Where To Now?

We began our day with the dogs running outside. This property has 60 acres of land attached to it, with plenty of open space for Roxy to get up to full speed. We piddled a good part of the morning away... which is just what you do on a weekend,  especially a vacation weekend. By 11:30ish we were starting to get hungry. We came to the house with no people food, only dog food. So we set out in search of a lunch spot.  As we drove into Albany, we made a little detour down Edgewood Circle... the little enclave of homes where Kef will be living soon. As we came around the circle, we noticed a woman walking toward a mailbox at the house next door. Kef took the opportunity to stop and meet her new neighbors! They are very connected to the community and are a fascinating couple. I think she'll have some opportunities to get to know many people in the community as a benefit of her newfound connection with them. After a nice visit, we pulled into the driveway at the h...

I flew into Albany via Chicago late this evening, arriving at midnight. Kef and the girls met me at the airport and I thought we were headed to the hotel. But as we continued driving longer, I began to suspect a surprise was coming. As we crossed the Hudson River under the cover of darkness, I really wished I'd arrived my first time in the daylight. But the stars were shining brightly... and Saturn seemed to be guiding us into the woods. We continued to follow gps directions for about an hour until we pulled onto a dirt lane marked Lee O'Knobit. Rising out of the darkness was an old 19th century farm house... which is ours for the weekend! Pictures will come tomorrow when it's daylight.

Today was our final day with a family history stop, which was to be in Pulaski, TN. We left Kimball first thing this morning and were on our way. Since we were going to an area that isn't serviced by Interstates, we enjoyed a calm, traffic-free drive through the Tennessee countryside. We stopped at a place called the Swiss Pantry with the intent of finding cheese curds, which we didn't find. What we DID find was a "vendor appreciation day" underway... where all of their vendors who grow and raise and sell their farm-fresh produce and meat were set up outside the store with samples! We tasted cheese grits (they had made the grits), sausage balls, chicken, popcorn, fudge... yeah, it was a fortuitous stop. I had a nice conversation with a young single mom who had moved to the area from Fort Worth two years ago and was enjoying a slower pace of life... and learning to raise sheep alongside her 11 year old daughter! Back on the road, we continued to marvel at how...

I can't even tell you how amazed I am with Sarah Jane Overstreet, one of the volunteers at the Henry County Genealogical Society, housed in the Brown House. Before we even arrived in Henry County, she had taken the little information I had given her about our Reuben Deering and pulled page after page of interesting information. (Not only that, she baked a pound cake that we enjoyed for snack!) We weren't even sure Reuben owned land (in fact, we thought perhaps all of our Deerings up until the current family farm had leased their land). Sure enough, she found land lottery records and deeds and probate records and so much more about our Reuben. Not only did he own land, but he too deeded some of it for the building of a church, the New Bethel Baptist Church. I have yet to figure out which church this became... if it's still around... if there's a cemetery nearby, etc. He could even be buried there. He deeded the land in 1835. I found a record that indicated the chu...

Today we left Boone headed just south of Atlanta, to Henry County, Georgia. As it was mostly a driving day, there's not much to report.... except our first visit to Bojangle's (it was quite good) and a sidestep to Neal's Creek Community just south of Anderson, South Carolina, where our Vandivers had quite an impact. We're still a little unsure who did what and when... but we think our Edward (my 5th great grandfather, b. 1748 d. 1837) was a charter member of the Neal's Creek Baptist Church. One of the Vandivers (we think our Edward, but could be a close relation) donated the land on which the church and cemetery are built. Somewhere there's a marker that says as much, but we couldn't find it. We found lots of other Vandivers buried there, though. Upon further searching after we reached the hotel, I see that a John Vandiver is credited with the land donation... don't know how he's connected, but we'll see. After extensive picture-taking of Van...

Our goal for today was to check out the little town of Blowing Rock, which is the inspiration for the town of Mitford in Jan Karon’s books. I took a wrong turn immediately, which sent us past stunning views of the Watauga River and a couple of little waterfalls as the recent rains drained down the mountainsides. Once we got on the right track, it was a quick trip to Blowing Rock. It’s an interesting mix of vacation spot (i.e. touristy places) and tiny town charm. It has a cute Main Street with good places to eat, and plenty of places to spend too much money on things you can get cheaper elsewhere. But I suppose it’s all in the experience. We spent about 3 hours (the length of time you can legally stay parked) eating an early lunch (whistlestop – which was basically a BLT made with fried green tomatoes - and trout sandwiches) at the Storie Street Grill, then browsing the shops. I managed to get a bear Christmas ornament that is reminiscent of North Carolina, as well as some fudg...

I don't have the compulsion to leave the house every day like some people do. Looking at the weather forecast, we had decided to make this a stay-in day, as it was supposed to rain all day. Weatherman was wrong. It was sunny all the way up until about 5 pm when we had a nice light rain for about 30 minutes. Nonetheless, we stayed in... finished our puzzle, read books, snacked on pastries and cheese and crackers, and worked on genealogy. Mom finished filling in what she knows of her lineage on a large 15 generation tree. I worked on matching up photos I'd taken on genealogy excursions to people in my tree. Our only contact with the outside world was the Spectrum support people (regarding the wifi) and Dad who called late in the day. Mom was wishing him happy anniversary (as they've done on the 22nd day of just about every month for the past 50 plus years) just as the sunset show began. Tonight's show was especially lovely... with the last vestiges of mist fr...