On The Move

Got up at 5:00 A.M. Saturday morning, showered, shaved, and had a little breakfast before Brandi and Eli drove me to the airport to catch my flight to Phoenix, the first stop in my route to Corydon, Indiana. Easy drive and got to Southwest Air with lots of time. Said good byes to both Eli and Brandi and gave kisses and hugs to both. Had a bit of a line to get through when I got to the Southwest Air area, but it went really fast.

Got through the security part and walked down to the gate. I stopped at a Starbucks to get a Chai and while standing there to order, a young Army Captain, Chaplain came up behind me. I passed on an opportunity to "pass it forward" once before and I wasn't going to let this one get away, so when I ordered, I paid for his order as well. It is a feel good thing.

Landed in Phoenix on time though with a bit of a heavy landing. Our pilot really touched down heavy and it was teeth rattling. Nice airport in Phoenix. I had a little over an hour, so I walked around and decided to buy a hat. I picked up a Diamondbacks baseball team hat, which has a snake on the front and it is a maroon color.

Flight time came, boarded, and took off for Louisville, Kentucky where my brother Pat would pick me up. As it turned out, we landed about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, which does not happen very often. Hooked up with Bro, drove over the Ohio river to Indiana, and to his apartment. We did not do much talking as we were looking for a quick getaway the following morning. I had my typical difficult sleeping pattern, which I experience often when traveling.

Day 2.
We were up and on the road at about 6 o'clock A.M. We traveled up Highway 64 then caught Highway 71, which took us all the way into Ohio. We stopped in Cincinnati for breakfast and coffee for Bro. and then back to the road. Highway driving is what it is, so we pasted through both large and small communities seeing only what one could see from the road, which was a lot of trees, grass, and farm land, mostly corn fields. Only once did we see deer. This my brother's new Kia Sorrento. Nice ride.

Making really good time, we made it to Erie, Pennsylvania, where we picked up Highway 90 East. This would take us all the way into Buffalo, New York, and beyond. At about 5 o'clock P.M. after making some good time and distance, we decided to stay over in the community of Batavia, New York. We got a room at a Budget 8. Okay room. No breakfast. Room was clean as was the bathroom. Took dinner at a Bob Evans. We watched some news and then tried to sleep. I got some, but it was not great.

Day 3
Pat gets up very early and it was 2:30 A.M. on this particular day. I woke about 4 and he suggested we head out, which we did. Before leaving Batavia, we stopped at a 24 hour McDonald and he got coffee and I a large orange juice. Then on to the Highway. We continued down Highway 90 until we hit Troy and then got off and got on Highway 7. This route would take us through Vermont for quite some time, and then would turn into Vermont route 9. We would travel through some of the most historic communities of Vermont like Bennington and Wilmington. We would cross over Hogback Mountain with it's wonderful vistas of the Green Mountains.

Onward toward New Hampshire and through the ubiquitous small towns that dot the map of New Hampshire. We pasted wonderful views of lakes and territory. Our fist major community was Keene where you will find Keene Teachers College. Route 9 would take us to the town of Hopkinton, which is where I grew up. We traveled through the small historic town to Brockway Road. This is a gravel road that I grew up on. At one time, my family, my Uncle Harry and family, Uncle Jim and family, Uncle Bernard and wife, Cousin Sonny and family, Aunt Alice and family, and our Grandmother lived on this road.

The homes that these family members have changed some, with the acceptation of Grandmother's home, which showed only a change in color.

We traveled down a gravel road that went straight from Farrington Corner Road all the way across to Clinton Street in Concord. Many new homes exist in area that we once hunted and fished on.

We arrived to South Street, which is the street my Sister Donna and husband Tom live on at about 12:20 P.M. We did not expect anyone home so we took some lunch at a restaurant on the corner of South and Clinton Street. I had a Rubin and Bro a BLT. We finished and decided to go see our Uncle Roger and Aunt Joan. They live in subsidized housing for seniors.

