On the Road Again – Part II

Nov 28, 2016 | Welcome Column

HE DAILY GRIST…”On the road again; Just can’t wait to get on the road again; The life I love is making music with my friends.”–Willie Nelson
 
This month I’m finishing up my journal notes here below that I started in my October 24th column on my 2016 Road Trip back east in September and October with Mike, my husband and our friends Kit and Mary Birkett. We caravanned together going down the road in our respective motorhomes. This column is done again in Herb Caen style again –  brief snippets of information, commas, and on to the next topic. Those of you older than 50 will remember Herb’s column in the San Francisco Examiner.  Herb was a legend.
 
We pulled into Raleigh on Sunday, Sept. 25th.  We camp at the NC State Fairgrounds and take advantage of the city’s hourly shuttle service from the campground to the convention center.  Really handy and free.  Our friends Mark Panfil from New York and radio host Terry Herd are camped near us too.  Lots of other pickers there so jamming is going on there! We enjoyed the Leadership Bluegrass reception on Monday seeing lots of fellow bluegrass friends there.  All in all, the WOB was a great week of making contacts, learning, seeing friends,  noting the award winners, and, of course enjoying the music.  We started Tuesday with seeing Lonesome River Band, and ended the week with the Soggy Bottom Boys at the Red Hat Amphitheater.  Enuf said!…
 
We headed down the road on Saturday, October 1st,  for Nashville and to see more family and friends there.  Kit & Mary headed south on their way to Red Bay, AL where they are having some motorhome repairs done at the Tiffin factory there.  Mike & I spent a little over a week in Nashville area, and saw Chris Ruud at the jam at the American Legion Hall and also met some local pickers there.  Those boys can pick!  We learned of other local jams at Millersville, a local café jam, and the traditional jam at the Station Inn on Sunday night.  There are others, too, we were told.  While in Goodlettsville/Hendersonville area, we went to the Kroger’s grocery store there and I saw Dave Harvey in the cheese section.  The very next day we had lunch downtown Nashville at Peg Leg Porker with Nancy Cardwell, and in walks Dave with some friends for lunch.  He probably thinks I’m stalking him.  Just kidding.  Speaking of food, two new favs to try in downtown N’ville include the Turnip Truck and Arnolds, in case you’re visiting anytime soon.  We were also able to see the California transplants and our good buddies Steve & Carol Smith.  They are such great folks!…
 
Needing to head west we started out for Little Rock on Oct. 12th.  We stayed in a great RV park with a beautiful view of the Little Rock skyline.  Rain ensued through the night with a tornado warning for northern parts of the state….Patchy rain followed us on into Dallas/Ft. Worth area where we stayed at a local Elks Lodge.  Coincidentally, they were having their Thursday night football game gathering that night, and we watched the Denver Broncos lose to the San Diego Chargers.  Their big screen TV made it quite real.  These Elks folks were sure nice, too. Great organization helping so many causes…Heading on, we’re really in west Texas the next couple of days, and lots of oil rigs and longhorns and elbow room.  It’s pretty flat here and the slogan is that “You can see 100 miles when you stand on a tuna can.”  True-ism. We made it to Odessa by early afternoon and even found a Starbucks for a cool drink and relaxing.  Again, folks were super nice and hospitable and polite. Loved it!…
 
We’re on the road to Las Cruces on Saturday, October 15th, as we try to complete the last loop in this road trip.  Las Cruces was a great stop over.  Always nice to see family again.  The area is so beautiful with the wonderful sunsets, the mountains in the distance, and the striking views of the stars overhead.  Night skies there are unlike any I’ve seen before…  Next night saw us in Mesa, AZ, visiting my cousin.  They have purchased a winter home there in a senior mobile home park.  Pretty upscale with lots of homes there, club houses, three pools, workout room, woodshop, sewing room.  Everything a senior would want to do is provided there.  The temperature was still pretty warm, but the nights were beautiful outside.  Some great restaurants there, and, lots of seniors are out and about there already.  Generally, the snowbirds come in full force about the end of January and stays over till end of March.  All of them flying south and away from the cold winters in their “other” home nests to the north.  We were able to park our motorhome at the senior park for a couple of days.  A nice experience….
 
Two days later we went on over to Hemet, CA, and visited our good friends Don & Nancy Glover at their homestead.  Had a terrific visit with them, and they treated us like royalty with wonderful food, fun and hospitality.  Thank you, Glovers!  You are the role models for retirement living!  That Monday we came on home and it was good to pull in to Casa de Tatar.  Now that we’re home, we kind of miss living on the road, but having a home to come back to is also wonderful.  We are blessed beyond measure….Signing off for this month… Now go hear and/or play some bluegrass music – wherever you are!  It is a blessing to enjoy each and every day.

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