Zippin' Around (and a "small world" story)

As you know, from the last posting, I went with Larry on his business trip last week. We first flew to Nashville in order to drive to Atlanta (because Southwest Airlines doesn't fly to Atlanta). The next day we drove back to Nashville to catch a flight to Tampa. However, we had a couple extra hours in our schedule to do something different.

We decided to drive to Turtletown, Tennessee!! What a fitting place for Traveling Turtles, wouldn't you say! It's about an hour from Chattanooga, very close to the North Carolina border. The drive was beautiful as we drove along a lake and then along a river where autumn is still approaching peak color.

As it turns out, there isn't much to Turtletown. There were plenty of country homes in the area but not much in the way of business.


A post office is about the only thing open. There is a good size school but it appears to be closed. Ducktown, about 10 miles away, is where the businesses seem to be thriving.

Tampa was a repeat city for us but Ft Lauderdale was new - at least for me. You may have enjoyed some of the sights had I taken some pictures but I didn't. It all seemed like repeat and I wasn't motivated to use the camera. Sorry ya'll.

On Saturday we went to Colonial Williamsburg. Now that was interesting. This is the actual site of the colonial town and includes 88 of the original buildings. We learned about certain trades such as blacksmithing, book binding, shoe making, saddlery, wheel making and more along with details of how life was back then. Then, of course, there were the turbulent times just prior to the revoluntion.
Here's a photo of a brick kiln. What is unique is that the kiln is built once a year using the bricks that they have made all summer. It takes five to six weeks to build the kiln and several days to get the fire up to full heat. It burns for about a week before they seal the ends and let it cool down for several weeks. Finally, they'll take the whole thing apart and repeat it again next year. The outside is skimmed with mud to help hold the heat inside. For more photos, check out http://travelingturtles.myphotoalbum.com/ (but look tomorrow because it takes hours to download and I'll do it tonight).

Finally, at the end of the day, we headed back to our car via the visitor's center. That's when I saw someone I thought I knew. I looked twice and I still wasn't sure. I thought hard to remember her name. This would be going back 6 years and more to when we lived in Santa Rosa. Laura and their son went to Santa Rosa Christian School together from Kindergarten to 8th grade. I remembered Paul's name just fine. It took me a moment to remember his last name and finally his mom's first name.

She and I talked often in the parking lot at school. We both went to Bible Study Fellowship. We went on field trips together. Ah yes! I remembered her name and hurried to get within calling distance and called her. She looked up; it was her!! The first thing she said was "What are you doing here?". That's exactly what Larry's cousin said to us we when ran into her at a public pool in Washington. The four of us chatted for a while, catching up on what we've been doing for the last six years. It truly is a small world after all.

On Sunday morning we had breakfast with some friends (and distant relatives) who live in Virginia. They graciously drove an hour from home to meet with us. We had dinner with them 5 years ago when we made our first trip back East. We could talk for hours so of course breakfast just wasn't long enough - but at least it was something.

By the way, we are definitely in the "South" now. Larry heard someone cheerfully say to someone else, "Ya'll have a good rest of ya'lls week." That is my salutation to you; uh, I mean to ya'll.