We left Florida on Sunday morning and we’ll be at our cabin in the Smoky Mountains tomorrow evening (I’m writing this on Monday). We are so excited! The one thing I miss most about Maine (aside from our dear friends there) is the fall foliage. Thankfully, we can find plenty of it each year in Tennessee. This is our third fall trip to Tennessee.

The first year, Frank, who’s in college and who can’t make the annual trek, totaled my car.

The second year (last year), I was hospitalized, and we had to leave early so I could have urgent surgery at our local hospital in Florida.

This year, NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN! The next two weeks are going to be absolutely 100% accident- and drama-free! I INSIST!!!

It didn’t take long to find our first red leaf. It was at a hotel we stopped at in Georgia on Sunday night. It was still pretty balmy there. We went to Granddaddy’s BBQ and, wow, was that a treat!! Their BBQ sauce is excellent! We wolfed down some protein and fried okra before getting chocolate chip cookies to go, and heading the hotel. We went to bed early but I could not go to sleep! It was so frustrating. I have a difficult time sleeping in any hotel.

First, it was too quiet. Then, funny noises were coming from the bathroom plumbing. Then, I could hear our neighbors talking in the next room. After midnight, as I was finally falling asleep, Ali texted me. She and Justin are babysitting our dog, Percy. He doesn’t do well when I’m not there and he requires sedatives some nights when he won’t stop crying. He was doing just fine emotionally, playing with Jax (Ali and Justin’s dog), but the monthly meds I gave him for flea/tick/heartworm prevention give him diarrhea. It was so bad Ali had to give him a bath. She said Justin, who was sitting nearby, kept making gagging sounds, which wasn’t helping. Ha ha.

After all those texts back and forth, I was wide awake again. I whipped out my phone, and watched a scary video about a ghost in a hotel and then I couldn’t get to sleep for another hour or so. What was I thinking?!

We found cooler weather today in Parrott, Georgia. We stopped at a gas station at noon, and discovered it was 69 degrees outside. Yea!

I’m typing this while Richard drives and we can now see mountains in the distance. It’s so beautiful!!!

This week’s Masonism:

When we were packing for our trip, Richard was backing up our back-up drive (yes, we have two back-ups!) so we could leave one at the house, and take one with us. After he set it up, he muttered an expletive.

Mason asked, “What’s wrong, Daddy?”

Richard said, “The computer crashed.”

Mason replied, “Crashed into what???”

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