On the Road, Again – Maryville, Tennessee!

May 24, 2021

On the Road, Again – Maryville, Tennessee!

If you read my blog, with the exception of all of this year’s cancer blogs, I’m anything but unpredictable. Annual golf trip to Northern Michigan. Annual Harley trip to Maryville, Tennessee (last year, due to COVID-19, two annual Harley trips, no trip to Michigan).

Yes, it’s the annual Memorial Day Harley trip to Maryville, Tennessee. But, a “little” less predictable. We typically leave on a Thursday, stop in Vicksburg on Thursday night, and get to Maryville on Friday. With my cancer chemo stuff, I’ve been working from home since January. No sense in being around more people and risking my already compromised system, right? In planning the trip, biggest challenge: who will take care of Abby this trip (Kat went with us most of the time, but Abby isn’t Kat, and Al and Eileen’s house isn’t fenced, and Molly, is, well Molly). We worked out arrangements and decided to leave almost a week early – I could “work from home” from the deck overlooking the Smokey Mountains – yes, yes, yes! Zoom outside (I turn off the video so I don’t have to take care of my “chemo hair and skin” anyway, so that doesn’t even really matter.

Abby, our baby's first time without us.

Matter decided: we leave out of Dallas on Saturday morning. Maybe drive straight through (almost 1000 miles). Or stop when we stop and get there on Sunday. As long as I’m up and online on Monday morning at 10 am ET (9 am CT) for meetings, I’m good to go!

Instead of renting the trailer from UHaul, we decide we’re going to take our rewelded standup trailer. Mistake: not sure. The new tires and new weld seem to be good. But, riding through some of the cities (e.g. Shreveport, Monroe, Jackson, Birmingham) have LOTS OF HOLES – AND NOT JUST POTHOLES.

Chemo #4 was on Tuesday, so hoping that the chemo tummy, chemo skin and hair are uneventful on the trip. So far, I’ve been pretty good and hope it stays that way!

Saturday morning, we pack up and head out. Not as early as I would want, but before 7 am is good. We’re doing the “Southern route”: Dallas to Shreveport to Mississippi to Alabama to Georgia, up through Chattanooga to Maryville.

Blackberry ready for another trip.

ain, predictable: stop in Tyler to check out the trailer, straps, etc. Uh oh: one of the fenders has a break. And we aren’t even out of Texas. Damn. But, a big truck pulls up to the pump next to ours – with a welder in the back. $50 and he welds it for us. Fortuitous. Yes. And off we go.

Welder at QT

Until Shreveport – can I say – Shreveport roads SUCK. Not just holes, but craters in the road. The fenders are rattling – and then the cruise control goes out? We stop – and stops in Shreveport are a bit “sketchy.” Weld we spent $50 on is already broken. Duct tape, fix the fuse. And cross our fingers, looking for a truck stop to see if we can reassess again.

Love’s Truck Stops sell lots of stuff, including Gorilla Tape – camo at that. And Weld “stuff.” We “weld the fenders (now both, not just one), and wrap in this pretty substantial Gorilla Tape (can’t find on Amazon, not that Amazon would have helped on Saturday, but, this is a good roll of tape to keep in your stash when going on road trips with a suspect trailer: https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Tape-Camo-Duct-Mossy/dp/B008UEWIW6/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=gorilla+tape+and+camo&qid=1621861641&sr=8-2 ). The Weld “stuff” – not so much.

Gorilla Tape - the tape of Champions!

Off we go again. Definitely don’t think that we’ll be making it to Maryville on Saturday. Hoping for Birmingham, but we’ll see. I can definitely say that I will NOT be driving based on the trailer issues so far. I hate driving the truck as it is, add a trailer even more. Add a suspect trailer – hell no. Sorry Tony.

We make up time, but not really enough. Stop and the Gorilla tape is AWESOMENESS.

It’s a golf major: the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Ocean Course (https://kiawahresort.com/golf/the-ocean-course/ and https://www.pgachampionship.com/ ) and I watched Phil stay in the hunt – and in the lead on Thursday and Friday. Sucks that Saturday and Sunday we’ll be driving – and can probably boot up Hulu and watch on my phone, but decide not to). But, that’s what family and friends who know Tony and I are huge Mickelson fans, but hard to watch him at 50 and not be afraid of “Phil being Phil.” Mom texts me how well he’s doing. And being 5 strokes ahead. And then “Phil not doing well” and “Phil double bogey.” I finally asked for the commentary to end. Don’t want to know, unless it’s good.

Can we make it to Trussville (north of Birmingham)? Well, not quite. And stop in Tuscaloosa (home of University of Alabama), staying at the Microtel (owned by Wyndham https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/microtel ) next to the Tuscaloosa Harley Davidson. I’ve never stayed at Microtel, and don’t really need to again (disclosure: I'm not a princess and didn't expect a lot -- the lobby and hallways were pretty worn -- the room was OK, but no coffee maker, weird lighting and furniture, we had to turn the fridge off because it was so loud, etc.) But, it wasn’t awful and just a place to stay the night.

We find out that Phil ended up with a one stroke lead – over Brooks Koepka (aka “Cupcake”) by one. Let’s hope for a good Sunday – on a brutal course (Pete and Alice Dye have “mean streaks.”

Sunday morning, we get up, gas up and off we go to Maryville.

Sunrise in Alabama near Birmingham

Our drive to Maryville is pretty uneventful. A few stops. Not much. And we get to Al & Eileen’s by 12 noon! It’s hot here – more than normal. But, golf on, unload and unpack. Make sure that my computer still knows WiFi for “work from home.” (it does).

And Phil wins the PGA Championship! Oldest Major Winner Ever! By 2 strokes (watching the final coverage, you would never know that there was a pandemic and a month ago they were playing to almost empty stands – mob scene). Nice to watch Sunday with a view of the Smokey Mountains and the TV coverage!