Oh, the next Adventure

A lot to tell. OMG!

Tuesday October 15 - The drive from Paducah KY to Nashville TN was easy. The sun was shining and it's only about 2 hours. This week was William's fall break from school which of course was great. 

Ha-ha, we had to talk about the "apple tree". You heard about it in previous blogs = grown from a seed found sprouting in an apple core. It seems to be doing very well. Fun!

The days went by fast. We did what parents like to do: help. One day William had an appointment at the dentist to have baby (?) teeth pulled. We helped Helen sort out things from the "old place" whenever possible. Another day we had time to take William for driving practice. There church parking lot was the perfect place to start that. He has his official learner's permit.

 

William also had the great idea that our visit should not only be work but also fun. He suggested to go to the zoo. He loves that place and so once again we bought a membership. We could not believe how everywhere Christmas decorations where also being put up.

Highlight at the zoo at the moment was the birth of a baby aardwolf pups and I found the Komodo dragon interesting having been on Komodo Island and saw them in the wild. Dangerous creatures. A bite means certain death because there is no antidote.

This statue is about the right size of them.

Helen and William also decided to celebrate Papa's birthday. Helen had baked a nice cake loaf which served well for breakfast too. That was so nice.

On Saturday we tried another garage sale. Helen is always happy if something else is "needed" by somebody else. She has a class to teach in the morning but then she can join us.

At about 11 am we got a visitor. Sophie, a quilter we both know, was driving through Nashville and stopped to meet with us. We both had learned at lot from her when we both had started out sewing quilts. Sophie is travelling all around the US in her camper and showed us her latest quilt she had just finished. So gorgeous. 

This is a quilt which Helen had made years ago with the monthly Blog Lotto blocks. She had done such a great job. Sophie loved it too.

And yes, we also plaid cards. William is very good.

Saturday James and I invited everybody for dinner at a restaurant which seems to be one of William's favorites. This is the second time we went to the Thai Samurai Mount Juliet and Ben joint us too. It is a really nice place. It might become a tradition. James and my curry were very delicious.

Measuring William's hight. You just turn around and he seems to be taller. Nice young man.

Sunday morning we went with William to his church. St John's Lutheran Church had suffered the loss of most of the building in the 2020 tornado including the sanctuary and altar area, stained glass windows etc.

The former parish hall is now being used for the services. It feels very modern with large screens etc. But every time we visit we still see familiar faces including Pastor Rick. 

Their service starts at 9 am, too early for a weekend soft-boild eggs kind of breakfast. But since Helen had Ben and William's hens free-range eggs we decided to have that for lunch. And yes, the family tradition....

Sunday evening dinner was supposed to be our last meal at this Nashville visit and we didn't want Helen to have to cook. We went out again. This time we went to a pho place we had been before. Very nice. It was dark when we were heading back to the house. The highway was full of traffic going a good speed and ... a deer decided to cross the highway ... or commit suicide. Either way, it was a big scare. I was going full speed and there was no avoiding hitting her. Bits of my car were flying away and I could not stop. We slowed down and took the first exit possible. A warning light had come on and the car looked bad but we evaluated and decided that we could continue to drive back to the house, but regular roads not highway. 

First photo next morning. Calls to my toyota car shop at home and in Nashville for some information. It was Monday and we had wanted to leave early for the 600 miles home. The closest toyota place in Nashville was about 4 miles and wouldn't take long but again we avoided the highway and took the round-about way through slow school zones etc. Parts of the car were flapping with too much wind.

The place opened at 7 am and we were there shortly after. They told us that they could do nothing for us. They were not allowed taping or tying anything up, a legal matter. But we were advised to visit the closest Wal-Mart and buy duct tape. 

Well, those shops were not open for a while but I knew that Dollar Tree was opening at 8 am and there was one just around the corner.

We were there 6 minutes before and they were of course still closed. A nice sales person opened just a few inches to tell us that. Before she closed again I had enough time to ask her whether they had duct tape. She thought and said that she was almost sure they did. It was worth it to wait. They were actually very nice. 5 minutes after 8 am I came out with it having paid $1.25 and started taping. 

It took a while and James took a lot of photos of me and my work. And then we went on our way back to Virginia. 

This is the half-way stop.

We checked how everything was holding up. Duct tape was doing the job!!!

We had to drive the last hour in the dark but we knew the roads and all lights worked except the front blinker on the right. But we were relieved when we were finally home. And I am sure, our children too.

Thank the Lord for keeping us so safe. It could have had a different ending in that heavy traffic in the middle of Nashville.