Saturday, April 9…PM
After saying our good-byes to Mike, Kelly, and Ava, Jim and I began our short journey over to Rod and Ruth’s home which is on Lake Anna. Since it’s only an hour and a half or so from Mike and Kelly’s and we knew Rod and Ruth were in Richmond picking up our Georgia friends, Bob and Nell, speed was not an issue, which turned out to be a good thing since we decided we really needed a short catnap. Pulling into a rest area right outside of Richmond, we accomplished that mission without interruption. Upon calling Rod and Ruth to see where they were, we found that as we napped they passed by and were just a few moments ahead of us. Hitting the road, it took us no time to join our wonderful friends for 2 nights of visiting and laughing!
When friends are together, words are not needed…
The setting and characters for day 1!
Sunday, April 10
After attending a wonderful Sunday school and church service together at the Rhodes Baptist Church, we all headed back to the house to have lunch before touring the country side. Actually, Nell and I were interested in doing some souvenir shopping while the other 4 just tagged along to keep us company!
Jim and I deliberately planned a slow day for our first leg of the journey home…we made it to Bristol, Tennessee, where we hunkered down for a leisurely evening.
Tuesday, April 12
Today’s objective…make it to Birmingham, Alabama where we would spend the night with Jim’s cousin Donnie and his wife Lynette.
Along the way, we saw a sign that said “Chattanooga Choo-Choo Station” and couldn’t resist the opportunity to check it out. What a deal! Now, it’s for sure on our “bucket list” and as MacArthur said, “I will return!”
Since Lynette and Donnie were at work, we didn’t have to be in any big rush; so somewhere along the way, we stopped at a roadside park for Jim to practice his Easter cantata music.
The next morning, we travelled and travelled and travelled some more, eventually arriving in Shreveport, where we met up with Joyce and Gary. As always, it was fun to catch up with each other’s lives and show off grandchildren pics, especially Ava this time!
We also decided to stay put another day since we knew that there would be no more vacation time in the foreseeable future. After all, we were in “exotic” Shreveport with good friends and we all felt that a last fling was in order.
Once good-byes were said, we began our final leg of an almost 3 week journey. In those 20 days we drove over 4,000 miles…saw many friends, former students, family, and a brand-new granddaughter! And, even had time to take some side trips that weren't planned such as the Marine museum and Chattanooga Choo-Choo. How fun was that?
Before returning to Mineola we stopped in Lindale to visit Edith at the nursing home. Of course, sharing memories and photos occupied a lot of time!
“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” -G. K. Chesterton
Back home in Mineola and blissfully unaware of the challenges we were getting ready to face.
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams
