🚙Getting lost leaving Chicago

We had spent the weekend in the Westin Hotel for The Magic Foundation Convention in Wheeling, IL. 
We checked out of our room at around 12PM 

We called for a bellhop to help us with the luggage. 

We checked out, loaded the truck with all our belongings, and rode to Burger King for lunch.

The Magic Foundation had arranged for everyone who had attended the conference to go to the Wheeling Aquatic Park Center for a free day of fun. 

Lora and the kids went down the tube, and Meadow and I played in the swimming pool.

Wheeling Aquatic Park Center is an outdoor aquatic center with amenities:

Volcano Valley has tube and body slides, and Paradise Falls has two drop falls.

Willie the Whale has a toddler slide, and there are lap lanes in the swimming pool.

Kana Courts have sand volleyball, a Grassy area for tanning, 

Willies Coconut Café for food, a picnic area for eating, and a diving board, and Aloha Beach has zero depth in the entry of the main pool.

Karki Island has a sand play area, locker rooms, and lockers for storing valuables.

Tsunami Splash has a water playground with tipping buckets.

Lilypad Lagoon has a splash pool with a water basketball and a monkey bar activity pad. 

We stayed at the aquatic center until 4:30 P.M.

Lora then drove us to downtown Chicago to tour the Sears Tower “sky deck.”

The Sears Tower was the tallest skyscraper in the World until 1996. It was finished on May 3, 1973.

It is still the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere.  What a view!

We walked to Giordano’s Pizzeria, which was just across the street from the Sear Tower. 

We had to wait 40 minutes for a table and another 40 minutes for our food. 

We ordered a deep dish stuffed medium pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. It was covered with Marinara sauce, and the pizza was as thick as the size of a medium cake. 

Madison enjoyed the stinging mozzarella cheese.

Lora drove us out of downtown Chicago, leaving at about 9:00 P.M. 

I took over driving for several hours. 

Everyone fell asleep except me, and when I got sleepy, we stopped at a Motel 8 somewhere in Louisville, Indiana, off I-70E. 

We were so sleepy that we did not even inspect the room, which we should have because the beds were falling apart. 

I guess that does not matter when you are too sleepy to drive.

It was late, I was very sleepy, and I drove seven miles in the wrong direction.

The next morning, we had no clue where we were because somewhere during the night, I had taken a wrong turn about seven miles off course.

I remember going through a lot of construction and orange cones being everywhere. I am sure that is where I got lost.

We had to do a lot of backtracking.

Leaving late, getting sleepy, and traveling with kids, anyone could get lost. 

It is strange how a sermon can trigger your thoughts about something that happened in the past.

Have you ever been lost or gotten lost driving? Ask yourself and tell your story.

Engulfed by Darkness

 Jonah was swallowed by a whale for disobedience.
I was engulfed in darkness, heavy traffic, and blinding rain.

I loaded up my grandson, Justin (age five), and my granddaughter, Hannah (age seven), and we began our journey to Pell City.
We traveled I-65 South all the way to Birmingham.
In Birmingham, we took the I-20 to Pell City, which took us about two and a half hours.

I did not have the exact address of my grandson, he had moved from his old address.
Now, I was depending on a five-year-old to get us to his new address.

We rode up and down the same highway for over an hour before I could get in touch with his dad.

By the time we left for home, it was getting dark, and it had started to rain.
On the Interstate, we got behind a large truck, and I could not see around him, so we missed our turn.

All I remember was we were headed north on a very rough highway. (79)
Several times, I almost stopped because I thought my tires were going flat, but I was afraid because it was very dark and not much traffic.

Thank God I had a cell phone that worked, so I called Hubby, who was working in St Louis at that time.
I told him what happened, and he said, what highway are you on? This was before we had GPS on our phones or our vehicles.

Hubby said I will call you back when I locate you on the map.
Hubby called and said you will have to go over the mountain to get back to I-65.

The darkness and rain did not help to see along the winding roads we took over the mountains.

We almost rammed into a stalled car on a dark bridge.
It took us twice as long to get home, but we made it safe and sound.

God was in control in both cases.

Getting Lost in Miami

In church today, our minister asked if anyone had taken a wrong turn? 
He told the story of  God choosing Jonah to preach to the wicked people in Nineveh. 
Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and chose instead to go in another direction.

It got me thinking about some of the wrong turns that I have made in my life.

The first wrong turn was during my trip to Miami.
I flew to Miami to be with my daughter during her surgery and recovery.
I sat in the waiting room while my daughter was having her surgery, the nurse came out and gave me a prescription for my daughter for painkillers and antibiotics.
She said I should get the prescription filled at the nearby Publix Pharmacy, which was within walking distance.
We had taken a taxi to the surgery center (keep in mind we did not have a car to drive).

A couple from Rochester, New York, was going to the pharmacy to get their prescription filled, and the nurse asked them if I could go with them.

The couple was polite and said I could go.

The woman was getting breast implants on Friday. 

The nurse gave directions to the Publix Pharmacy to the husband.

We walked to the parking deck and loaded into their rented red mini car. 

Their luggage was still in the car, and they had not yet checked into their hotel.

The red mini car had two doors that opened from the outside and two more that opened from the inside only.

Off we went in search of the Publix Pharmacy. 

We went to Flager, then NW, on Forty-second Avenue.

Next, we went SW on Forty-second Avenue, where we stopped at Publix.

The woman and I got out of the car and went inside the store and I asked one of the women working at the check-out where is your pharmacy?

The woman replied we have no pharmacy. 

The woman from Rochester, NY, and I started to laugh. 

Then, we went on to explain our search for a Publix Pharmacy.

The woman at the check-out register drew us a map to the nearest Publix (which I later found out was the wrong pharmacy). 

We took so many turns that I was completely lost when we finally found the Pharmacy.

We gave our prescriptions to the Pharmacist, and he said it was going to take at least one and a half hours to get the prescription filled. We asked why it was going to take so long, and they replied that one of the prescriptions was a narcotic drug and only one pharmacist had access to the drug. 

We rode back to the surgery center, where I was dropped off.

I thanked the couple for letting me tag along with them. 

I never saw them again.

I went to the lobby to wait, there, I met a couple from Charlotte, North Carolina.

They said that they both worked for the US Post Office in Charlotte. 

They said that they had four children, two boys and a set of twin girls.  

She was having breast implants done that day.  

I told her husband that he had better get her prescription filled before she came out of surgery because they had told us it would take an hour and a half to fill. 

The hubby dropped off her prescriptions.

His wife went back to surgery before my daughter came out of surgery.

My daughter came out of surgery around 5:30PM, she was in a lot of pain. She kept saying just shoot me!

We had to wait until 6PM to leave because the owner was going to give us a ride to the hotel, and the surgery center did not close until 6PM.

We rode to Publix Pharmacy to get my daughter's prescription 

What we thought was a quick stop turned into stopping at two different Publix.

We arrived at the first Publix, and as I was going up the escalator, I met Mural. (Man from Charlotte, NC)

We walked to the pharmacy together, and I said to him this place does not look familiar.

I was next in line, I gave my daughter's name to the pharmacist, and she tried to look up my daughter’s prescription.

The pharmacist said you must have left the prescription at another Publix Pharmacy.

So, I walked back to the car and told my daughter and our driver that it was the wrong Pharmacy. 

My daughter was not happy about that at all. 

We went several miles in the wrong direction when I said, I think we are going in the wrong direction.

I said to the driver, the Publix where we need to go is not far from the first one because I remember coming back down West Flager St.

The driver said, Now I think I know the correct location, it is a new Publix Pharmacy.

We arrived at the correct Publix pharmacy, and I got in line to pick up my daughter's prescription.

The woman in front of me kept asking questions about the prescription she had just filled. 

 I did not think she would ever shut up!

Finally, I got my daughter's medicine; the cost was $2.00 I paid and left.

On the way home, the driver said, “I have not eaten all day do you mind if I stop at Wendy’s?”

He ordered a Coke, fries, and a large hamburger. He asked if we wanted anything to eat, and we said yes, so we ordered a junior cheeseburger and fries. 

I offered to pay, but he paid for everything.

My daughter was sitting in the backseat.

When she opened her pill bottle, she dropped one.

I was sitting in the front seat, and I had to unbuckle my seat belt, lean my head toward the back, and put my butt up in the air to look for that pill. 

Never found it!

We arrived at the hotel, got out, and thanked the driver.

The driver had to pull the seat out to reach the pill. 

