Hectic and Hot

That's the description of the last couple of weeks.
Backing up: 2 weeks ago on Thursday, we took the girls and went to Greeneville, TN. Most of you know that Don spent all his summers on the family farm there. As usual we got kind of a later start than we meant to, but were quietly traveling along I-40 when BAM! All of us jumped, but Don kept control of the car. Turned out that an 18-wheeler going in the opposite direction blew a tire when he was right next to us! Sure was glad for that concrete divider.
We went to Newport and took the girls across Houston Valley (SR107), one of the prettiest drives in this part of the country. When we got to the home place, Mary was anxious to go inside and see everything. She had never been inside. We got the key from Uncle Jack and took the girls into the "hotbox". With no one staying there at the time, there was no AC running. But that did not deter them. They checked out out every inch, including the attic room where Don used to sleep. Then they wanted to go to the barn. Well, I have seen the barn, so I went back over to Uncle Jack and Aunt Sara's where the AC was definitely working.
After a nice visit, we took the girls into town and drove them around some. Then we headed to White Pine for a horse show - Racking and Pacing (if that means anything to you). Instead, we found out the Greene County Fair was going on and the girls wanted to go there. Poor things had never been to a county fair. We walked thru the cattle barn and then they got a ticket to ride all the rides ( so-o-o many rides-Not). Don and I went to the one air conditioned building and looked at prize winning canning, hay bales, biscuits, etc. There was some good photography on display. Then we went to the booth for the Humane Society where Don's cousin Lisa had just arrived. The girls found us there (wasn't hard) after they had ridden each of the rides twice. That must have taken them nearly 30 minutes. We all visited with Lisa, her husband, Jeff, and their son, Austin.
We did not go to the horse show, as the heat had exhausted all of us and we were ready to be home.
Friday morning, we slept a little late and then went to meet Brenda and Nita for lunch. We had a good time with them. Then we took Mary and Libby to the World's Fair Park. We went up in the Sunsphere observation deck. The deck just re-opened a week or so before. They seemed to like seeing the UT campus from there. After that we stopped at the Chocolate Factory (naughty us). Then to Fort Kid. Mary remembered playing there when she was younger and got a real kick out of it. There was no one else there at the time.
Saturday morning we were up early to head to Savannah. We took them home over the mountians, so Libby could see more mountains. The trip was uneventful (which is a good thing) until we got just past Savannah - our reservations were in Brunswick. The hour drive from Savannah to Brunswick took us 3-1/2 hours. Yep, traffice was at a standstill. Evidently there was an accident because we saw ambulance and fire trucks go by us. As if inching our way along wasn't enough, it started pouring rain. The maddening thing was that we would have been in our room when the rain started if not for the traffic tieup. Gr-r-r-r. Oh well, we were all safe, even if dinner was a little late.
The next morning, since we were not in a big hurry, the girls got their chance to swim for about an hour. We were still in Merritt Island by 2:30. We dropped the girls off at Sheila's and went and checked into our hotel. Then back to Sheila's for dinner and a visit, since Sheila was leaving the next day for Denver.
Well, that is a start. Hopefully, you will get the next installment tomorrow (don't hold your breath).
Love and hugs, Pat