We're Here!!!....

Well, Team Hoochie-Que is finally here in Tennessee - and wow, was that ever a LONG drive!!... I pulled out of Park City on Sunday morning at around 10 AM (much later than I had hoped/planned)... Had to stop just outside of Evanston, WY, for about an hour to rearrange the load in my trailer (too much weight at the back end, causing the trailer to "fishtail" around)... Stopped for the night in Cheyenne... Left early the next mroning, and spent a LOT of the day traveling though Nebraska, and stopped for the night east of Kansas City... 15 hours of driving that day, so I was pooped that night!... I pulled out the 3rd morning, traveled through 4 states that day (MO, IL, KY, TN), and arrived in Manchester, TN around 6 PM that evening.... This portion of the drive was my favorite by far... The countryside from Southern Illinois through western Kentucky into Tennessee was simply beautiful... I crossed the Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers that day, and for an ol' West Texas boy whose closest early childhood experience to a "river" was an irrigation ditch - well, these rivers were breathtaking...

Manchester is the closest town to Lynchburg that has any hotels of any sort to stay in, and is about 45 minutes away... I got up not quite as early yesterday, and made the drive into Lynchburg... The short trip was simply beautiful, and right out of a painting... The entire area is lush with trees and vines and plants of all sorts, and the colors are just beginning to turn into brilliant reds and golds... Ol' Jack sure knew where to set-up his first still - because Lynchburg is definitely WAY BACK in the woods!!

I got my trailer to the site at the Jack (only 3-4 other teams were there - mostly from distant locations such as Alaska and British Columbia), so I had plenty ot space and time to get my trailer into it's location (I am horrible at backing a trailer!!)... After setting the trailer, I did a little "looking around" in Lynchburg... Which can easily be done by foot, and was really nice... The weather was perfect, and the little town is already bustling in preparation of the crowds that will descend upon it in just a couple of days...

I drove back into Nashville later yesterday afternoon to pick up the rest of the "team"... It certainly was great to see my wife, Venssa, and the kids!!! It is funny how after 3 days of basically no one to talk to other than yourself how thrilled one is to be back around family again - even with all the little fights and squabbles that come along with it all!! It was after dark when they arrived, so they were unable to see an awful lot last night... We stayed here in Nashville last night, and are going to try to make a quick tour of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Museum today before heading back down to Lynchburg this afternoon... This is a beautiful, vibrant city from what I have seen so, and we will undoubtedly not even come close to seeing everything here that we would have liked to... Oh well - guess I will have to try hard to come back to the Jack another year!!

More to follow - and yes, LOTS of photos to share in the next few days...

(And BTW - I have not given "birth" as yet to "Jack" or "Jackie"... At least not to my knowledge... I have not been hurting, but haven't seen anything pass as yet, either... Am drinking tons of water and taking my Flomax which my doctor gave me last time I was passing a stone, and it helped a lot... Am hoping I don't go into "labor" over the weekend!!!)