He said I have two small children, and I don't need a loose pill floating around for my kids to get their hands on.

You can get lost by disobeying God, 

You can get lost in your mind, 

You can get lost by not paying attention

You can get lost anywhere!!!

Growing up in the Shoals

Earline in Story-Land was enjoyed by many children in the Shoals Area, including myself, for over 22 years.
All I remember about Earline Burns was her television show and where she lived.
Both my grandparents lived in Sheffield, and one of my grandparents went to Church not too far from Earline's house.
We moved to Florence in 1962, sometimes, when we would travel to Sheffield, we would go by  Earline's house on Hatch Blvd., but most of the time, we would travel down Second Street.
I remember seeing her blue Cadillac Convertible sitting in front of her small pink house, which had been torn down.
My parents lived in downtown Sheffield when they married and moved to Tuscumbia when I was about 2 1/2.
Entertainment was watching a movie on the big screen either at the Theater or a Drive-in.
I saw many movies at the Colbert Theater, Tuscumbia Theater, Norwood Theater, Shoals Theater, Wilson Drive-In, and Joy-Land Drive-In.
My siblings and I would walk to the Shoals Theater during the summer months and watch a movie for ten cents.
I was always small for my age and could get into the theater for the cost of a child long after I was passed that age.
I remember Buck's night at the Drive-In.
We would go around the neighborhood, filling the car full of neighborhood kids.
We could all get into the movies for one dollar a carload.

I don't remember listening to the radio, but we did own a black-and-white TV.
Dad worked for Mr. Hensley Jarrett, hauling large power poles. Our TV Antenna was atop one of those tall poles. I remember the pole had spikes and Dad climbing to the top to install the Antenna and the wires running into the house to the rabbit ears sitting atop the TV.
We could pick up all the local channels.

We watched shows like Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Bob Hope Show, Calling All Cars, The Cisco Kid, Death Valley Days, Dragnet,  & The Lone Ranger.
Since I never listened to the radio, I did not know that many of the television shows that I watched were once live radio shows.

Many famous people came to the Shoals in those early years, but growing up in the Shoals, they were just another face in the crowd.

When I was a teenager, just turned sixteen,  I worked at Shockley's Pancake House, which was across the street from Holiday Inn, where many of the famous entertainers stayed when they were in town.

I served the Four Seasons, and I  had no clue who they were.
As a working girl who never listened to the radio, I had no clue who came into our restaurant.

Now that I am older, I am learning so much about the Shoals Area that I have been a part of.

I walked the streets of Florence, Sheffield, & Tuscumbia, and  I spent many hours at Spring Park.

I remember Dad bringing home a trunk that he had gotten from the Helen Keller Home that had been thrown away.
It had several books inside the trunk, one was a Blue Hard Back Brothers Grimms Fairy Tale Book.
I read that book many times.
When we moved to Florence in the early 1960s, the Fairy Tale Book must have been thrown away because I never saw it again.

I remember going to Spring Park, riding the train, and playing on all the playground equipment, which was like an amusement park.
There was a swimming pool just up the street, and inside the park was a large wading pool.
The park fell into disarray for many years, and its glory days are gone forever.

I remember the Liberty's & A & P Supermarkets where mom shopped, they gave S & H Green Trading Stamps, Plaid Stamps, and Top Value Stamps just for shopping at their stores.
When collected into multiple books, we would take them to the Trading stamp store for merchandise.

So many things we no longer have as time changes.
We now have a cell phone, no sharing party lines, and phones hanging on the wall.
We no longer use an outhouse, we now have portlets.
We no longer have to heat the house up to cook, we have a microwave and convection ovens.
We no longer use glass, everything comes in plastic.

Gasoline is no longer 100% and costs 25 cents a gallon.
A new Corvette fully loaded costs over 80,000 dollars.

In the next twenty years, many will be living in Space.

One hundred years sounds like a lifetime.
When I was a kid, I thought 30 was old, now, one hundred doesn't sound quite that old.

2017 June 17, Saturday, RC Moon Pie Festival Bell Buckle, Tenessee🌝🍰

Cooked waffles for breakfast topped with walnuts and cool whip.
Loaded the van, programmed the GPS, and began our trip.
We traveled north on hwy 43, turning right onto hwy 64 East, traveling through Giles County Pulaski, TN, crossing I-65
to 244 northeast, traveling through Lincoln and Marshall counties Petersburg, & Bedford County Shelbyville.

