Final Leg of September Roadtrip - York, NE to Waukon, IA to home

Friday Sept 23rd- York NE to Waukon, IA to visit Christina. Woke early to hit the road for a long drive. During our trip, Chris moved to Waukon for a 4 week rotation in a rural community in NÉ Iowa. So we headed northeast as opposed to due east. I-80 was as predicted, but as we headed north from Des Moines, the county became more rolling and as we approached the Mississippi and Waukon, the colors and hills were beautiful. Quite the pastoral scene. Arrived at the Stony Creek Inn where Brian and Brian had spent the night 10 plus years ago when they were evacuated from a camp site in the Yellow River Forest State Park after a Tornado warning. They had dubbed it the Stony Gulch Inn so it took us a bit to connect the dots. Met up with Chris after she was done with work. All three of us had a wonderful dinner in Decorah (a mere 19 miles from Waukon) at La Rana. Decorah is a neat little town and home to Luther College which we drove around. We had a great time catching up on Chris' adventures and sharing our multitude of pictures and stories. Retired to the hotel and Chris headed back to her apartment.

Saturday September 24th- Waukon, Effigy Mounds, Pikes Peak ( of Iowa), and Yellow River State Park. Got to spend the day with Chris! After Chris went for a run, we went to breakfast at the West End Cafe which was also recommended by Andrea, the doctor in the clinic where Chris is doing her rotation. The people we have met in this area of Iowa have been incredibly friendly and accommodating. We hiked to see one of the Indian Mounds and saw some great vistas at the Effigy mounds. We depended in Ester (gps'er) to get us to Yellow River State Park and ended up in a cornfield...... As a result of a detour we got to visit a bonus state park (Pikes Peak.......not sure why the name) and finally got to Yellow River State Park and a several mile hike on some of the same trails Brian and Brian had hiked years before. We had a chance to see Christina's apartment and had a sad farewell. And on the road again ....this time destination HOME!

Second Half of Brian & Deb's Sep 2011 Road Trip West

Friday Sept 16th - Hike out of Holy Cross Wilderness Area to Leadville & Aspen - Woke up early again, had omelets from a freeze dried kit. Cleaned the hut and Brian split and replaced firewood we burned. Loaded our (somewhat lighter) backpacks and hiked down (which is a misnomer since there was still a lot of up going down...) An overcast day where we needed to don raingear occasionally. Again, encountered no other hikers. Got to the car and the rain started pouring. Timing was very good. Went into Leadville, caught up with the Kuhns and toured downtown Leadville and a couple of "antique" stores. Headed from Leadville, across Independence Pass (12,000+ feet) and north to Aspen. Found a nice hotel in downtown Aspen and Brian got to see some Ruggerfest - and we both got to see a shower after two days......The hotel had a happy hour where we were able to meet people including a nice couple from Fort Collins - a retiree from ExxonMobil. Dinner at a good Mexican restaurant recommended by Scott (the hotel host) and a very comfy bed.

Saturday Sept 17th - Aspen to Grand Junction - Can you say "hip flexors"? Recovery day! We were both a bit sore from the recent day hikes but all in all felt very good. Great breakfast at the hotel - ran into the same set of people. Spent quite a bit of time chatting with Jack and Eileen Crystal - the Exxon folks from Fort Collins. They had spent the previous day in Grand Junction and gave us a lot of information and we shared "Hut" info with them. Pretty drive down the valley past Carbondale, Basalt and thru Glenwood Springs. Quite a bit of rain off and on - although as Lauren Kuhn pointed out, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes or drive 5 miles. Stopped at Plum Creek winery (recommended by Jack & Eileen) on our way into Grand Junction. Had made a reservation before we left Aspen (there was a wine fest in Grand Junction) and were moved to a new hotel from the Hampton Inn (both downtown) to a brand new suite hotel with a much needed washer and dryer. Great place to catch up on email, pictures, acquiring replacement boots for Brian's blown out pair, a solar charger to experiment with in Utah, and regrouping for the next week. Outstanding dinner at Food 707(??) and great entertainment at Le Rouge, a bar on the way back to the hotel. And a good night’s sleep!

