Happy Fall! Another season has come and gone, and another month almost over. Yes, I think time does go faster when you're older.

We've had an interesting week, very busy it seems. But since the last couple of weeks have seemed very long, this was a good thing. We saw some of the grandkids Tuesday. I picked 2 up from their after school tutoring (one gets tutored and the other is a tutor) and then 2 more showed up for help with homework. He needed to look some things up on the computer. It was total chaos for a while!

Wednesday was Amanda's surgery and we did go to sit with Ryan. Bill made the decision to go. The surgery was a success and she got to go home that same day. She's a little sore yet and will be for some time. The hospital is new and in many ways it reminded me of Mayo, including not enough handicap parking, or regular parking for that matter! We had quite a hike from the car to the door and then across the lobby to the elevator. But, slowly but surely, we made it!

As we were coming home from Jonesboro Wednesday afternoon, I just happened to look down and saw smoke coming from the dash! I also realized that I was smelling something really acrid! I pulled over and we popped the hood, but couldn't get it all the way open. But no smoke was coming out there. So, I turned off the air conditioner and opened the sun roof and the back windows some and we came on home.

The car had also done something strange the week before, lost most of the electronics (air, radio, wipers, direction lights, headlights, backup camera) as we were driving down the road. When we got home (we weren't too far away) and I put it in park, everything came back on! With both of these incidents, there were no warning lights or bells.

I talked to a friend of ours who manages the service department for the local Ford/Nissan dealer and he had no clue to what it could be without running all of the diagnostics. Since it was time for an oil change we decided to go to the dealer we bought the car from and have them check it out. While we were on the way there we were talking about things starting to go wrong and it was only 4 years old and out of warranty. Anyway, we turned it over to the service department and went into the showroom and, bought a new car! I really hated to because the other one was paid for, but, this is our travelling car. For my peace of mind, we didn't need to be taking chances. When the salesman asked what I wanted I told him I wanted what I had and he found one...in Kentucky. But, no problem, because the one we had came from Iowa. We got a good trade, decent financing, and I hope a good car because I haven't seen it yet! It was supposed to be delivered to us yesterday but apparently they got back with it too late. No problem, I'm driving a 2014 off their lot now so I imagine they will want it back!

Bill has done well through all of this but he got really tired at the dealership. They were short handed in the document department so it took quite awhile to get things going. We had left home at 11, got to the dealership at 12:30-12:45, and didn't leave until almost 5. We stopped at Applebees for dinner and got home a little after 7. We were both pretty tired and slept good.

Bill did have a couple of nights with leg cramps again. But, he still won't listen to me about drinking. He didn't have any Wednesday night, but he drank lots of water that day.

All for this installment. Hopefully the car will come this morning!

Can you believe that this is post #501? And there have been almost 19,000 pageviews! When I started this, I never dreamed that this would go so long, or be seen by so many people!

This has seemed like a very long week, and not just to me. Bill and Emily both said that it was an extremely long week. I felt bad until Friday and then I felt better than I had in a long time when I woke up. Still have a cough but it's also better. Luckily Bill hasn't gotten it, although he had a headache when we went to bed last night and was sneezing, but so far so good, he feels fine today.

We went to a football game Thursday night. Ryan's little girl was being a jr. cheerleader, so we went to see her. She's just like her daddy, stood there with her arms crossed looking at her feet. There were too many people looking at her. She looked really cute in her little outfit, though.

We had some lovely cool weather this week, but summer has come back, at least for a few more days. After this week-end it's supposed to finally get cool and stay cool. I'm ready for it. I've been wanting chili, but it's too warm to eat it, even with the air conditioning still running. I did make a pot of chicken noodle soup while I was sick, but it was more for medicinal purposes than anything.

Our daughter-in-law is having gall bladder surgery Wednesday. She's been sick for over 3 weeks and keeps getting different diagnoses. She finally saw the surgeon Thursday and she told her that if she had any pain the next day to go back to the ER and have them call her. They did that and she was still sent home. But, the surgeon called and said they could schedule it for Wednesday. We don't have a time, she pre-registers Tuesday. I don't know if we will go for the surgery since we still have to take Bill into consideration. Although it will probably be safe since it's been 2 1/2 years.

Monday was another milestone for him. It was 3 years that he had the LVAD implanted. He didn't realize it and I didn't mention it to him. A lot has happened since that day!

I don't know if I've said anything before, but Bill's oldest is expecting again, a total surprise. Anyway, she called Thursday evening and it's a girl, due Feb. 6. That's the day before Ryan's birthday. She thinks she will actually be born before the end of January. We'll just have to wait and see! She has 3 grown children and a 2 year old. She also has her semi-invalid mother living with her, is an RN working nights, and is studying to become a nurse practitioner with an emphasis in midwifery. I don't know how she does it! Of course her husband is a big help with William, but he works days so it does make if hard on her.

I think I've hit the highlights for this week. I'm sure there's been more going on, but you don't need to read about everything we've done. Our lives are not that interesting! Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

Here are some pictures from our adventure. Bill has always been the photographer in the family, but now the camera frustrates him. All of the pictures we took were of the cemetery except for one of the bridges to Louisiana taken from our hotel window. I am not a good photographer. My perspective gets all out of whack. Plus, taking them from inside the car for the most part. But, they are what they are.

 

These wrought iron fences seemed to go on forever. I'm sure they are all family plots.

 As you see there are lots of different styles of monuments.

 

Another large monument.

And another...

When we drove by this one the 1st time Bill said "that one escaped, the grave was open!' so we drove back and, sure enough, the top was off of the grave liner! We didn't get out to see if there was a coffin inside, but with that off and the gate standing open...

