Just as well.
So I took a shower, drank a few sips of the coffee that I made, packed the car, and was off. By 4:45 AM I was on the road and heading for my next stop ~ America's Best Value Inn and Suites in Lebanon, Tennessee, which was about 20 minutes east of Nashville.
I am glad that I left that early in the morning because driving through Pittsburgh would have been a nightmare with more cars on the road. One had to be very mindful of keeping to the proper lane. And my route took me through tunnels under the city.
From Pittsburgh I drove into "Wild and Wonderful" West Virginia, and from there into Ohio.
I went down I-70 past Columbus, Ohio and through Cincinnati. And once I got through Cincinnati, I crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky.
Like the day before, I made 2 gas stops and one pit stop.
My first gas stop was in Jefferson, Ohio at 8:28 AM. I already had been traveling for 3 3/4 hours. And I paid $24 to fill up my tank.
My second gas stop was somewhere in Kentucky, where gas was the cheapest I've seen, at $2.39 a gallon. I paid $23 to gas up.
At the gas station in Kentucky, it was very obvious that I was south of the Mason-Dixon line. The southern accent was so thick that you could cut with a butter knife.
There was an interesting thing that I noticed while driving through the south. It seemed as though the south was a study in contrasts when it came to bill boards.
At one end of the spectrum there were the religious bill boards that said: "Do you know where you'll be spending eternity?" and "Hell Is Real."
And on the other end of the spectrum where billboards advertising sex shops ~ and not just any old sex shop, but "Adult Super Stores."
Odd indeed.
Kentucky also seemed to have some interesting attractions.
If I didn't have the animals with me, I would have loved to have stopped at Mammoth Cave National Park. Even though it was occasionally sprinkling through Kentucky, a little bit of rain would not have mattered much while exploring the caves. However, the temperature was warm enough that it would have not been safe to leave the animals alone in my car for an extended period of time.
Somewhere towards the end of Kentucky, my GPS led me to a secondary road, Route 109.
Route 109 took me through all sorts of twists and turns through deep valleys and heavily wooded areas. I found myself saying to myself, "Gee, it looks as though I'm going through the Cumberland Gap." And while this was not the exact location of the Cumberland Gap, I did happen to cross the Cumberland River.
This particular highway took me right into Tennessee. And it was the scenic route of the redneck persuasion.
It was also interesting from the geological perspective in that the soil was bright red.
My GPS said that I was supposed to arrive in Lebanon, Tennessee at around 1:30 PM. That would have meant that my driving time was going to be just under 8 hours.
But when 1:30 PM came and went and I was nowhere near the exit I was supposed to take to get onto Route 109, I realized that I was going to have to drive for another hour because the 1:30 PM arrival time on my GPS took into consideration the change in time zones.
Damn! An extra hour of driving.
I made it to Lebanon pretty much on time.
My room at America's Best Value Inn and Suites was on the second floor. There was an elevator there. So I was able to easily get my stuff (which I had on a luggage cart) on to the second floor.
This room was much nicer than the one at the Super 8 Motel in Pittsburgh. It was amazing how much more an extra $10 could buy. For one thing, this room had MUCH better sound-proofing.
After I got settled in, I made my obligatory calls. Then I called Sarah, who was also a member of the Yahoo Renaissance Souls on-line group. We planned on meeting and getting together in Tennessee, where she lived, when I drove cross-country to Texas.
Sarah was going to get there at around 5:00 PM, which would have given me plenty of time to rest up from my traveling.
She then called again to mentioned that she was going to be delayed a bit more.
That was still OK with me because it would have given me some extra time to close my eyes for a bit.
However, while sitting in the chair with my eyes closed and my sandals off, the carpet felt wet beneath my feet. I immediately panicked and thought that either Emi or Callee had an "accident." So I got down on my hands and knees to sniff at the carpet.
Nothing.
It wasn't dog or cat pee. What it was instead was water leaking from the air conditioning unit. The carpet was saturated in that area. And it even soaked the bottom of my crocheted bag.
So I went downstairs to the lobby to let them know about the leak. I didn't want the motel to think that I vandalized the room.
While I was downstairs in the lobby, Sarah called. She and her son AJ were waiting for me outside in her big old Crown Victoria that was a police car in its former incarnation.
We drove to Ponderosa for dinner. In fact, it was kind of ridiculous for her to pick me up and drive to the restaurant because it was right next door to the motel and within very easy walking distance.
This Ponderosa was not like the Ponderosa Steakhouses that I was used to seeing in Massachusetts. And while this restaurant did sell steak dinners, it was mainly an all-you-can-eat buffet joint.
I was delighted to discover that the food offerings in this place included regional dishes that one would never see up north. And I had a wonderful time sampling the deep-fried okra, collard greens, and chicken-fried catfish.
We had a pleasant visit.
Sarah's son AJ, was a delightful boy who was in kindergarten. He was a sweet boy who definitely was affectionate towards his mother. And he was also a bit rambunctious, though in a very sweet manner. As Sarah put it, AJ was "all boy."Earlier that day AJ's rambunctiousness got him into trouble at school, and he got paddled. That is, he got spanked. (And AJ had no idea why he did get paddled.)
I was horrified to find out that Tennessee schools allow teachers to paddle their students. I told Sarah that something like that would have been unthinkable in Massachusetts and that if any teacher did that to a student in Massachusetts that teacher would have lost his or her job.
While we were eating, I saw John Kerry on the TV screen in the restaurant. So I asked Sarah if something happened in the news that I may not have been aware of. After all, I was traveling and, as such, have been out of touch with current affairs.
Well come to find out, the major current affair that I was ignorant about was the death of Ted Kennedy. That was why I saw the flags at half-staff that Wednesday when I went out to run errands while the movers were loading up my house.
I was in a state of shock over Teddy Kennedy's death, even though his death was not unexpected. After all, he did have a malignant brain tumor. But still, I had trouble wrapping my brain around the fact that Ted Kennedy was dead.
Also, while sitting at the table, we were paid a visit by Smitty the clown, who offered to make AJ a balloon animal.
We had a pleasant chat with Smitty. And I was charmed by his very pronounced southern accent and how he said "Y'All."
After dinner, the 3 of us went up to my motel room so that AJ could meet Emi and Callee. We had to remind him to be quiet and gentle with the animals. He really did try very hard, and it was sad and heart-breaking to hear AJ say several times "I'm sorry" when he failed to remember to be calm. He's a sweet little boy with a wonderfully big heart. I wish him well, and I hope that the backwards and unenlightened Tennessee teachers don't paddle his sparkling spirit out of him.
Just like with Gypsy and Gomez, and Joe and Barb, it would have been nice if I could have visited longer with Sarah and AJ. But I was tired, and I did need to go to bed early so that I could get up early the next morning.
After Sarah and AJ left, I took Emi out for her bathroom duty. And when she was done, I went to sleep in my blessedly quiet room.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment