Category: cool things!

Well, I’ve been back from the road for a week, now. Back to work, back to most of the habits and some of the chores as before. The last leg of the trip was uneventful, a mere 200 miles in clear weather. Just finished unpacking (I never claimed to be fast at the chores!) and putting stuff away. While doing so, I’ve been thinking about my life, before and after the trip. Living for a month with just the contents of my car has made me realize just how much extraneous stuff I have. A lot of things that have pleasant memories associated with them, and a lot of books that are out of print, but mostly it’s just a bunch of “stuff.” It’s time to get rid of a lot of it, starting this weekend. Fortunately, the trip seems to have given me a lot more energy, but unfortunately, not any more time, so this project will likely take several weekends. But, as I said many times on the road, when trying something new, “what the hey?”

Made it to Middlesboro successfully, just in time to be almost washed away by a huge downpour from a thunderstorm. It came over the mountain and pounced on the town like some huge monster. Fortunately it was short-lived, and I managed to make it into a fast-food place to eat while the storm flailed about the valley. Today I got up, checked out, and went up to the cemetery out on the edge of town and put fresh flowers on my parent’s grave. Later I was able to locate one of my old friends, as well as some friends on the staff at the local library where I worked decades ago (okay, during the Ford administration). Had a pretty good time catching up on what’s been happening (or not happening) in the old hometown. Headed up into Virginia, and gazed at the incredible scenery along Highway 58 in Lee County. Almost painfully beautiful, green rolling hills, wide farms, laying at the foot of the mountains. *Sigh.* Words fail.

My friend Michelle at the library pointed me to the local real estate paper to get an idea of prices and availability of property in the area (thanks, Michelle! Man, you find some smart people at the library!) One of these days, I’m going to get some old farmland or other good piece of property in the area, and set up my retirement place. The DC Metro area may be where I have all my stuff, but the mountains are where my heart is.

I left the area, and made it up into Virginia, up to Harrisonburg. Ran into more rain, of course. Turns out there was a storm cell that actually kept up with me as I drove from Roanoke up I-81. I may not have to wash my car, now!

Tomorrow: Journey’s End!

Well, the rain kept me from being able to see a couple of my great-nephew’s games, and residual alien contamin… er, sinus infection symptoms kept me from seeing the other great-nephew’s games, but overall, I had a good time at my brother’s. Got to see all of his kids but not all of his grandkids, we went to see “Finding Nemo”, had a couple of home-cooked meals, and got 4 of 5 rolls of film developed. Also got a little better illness-wise. Sunday afternoon I drove down to my sister’s home, in Manchester Tennessee, where I’m currently using her cable modem (yay!). Had a very relaxing time, finished (hopefully) recuperating. Had more home cooking (yay!).

Now, I’m getting ready to head to my old hometown, Middlesboro Kentucky, where I hope to see a couple of old friends, check out some property I might want to buy around there, and just generally hang out for a day, before starting the last leg of the trip. If all goes well, I’ll post one more LJ entry from the road, and should pull into Alexandria sometime on Friday, giving me a weekend to get ready for work next Monday.

Well, my luck proceeds apace. I woke up in Granada Mississippi, with a fever and a sinus infection. Yet more confirmation that at least one thing
in my life has to be broken at all times. I scarfed Advil, drove as best I could up the road, thru Memphis (missing the turn to I-240, and, thinking
that I would run across the real I-40, drove on into Arkansas, but eventually getting the right road), and on into Tennessee. I managed to make it to my brother’s house, in White House TN, before collapsing. I managed to roust myself due to the magical effects of the smells of home
cooking (soup beans, cornbread, pickle beets), but such was only temporary. I barely made it into the spare bedroom before I imploded.

Today, I got up and was able to go to a local doctor, who basically said, once I had laid out the symptoms and he had poked, prodded, and
peered to his satisfaction, “looks like you have a sinus infection.” He gave me some new kind of antibiotics (new to me, anyway) that claimed
it only needed to be taken for 5 days. We shall see.

Wait a minute, is it really a sinus infection? Was it really coincidence that my car loses electrical power, so suddenly and at the edge of
nowhere, that I have to spend the night at a hotel that just happens to be where my car dies? And was that really a bunch of high-schoolers,
partying in the next room, and was it really an accident that one of them knocked on my door, thinking it was the party? Were they trying to
make sure that I was there, when they called down the mothership? [CENSORED] aliens and their nasally-inserted tracking devices…

At any rate, I missed Graceland, missed taking a picture of the pyramid in Memphis (kind of neat, seeing it in real life), and missed some other
things. I did get to sit in traffic jams twice, once due to construction, and once due to rush hour.

Tonight (rain permitting): watching my brother’s youngest grandson play pee-wee baseball.