Sunday Sept 18th- let the Utah adventure begin! - On our way out of Grand Junction, we drove through Colorado Monument National Park (the Colorado Grand Canyon). It is spectacular - not on our "agenda" so we didn't stop much, but an amazing park. Then Grand Junction to Moab to Monticello. Sunny sunny day. Ate breakfast in Grand Junction, packed the Subaru with clean stuff and headed west. The scenery changed from green Rockies quickly to spectacular high desert with lots of rock & canyons. Stopped briefly in Moab to reconnoiter and decided to head to Monticello. This would put us a little closer (still 46 miles) to the entrance to the park. There is a lot of distance between stuff in Utah.... Went to the Monticello Visitors center (manned by one of the few self-proclaimed Gentiles in Utah) and got info and a fresh plum. Not a lot of choice in the hotel and restaurant department in Monticello. Our first choice of hotel, our second choice of B&B were booked. Ended up in a "Truckers Welcome", " New Carpet" Rodeway Inn. Parked in the back among stacks of 140 old mattresses. The proprietor (who was apparently the entire staff) proudly proclaimed his new replacement mattresses arrived the prior week, but the bed frames did not. The good news is that we had new mattresses, the bad news is there was no bed frame. (Another hotel later in our trip boasted about new mattresses...prompting Brian to conclude we must be travelling along the 'new mattress fault'. errrgh). Next was the adventure to find dinner. R&F Diner was recommended by our friend at the Visitor Center. Also one of about two restaurants in town that were open on Sunday. So in we went. No alcohol.... Dinner was...white. One waitress. Good news is that we arrived before the "crowds" and we had stashed a bottle of wine from Grand Junction in the car, so we had our own little after dinner happy hour, and prepped for an early departure the next morning for Canyonlands.

Monday Sept 19th - First Day in Canyonlands National Park - Took a back road from Monticello into the park, after a questionable breakfast at the hotel. Stopped at Peace Tree for wraps for our lunch (very good stop....) The road from Monticello was not recognized by our car's GPS. There were a lot of deer in the road, many wild turkeys and free range cows. A beautiful road, no traffic, but a lot of animals. Arrived at the park about 9am and talked to the back country ranger. After some discussion, regrouped on our original plans and decided to camp at the Squaw Flats campground in our tent and take two long day hikes. This would allow us to cover more ground and go easier on our bodies (maybe!). Turned out to be a good decision! The camping sites are first come first serve and there wasn't much available. We found a great site (Loop A, site 12), Brian pitched the tent while Deb went back to the visitor’s center to get more water (the water line was broken in the campground). Based on a ranger's suggestion, we hiked Big Spring Canyon, over the pass and down into Squaw Canyon and back to the trailhead at our campground. 7.8 miles. A deceiving 7.8 miles. There are some sandy trails, but mostly slick rock and lots of up & down. Getting over the pass required a bit of Brian coaching Deb. There was quite a bit of scrambling (4 or even 5 points of contact required at times....fifth point being Deb's backside). Again at the Canyonlands, most of the routes was several miles from anyone, and encountered very few people on the trail. Gorgeous weather - warm and sunny....Feeling pretty accomplished, we returned to camp, made dinner and enjoyed our last hidden bottle of wine. Decided to see what the ranger was presenting in the campground when a lost young man asked if we would take him to meet up with a group he had gotten separated from. Having been in a similar situation years past, Brian sympathized and drove him to Elephant Hill Trailhead (3 miles of winding dirt roads in the dark) where they connected. Deb hung out by the ranger presentation just in case.... A beautiful nite for sleeping. Cool and crisp and we were exhausted and sleeping on the ground didn't bother either of us.