Town of Petersburg Library

Town of Petersburg in Lincoln and Marshall Counties with a population of 580.

Our next stop was Bedford County, Shelbyville, TN, home to the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.

Walking Horse National Celebration (Horse farms)
The historic Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration Grounds in Shelbyville, TN, is home to the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, which takes place each year in late summer for 11 days, ending on the Saturday night before Labor Day.

Veterans Memorial Plaza in front of Bedford County Courthouse

Shelbyville is the county seat of Bedford County "Courthouse"

Arrived at Bell Buckle around 10:00AM.
We found a close park, walked up to the stage, and found seats on bales of hay. Where we sat and listened to music and watched a group of young girls and women clogging.

Cloggers (stepping high)

Milking Machine

Railroad Town (several trains came through while we were in Bell Buckle)

We walked around checking out the vendors, where we saw giant corn dogs, funnel cakes, deep-fried Oreos, snickers, and Twinkles.
We visited Everybody's Antiques and More, Bluebirds Antiques, and Ice Cream Parlor.
We visited the Livery Stable, now an Antique shop with many rooms of antiques.

Livery Stable is now an Antique Shop. 

We saw boxes of strawberry, banana, chocolate, mint, & salted caramel moon pies.
There were moon pies and RC colas for sale everywhere we looked, and prices varied.

Ice Cold RC Colas 

Boxes of Fresh Moon Pies

Uncle Sam greeting the crowd at the  Parade.

We met a couple from North Carolina who had been to softball tournaments in Birmingham.
We met an older couple that had visited the festival many times.
There were people from everywhere who were still coming when we left.

We ate lunch at Bell Buckle Cafe, where we both ordered a barbecue sandwich and a glass of iced tea.
It was almost time for the parade, so we gobbled down our lunch.
It was the only cafe in the whole area, so it was a long wait just to eat lunch.

Standing in front of the Mural of Moon Pies and RC Colas 

We came outside to watch the parade, and after the parade, we started home.

Moon Pie Girl in the parade

We took a different route home, we rode through Tullahoma, Lynchburg, & Pulaski.
We stopped in Lawrenceburg for gas and to-go meals from Long John Silvers.
We stopped at the fruit stand in Lawrenceburg for vegetables, and we were home by 5:00PM.
We were home about an hour when hubby got a call out from work, so we loaded into the van and headed to Huntsville.
As we were entering the gate, we were in a Jurassic Park jeep with a dinosaur in the back.

When the Jeep moved, so did the dinosaur
Jurassic is relating to or denotes the second period of the Mesozoic era, between the Triassic and Cretaceous periods.

The sun was setting as we traveled home. (around 8:30PM)

🚙2017 June 13, Tuesday, Day Trip to Bowling Green, Kentucky

We left home around seven, it was a great day for traveling.
Hubby and I traveled north on Highway 43 to Murphy's in Lawrenceburg, TN, where we filled up with gas.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Spring Hill, where Hubby ordered a big breakfast, and I ordered two slices of sourdough toast, one scrambled egg, and two pieces of bacon with iced tea to drink.

Leaving Spring Hill onto I-65 north, traveling through Nashville to Bowling Green.
You can see the Corvette Museum and Car Plant from the interstate.

We arrived at the Corvette Museum a little before 11AM, stopping outside to take pictures of the Michelin Man, Air Tank, and Corvette on display at the entrance.

Designed especially for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA

Michelin Man, Coats Air Gage Tank

Hubby parked, and we went inside the museum, stopping to view a few Corvettes on display before going to the ticket counter.
We were given armbands, and then we were told the plant tour was across the highway.
Our scheduled time to tour the plant was 11:30AM.
Hubby let me out near the entrance and went to park the van.
I walked up the long corridor to the entrance, and once inside, I got in line for tickets.
I already had our tickets, and I asked for a wheelchair.
The tour is about an hour long and a lot of walking. They recommended using a wheelchair if you are having problems walking. (So I said yes)
I was wheeled inside and given a yellow time card and told them hubby was on his way.

