Herb was sick before we left Jacksonville Beach and did not fully recover before we started on our journey. After dinner with Tip he had a relapse. He is feeling terrible. We are headed to Emery, Virginia to hook up with our friends Tony and Emily and then on to a weekend of music at Floydfest. No time to be sick.
Herb slept for a whole day. I drove to Emery while he slept in the car. It was a lovely drive. When we arrived, he went straight to bed. Hopefully he will feel better soon.
We went into the city of Knoxville to visit our friend Tip. He is my hang gliding artist friend that makes the beautiful Leafy T-shirts I wear all the time. It was our farewell visit to his house, “The Brokedown Palace” as he has to move out in October. They are building a Costco on the property. While I was there I saw rabbits, hummingbirds and cardinals in the yard. It is a big, lovely, secret gem in the midst of a busy thoroughfare in town. I can't believe it will soon disappear :(
“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
The next few days were spent just chilling out and enjoying the lake. I started reading “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” in a hammock by the water. Love those lazy days of summer! Ahhhh...
Mike has several acres on the lake. It is a beautiful piece of property complete with an old barn. I can just see music happening there. He is planning on renovating his house, adding a back porch and a large open kitchen as well as a two decker boat dock complete with a slide!. It will be fun to watch all the improvements happen over the years.
On Saturday we had an unexpected surprise. James McMurtry played at the Smokey Mountain Harley Davidson Shed in Maryville, which is only 20 minutes from where we are staying. We had a delicious dinner at Sullivan’s Restaurant and then our friend Tip met us for a rock and roll extravaganza. Party on!
Believe it our not, I actually saw people I knew at The Shed. Matthew and Susan were two excellent volunteers for me at the merch tent at Magfest.
PS I wanted to add the mountains and the barn at the top and then concert pictures at the bottom. It didn't quite work that way. I also wanted to label the folks and let you know that was Mike and Tip with Herb and me. I'll keep practicing.
We arrive at the lake house at 2:00am and promptly fall asleep. I am awakened mid morning to the smell of coffee, bacon and waffles. YUM! I have just lost quite a bit of weight and the challenge for this vacation is to enjoy myself yet keep off the weight. Not
an easy task with “car food snacks”, new restaurants to sample and lovely meals cooked by friends. But one I am certainly up for as I do not want all my hard work to inch its way back on. I had to purchase new clothes for the trip and putting them on each morning will keep me mindful of my goal. So I enjoy half a waffle and then some exercise. Yes, I can do this.
Our day was spent out on the lake tubing and swimming. Too much fun!
It’s officially summer, my favorite time of the year. I am on vacation and the days are lazy, filled with sleeping late mornings, book readings on the beach, boogie boarding in the ocean and mid day movies. It’s also a time for traveling, seeing and discovering new places as well as visiting old friends. For the last four years I have traveled with my gorgeous boyfriend Herb all over the US.
This summer the first plan was to leave in June and drive all the way to California to visit my school chum that just purchased a vineyard and has recently produced his first two bottles of wine. It also included a 5th of July family cookout with musician friends in Marin County. The perfect adventure for me, right? However my school pal and his family are spending the summer with a family in Costa Rica in a Spanish language immersion program, so the west coast is out.
Plan B is now to travel up the east coast, hopefully all the way to Maine and Canada. Our departure time grew later and later as Herb had to deal with rental house woes. One needed a new roof and one needed new tenants and a complete overhaul. That took several weeks, but finally all the work was completed and we could start preparing for our trip.
Departure date is now set for Friday, July 16. First we are heading to Mike’s lake house outside of Knoxville, Tennessee for some jet skiing, boating and fishing. The next stop is a weekend of live music at Floydfest, a beautiful place right off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. That is followed by a visit with Herb’s uncle in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
That is all of the planning we have done so far.
Now traveling with Herb is a delight except for one small teeny tiny thing...he is not always cognizant of the time. He starts out saying we will leave around 7:00 or 8:00am, yet we are still asleep at that time. Then the van needs to be washed, he needs to pack, as well as take care of business and payroll as it is a Friday. We are leaving Petey, his rat terrier, with friends and they need to come get doggie directions. And to be perfectly honest, I forgot something as well.
The hours fly by, yet we manage to finish all the chores, pack the van,deliver payroll, eat lunch and finally hit the road. It is 3:00pm.