Tuesday Sept 20th - Canyonlands Chesler Park Hike - BTW - after leaving Monticello we have had no cell phone coverage.... Got a good night’s sleep, made oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, broke camp and headed to Elephant Hill Trailhead. The 3 mile dirt road that Brian had driven in the dark the night before had many steep drop-offs...... The hike we planned was a "Lolly-pop" route. 3 miles in, a 5 mile loop and 3 miles back out. Part of the 5 mile loop includes the "Joint Trail" a .5 mile, 70 foot high, crack in a canyon. It is about 2 feet wide with various crevices along the route that branch off the main trail and can be explored. Like our hike the day before, the topography was challenging and the afternoon was rather hot. The hike is spectacular - the stuff postcards are made from - and quite challenging to access and except near the trailhead, encountered very few hikers. We completed the hike in an hour less than planned, and headed to ....... Durango. Did we make a hotel reservation?? No. Guess we hadn't learned our lesson from our prior experiences. Still not sure why Cheyenne, WY was booked. Found a room at the Durango Inn and had a late super at Applebee’s.....! And then a very long shower.

Wednesday Sept 21st - Durango to Colorado Springs - Brian had an 11am conference call with Valdes scheduled which was cancelled and let us leave Durango earlier than planned. Ate breakfast in town after doing some work in the motel room and repacking bags. Beautiful trip from Durango to Colorado Springs - surprisingly so. The trip took most of the afternoon. Called ahead to a B&B that we had visited a year before - The St. Mary's Inn - and got a room. Had a fabulous dinner at Le Creperie and had a very comfortable room at the B&B.

Thursday Sept 22nd - Colorado Springs, eMi visit, and started heading back east. Woke up early and had a wonderful breakfast at the Inn. Waffles with strawberries, whipped cream, sausage, eggs.... we remembered the good breakfasts from the prior year. We have had more waffles on this trip than in the past 5 years..... We worked in the B&B suite most of the morning (yup actually billable work....) and then Brian headed to eMi to meet Andy for lunch and catch up with several other eMi staff. Deb packed and fueled the car and the cooler for the road trip. We met up about 2:00 and took an eastern heading out of Colorado Springs to avoid Denver traffic. Crossed back into central time zone. Stopped in a small town (York, Nebraska) for the night. Light dinner at 'the' restaurant in town (Applebee's again) and in bed before midnight.

First Half of Brian & Deb's September 2011 Road Trip West

Friday Sep 9, 2011 Naperville IL to Des Moines, IA
Finished packing and loaded car.
Departed Naperville (in the rain) at 12:00 noon as planned!
Naperville to Des Moines approx 320 miles.
Drove out of the rain and into clear skies and beautiful scenery in Iowa, including farms on rolling bluffs to the north, and river to the south. Corn & bean fields very green with a few touches of yellow. Temps in the 70's.
Met daughter Christina at her apartment in the city at 5pm (still right on plan). Delivered TV and DVD player, and did some minor apt repairs. All went for some exercise around Grey's Lake near downtown. Chris is still a fast runner!

Chris squeezed in a basketball game with friends before walking to dinner with us...she picked a great Italian place Cafe De Something a short walk from her apt. Ate in moonlight on front porch of this old Victorian home. Ahhhh...Bella Sera. That's all the Italian I know.

Stayed at 800 Locust, nice hotel an easy walk through city from Chris' place. Band in the lunge was pretty bad, but reminded us of some good music (BS&T) so we sat in the lobby and downloaded their album for later listening...

Saturday Sep 10, 2011 - Des Moines, IA to Cheyenne, WY
Chris met us at hotel and we walked to the farmers' market. It was huge! Ate a Mexican breakfast (fruit cup with chili powder & lime juice...awesome!) and bought food for later. Dropped Chris off at her apt : ( where she launched to attend a med-school friend's wedding in Iowa City. We hit the road west at 10am for...Cheyenne. Why Cheyenne you may ask? Well because...it's there. And we never have been.

Nebraska is a very long state! Listening to an audio book together helped...we were both well-rested so neither napped and we both enjoyed the changing scenery. People are so friendly and easy-goin'. One fella at a gas station struck up a conversation with Deb, just to tell her how proud he was of his son here, who was a boy scout. Decided to drive last 30 miles on US Rt 30...a 2-lane back country road that was a real slice of rural America. Refueled in Dix population ~ 46(?). Good thing we could pay at the pump because office was locked and no one in attendance.

