Drive up banking in the winter – when you make the passenger get out and knock the ice off the card slide
Let me first start by stating the obvious – IT IS COLD OUTSIDE! Yes it was -16F when I woke up. No that IS the actual TEMPERATURE you don’t wanna know the wind chill – somewhere in the -30sF. I don’t plan to go out until afternoon when we are supposed to warm up to about oF. Okay formalities taken care of I’ll start on my post now.
Due to work I didn’t go down to see the folks (mine and his) until after Christmas. It worked out just fine. Aaron and Sara came down later and stayed after us as they wanted to celebrate New Year’s with their friends here. Ahh I remember when we actually stayed up in dressy clothes and partied with others. Now just staying up is the challenge. Funny as I get older I get more like a baby routine keeps me from being grumpy.
Any way here are a few photos from the trip. Not much as I only had my phone.
We visited my parents for a few days. Here’s Mike and my folks outside a Mexican restaurant in their town. Yes we had to show our support for the Tennessee Volunteers – all graduates of the University of Tennessee ya know. Dad is a golden grad and got his 50 years since graduation pin.Mom’s kitty Sylvester – I have two black cats, Mom has one, Aaron has one, and my bff Patricia has two – do you have a black kitty?The house shoes my parents gave Mike – yes they are slippers!That’s Greeneville Tennessee the town to where I grew up out in the county. I’m setting a novel (urban fantasy with a rural setting) centered right on the corner where that church is.The view of the Smoky Mountains from my in-laws neighborhood. As you can see there was snow on the mountain but it was still nice enough in the valley to go golfing.Jellico Mountain area of Kentucky on the drive home. The roads were clear the whole way just a long drive.The snow just started as we hit downtown Chicago.Back home to typical Wisconsin Winter views.
Okay tomorrow and Thursday I work so hopefully I’ll get another post in the pipeline for those days – maybe about the great YWriter and a postcard from the past… or maybe swamp tour or Colonial Williamsburg… or maybe not… Until next time!
I know Mike and I are aging when he suggests we stop and stretch our legs. Mike is the KING of let’s get there driving. Back in the day a 12-18 hours was a day’s drive to him. Keep in mind he didn’t believe in stops to pee unless the car also needed fuel. All meals were to be consumed in the car on the interstate preferably purchased via drive thru window at the same exit as the fuel/pee stop. I was expected to sleep so I could drive and shockingly this transfer of power took place ideally at a fuel/pee stop. When the press story came out about the astronaut that wore diapers to make the drive to attempt to kill her rival I cringed thinking Mike would get travel ideas.
Ahh but now he and I can see 50 much easier than we can look back to 40 because it’s closer you see. On our last trip south he suggested stopping at the Boone Tavern to stretch our legs. I eagerly jumped at the chance! Yes! YES!! A walk would be wonderful instead of caged in car seat pondering if I lost bladder control in the new car’s heated seat would it electrocute me? But yes heated seats made sleeping on the go more snuggy.
This was Mike’s submarine back when he was a junior officer. The USS Daniel Boone SSBN-629. He was on the blue crew.
So we took the Berea Kentucky exit to the Daniel Boone Tavern. Slight diversion here – Mike served on the USS Daniel Boone SSBN-629 so his interest in seeing a tavern related to Boone was one rooted in his submarine days. We take the exit, fill up with gas, get directions as to how far it is to the tavern, and head in that direction. Signs declare it Spoon Bread Days in Berea but other than that we saw no signs of it. We thought it’d ended earlier on that Sunday.
We find the tavern and are surprised to see it’s a still operating inn. Parking we take a short walk to look it over and are disappointed to learn Daniel Boone himself had nothing to do with the inn. It was just named for him. **SIGH** Oh well we looked it over, I made pictures, went to the bathroom, got a drink and we were on the road again. I did it all at the stop fearing the disappointment might end this delightful new trend. I must note we did not stop to stretch our legs on the way home. Then again we left at 3 am so Mike could be home in time to watch the University of Tennessee football game on TV. We had a travel deadline and couldn’t spare the time to see the first KFC, maybe next time. Until then enjoy the pictures of our one stop to stretch our legs.
Mary Louise Eklund 