On Summer travels Jul 31 - Aug 10

Summer time is usually a time for travels. When one has kids at home and they are out of school, it is time to hit the road. When one's kids are gone and summer comes, it is time to hit the road. Not a lot changes. Most people choose to travel in the summer time, and so did we.

Tennessee was on our plan this year for summer time. Why was that? Well, it was the time of my wife Clema's family reunion. One always wants to make family reunions, and when they happen, that is the time to travel.

We were happy to include our granddaughter Audrey out of San Antonio. Audrey had made a trip last year to Tennessee and found a lot of fun with cousins. She knew we were going, and she asked if she could go. Audrey, now 11, was ready to travel, and it was a joy to have her along.

Audrey's dad gave me a $100 to dole out to Audrey. At one point she asked me to just give her the $100 bill. No, I said. I will give it to you in $20 increments. She was happy with that, and she lasted the $100 for all of the trip, which was really about 10 days. She spent wisely, the first of which was in a Cracker Barrel for gifts for her brothers at home. I thought that was really good use of the money she could have spent anyway she wanted - under my watchful eye, of course.

We traveled over 3,000 miles and burned over 150 gallons of gasoline at about $2.50 per gallon. We stayed five nights in hotels at good rates, based on Clema's employment and employee rates. We stayed 3 nights with Clema's niece in McMinnville - her bed and breakfast, we call it. You can't beat a mountain top bed and breakfast of that kind.

This kind of travel is not to see things. It is to see people and renew acquaintances. That is what we did, mostly. In Dickson, we met with my aunt and uncle and had Tennessee catfish with them. We met with my deceased brother's wife and children and grandchild. Always, that is good. We also met with a 2nd cousin, the son and his family of my cousin who lives in Illinois. The second cousin preaches in Lebanon but we met up in Dickson for the Walnut Street Church of Christ homecoming and dinner on the ground (well, it was not really on the ground). Then we visited the family cemetery in north Dickson County.

From there we went to Smyrna, Tennessee to the CoC there and their evening singing. There is no singing like congregational singing with people who like to sing. So, that was a real plus. After that we joined our friends there and went out for a meal at O'Charlie's. Getting back to Nashville was where my GPS (from the previous post) came in handy.

On my birthday, August 5, we traveling to McMinnville and Harrison Ferry Mountain and Curtis Town. After a couple of big meals on Wednesday and Thursday, we attended the reunion, held at the Mt. Leo CofC. A good time by all, for sure. We did take in some sightseeing at High Rock (picture included). It was also good to have our daughter Valerie and her husband Brad, from Corpus Christi, join us in McMinnville for a couple of days.

Saturday through Monday we returned to Laredo. We stopped off in Houston to visit our daughter and family, then on to San Antonio to drop Audrey, and on home to Laredo.

A good trip, and it was good to get home.

HOW GREAT IS GPS!

I am on a trip in Tennessee - home country. Used to, I knew all the roads and how to get around. I still think that, but it is not like it used to be. Perhaps my thinking is not as sharp as it used to be. It is harder to find my way around.

I have always prided myself in being a good navigator. I know how to read maps. I am a good compass navigator - Boy Scouts honor, you know. But.... I do have a GPS on my Sprint cell phone, and I have found it pretty good in several places for finding direction. Maybe it is becoming a crutch that I must have. Maybe it should be more than a crutch.

Twice in two days I have let the Sprint GPS woman get me out of a bind. Well, it is not like I could not have gotten out of it, but I decided to put my confidence in the GPS woman - and it worked. My being where I am proves that.

The first time, coming into Nashville, I decided to let GPS get me to the Broadway Embassy. But I lost confidence right away because the GPS woman was not saying what I thought she should be saying. I shut her down to operated on my own instincts. Well, I got off down in a residential neighborhood. Frankly, I did not know where I was!

I plugged in the GPS while in the residential neighborhood, and I decided to let GPS do the directing. In no time, I was in front of Embassy on Broadway!

Then, last night I had gone over to meet friends about 20 miles from Nashville. We went to eat at an O Charlies, which was really right next to the Interstate I came in on. Well, on departing, I obviously took a wrong turn. I got on back roads and drove and drove but never found the Interstate. I could have by following the truck compass, but there was no road going that way. I did not have a map, either.

So, I am traveling down this highway and decided I was not getting anywhere. I turned on the Sprint Navigator, plugged in the hotel address (using a recent one, already there), and immediately, the GPS woman said, "Do a U-turn, and travel nine point six miles." I followed instructions. She put me back on the Interstate in nothing flat. And, she had me back at the hotel in a much shorter distance than I would have done, using my former knowledge.

Isn't technology Great! Just learning to trust is the hard thing. But I am becoming convinced that GPS has arrived for my travels, anyway. I am a believer!

GPS is not new. It is, though for the everyday person. I remember 50 years ago questioning a pilot on why he was taking so long to make his takeoff run. Turned out he was programming coordinates to get to where he was going. Asking him more, he said that the GPS would get him within 20 feet of his destination, a far away place, as I remember. So, GPS has come to me, and I know I am a late comer! But I am a user, never to deride that latest technology available to the automobile traveler.

Life is Good!