Dinner at a great local Mexican place in downtown Cheyenne. Most hotels are full! On a Sunday night. No one could explain why??

Sunday Sep 11, 2011 - Cheyenne, WY to Fort Collins, CO.
Ten year anniversary of 9/11. Stumbled into big memorial service near Capital building in Cheyenne, but just after it ended.

Drove thru Fort Collins and up around Horsetooth Reservoir, before arriving at Nic & Lori's house. Enjoyed as warm welcome then we all piled into Nic's car and headed downtown for: Jax! (our favorite outfitter store), coffee on the ped mall, then stopped by Shelly & Scott Paul's house Mountain Ave (cool blvd with a functioning street trolley running down the median).

Celebrated Nic & Lori's dual graduation with their new Education degrees, by taking them to dinner and drinks outside at Vincent's then a movie.

Monday Sep 12, 2011 - Fort Collins to Rocky Mountain National Park, with Nic & Lori.
While Nic was teaching class and Lori visiting the dentist and taking care of her elderly aunt, Deb & Brian each worked a little and each took work conference calls. Goin' mobile! Laptops cell phones and headsets worked great.

Deb, Brian & Lori drove their pop-up camper to Rocky Mountain NP (beautiful drive thru Big Thompson Canyon) and set up camp at Glacier Basin. After his classes, Nic drove our car and met us there. Cocktail, lamb burgers, peach cobbler and a full moon hike. Great sleeping weather.

Tuesday Sept 13 - RMNP - Leadville: Took a hike up to Dream Lake and Nymph Lake (not necessarily in that order) after a crab cakes benedict breakfast (it is tough camping :) ). We closed the campground at noon (literally - it was being closed for the season and we were the last to leave). Nic & Lori headed back to Fort Collins and we headed to Leadville. We took Old Falls River Road. This winding, dirt road parallels the more popular Trail Ridge Road...about 8 miles of beautiful, yet stressful road. Arrived in Leadville about 5pm. We are staying at 211 4th Street - a VRBO - Clay Stewart is the landlord. Lauren, Tom & Marianne Kuhn arrived shortly thereafter while we were repacking our packs for our backpacking trip tomorrow. Lauren took us up to a high point with brucshetta and ample cocktails to watch a Leadville sunset. Afterwards we had dinner at the restaurant where Lauren waits once a week and makes their pastries. And then we visited one of her favorite taverns... A shower & bed felt great after a nite of camping.

Wednesday Sept 14 - Backpack up to Uncle Bud's hut. Got up in Leadville and finished provisioning & packing. Brought our laptops to Laurens, got fresh bread and quiche for breakfast (ate on the streets of Leadville). Got some fresh food at Safeway.

Drove from Leadville about 10 miles to Timberline Lake Trailhead where we left the car, put on backpacks (Deb's est 30 lb Brian's est 45 lbs) and headed up. About 1000 total vertical feet from trailhead (10,500) to the hut (11,350'). Covered the 4.5 mile leg in about 3 1/2 hours (including a brief stop for lunch). Weather enroute was mostly sunny and cool 50's which was pleasant. Encountered some rain. Saw a few micro-bears (squirrels) but no other humans the entire climb. Our route was mostly on the Continental Divide Trail, which was mostly in dense evergreen & aspen forest. Trail was rocky (ok this is the Rocky Mtns) but generally well-marked by tree blazes so we never got officially lost. Breezy above the tree line, but that was only for a while. Uncle Bud's hut was a sight for tired bodies. (Oh, yeah - and by the way, we could have driven to the hut :)) Brian experienced hiking boot blowout on both left & right, but no injuries atop both were still smiling at the top. Deb's longest back packing trek ever- with ever-changing elevation at 11,000 feet. Pant Pant.

The hut is one of several backcountry cabins, built and maintained primarily for winter use by the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association, a not-for profit organization that caters mainly to hut-to-hut cross-country skiing groups, based on the European tradition.

1.5 hrs after arrival at the hut, outside air temp dropped to low 30's, dense fog (clouds) engulfed us, visibility dropped to < 100 ft, and it began sleeting & snowing. By then we had a fire going and we were warm & dry inside. Good timing!!