 

 

 

The Turning Angel. This stone is featured prominently in the books set in Natchez by Greg Iles. I actually thought it would be larger than it was, and there was another one nearby that was larger. But, according to the map of the cemetery, this one is the original.

 

I was going to post the picture of the bridges but when I uploaded it, it turned sideways. If any of you like old cemeteries, you could spend days wandering through here. There was 1 section that was dedicated to confederate soldiers, but we didn't get any pictures of those.

Haven't been home a week and I'm sick! The weather changed with rain and a temperature drop. I woke up yesterday with a headache, but didn't think anything of it. Bill's cell phone had rung at 11:30 the night before, (wrong # of course), and I couldn't get back to sleep until after 1. So, I just thought the headache was from lack of sleep. But, late afternoon I realized that my throat was sore and my eyes were dry. Within an hour I felt really bad and the medicine I took seemed to make me feel worse. Still feel bad this morning and Bill even told me I looked sick! Thanks a lot, I love you too!

We did go to the new Jo-Ann's fabric store that our daughter-in-law is managing. The grand opening was this week-end. Got 6 skeins of yarn for a new project and spent less than $20! And I didn't even spend "our" money. We had gotten a couple of reward cards from ATT for changing our phone/internet service so used those.

The first part of the week was uneventful. We had McKenna for a little on Tuesday. Her parents were involved in a dinner/fund raiser and had pressed Brianna into service. They weren't sure that McKenna would be able to last through the entire thing without getting too bored so we picked her up from her after school program and took her out to eat. We then dropped her off with her parents. She talked the entire time! I actually thought she would have done fine. It's hard not to treat her like a little one since she's the baby, but she is 10 now.

Bill has had no issues since we've been home. I hope he doesn't catch this cold. I have noticed that he did no coughing while we were gone, but has started again now that we've been home. Thinking that this area is not good for either of us anymore, but the thought of moving just makes us tired! I'll keep an eye on things anyway.

We still don't have a date for his next appointment but it should be coming any time. The usually let us know 1-2 months in advance and we should be going the first part of November. We are planning on going on to Tampa to see his sister for a few days after the appointment. This appointment shouldn't have anything invasive done, just a clinic appointment and labs with an ekg and x-ray thrown in.

All for this week. Hopefully I'll feel better for the next update. And, Ms.A, I did get pictures downloaded to the computer, just haven't had the oomph to get them on here. Maybe sometime this coming week!

Our adventure has come to an end! We had a wonderful time and I could have stayed away longer, but Bill was ready to come home. He did very well on the trip, didn't get overly tired, and was game to try almost anything I suggested we do.

Our ride through the country was a good time for us to just talk as there wasn't much to see except for cotton fields. We laughed at some of the strange town names we came across, such as Dub, MS. The big advantage to this route was lighter traffic. We only got on the interstate right before Memphis, to get around the city, and in Vicksburg, MS for a very short time to get around the city.

Our hotel was right on the Mississippi River, and although we were told it had a riverview, we only got a glimpse of the river, if we stood right by the window. But, it was a nice room and easy access on and off the road.

We did a driving tour of downtown Natchez and saw some of the historic mansions. We didn't try to actually tour any of them because it was a lot of walking and stair climbing. Stairs are a challenge for Bill, so we thought that just looking at them from the car would be fine. We also drove through the City Cemetery and the National Cemetery. I would love to go back and spend a lot of time in the City Cemetery. There are some Civil War graves there, from both sides. We also saw the Turning Angel. If any of you are Greg Iles fans, he featured this monument in his book Turning Angel, and it features in most of his novels about Natchez.

We had dinner at the Magnolia Grill which is located at the "Under the Hill" site. This was where bandits hid. Lunch one day was at Mammy's Cupboard. This is a small place that is built to look like a woman and the restaurant is in her skirt. They are only open for lunch and feature soups, salads and sandwiches. They do have a daily plate lunch and the day we were there was chicken pot pie day. It was really good, and the lemon meringue pie had meringue 4" high!

We drove most of the Natchez Trace back. It is 444.0 miles long, from Natchez to Nashville. It is a lovely 2 lane road, with a 50 mph speed limit. There were some who thought that was too slow and went flying by us. There were several bicyclists and walkers on the route. My dad would have been proud of me because I spotted 2 pheasant, a deer, several wild turkey, and another critter that ran across the road. It was so fast we couldn't tell just what it was, only that it was tan. We stopped for lunch at French Camp, MS which is the current site of a Christian boarding school, mainly for troubled teens. They serve lunch, soup and sandwiches, on home baked bread and all the proceeds benefit the school.

We got off the Trace just north of Tupelo, MS. No, we didn't go see Elvis's birthplace. We had seen it before since Tupelo is only about 2 1/2 hours from home. We then drove to Pickwick Dam which is a favorite park of ours. We weren't able to get a room on the river as there was a motorcycle convention and another large banquet, so we stayed at another place. It wasn't quite as nice as it used to be, so we only spent 1 night.

I could have stayed gone longer, and wandered more, but Bill was ready to come home. For me, the journey itself is the adventure. I get that honestly from my mother, just get in the car and drive.

The bags are unpacked, Bill is out cleaning the car, and I've taken stock of the kitchen. The laundry is not sorted, except for the clean things being put up and the others in the hampers. Laundry will wait until tomorrow!

So, there you go. You've been on our adventure with us. Until next time, enjoy this nice fall weather, if you are having it, stay dry if it's raining where you are, and cool if it's still hot! Ours is very pleasant, only 59 when we got up this morning!