Bowling Green Plant outside (no electronic devices allowed inside)

We watched a video, and the 11 15 tours were called.
When the 11:30AM tour was called, we lined up.
We had two tour guides, one in front and one at the end of the line.
Before we went inside, we were all given safety glasses to wear.
We followed our guides and were told to stay behind the yellow lines.
We stopped along the way for the guides to tell us about the assembly of the Corvettes.
The tour took about one hour.
We then rode back to the Corvette Museum.

Entrance to Corvette Cafe 

Entrance to Corvette Museum 

Inside the Corvette Cafe, we ordered a bowl of Strawberry Ice Cream from Chaney's Farm, which we shared.
We ordered a Peanut Butter cookie full of peanut butter chips and healthy toffee.
We ordered one Oatmeal Cranberry full of plump cranberries, buttery oats, and Heath toffee.
We also ordered one Snickerdoodle Cookies butter cookie topped with Saigon cinnamon, all came from Christie's Bakery.

Eating Strawberry Ice Cream from Chaney's Farm 

Snickerdoodle Cookie & Strawberry Ice Cream

Inside the Corvette Museum building, there was the Corvette Cafe, Corvette Archives, Corvette Store, and the Corvette Museum.

What a perfect ride

Our picture was taken driving or standing next to a Corvette before we went inside the museum.
We took our time to view the Corvettes (many on loan from individuals).

Picture inside the Archive's 

Mini-Corvette inside the Archives

Our next stop was the Woodland Cemetery in Nashville,  where several famous people are buried.
Hubby took a picture of me in front of "The Possum" by George Jones.
He stopped loving her today.  Around 4:00PM

"The Possum" by George Jones
"The king of broken hearts"
He sang of life's hardships and struggles, in a way, somehow lightened our own.
His voice was effortless and unforgettable.
He brought unsurpassed emotional eloquence to every song he sang. 
He was and is the soul of country music. No one will ever fill his shoes. 
He is at rest, but his music is alive and ageless. 
He gifted it to all of us, the joyful and broken 
"Walk Through This World with me!"

Driving through Woodland Cemetery, we stumbled upon the Carper Homestead and the Hospital Water Source.

Hospital Water Source 
Because of the Generous, pure water supply available this spring, the area surrounding it was selected as a hospital site for the treatment of soldiers wounded in the Battle of Nashville, which took place during the War Between The States.

Water Source for the Hospital 

Carper Homestead
Known to be one of the oldest houses remaining from the early American era. Originally located on Cane Ridge Road in Antioch, Tennessee. The materials were removed piece-by-piece and rebuilt exactly as they stood when occupied by the Carper Generations. 
Donated to Woodland Memorial Park for Historic Preservation by the children of William Washington and Susie Black Carper
William Herman Carper
Ruth Carper Chasteen
Estella Carper Quest
Louella Carper James
Thelma Carper Ellicott
Kathleen Carper Huddleston
Irene Carper Chahoc
Mary Carper Pulliam 
Dedicated 1969

Carper Homestead

We stopped at Panda Express in Spring Hill, Tennessee, around 5:00PM.
We ordered Cream Cheese Rangoon, Egg Rolls, Broccoli Beef, and Honey Walnut Shrimp.
We stopped in Lawrenceburg at Mapco to fill up with gas.
We were home around 6:30PM.

Another great day of adventures.

🎈🎈🎈2017 May 27, Hot Air Balloon Festival Decatur, Alabama

You have to get there early if you want to see the balloons ascending into the sky.
I hurriedly dressed and left home right behind hubby on his way to work.
He was going to Huntsville and me to Decatur.
I took Highway 72 to Highway 101, turning left on the highway, and went past the paper mill (now being torn down) to hwy 20, which took me to Decatur.

The sun was just coming up, and it was a beautiful site, so I pulled over on the side of the road to take a couple of pictures. 

Traffic was already lined up going into the park, which took quite a while. I did get a park in the parking area on the concrete.

Twitty Bird Balloon

People everywhere waiting for the balloons to ascend into the sky 

The balloon is filled with Helium.

Preparing the balloons

Walked over to the park and watched the balloons being filled with Helium
I was walking around the park taking pictures of the balloons when the announcers said the balloons would not be going up because of the weather.

I stopped at McDonald's in Rogersville for a bagel with bacon, cheese, and egg, but McDonald's no longer serves bagels, so I ordered McGill with bacon, egg, and cheese.

No balloons going up!!! No bagel!!! Should have stayed in bed!!!

🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