The Journey: A Little Return Trip to
Mineola
Tuesday, May 29 – Friday, June 1, 2012
Tuesday, May 29
We had an
unbelievable amount of fun while visiting “back east,” on this trip, but all
good things must come to an end, and today was the end for us.
On our way
out of town, we stopped by Mike’s office to say goodbye. The office complex is situated on the edge of
Brandermill Lake and has a beautiful view of the water and surrounding
woods. You know us...beautiful scenery
and a handy camera just scream out, “Take some pictures!”
Mike was in
the middle of a busy morning, but did take time to join us for a few minutes of
fun before we said goodbye. He went back
to work and we headed off to find some breakfast and hit the road for the day.
Our route for
today took us down I-95 down to Petersburg before we picked up I-85 through
Virginia and into North Carolina.
We stopped at
the first rest area in North Carolina to take a stretch and comfort break, and
to give me a few minutes to get in some trumpet practice. The music drew a few folks to see what was
going on and we got to visit a few minutes with fellow travelers (and Barbara
got to play around with the camera for a bit).
After packing
the trumpet away, we continued our journey through North Carolina until we
reached Gaston County, where I began my teaching career in 1970.
I had made
arrangements to stay overnight in Gastonia, hoping to revisit places with
special memories of years past. The plan
worked for a while, as, after checking in at the Best Western, we drove out to
Stanley so I could show Barbara my first school building.
We arrived on
the campus (now Stanley Middle School) and went inside so I could introduce
myself to the principal and ask about walking around the building. Unfortunately, the principal was busy with a
parent conference, but a man who introduced himself as the custodian asked if
he could help. I explained to him
(learned his name was Rodney) that this was where I began my teaching
career. Before I could even finish what
I needed to say, Rodney asked if we wanted to see the band room. Now, I learned many years ago that the way to
get anything in a school is to go straight to the top...the custodian or the
secretary, depending on the need. Once
again, this plan paid off.
Rodney took us to the band room, where
I first began pretending to be a band director in the fall of 1970, and gave us
free run of the place as he filled us in on recent history. Barbara had me stage a few shots (on the
podium, in the library, and other places around the room) and we came up with
this collage.
The memories
came flooding back as I thought of those early days of teaching and the
students and fellow teachers who taught me what it means to be a teacher.
It was
starting to sprinkle as we left the school, but I wanted to drive over to
Clippard’s Carpets to try to see Steve Clippard, one of the first students I
had at Stanley High School.
Unfortunately for us, Steve was out cutting hay, so I left a note to let
him know that he was sorry he missed us.
As we left the building, the skies opened up and the rain came pouring
down, ending any hopes of visiting other important sites (Springfield School and
North Belmont School, where I started my first beginners, and East Gaston High
School, where Stanley High School and Mt. Holly High School were consolidated
in 1972).
After letting
our food settle for a while, we crossed the parking lot to Cracker Barrel to
see what they had that we couldn’t live without. It turned out that they had several must-buy
items, including a T-shirt that was imprinted with “Got Freedom...Thank a
Veteran!” that we just had to purchase.
We also found some really nice “Welcome” stones to take to our neighbors
in Mineola.
The rest of
the evening was spent just vegging out in the room, catching up on email and Facebook
and doing as little as possible.
+++++++
Wednesday, May 30
We were up
fairly early this morning...enjoyed a bit of breakfast from the hotel breakfast
bar, loaded the car, and set out down I-85 with Atlanta in our sights. Unfortunately, the gods of travel must have
sensed our desire to get to Atlanta as soon as possible and set out impediments
such as more actual road repair than we had seen in the entire trip, as well as
unexplainably long traffic jams that suddenly disappeared after several miles
of creeping, three-lane lines of cars and trucks.
We finally
made it into the thick of the Atlanta area and, with the traffic gods seemingly
somewhat in our favor, found all the exits we needed to negotiate from I-85 to I-285,
to I-675, and then to A Golden Corral restaurant in Stockbridge.
The short
term goal for the day was to have lunch with our friends Bob and Nell, who live
in nearby Morrow, a suburb of Atlanta.
Like Rod and Ruth, the friends who came to visit us at Mike and Kelly’s
home, we first met Bob and Nell when we went to Lady Lake, Florida, on our
first church-building project. The six
of us became fast friends and try to get together at every opportunity, whether
a building project in Tennessee or visits in one of the homes.Before Bob and Nell arrived, I called nephew Gary Dan Little to see what he was up to. Gary recently got a job with Delta Airlines and was hard at work when I called. It turned out that we were only about ten miles from his house, but because of the short amount of time we had, a visit this time was out of the question. But, we now know where Gary and his family live and we can hopefully schedule some time with them the next time we are in the Atlanta area.
We made a
couple of stops along the way...at Cracker Barrel locations, where we were
still looking for Air Force t-shirts and caps, and rest areas where we could
stretch our legs and, well, rest for a bit.
When we got
to Birmingham, we stopped to call Cousin Donnie to see if we could get together
for a few minutes, but he and his daughter Kaitlyn were on the far northeast
side of the city and we were in the far southwest quadrant, about an hour away
from each other. We talked for a few
minutes, promised to see each other when Donnie and Lynnette come out to
Mineola in July, and then Barbara and I headed on down the highway to
Tuscaloosa, our chosen “home’ for the night.
The hotel
wasn’t much to look at on the exterior...it was by far the oldest of the Best
Westerns we stayed in along the way, but we soon found that outside appearances
can be very deceiving. The service and
atmosphere in the office area far exceeded that of any of the other places we
stayed, and the recently reconditioned/remodeled rooms left nothing to be
desired. We gave the people and the
place the highest recommendation possible!
Once we were
moved into the room, we made the executive decision to go across the parking
lot to O’Charley’s, get a couple of salads to go, and returned to the room to
have a delicious meal and while away the evening without a care in the world.
+++++++
Thursday, May 31
Wow...the last day of May! Where has the time gone!!!
We started
the morning by packing our stuff, loading the car, and then enjoying a
leisurely breakfast in the hotel’s breakfast bar. The check-out experience was as efficient and
friendly as when we checked in yesterday, and soon we were in the car and beginning
another leg of the journey home to Mineola.
For the first
time in this three-week trip, we had highway rain, but it was never bad enough
to slow us down or tie up traffic...just one shower after another as we crossed
Alabama and moved into Mississippi.
We still
wanted to get an Air Force shirt and/or cap, so we made it a point to stop at
the Cracker Barrel stores along the way.
We weren’t in any hurry today and the breaks were very pleasant. It wasn’t until we got nearly all the way
across Mississippi that we finally found the shirt we wanted.
We took a
short break at Vicksburg, one of our favorite cities and a location loaded with
Civil War history. Then, we crossed the
Mississippi River (which is down considerably from its normal stage) into Louisiana
to make the final run to our destination for the night, a new Holiday Inn
Express in Bossier City, where we enjoyed a great buffet dinner (I got my fill
of delicious shrimp and even, in a moment of shear gluttony, enjoyed some
Chinese food before deciding that I could quit then and walk away, or take
another bite and be carried out).
+++++++
Friday, June 1
On this last
day of the journey, we just piddled the morning away and then, around noon, got
away from the Shreveport/Bossier City area and began the final leg of the trip
to Mineola.
Oh yes, the
bare facts of the trip: We were gone for 23 days, traveled 3,967 miles through
17 states and the District of Columbia, and memories beyond number...what a
journey!!!
+++++++
“All journeys have
secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber
Back home
again in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps
and Barbara/Mom/Grams