Thursday, April 2 thru Wednesday, April 29 2015

We took a break from traveling to spend some time with my mom in Tennessee.  We last saw her nearly two years ago, so we had a lot of catching up to do.  She had a few things I could do around her house and Joani could think about something other than where we would be staying next.

The storage facility Joani found was just a couple of minutes from mom's condo and allowed us 24-7 access to the coach so we could take our time unloading.  Storing the coach for a month should be easy - except for clearing the refrigerator.  You just don't realize how many things collect in it, even when you have made an effort to reduce the clutter.  I had clearly forgotten the headaches involved with stocking the refrigerator for weekend trips (maybe because I always let Joani handle it).

One day while we were getting something from the coach, we met some nice folks, Bill and Denise, who had the beautiful new Airstream travel trailer stored next to us.  In the "it's a small world" category we found they live in Mom's neighborhood.  They would like to do some extended traveling, so maybe we will see them on the road one day.

It's not pretty but it is close and secure!

We had an Easter get-together at Mom's.  Nearly the entire family was there, including Mom, Don, Barbara, and Adley, Doug, Carol and Matthew, Joani, Sam and me.  We got to meet my nephew Matthew's fiancee, Lindsay, for the first time.  She was so nice and outgoing it felt like we had known her for years.  It was one day early, but Carol brought a cake that we all enjoyed for Doug's birthday (it was one of those "big" birthdays, but he didn't seem too bothered by it all).

Carol was kind - Doug only had two candles to blow out.

We recently learned our daughter and her husband were moving to Oregon, so we took a quick trip down to Atlanta to see their apartment before they finished packing to leave.  Their approach to the move was to just make it a fresh start.  They sold or gave away nearly everything.  I guess I know what it was like for our parents when we took off for California long ago.  Of course, now we have essentially free long distance calling, Skype and internet chatting to stay in touch and our house is on wheels so we might be spending a little more time in Oregon.  At least they won't be on their own in Oregon.  Our friends, Rob and Cynde, live a mile from Mike's new employer and have offered to help them get settled.

We spent four days in Georgia at the old homestead.  I think Jon was a little panicked trying to get the place cleaned up before we arrived at the house. He had a few extra days when our plans changed a bit and the house looked great.  Jon and Sara were both doing well and we were happy for the chance to see them.  Jon is enjoying his new job so much, he seems to not mind the commute.

It's strange to think the master bedroom in our house has the same area as our coach - all that room and stuff seems a little overwhelming now.

Our good friend, Bob, stayed with us at Mom's condo for a few days when he came up to visit his friend in Nashville.  He brought a variety of great wines and we spent several nights solving all of the world's problems.

The next weekend, Doug had a cookout where the brats were grilled to perfection and I was introduced to my new favorite mustard - Inglehoffer Sweet Hot Pepper.  He had invited over long-long time friends Joey and Susan.   We had a few beers and watched a hockey playoff game while we reminisced for a few hours.  The afternoon was too soon gone. 

One night, while we were having Italian food at Demos, I finally admitted to myself that I had not been very good at managing my diet.  Joani brought the scale from the coach and the numbers said I was up about 10 pounds (yikes!).

Mike had plotted a route to Oregon that brought them through Lebanon, so we got to see them one last time before they headed out west.

I think Grayman wanted to take a turn at the wheel on his way to Oregon.

Katie brought me something I had ordered through her Amazon account nearly six months ago.  I had been anxiously waiting for it to arrive, so it was quite a treat that she brought it with her.  It was the Amazon Echo.  It's kind of a Siri crossed with a PDA that also plays music from the cloud or using a Bluetooth connection.  It should be a lot of fun integrating it into our lives in the coach.

Mom's good friend, Jeanette, was in from Texas, so we met her for lunch at the Chocolate Covered Strawberry.  It was a "Tea Room" and I was one of maybe five men in the entire place (who knew?). Afterward, we drove around Hendersonville (where Joani and I met and married), noting how parts of it had changed very little in the 40 years since we left.

It amazed me how little the neighborhood that I lived in during my teenage years had changed.

But my old house did look different.  The new owners removed every tree in the front yard and replaced the adorable cottage style windows with plain (but probably more efficient) windows.

We drove to Chapmansboro, TN (about 30 miles northwest of Nashville) to visit Joani's brother, Steve, and his wife, Jane.  More eating, more reminiscing - it was all good!

It was so good to see my big brother and Janie!  I loved the walls covered with pictures of grandbabies and my mom's artwork.

This is a wall hanging my mom quilted.  The red brick house was our home in Hendersonville, TN.

Mom painted this scene of the spot where Steve and Jane had their outdoor wedding, many moons ago.

We finished everything on the to-do list for mom and a few extras for good measure.  Joani organized all of Mom's Christmas decorations and squared away everything in the garage.  I thought it looked pretty good!

On our last night at the condo, we took some things back to the coach and started the refrigerator, but we left most of the work for moving day.  We enjoyed a quiet evening and got a good night's sleep before hitting the road again.