Good evening, I haven't written a journal for this trip and started not to do one tonight, but I know I will regret it if I don't. My memory is a fleeting thing and having a journal to refer back to is nice.
Day 1, 6/30/23
So Friday Jack was off, but I had to work til noon. He got out of the shower and had his glasses broke when he went to put them on, so he spent the morning getting new frames and packing. I had a client meeting and by 1 we were in the car and headed out.
We had a fairly uneventful drive, though the traffic was bad in a few spots. Holiday weekend, rain, and Atlanta does not make the best combination, but it could have been worse. We got to Cleveland TN around 6 PM and had dinner at Smokey Bones before heading over to see Brian.
Brian and his wife bought a new place in Cleveland a bit ago so after eating we stopped by to see it and just visit for a bit. It's a beautiful piece of property. They also have 3 dogs that are friendly and shed a lot! I looked like a dog by the time I left, but the pets were nice and lint rollers are standard carry for us with the cats.
We then headed to Donald's but we took a detour to look at some land in Decatur TN. Not for us, but it was a nice little side trip. We finally made it to Donald's around 11:15 - I thought I might die on some of the roads coming this way. Sheer drop-offs, at night, and Jack was driving. I have control issues and don't do well when others drive a lot of the time - it was harrowing, to say the least, and I may or may not have pinched the seat with my rear end a few times. :) But we made it.
Day 2, Saturday 7/1
We woke up around 9ish and Sherry cooked breakfast. We had eggs, sausage, gravy, and biscuits. True southern breakfast. Don't plan to lose weight up here, that is for sure! We then drove down to Jericho and walked around the little vendor fair they have, and went into a hardware store that has a museum. Now, when I say it has a museum... Donald went in and asked the owner if he would open it as it is closed. It was a room over to the side, well really a very large size of a storefront with an upstairs with a bunch of old stuff. It had been closed up and had that smell. I'm not really a history person, but it would have been interesting if you were. They did however have a resident cat that needed some good pets.
After that, we meandered down the street a bit. I had my camera hanging off of me and some guy asked if I'd take his picture. Odd, but ok... We continued on. It was an enjoyable morning of strolling, letting Donald share his town and just being. No stress, just being. We did get a homemade lemonade from the stand which was good.
We then drove up over the interstate and pulled off this section that has a great view of the valley. We sat on the wall and took some pictures. It wasn't on the interstate, but a section of road right off of the exit ramp you can pull off onto. The view was amazing and you could see Donald's house down in the valley.
Donald then took me (Jack stayed at his house) down to a neighbor's. He filled up spring water in water jugs from her spring pump. She lets them for free and apparently, it taste amazing :) The neighbor also showed me their fish pond. This woman came out, without us calling ahead, and greeted us. Not to mention giving Donald water. She was genuinely happy (or faked it well) to see us and made it a point to feed the fish so I could see them. They have a nice place and the fish were neat. She has huge goldfish, brim, bass, and well... it was just cool. But more than the pond the friendly nature of her and I guess people in general here just blows my mind. Hint - don't show up at my house without calling first. I need to be more like this woman, but I doubt I'll ever get there.
We then came back home and just relaxed. I took a nap, hung out on the porch, had some burgers, and just visited. One of their friends came for dinner and we played a version of Spade's I'm going to call Spades-EZ because to call it Spades is a front to the game, but it was fun. Basically, the mechanics are the same with Spades being trump but you don't bid. The first team to win 7 books wins the round and the first team to win 5 rounds wins the game.
At some point during the day we ran to the store to grab a bell pepper; it's about 10 minutes drive to the Save A Lot. I was checking out and the man in front of me just started chatting. I assumed to the cashier but later realized he was talking to me. He was inviting me to the cookout at the park; where they are raising money for the rescue squad. The cashier then informed him she would be donating 10 pounds of chili the next day for it... You wonder why I type this, but can I tell you in 42 years no one has ever randomly invited me to come to something (in a noncreepy way :) hee). It is just how it is up here, everyone is friendly and neighborly.
Overall it was a great, relaxing day.
Day 3 - Sunday 7/2/23
We got up this morning and headed to church. They go to a small Church of God here. The service was nice but not at all like what I'm used to. They don't really have planned singing. People choose what song they want to sing on the fly and they do performances.... it was unique. That lasted about an hour. Then the preaching. He spoke for about an hour and I'm not sure he took a breath the entire time. I know he preached on Saul, the conversion on the Damascus road, took a detour to Noah building the ark, and ended up somewhere with Lazurus and hell. I got lost... 2 hours after we started the service it was over and I headed outside. Not my style, but nothing seemed unbiblical and if they are reaching people for Christ I'm all for it. It sounds like they are doing some good outreach work and they have different style churches for a reason; so we can reach different types of people.
We then went to Mexican with Sherri's Son and his family. The food was good. Where we are you have to drive to Williamsburg which is about 30 minutes down the road to eat Mexican. It's the loss of convenience with items such as this that make Jack and I question our desire for land in the country, but then we look around at the beauty... a good thing we don't have to decide today.
After lunch, we came back here and I laid down for an hour. When I got up Sherri's Son and family were here. Apparently, it's tradition for them to spend Sundays here visiting; they live about a mile down the road but with work, they really only see each other once a week. A bit before 6 they went to church for the evening service, Jack, myself, and their grandson decided to stay here.
After they left her cousin Joyce popped by to check in...just popped by. I told her I'd let them know. We hung out on the porch for a bit and then Jack and I decided to go for a drive.
We went to the dollar store to buy their kitten, Tiger some toys. He is 6 weeks, if he's that, and is so sweet. He was weaned way too early and still tries to suckle you if he gets sleepy or hungry. It's a sweet thing though - when it isn't demon possessed trying to eat my arm. I absolutely adore him had have played with him pretty much any and all the time.
We then decided just to drive around. It's really pretty up here and it was nice. We ended up on a dirt road that was really a road with a name. I kept thinking it would connect back but apparently, it goes all the way to another town so we eventually turned around. The nature here is gorgeous, but there is a pretty big disparity between the homes. You will see a big fine home next to a single-wide that is not well taken care of and is full of junk, next to a double-wide that is obviously cherished and loved. It's different... and I wonder how well the property value holds. I wouldn't want to buy a 3000-square-foot house next to a trailer with trash strewn everywhere but it is common here.
We got back to Donald's around 8:30. Sherry's son and family were here as well. We ate fried green tomatoes, Donald and I played cards, I played with the cat and we basically had a quiet evening. Family randomly visiting and eating whatever out of the fridge is weird to me but seems to be the norm here...
At 11 I came into the bedroom to do my journal and call it a night. They were still playing chess and visiting...
A different way of life up here... better in many respects, but different.
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