On Our Way to Christmas
I’m sitting in the living room of my parent’s apartment, in Waxhaw, NC. Football is on TV, my mother is packing up Christmas ornaments (to go home with their owners). We’ve just finished reviewing home movies (most people ignored most of them) and are anticipating a quiet end to the day.
Christine, Esther, and I arrived in Waxhaw at midnight on December 22 (or 23, depending on how you look at it). We left Oregon at 6pm on Friday the 21st. We were surrounded by a dense fog, from the moment we left our driveway. I couldn’t see further than 10 feet ahead until sometime after we crossed the Illinois border. Even then, the fog only thinned out. It never quite left us.
We drove from Oregon, WI to Indianapolis, IN on Friday night. We didn’t pull into Indy until sometime after midnight. Fortunately, Esther slept during most of the drive (and was willing to play during the other parts). Once we got to the downtown Days Inn, we setup the Pack’n’Play. She fell asleep pretty quickly. So did we.
Saturday morning, we hit the road by 10:30am, Eastern time. The drive through Indianna was pretty boring. (So was the drive through Wisconsin and Illinois the night before. But the fog obscured that.) Things got better once we crossed into Kentucky. The scenery in Kentucky and Tennesse kept me awake all day long. We stopped several times during the day. Our first Kentucky stop was just outside of Louisville. We took Esther on a walk around a local shopping center and enjoyed our first warm weather since early November. Our next stop was for lunch, sometime around Lexington (I think). I had Arby’s, Christine had Wendy’s. (It’s the story of our lives, in microcosm.)
The drive through Tennesse was absolutely gorgeous. Once again, I thought about moving down to Tennesse. What’s not to like, after all? Beautiful scenery, low taxes, moderate politics, and friendly people. We stopped for dinner in Knoxville — the home of Glenn Reynolds and Helen Smith. A month and a half ago, I e-mailed Dr. Helen and asked her advice about what to see (if we had time) and where to eat. On her recommendation, we stopped at Calhoun’s on the River for dinner. (Thanks!) We enjoyed it so much, that we’re stopping there again on our way home. Next time, we’ll arrive hungrier so we can eat more.
Unfortunately, we weren’t too hungry when we stopped for dinner. Christine and I had wings for dinner, then ordered a double-chocolate cake for dessert. Esther didn’t much care for the wings, but she absolutely loved the cake. I think she had more than I did!
From Knoxville, we drove south to Spartanburg, SC; back north to Charlotte, NC; and finally back south to Waxhaw, NC. That really was the quickest route. We hit rain outside of Knoxville and it followed us most of the way into Waxhaw. A bit of rain always makes nighttime driving more fun.
We greeted everyone, in a state of exhaustation. Then we went to bed.