Back to the Future

That's how I feel when we travel in and out of time zones. Now we are in the future (EDT) and when we go home well, we'll be in normal time.

Traveling is always, well, a trip! DH loves playing with those darn hotel alarm clocks. So last night he set it to go off at 7:30 am. Well it went off at 1:20 am. And 2:20 am. Guess whose side of the bed the alarm was on? And I thought it was the darn phone ringing. We figured to heck with the clock, we'd chance it that we'd get up on time and we did. What a hoot!

No offense to any Ohio residents, but driving through your state sucks. By the time we got to the Michigan border this afternoon we were bored with the flat landscape. We also noted that Ohio sucked us in by the beautiful Cincinnati skyline, but 6 miles into the state from Kentucky you hit the horrendous local traffic of Cincinnati which extends for about 20 miles.

Michigan isn't much better. Lane closure signs on NB I-75 clearly state that the right lane is closed between exits 20 and 29. What about the 10 miles before that?

For the first time since we first started to travel to Tennessee, there is no road construction on I-40 between Knoxville and exit 286. No, now it is east of Knoxville. Between 2001 and 2007 the construction of a new exit onto Papermill road in Knoxville made traffic completely stop. Maybe it was to admire their fine work? Or to make sure you got caught in the blasting zone? Oh, there was a blasting zone in Kentucky. By the time you got your cell phone turned off, you were out of the blasting zone. Is this sort of a southern Russian roulette?

So far, the trip has been great. Had a great dinner with younger soon-to-be-returning-college-student-daughter last night and caught up on stuff we don't talk about on the phone or in email. More like Bachelorette Party Scavenger Hunt. YD is a lot more like her mom than I ever expected. YD - I never told my mom half that stuff.

Tonight is the big wedding of my second oldest niece - I have three - and we are truly looking forward to it. The wedding locale is three-quarters of a mile from where we lived before the move to Tennessee. Wonder if the new owners would mind house guests tonight!

On the Road Again, Pt 2

I love driving in Tennessee. It doesn't matter if I am on the interstate - except for areas of road construction - it is a beautiful state. We live up on the Cumberland Plateau and sometimes take for granted the beautiful vistas we experience on a daily basis. But driving through the hills of Tennessee and southern Kentucky is something that feels new to me every trip. And they are so beautiful when we finally head home again, sometimes they take my breath away.

Heading north, just before the Kentucky-Ohio border there is a view of Cincinnati that is impressive. I managed to snap this photo from a moving car.

On the Road Again ...

I love to travel. I love to go new places. However, most of the trips we've taken in the last 5 years have been to Tennessee, North Carolina and Michigan. Maybe not so exciting, but a trip is a trip.

Niece is getting married this weekend, so once again we head to the cold north. What can I say, I've gotten used to 85 degrees in October! The usual trip starts with this type of discussion with DH:

DH: Let's go have breakfast and then come home and load up.

TNLady: No, let's load up, go have breakfast and leave.

DH: But I'd rather come back.

TNLady: But what if they are finally paving Fairground street.

DH: Like that's going to happen?

So guess what? They were finally paving the rest of Fairground street. This is what greeted us. So we sat and sat and I turned and looked at DH and said "Looks like hell froze over!" Really hoping that this is complete when we get back to TN next week. PLEASE!

October? Really?

I can't believe it is almost the middle of October. Where did this month go? Oh yeah, watering. Well the rain we expected came - over an inch and what a relief that was. Our straw made way for lots of nice green grass. It's starting to look like a lawn again! I kept busy by getting some of my fall/winter plants in the ground. I bought some mums that like full sun and splurged on some winter pansies. Coming from Michigan, I couln't believe you could grow pretty flowers all winter long! We saw evidence of this last winter, so this winter I have my own.

For visitors to our humble little town, I always try to drive them past the in-city pasture for a look at the cows. Silly, but how many cities have pastureland? One day when driving past one of the car dealers in town, the cows were hanging over fence looking at the new vehicles. How I wish I'd had my camera in tow that day. Sigh. But I did the other day when they were in their pasture grazing. We were stopped at the traffic light and there they were.

On the Fairground road construction front, nothing has been done but moving dirt around. Road construction is basically at a halt. We hear trucks every day, but I think they just drive them up and down to make us think they are working. In the area that is still unpaved there must be at least a dozen homes. One of those homes runs a lunch canteen. That has been closed for the last year. Oh well, trip to Michigan for niece's wedding this week, maybe it will be done when we get home? And maybe pigs fly?