Road Trip continued

The trip north to Atlanta is not one of my favorites, mainly because it is long and dull, and I feel like I have done it a thousand times. Hurricane Sandy provided a little excitement this time, causing the Suburban to change lanes unexpectedly more than once. Road time by myself is always an opportunity to listen to the music that I want, at the volume I like, and that makes the trip to Atlanta much more tolerable. Hurricane Sandy and/or the prevalent wind out of the northwest reduced my already less than economical gas mileage. What is with the gas pumps that stop at $100.00 anyway? Does making me insert my credit card more than once per fill-up have a point?

I arrived at the “Tree House” before five and was greeted by its inhabitants Bill Foster, Laine Wood, Hankenstein (the recently sutured Lab’s current nickname,) and Hobbs the cat. We had approximately forty-five minutes to greet and update before my need to don my finery for our evening at the Fork and Tavern required attention.  Upon arrival, nearly forty of Foster’s friends, and family welcomed the birthday boy uproariously as Foster admitted being somewhat shocked that he knew every single person in the restaurant. Bill’s youngest daughter Kristen had executed the surprise plan perfectly in spite of a couple of near slip-ups by Laine and me.

Kristen and Caleb

The party actually continued until late evening, resumed for breakfast, and finally broke up near sunset on Sunday back at the Tree House. I quit partying there sometime Monday afternoon when I climbed back in the truck and put “Lethargy Lodge” in my GPS. After about four more hours of music appreciation, I pulled in to my second home in Tennessee.

My sister, Veita Jo Hampton is a well established author, poet and editor. She has just released a novel entitled August in Defiance about a family subjected to the 1993 flood waters of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The flood has destroyed the funeral home that held their mother’s coffin and taken her body and coffin down river. Stressful and comical, the drama and support shared by this small community in Missouri make for a very entertaining emotional rollercoaster ride. Reading this book tuned up my reading skills and consequently I have turned a bunch of pages this week. A book about Jimi Hendrix, written by his brother Leon went very quickly. The Red Dragon, a war novel about Vietnam in 1968, written by my friend Clifford Gissell, who spent twelve years in Special Forces, actually took two whole days.

I have been reviewing some of the things that I have written over the years, with some editorial assistance from my sister. Things that may or may not make it to the website. Here at Lethargy Lodge, my nickname for the large house on the hill, is a great place for me to decompress.

From the balcony of Lethargy Lodge

My activities include the afore mentioned reading, seldom accomplished in my normal state, some shooting of targets and stumps, also difficult to accomplish during my real life, and lots of time with sisters, brother, nieces, nephews, and their children. Great place to visit, and it may become a great place to live, but not for a while. I don’t believe that I am saying this but, on Thursday I am back on the road, going even farther North.