Friday afternoon (holiday weekend) traffic. I'm not meant to be driver. If i
were, I'm afraid i may be overcome with roadrage. Anyway, back to story. So
traveling with troy is good for our relationship because we have nothing to
do but to talk. It allowed both of us to drop some of the guards we've both
put up and share what was resting on our hearts. Troy is a great thinker,
truly an introvert. Definitely a 'think-do-think' person, and I often times
fall under the 'do-think-do' catergory. He tends to over think everything,
and I tend to just do things, then think about the consequences. And yet
somehow it all works out beautifully on this adventure together.
Friday we delivered the freight about midnight thirty. While Troy was
taking care of the paperwork, I was trying to catch a few winks of sleep,
but it's pretty hard when the canisters are being moved around in the
trailer. After being unloaded we drove another 25 minutes to a truck stop in
Lebanon Junction. We were so tired by the time we go there. I admit, I'm not
a night owl. I got a new phrase this weekend from a friend a Troy named
John, 'i'm a solar person' = i function best during the daylight hours. I
hadn't heard that phrase before, but that pretty much sums me up.
On Saturday we got up about 9.30. The hardest part for me when I'm trucking
with Troy is that we don't have a shower. I'm so used to getting up,
dragging myself to the shower, and waking up as the hot water hits my body.
It's not the same without a shower. Baby wipes just don't cut it. But one
thing was good, we had McD's for breakfast, and they had bagels. Not sure
why some of the McD's are getting rid of the bagels, but those are my
favorites.
As we were getting close to Bowling Green, Troy and I started talking about
the National Corvette Museum <http://www.corvettemuseum.com/> . He had
pointed it out on the way on Friday, but we didn't really discuss much about
it. After some convincing, Troy consented to going with me to check out some
sweet rides. The Museum was really cool. Enjoyed seeing the old cars, the
new cars, and some history behind them. It's well worth the price of the
ticket to stop in and visit. I highly recommend it to anyone with any
interest in cars.
Troy was telling me a story about John, a good friend of his from Texas, who
once tried to convince Troy to stop and visit the Corvette Museum with him,
but Troy had other obligations at the time. I tried to call John, but his
voicemail came on right away. A few minutes later, John called back. Troy
and he were talking for a while, then Troy asked, 'Where are you?' John
responded that he was near Nashville and heading north. It turned out we
were about 30 minutes away from each other. We all met at Cracker Barrell
and enjoyed some good food and great conversation. John pulled out his phone
and was showing us lots of pictures of his family and house. It was fun
meeting John in person, after talking with him a couple of times on the
phone.
After a couple of hours it was time for all of us to get back on the
highway. Troy and I headed south, and John continued north. But our time on
the highway didn't last that long. We drove for about 1.5 hours before I
managed to convince Troy that we should get a hotel for the night. I love
staying in hotels. Hotels bring back some good memories for me. We called
ahead to a motel in Mancheter, TN, to get the prices, availability, and if
they had truck parking. First one i called had all three, so that was my
answer. I went inside the motel to see where they wanted Troy to park his
truck. It's not always the easiest thing to find places for an 18 wheeler.
The lady at the counter told me that we could park our truck in front of the
hotel. So i looked outside, pointed at Troy and said, 'I need to go and
tell 'that guy' where to park his truck.' As i was walking towards the door,
i realized how trashy that sounded, so i tried to cover my tracks and
responded, ''that guy' is my husband'. The lady just kinda smiled and said,
'uh huh'. It's a really funny story. So now Troy's nickname has become 'that
guy'.
First thing i did was get a shower. How glorious it feels to be clean again.
Kinda like when I first got back from Africa after enduring cold showers and
bucket baths for 6 months. After cleansing my parts, it was time to go
wondering around the community. We visited a little dinner called Wingers
<http://www.wingers.info/menu.html> . Walked over to Wal-Mart
<http://www.walmart.com/> for some intriguing people watching. Walked
through Shell gas station, then back to the hotel for some tv. After about
an hour of TV, I had a hankering for some Huddle House
<http://www.huddlehouse.com/> . There's so much free entertainment at the
Huddle House. Our waitress was going off about some guy who had behaved
poorly. On our walk back to the motel, there were some people wondering
around this old trains depot with their flashlights. I can spot Geocachers a
mile away! So we walked over to them and asked them about the cache. They
had been in town for some geocaching convention called Geowoodstock
<http://www.geowoodstock.com/> . Next year we're gonna try to make that
event happen. it's going to be held somewhere in the northwest. Anyone up
for the challenge?
In the morning we grabbed some complimentary breakfast on the way out to
door. Troy had to get a decent cup of coffee so we took a little walk over
to Starbucks. Then it was time to drive back to Georgia. We got back to the
Troy's office about 2.30.
On the way back to our place, Troy pursuaded me to try some brasilian food.
We stopped at Carne N' Espeto Brazilian Steak House on Delk Road. It's a
buffet and they cook their meat of an open fire. The meat is quite salty,
but very tender. I had some tenderloin and Troy enjoyed the Chicken. They
offer fried plantains, roasted pinapple with cinnamon, and some other really
great foods. It was a cool experience.
Monday morning we attended a Memorial Day ceremony at the National Cemetery
outside of Canton on highway 20. Highlights of the event: 3 huge military
helicopters which flew by twice, bagpipers playing amazing grace, trumpeters
playing tapps, and a firing canon. I'm really glad we dragged outselves out
of bed in order to get to that ceremony.
After the ceremony we drove to Lake Jackson to spend some time with my
in-laws and our kids. Deanna prepared an amazing meal of ribs, bbq chicken,
corn on the cobb, baked beans, etc. it's was a meal fit for a king. My
mom-in-law is a great cook.
We watched the race for a bit after lunch. It was on and off with the rain
delays. The race had been postponed from the night before due to the rain in
Charlotte.
Michael and I walked down on the dock and were fishing for a bit. He had a
line in the water with a worm on it, and i pulled it out of the water to see
if it had any bait left, and when i pulled it out, it had a fish on it. So i
guess i caught a fish. Somewhere Micheal and I were talking about going
swimming. And the next thing i knew he was daring me to jump in. So i
unloaded my pockets and just dove in. He wasn't sure what to say. He
couldn't believe that I jumped in. I had to pursuade him that the water was
warm and that it was ok for him to get into the water, too. Alex and Drew,
my nephew, decided to join us. We had a great time.
