheriff's department. They gave us an update on the case. There are still some leads they are investigating.

I have the maps copied and ready for Sunday's search. Hopefully enough people will show up to form two or three small teams. We will begin "filling in the gaps" that I found after marking all of the other searches.

We received a sound system rental donation today for the Run/Walk for Rachel on April 27. That saves us the expense of renting one. Janet only had to ask a few places before the donated use of one was offered.

Tomorrow a large group of us will meet at my parents' house and stuff the Run/Walk bags. The bibs will arrive today, completing the list of items needed for the bags.

Friday, April 19

My wife, Janet ,spent the day distributing Run/Walk for Rachel registration flyers to area stores. She met the head coach of the new Austin Knights football team and several of his players. She said it was very touching because they all knew about Rachel and lined up to shake her hand.

I put together the search maps and instructions for this Sunday's search. We should be able to cover several of the roads that I identified as still unsearched.

Saturday, April 20

My wife Janet and I were guest on the KVUE Daybreak show. (Click here to watch the Cookes' Saturday morning appearance on KVUE's Daybreak) Bianca Balogh is the host, and we know her. She has covered several of the stories KVUE has done on Rachel's disappearance. We talked about the continuing searches and the Run/Walk for Rachel.

After leaving KVUE, Janet and I drove to my parents' house. Seventeen friends and family members met there to stuff the Run/Walk for Rachel bags. We stuffed over 1,500 bags. I will do another 500 bags myself before Friday.

We are scheduled to appear on other television and radio programs in the next week. I will be on KXAN's morning show tomorrow morning between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. Monday I will be on KGSR radio between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. Janet will be on KEYE's morning show Tuesday morning between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. Friday I will be on NEWS 8 AUSTIN between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m.

It will be a busy week, concluding on Saturday with the Run/Walk for Rachel.

Sunday, April 21

I appeared on the KXAN morning news show today around 8:20. That went pretty well. I guess I'm getting used to being on camera now.

Twelve people came for today's search. We divided into two teams of six and searched from 1:30 p.m. until around 6:00 p.m. We didn't find anything but at least I can mark those areas as complete now.

Monday, April 22

I forgot to mention that on Sunday's search my cousin Lanny walked right up to a rattlesnake. I think I'm going to have to invest in some shin guards to protect the searchers. I don't want anyone else to get hurt on the searches. We already had one man fall down a cliff, and a search dog got hit by a car.

This morning I was on KGSR, Mix 93.3 and Oldies 103 talking about Rachel's disappearance and the Run/Walk for Rachel. Everyone at the radio stations was concerned. When people realize that it could happen to anyone, they become concerned.

The Capital 10K is donating a lot of their leftover water to the Run/Walk for Rachel. This will allow us to put up one or two more water stations. It's starting to get hot, and we want everyone to get enough to drink. Both HEB and Wildfire restaurant are donating plenty of ice for the event.

This Sunday Police Chief Deborah Brown from Southwestern University will be holding another women's self-defense class. She will teach a beginner session at 2:00 p.m., followed by an advanced session at 3:00 p.m. My wife, Janet, and I are both attending. The donations received will go into the Rachel Cooke Reward Fund.

The classes will be held at Southwestern University, but I don't have a building name yet. I will add that to my journal later this week.

Unfortunately, with the Run/Walk on Saturday and the self-defense classes on Sunday I will not be able to do a search this weekend. That bothers me a little, but the self-defense classes may help another female get away from someone like the person who took Rachel.

Maybe they could identify the person, too. It's time to get those animals off of the street! It's time for them to be scared! It's time for them to go to jail!

I want to share something my friend Sara wrote to the editors of local newspapers. The AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN printed it yesterday in their Letters to the Editor section but they trimmed it down a bit. Here is the entire letter:

Dear Austin American-Statesman,

Rachel Cooke has still not been found. Everyone in this community must stay aware there is a predator in our midst and there is still a missing teenager who has not been seen in over three months.

We need to stay aware of the circumstances surrounding Rachel's disappearance and be cognizant of the fact that last year in Texas alone there were over 71,000 missing persons reports filed. Statistics such as these are staggering, and we need to send a powerful message to anyone capable of such heinous acts that we as a society will have "zero tolerance" and will hunt down and prosecute predators to the fullest extent of the law.

