2019 Life Logs, Day 268: On the Road Again
Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 74, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Summer is officially despite the lingering and sunny weather. But it is fall and time to change gears. So, this weekend, I’ll be on the road again. The song by that name, written and sung by Willie Nelson, was a theme song for my life with Mark and was highlighted in tonight’s last episode of Ken Burns’ Country Music. Watching this series was truly an emotional experience for me. Growing up in West Virginia, I totally rejected any image of being a hillbilly and I hated country music, but Ken Burns has given me a reborn appreciation. In tonight’s episode, I really enjoyed learning more about Kathy Matea. She is from Cross Lanes, West Virginia, which, when I was growing up, was just a part of the town of Nitro where I grew up. Her father was an engineer at Monsanto where both my brother, my sister, my brother-in-law, and my sister-in-law worked. They knew him and my nephew Tommy, much younger than myself, went to school with Kathy. I had heard her name from family members before this series, but I knew nothing about her music. Now I know her story, as well as so many others. Thank you, Ken Burns.
Now back to being on the road again. This Sunday I head to Philadelphia to visit with friends Kevin Russell and Claire McKellar. Another good friend, Lynne Kirwin, is going to meet me there, and we will spend a couple of nights aboard Kevin and Claire’s sailboat, Merganser. Kevin and Claire are going to give us a tour of Philadelphia on Monday and we will spend hours just visiting together. Kevin and Claire joined Mark and I in the Bahamas in 2015 and we met up with Lynne and Ed in an anchorage in the Exumas. It will be some wonderful to be together again. I will head home on Tuesday or Wednesday and then on Thursday I head to Maine for the Celebration of Life of Rich Kole, the husband of another close friend, Leslie. So, lots of traveling in the next week.
I happily report that Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco did back to Puerto Rico last night. Evidently Tropical Storm Karen had moved on by the time their flight from Dallas to San Juan landed. So I’m now hoping that there are no more reports of earthquakes or tropical storms/hurricanes in Puerto Rico this fall.
