Hello Nashville Good-Bye

Hello Nashville!

Barely a week ago I had Middle Tennessee in my headlights for the first time since Christmas.  Now I look out my rearview mirror to see the Titans stadium fading into the distance.  It's been a whirlwind visit but I have things to do and places to be so I've pointed Seeker north on I-65 and put the gas pedal down.  The past 10 days were filled with doctor and dentist appointments (all good) and visits with family and friends.  Never enough time to see and do it all.  Gus is not riding shotgun on this trip.  He's staying in Nashville with his other mommy and resting.  I worry if the trip back to Georgia will be his last or if he'll even make the trip.  Gus will be 14 next month and he has been moving a lot slower the last few months.  The vet in Hohenwald confirmed the reason:  most of the cartilage in his spine is gone.  His eyes are very cloudy too.  Hoping that good meds and a good rest at Brenda's will help him feel better, but time is not on his side.  So I'm leaving Nashville with tears in my eyes this time as I try to look up the road ahead of me to new adventures and not what is behind me that I can't fix.  Good-bye Nashville, for now.

So Where Do You Live?

So, I left my homey little campsite in Folkston and drove up highway 15 to big brother's house.  Unfortunately he has no place for me to set up so Seeker sat in front of the house for a week.  It was great to spend some time with Mike and Linda.  I always enjoy my time there.  Mike even took me geocaching one day at 2 state parks not far from the house.  Each one was a short hike in the woods.  The next day he complained I had made his calves hurt.  I just laughed and reminded him that he was getting old.  In fact, we had his 65th birthday party while I was there.  I met several of his friends and found out that many of them read this blog.  One lady asked me where I was going next.

"Tennessee," I replied, "then on to Kentucky and Indiana, back through Tennessee and a short pass through north Alabama on my way back to Georgia."

"But where do you live?," she asked again.

"Where I'm parked," I answered with a smile.

"But don't you have a house?"

"Yes, but I don't live in it.  I live in my motorhome.  It's a home with a motor and wheels under it."  I thought this would explain it, but she still looked puzzled.  Some folks have only one definition of a home, and it includes bricks and mortor.  I have happily traded in my bricks and mortor for wheels and a motor. 

So where do I live?  This week in Tennessee.  Next week?  Kentucky.  The next week?  Indiana?  And after that?  Georgia.  And after that?  I don't know for sure yet.  Perhaps my brothers were telling the truth when they said I was a baby left on the doorstep by gypsies!

Roll Up The Awning and Pull In The Slide

Well, I have mixed emotions about leaving my idyllic little spot beside the pond here.  This afternoon I was sitting at my window reading when my next door neighbor, the Great Crested Flycatcher, perched on the path sign beside my site.  His crest blew lightly in a soft breeze and he held a large cricket that I'm sure he was on the way home with to the family.  But he took the time to sit and stare at me through the window as if he too were a little sad to see me folding up my chairs and taking down the party lights over the picnic table.  He also assured me that it wasn't him but surely must have been the mockingbirds that were leaving big purple blobs on my roof.  Well, I won't take it up with the mockingbirds around here.  I've seen them chase half grown dogs off the property.  Perhaps Steve, the owner, is a bird whisperer. 

OK, this place is a little quirky, I admit.  So am I which is why I made such a perfect fit here.  And although I have so many plans made for places to go and people to see, I am a little sad tonight.  And I think I'll carry a little piece of the place with me when I go.  Goodbye Okefenokee Pastimes and thanks for some really great times!