Life in the Hut...
-Wonderfully quiet. No elec power so no fans, pumps, phones, TV, radio etc. Just fire crackling, some wind thru the trees outside, bacon sizzlin'...ah. Cabin can easily accommodate 16 but we had the entire place to ourselves. Probably no one else for at least 10 miles around.
-Quality time together. Much needed and much appreciated.
-Focused on the basics. Tending the fire in the wood burning 'heater/stove', cooking meals on the propane stove, filtering water for drinking/cooking/cleaning. Repaired and tested Brian's 'boot blow outs' with athletic tape. Managed cell phone and iPad batteries.
-Cozy. Watched weather outside, which changed hourly from sleeting, snowing, foggy (above cloud ceiling), and breezy) to sunny & planned various 'escape' scenarios, in case the weather doesn't improve...
-Lots of reading and writing time.

Thursday Sep 15 - Day hikes around Uncle Bud's Hut Woke up relatively early (could have something to do with going to bed at 8:30). Made bacon, eggs (with broccoli & cheese....we are now out of fresh ingredients!), did all the dishes and took off for a hike in the sleet/snow/drizzle. It cleared up some during the hike. Headed to Bears Lake and also hiked north on the Colorado Trail/ Continental Divide Trail. Met two hunters as we were headed back to the hut. Lunch of 'instant' chicken salad. Called the Kuhn's and they arrived with chips, salsa, bruschetta, beer, wine and bourbon... Had a very nice afternoon sharing the hut, hitting 28 levels of Jendra and planning a possible Green Acres rendezvous..... Dinner was leftovers and Lauren's bruschetta. The temperature is warmer than last nite (~40 degrees). Plan to clean up and pack out early tomorrow, weather permitting.

The Houseboat

Well, last Wednesday afternoon, we officially became river rats. We now own a Houseboat without a motor. And a 22’ pontoon boat (which we will wait until spring to launch).

Brian now has an optional 10 minute commute. While trying to find rental property, we found a unique community at Harborside Marina. They have a group of floating cottages and homes on the Des Plaines river just before it merges with the Kankakee and turns into the Illinois River.

We are in a temporary slip in the back marina (we are the one on the left), but we will be moving to the front marina in the next couple weeks. The preceding blog talks about the rains we encountered last week-end. The marina had the highest water they had ever encountered and all the docks in the back marina were under water on Monday. The crew at Harborside worked around the clock cutting and tightening lines so that none of the boats were damaged. Coincidently Deb picked up contracts on Monday and saw the state of affairs (and our houseboat with its newly painted bottom happily in a large shelter having “missed” all the rain indoors.)

Wednesday we closed on the boat. Deb spent the night on the boat “moving in”. The “Harbor Home” was fully furnished, so mostly it was making beds and loading the refrigerator and figuring out meals for Brian’s funky schedule. Thursday morning Brian arrived at the boat after work at about 6:30 am. After a 10 minute commute, with the only traffic being a deer and a grey heron. A large vodka martini was the first course of business. He got a lot of respect from the people working!

The marina crowd is a very friendly group. George and Susan are our temporary neighbors. They have the only other “Harbor Home” (versus cottage – which is smaller and may not technically be a boat.) They were very helpful when we were considering the boat. The Harborside staff has been incredibly helpful.

Thursday night Deb’s parents were coming through on their way to Hudson for the JDRF walk with Katie and family. Interstate 80/94 in Indiana was closed from Monday through late Thursday and opened in the nick of time for their drive from Naperville (Deb spent Thursday night in Naperville) to Hudson.

Friday Deb drove. A lot. From Naperville to Chicago for a meeting. Chicago to Naperville. Naperville for a brief boat stop to drop some things off for Brian (he was still sleeping). The boat to Bloomington-Normal for Christina’s cross country meet. She did great! A PR – 18:55 for a 5k. Finished 14th overall, 5th for U of I. Then an about face and drove back to the boat (less than 75 minutes!)

Our "moving day" is tomorrow, so we will add additional photos later!