The fight and search for Rachel Cooke is not over. Refusing to feel victimized, the Cooke family and their league of supporters have channeled their frustration and grief into feverish work to both continue their search for Rachel and to help others protect themselves and their loved ones. For those interested, there are easy ways to learn more by accessing Rachel's web site www.rachelcookesearch.org.

A Run/Walk for Rachel is being held at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock on April 27th. I encourage everyone to attend and bring their loved ones to help support the search effort and pay homage to this missing child, her family, and the many heroic volunteers who are helping them through this tragedy.

Sara S.

Tuesday, April 23

Another busy day preparing for the Run/Walk for Rachel. Coworker Trey and I picked up several gallons of water that were left over from the Capital 10K. We now have enough water for over 1,000 people.

I worked on the information sheets for the registration tables on Run/Walk day and the pre-registration tables at the RunTex stores on Riverside and La Frontera in Round Rock this Thursday and Friday. My sister Elaine helped me make sure the instructions were complete enough.

The T-shirts were not ready today. I was hoping to get them so they could be given to the pre-registration volunteers tonight. I will have to run them by both RunTex stores on Thursday morning.

I did get the course map posted on rachelcookesearch.org today. I also made some copies for the pre-registration tables and to post on Saturday. The Georgetown coaches marked the course today.

Wednesday, April 24

NEWS 8 came out to my office to do a quick interview about Rachel's disappearance and the Run/Walk for Rachel. The reporter said the station would run the interview tape every hour. Hopefully that will bring in more Run/Walkers.

The journal entries will be short the next few days because I will be very busy with the Run/Walk for Rachel. I'll try and fill in what I left out next week.

Thursday, April 25

I took the day off and delivered the T-shirts for the Run/Walk for Rachel to both the Round Rock and Riverside RunTex stores. The whole day consisted of making sure that everything was lined up for Saturday.

We currently have 412 people registered for the Run/Walk. If the weather is good, we might break 1,000 entries.

Friday, April 26

Today was a very busy day. First, my wife Janet and I drove into Austin and interviewed at News 8. Then, we rented a truck and picked up some things from RunTex for the Run/Walk for Rachel. We also visited both RunTex stores where we had representatives selling pre-registrations for the Run/Walk.

I then went home and organized some last minute things for Saturday. Later in the evening, all of the team leads for the race met at Old Settlers Park to set up the finish lines and talk about the various assignments.

We didn't break 500 entries for the Run/Walk today as I had hoped. If the weather holds up tomorrow, we will get a few hundred more entries.

Saturday, April 27

Rachel's boyfriend Greg and I got up at 4:30 this morning. He flew in from San Diego yesterday and spent the night with us. We loaded up the U-Haul truck with some last minute items and drove to Old Settlers Park in Round Rock for the Run/Walk for Rachel.

As soon as we arrived at Old Settlers Park, we started unloading the truck. Soon after, Janet and her friends Carol and Brian drove up and they set up the sound system for the Run/Walk. My brother-in-law Bob and friend Michael came next and helped with the rest of the unloading, hanging of signs and other tasks.

About 60 other volunteers began to arrive and we set up the registration tables and the food and water areas. By 7:15 a.m., people began to arrive to register for the competitive run at 9:00. By 7:30 a.m., we had the registration tables open. That was 30 minutes ahead of schedule!

Outback Steakhouse in Round Rock brought their cooking trailer and began to grill the chicken for lunch. We opened the special events trailer donated by Coca-Cola and iced down the Dr. Pepper donated by Dr. Pepper Company.

Our friend Barbara brought the Rachel Board and we set it up. Greg and I made a videotape last night of the INSIDE EDITION story, Rachel's song in the 2000 Miss Georgetown Pageant and other news and personal video clips. I set up a television and let that tape play all morning. Throughout the morning, I saw many people looking at the Rachel Board and the television. I think it helped people feel like they know Rachel better.

Before the competitive race, Janet read her poem, "Rachel." Pastor Selle from Faith Lutheran Church said a prayer and my cousin Charlotte sang the national anthem. I had registered Rachel for the competitive race and assigned bib number one to her. I told the runners that Rachel would be running in spirit with them.

Our daughter JoAnn shot the starting gun, and they were off. Fifteen minutes later I heard the announcement that the first runner was approaching the finish line. Janet and I were there to cheer the runners in. We had 173 competitive runners ranging from 12 to over 70 years of age. Joe Gonzales was the overall male winner and Lynn Doelger was the overall female winner. I will post the race results on the rachelcookesearch.org site tomorrow.