Both looked good, though much older than when I saw them last. To our surprise, our Aunt Gerri was there. She was visiting over the past week and was flying that day back to Montana. We had not seen Gerri in over 20 years and she did not actually know who we were. We had a nice visit for about an hour. Our cousin Kenny, Roger and Joan's son stopped by just before we were to leave. Hard to imagine at 42 years of age with his own 19 year old son. More to follow. Oh,this is Scooter the perpetual eating machine of my sister. He weighs in a a right ready 15 pounds.

Day 4

Day four welcomed us with a very nice, gentle rain in the morning. Since we were recovering from the drive, needing to shower, and eat, it did not matter. It made for a very comfortable temperature and cleaned the air. Since my niece Amy and her three children came to say hello, which was an inside activity, it didn't matter that it was raining. Once the rain and Amy had left, my sister, Bro, and I drove to Contoocook, New Hampshire where my father is buried, and also is the town in which Hopkinton High School is located, the school that I attended. We visited with dad for a spell and admired the new head stone.

With that done, we returned to Concord and did some grocery shopping, and then pretty much sat around and visited, watched TV, napped, visited, ate, and so on.

Day 5
Not much going on day five except visiting and some shopping. Wednesday both Tom and Donna took the day off. We sat about and caught up on events. Tom had made spaghetti sauce and we had that for dinner with salad, and french bread. We have been following the Olympics. Got some better sleep, but still getting up around 6 A.M.

Day 6

Bro and I decided to go back out to Contoocook to do some work around the head stone and military marker. What we did was clean up around the edges. The military marker has to be even with the ground so grass can easily encroach upon the marker. After discussing the fact that we have four spaces in our plot and it does not appear that there will be a candidate for this spot, so I have been attempting to contact the Cemetery trustees, to inquire about selling this one space back, but with little luck. I am also concerned that my Uncle Harry's military marker is missing from where it was placed.

Day 7

This was just a day to be. Sis was working her way up to be sad upon our departure and Tom, her husband was working on keeping her from going down too deeply. Bro did some laundry and I did some rearranging of my suitcase. Early to bed to attempt to get some sleep. For me it would continue to be a difficult sleeping process.

Day 8

This was a travel day and we just followed the route out of New Hampshire through Vermont, New York, and into Pennsylvania. We stopped in Erie, PA for the night and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. They gave us a nice suite on the first floor, which helped facilitate my brother's addiction to nicotine. We ate dinner at a Bob Evans that was just a couple yards down the street. Game back read and watched some TV. Bro was asleep by 8:00 P.M.

Days 9-14

While at my brother's place, we do not do much of anything, but visit. He goes up to the hill and visits with his friends at the local AA club. Since it is a smoking den, I choose not to go up unless I really have to. We watched some movies, took some dinners out, did some tanning sessions, and continued to fight my sleep. There will be nothing like being home and being squeezed between Brandi and Eli in my own bed.

Here are some pictures of a patch of tobacco plants before cutting and cut, and placed on sticks that will then be hung until the leafs are all brown.

We did watch a few movies: Beowulf, The Scorpion King2, and Flawless. Flawless wasn't bad. Had Demi Moore and Michael Cain, set in England early 60, and was about a diamond heist.

We also ate out a couple of times at a Chinese Buffet. Really good food and not the typical stuff you get at a buffet. We went back twice, so that should say something positive about the place.

Also on this trip, I finished reading four novels by Robert B. Parker. He is the author of the Spenser books. Maybe someone remembers Spenser for Hire the TV program?

Flying out on Saturday into Chicago Midway and then into Seattle without a hitch. We actually got in early and Brandi and Eli picked me up and we then drove up to Mount Vernon where I did some yard work in the front. Bad sleep that night. Went down about 8:30 and was a woke by 2:20. Biorhythms were on the wrong setting, but they are getting better.

Well, that is about it for the trip. Oh, we did learn that we could have flown to New Hampshire than driving. Lesson learned.