Ths is about Deb’s Road Trip! Brian (Dad) is working the ExxonMobil Turn-around –the night shift – 5:30 pm to about 6am. Add an hour+ compute each way….

As ana side, in order to address the compute issue, we looked at some properties- ideally a rental near the refinery. So, Deb got infatuated with a houseboat without a motor. But that will follow later!

Deb had a Vistage meeting in Galena Friday morning, and Chris had a XC meet in Peoria Friday afternoon. Great trip down IL-84 to US-74 on Friday. Many amusing sites starting in Hanover with a gas refill. A cool old motel. Well a Bait, Tackle and Motel. I do not think I want to think about this…. Not a shock, but there was vacancy. Thank goodness Rick is Live. Dead Rick’s bait has no appeal.


Anyway IL-84 is beautiful. It follows the Mississippi past the Mississippi Palisades through many small towns. If you like country and “very-classic” rock, your radio choices are good.

Besides Rick’s Motel, Hanover is the home of the Mallard Fest. The weather was iffy so the shadows were wonderful. After Hanover, another key town was Savannah. Highlights included Poopy’s Tattoo (do we worry about infection?). And an Illinois State sign pointing to the Mississippi Refuse Frog Pond. For all the frogs needing refuse.

The town of Thomson had a couple of highlights including the local correctional facility. The sign pointing to the correctional facility was quickly followed with a “Do Not Pickup Hitchhikers” sign.

I had lunch in Port Byron at the Brother’s Restaurant. Quite nice- definitely small town. Then it was time to get on I-74 for the remainder of the trip. The rain started. And didn’t stop much for the next three days.


Anyway, after Port Byron, the trip was highway, rain and other “crisis’s”, but I did make it to Peoria in time for Christina’s race. At that point, the rain turned into a drizzle. (As an aside, the ACE biking trip, including Deb Kamykowski was BIKING down –and up- gravel into town in the pouring rain.)

Illinois did well at the Bradley Invite. They took off in a Pack (this was the group below the ‘top 7’). http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/w-xc/recaps/091208aaa.html. Christina who “walked on” as a Senior, finished 3rd for U of I -8th overall, did great! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLg0pHBkq08

After that, Deb headed to the Holiday Inn City Center – Peoria for a quiet evening. The Peoria weather announcer that evening used an over-emphasized “copious” when describing the rainfall we experienced Friday. Little did he know (or maybe he did) what Saturday and Sunday were going to look like.

Deb made a quick stop by Detweiller where NCHS was running (as so was Erika Danckers from Libertyville). Being a fair-weather fan, Deb left before the 3A races (in the 2006-2007 season, an additional “class” was added- after Chris & Brian graduated). In case you care!! 10 miles north of Peoria, the rain started. And the rain didn’t stop for a good 30 hours. Made a stop in Morris – which was a very pleasant surprise considering our recent purchase (follow-up later).

After a couple stops and errands, went to the hangar to wake Brian up (I wish I had photos for this….). Brian spent the last 2 days sleeping in the hangar during the day (due to working nites for the turn-around) to the sound of pouring rain. This cut his commute by a good 30-40 minutes each way. The refinery has a shower. The hangar has a refrigerator, microwave and Brian had “pre-packed” meals.

As you know we have been deluged with rain. Working at the refinery at night has been dicey to say the least. As Brian described it, it is like driving in pouring rain, with headlights shining in your eyes and your wind-shield wipers don’t work. (One must wear safety glasses in the refinery, and there are flood lights everywhere at night, with pools/floods of water and unknown hidden hazards.)

Here are a couple “daylight” pictures of downtown Naperville (~6pm Sunday Sept 14th_ possibly post-crest). Many roads were closed due to the water.

Bermuda - Mom & Dad's 50th Anniversary

Wow! What a perfect week-end. Family, Fun, Sun....! Bermuda is beautiful and the week-end couldn't have been nicer. Mom & Dad; Aunt Lisanna, Deb, Brian, Christina, Brian, Mike, Julia, Isaac, Maya, Elias, Peter, Amiee, Sarah, Katie, & William. Yes, we filled a few tables and trees!

