Day 1 - The Rain Day

Our first day on the road got off to an early start.  Beth was taking me to wait at Hardees thinking Dennis wouldn't be out of bed, when surprise,surprise, my cell phone rang and it was Dennis on I-81, exit 156, only 6 miles away.  And it was only 6:50 AM.  We both pulled in to the parking lot at the same time, bought a quick Hardee's breakfast, and were soon heading in the rain south on I-81.

There are few plans, but one that had come into fruition yesterday, was that we'd be going by Murfreesboro, TN on the way to Nashville for the night, to visit a Sellers relative who had some roots on the farm we had both been raised on.  With trepidation, we headed to TN not knowing whether this was a good idea or not.

And it rained........and it rained some more..........and then it really rained.

As we got west of Knoxville, we called William (Bill) Sellers, an 89 year old first cousin of our fathers who we'd never met.  He identified us as those Sellers who lived on Whiskey Creek, so we knew we'd made a connection.  We were in Murfreesboro by about 3:00 PM, and had a wonderful meeting with him covering a lot of family history that we won't put in this blog. Bill spent two summers in the mid-1930's on our farm, getting away from the Polio epidemic, and had interesting stories to tell of those times with our father and grandfather.

From there, we headed the 30 miles to Nashville, settled in to our La Quinta, and met Whit and Jess for a great meal and wonderful reminiscing of the wedding..

Our "gas" mileage is 13.44 MPG breaking the west wind.  Our next tank, we're dedicated to trying with the windows rolled up.

Preparation

Two weeks ago, Dennis started trying to figure out how to get a free truck.  He spent a good part of one day calling all the rental companies for their best deal.  The best deal, initially, was Budget, but after setting up a contract with them, Penske called with an offer he couldn't refuse.  So we're in a 12 ft. Penske, automatic, NO CRUISE CONTROL, but automatic headlights, so we're OK.

When you are a farmer, you can't just head out for a week.  Dennis got up Sunday morning, fed the cows, and got them in pasture where he could move them into a 15 acre hay field, where they'll have to look out for themselves while he's gone.  He went to church (Maw would be proud), and got his short nap in during the sermon.  Came home from church all rested up, Kay fixed a nice lunch.  After lunch, Lady (Dennis' trusted collie dog/helper) and Dennis moved the cows into the hay field (described above).  Lady has been given her instructions for watching the cows and guarding Kay with any free time she has remaining. 

Dennis also had to talk to BO (Barack Obama the Black Angus bull) explaining to him that he didn't want a lot of fence torn up while he was gone and expected him to stay at home and not visit the neighbors (unlike his namesake).  Hopefully, Lady and BO have a clear understanding of what is expected of them in Dennis' absence.

Monday, D-day for the truck, Dennis picks up the truck. He had to go to Waynesboro to pick up the truck, do his normal wrangling in getting the truck, and hurry back home to have his son-in-law, Chris, load it for him. Being late, as usual, getting back home with the truck, Chris had all the furniture already moved out and ready for loading. Now, that's pretty good to have your son-in-law do that his last day of his Thanksgiving holiday.

OK, the truck's ready, rented, loaded, and ready for breaking the west wind.

Why this Blog?

It's the result of overwhelming demand.....

My brother, Dennis (otherwise known as Big Bro), and I will be heading west to Albuquerque, NM beginning Tuesday, November 29, 2010.  We will be taking some furniture from our original home in Augusta County to his son, my nephew, Mike, and his family who live there.  We will be driving a small Penske rental truck and I will try to chronicle all the excitement. Or, at least I'll chronicle all the excitement that 1700+ miles of I-81 and I-40 can produce (expect a short blog).

Actually, I had no intentions of keeping a blog for this trip.  I figured Harry and Jim's Excellent Adventure (http://choteau2010.blogspot.com/) would be impossible to match and enough on travel, but our minions of fans are demanding it, so we will attempt to accommodate.

The plan is to leave when Dennis finally gets out of bed on Tuesday and drive as far as Nashville that day.  There are no plans after that.  Actually, we do plan to arrive ABQ sometime on Friday, December 3, and we do have United Airlines tickets returning on Monday, December 6.  Tuesday, we may go through Murfreesboro, TN to track down a distant relative, who's father was born on the same farm in Augusta County that we were.  Other than that, maybe visiting with Whit and Jess Tuesday evening, and stopping at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, we have few plans.  Once we get on I-40 in TN, we just plan to keep breaking the west wind.