We delayed the start of the non-competitive run/walk until 10:15 so all of the competitive runners could finish. JoAnn read her poem about Rachel, my brother David said a prayer and Charlotte sang again. I joined the run/walkers. JoAnn shot the gun again and we were off. I didn't time myself but I think it took over an hour to finish the 3.2 miles. It was a lot harder walking the cross county course than walking on city streets. I have a new respect for the runners that compete there.

I finished the walk. I stopped for a minute and talked to Janet. After leaving her, I looked down the hill toward the pavilion area and saw hundreds of people eating the chicken caesar salad provided by Outback Steakhouse. At that moment I knew that we had done it. We had succeeded in honoring Rachel in a run/walk and keeping her in the news, and we had done it well.

I want to thank everyone who helped with the Run/Walk for Rachel by donating their time, money, food, water, advertising and other items. I want to especially thank those who participated in the run/walk. We honored Rachel in a big way. We don't have our loving daughter Rachel with us anymore, but I felt her presence today.

Sunday, April 28

This morning I started updating the rachelcookesearch.org site with the results from yesterday's Run/Walk for Rachel. My friend Joe e-mailed the results to RunTex and the Austin American-Statesman .

I checked my e-mail and had received a letter from Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Winfield, Alabama. They are saying Mass in Rachel's honor today. What wonderful people. I know that God will return Rachel to us.

At 2:00 p.m., my wife Janet and I attended the M.U.S.T. women's defense class at Southwestern University. Campus Police Chief Deborah Brown teaches women how to not be a victim. This includes both physical defense and awareness of ones surroundings. Simple things are taught such as, you see a suspicious man, look straight at him. He then knows that you have his description and he will probably will move on to another potential victim or give up completely.

After the M.U.S.T class, I drove home to pick up Rachel's boyfriend Greg. He had to fly back to San Diego today. He is an outstanding young man. Janet and I will miss him.

Tomorrow I will start getting ready for next weekend's three day search. We are reopening the search center at Faith Lutheran Church in Georgetown and I have invited Texas EquuSearch to assist us.

It's been a busy month but I did get a little time to relax yesterday. There is still a lot more work to do. We must find Rachel!

Monday, April 29

The search center at Faith Lutheran Church in Georgetown will be reopened this Friday afternoon until the end of the day on Sunday. We are asking for search volunteers and bottled water. Friday we will begin the searches at noon. Saturday and Sunday the walking searchers will meet at 8:00 a.m. and horseback searchers at 9:00 a.m. We will try and be done by 6:00 p.m. each night.

Search teams will go out all day so, if you can't be there at 8:00 a.m. come anytime before 2:00 PM. The actual searches usually last two to four hours. Faith Lutheran is on Williams Drive in Georgetown. Take Exit 261A from I-35 and travel west on Williams Drive 2.4 miles.

We will need walkers, horseback riders and 4-wheelers on Saturday and Sunday. Friday we will only need walking searchers.

I took the remaining medals for the Run/Walk for Rachel to the RunTex Round Rock store in La Frontera. People who had to leave before the medal ceremony may pick up their medals there. I would like to congratulate all of the winners. I was very pleased to be able to give a medal to a winner yesterday when I was at RunTex.

My sister Elaine is arranging for search and volunteer forms to be printed for this weekend's search. Texas EquuSearch has redesigned the forms to make them easier to use and organize.

I marked the latest searches on the map last night. Wednesday night my cousin Lanny and friends Robert S. and Kent will come over and we will plan the first searches for Friday.

Tuesday, April 30

Several people have contacted us about Run/Walk for Rachel awards. They may be picked up at the RunTex store in Round Rock.

My sister Elaine dropped off the volunteer and search forms to be copied. I will pick them up tomorrow afternoon. A local store is donating 10 large yellow ribbons to put up at the search center this weekend. They will be moved to our neighborhood after that and placed along Rachel's jogging route. Some of the existing ribbons are wearing out.

I separated several Run/Walk for Rachel shirts for Austin Girl Scout Troop 563 and Anderson High School students that volunteered at the Run/Walk. They deserve them! Students from Georgetown, Johnston and Anderson High Schools all helped. We could not have done the event without them.

I went to bed early tonight. As it turns out, another body was discovered in Travis County and was headlined on the 10:00 p.m. newscasts. Janet and I missed that report. It was for the better.