Cambridge Beaches was a fabulous setting. We all had own space- quite ample! Peter & Amiee, Sarah, Katie and William had adjoining suites as did Brian, Deb,Chris & Brian. Lisanna, Mom and Dad (Opah & Nana) & Aunt Lisanna each had a suite. Mike, Juila, Isaac, Maya & Elias had a cool house complete with bidet over looking the ocean!

Between swimming, sailing and beaching, everyone enjoyed the play-time:

Week-end of April 25th, 2008- Nashville Half Marathon

Brian and I went different directions this week-end. Brian had the opportunity to do the Pinnacle sailboat briefing on the water for this summer. That was fine, except for the 40 degree weather and winds – on Lake Michigan. Sunday he was able to fly to Janesville, WI to have breakfast with Bud. Brian Patrick was in Iowa running the Drake Relays. He will have to elaborate on any adventures! We watched/track on-line results and spent a lot of time text messaging w/Brian. Meanwhile, Christina and Deb hit Nashville. Since Deb is writing this, it will have to be from her perspective. Chris drive down with friends, Deb flew SW. Upon arriving in Nashville, the music influence was immediately apparent with live music in the airport bars! Great new, mid-size airport. Picked up $12/day Priceline car. Remember windows that you have to crank up and down. No automatic locks. But 4 doors that you can manually lock from the front seat (even if it was a stretch). One problem with making late reservations on a popular week-end is hotel options are very limited. Rodeway Inn. It used to be an Econolodge. The old TV was etched with the owner's name – as if I might try to sneak it into my suitcase upon departure. Rooms by the hour or week.

The rest of the crew was checked in down the street at the Holiday Inn Express which was very nice for the rate. Had a great local meal at Raz's with Chris, Allison, her parents, Rachael, her parents, and Jill.

Saturday Morning was race morning. Up at 5am, picked up Chris & Jill at 5:30 for the 10 minute drive to the race start. Enormous traffic jam. Sitting on I-40 a young oriental woman was wandering down the expressway looking very lost. We asked if she needed a ride and she popped into our little car! Originally from China, now living in Raleigh, she was running her first marathon and we looked like we knew what we were doing (little did she know). Of course all of our planned exits were closed due to the course…..

I guess we looked trust-worthy... Jill and our new friend

In spite of being clueless (at least we had a map), got there in time –Chris and Jill were in the first corral for the ½ Marathon, so it was critical that they were there in time. Deb saw them 3 times during the race. They both did quite well in the ½ Marathon – Jill was the 4th woman and Chris was the 8th. Between the two races there were 32,000 runners! With bands set up along the race. It was great running weather (damp and cool). A little tough on the spectators.

Christina -at about mile marker 10. 3.1 to go!

A happy finish - Chris - 8th woman, Jill - 4th woman in the Half Mararthon

Mid-afternoon, Chris and Deb headed to Opryland. When in Nashville…. After finding the enormous resort – all under roof, spectacular gardens, water, and shopping (including a well-deserved Hagen Daz), and one weird vine creature – and driving around a lot, we did find the Grand Ole Opry. Didn't see the inside, but Chris was able to acquire a cowboy had at the Opry store. Next stop was Vanderbilt University which has a medical school. Gorgeous campus.

Our friend the Vine Lady

After regrouping, headed for downtown Nashville. We had time to wander a bit and deal with a little "drama". There were street musicians everywhere, Elvis, kitzy shops with politically incorrect items (when was the last time you saw Aunt Jemima?) and a Mennonite group looking a tad out of place between the bars.

Elvis lives!

The post-race concert Lady Antebellum played first and they were great. We ditched the headliner in search of food. At that hour most places had the 21 year old constraint and two of the girls were a couple weeks shy. So we settled at The Palm which was very nice and delicious. Exhausted we piled 5 people into the Rio (Kia) and headed back to our respective hotel/motel. Deb locked up, shoved a chair against the door (it was that type of motel/neighborhood) and turned on Saturday Night Live. A very nice week-end – Deb would return to Nashville for a week-end happily!

Dinner at the Palm. There were drawings of national and local celebrities on the walls. And some "just good patrons". There are only so many people in Nashville!