I left Roanoke on Saturday morning, heading to McMinnville, TN. Odd coincidence: I was in McMinnville, OR last November!
I decided to not make any ‘Roadside America’ stops – I was ready to get to my destination and be out of the car for a while.
One of the things I noticed as I travelled south is how differently drivers in different states drive. PA drivers always speed, and like to drive in the left lane, whether they are holding up traffic or not.
VA drivers were great. Noticed more defensive driving, no left lane hogging, willing to speed where it was okay. Used their turn signals. Even the truck drivers were careful, and I saw a LOT of them! Kind of reassuring since most of us were doing 80 MPH (70 MPH speed limit).
TN drivers were also pretty good. Seemed a lot more hesitant to speed than the other states I drove in, but nothing wrong with that.
Anyway, it took me a little over 6 hours to get from Roanoke to McMinnville. I pulled in and heard a voice from the house “somebody else is here!” I walked into the magnificent living room and met a bunch of awesome people who(m) I now definitely call friends. Thank you to my friend Chip for the invite. How lucky am I?
Sorry for the blurriness on some of the photos. Here is the main room. The ceiling is amazing:
And my room:
View from the back patio. Hummingbirds were everywhere!
I spent Labor Day weekend hanging out and getting to know these fine people and animals. So did Kenn.
This is Anastasia
And Lt. Dan
And Stogie (also visiting)
It is really difficult for me to explain how cool this weekend was. The people were all so genuine, and I felt like I knew all of them already. We spent time on the porch talking and playing music (singing, guitar, harmonica, ukelele and melodica). We went for walks down to, and around, the lake. There was a triathlon (for a small number of peeps). But, the main thing is, we all connected. Or, I should say, I felt connected with all of them. They have all known each other for years, but I felt so welcome it is making my eyes tear up thinking about it. I wish the weekend could have been longer. As I add more Posts to this blog hopefully I’ll start to be able to loosen up and talk more about my feelings. For now suffice it to say this weekend meant a lot to me.
Evening walks to see the sunset:
Tennessee sunsets
Different views of the lake (Chip’s grand dad built it):
Lost flip-flop – FOUND!
Of course, pictures can’t always capture feelings and emotions, and as a new blogger I’m a little hesitant to share photos of other people. I will probably loosen up on that as I continue.
Next post will include my last day in McMinnville and some of my travelling back north. I made some observations about roadtripping – “lessons learned” to use work-speak – that I’ll share.