The Journey West: East of the Mississippi

We drove to Pueblo by way of People We Knew On The Way.

First, the trip west gave us a chance to see my brother,  Buddy, and my nephew, Aiden, in Louisville.

It was a gorgeous, if hot, day in Kentucky

Buddy has the family cradle at his house, since he had the first grandchild. Grandpa Albert, my father's father, made this when they were expecting me. He made it huge; Adele, at 4.5, can almost be contained in it. 

We had a pleasant evening! The kids played WiiU with almost no restrictions, and we had a fire in the pit after they were down. It was good to get caught up. 

Miles and Aiden get along beautifully, assisted by their mutual love of video games. 

One of too few pictures of me and Buddy:

The whole crew

After a lazy morning, we got into the car and continued into Tennessee. We had an appointment with some hot chicken in Tennessee. 

The folk singer Dom Flemons, who was at Steppin' Out last year, sings a song about hot chicken. The kids only know about the existence of Nashville, TN because of this song. So, we had a bit of a quest to find us some hot chicken while passing through.

Prince's was what Dom recommended, but it was, alas, closed until 2.

We made do with Hattie's:

Nashville afforded us some pretty views and very fun spontaneous live music in the park where we ate our hot chicken. Next, we travelled to Memphis, where we spent the night with our beloved friends, Josh and Melissa. We enjoyed catching up with August, who is four, and finally meeting, for the first time, baby Madeleine! What good fortune that our move gave us a visit with the Hatchers. 

We finally had to leave the familiar half of the country behind.

Crossing the Mississippi into Arkansas, I felt like Samwise Gamgee:

We watched with big eyes (ok, sometimes mine were closed) the two long days of travel in unfamiliar landscapes. Next up: west of the Mississippi.