Proud Mary and Mike Get-away

After our daughter, Rebecca married Jon on March 28th both my husband and I decided to take a few days and find some sunshine because we hadn't seen much the whole month of March in Rockford, IL where we live. Our original plan was to fly our Cessna 170B down to Charleston, SC to visit with our other daughter, Laura, and her husband, Mike. Due to a stationary front that hung right over the northern part of IL, we reverted to plan B which was to drive to Charleston....yikes!!!! My husband doesn't enjoy driving anywhere if there is a perfectly good airport waiting for an airplane at our final destination. Anyway, if he was going to vacation away from home, we needed to make a decision....pack up the van and get going.

We had previously made arrangements to stop for airplane fuel and and an overnight with one of my retired teacher friends, Cathie and her husband, Dan, who had moved after retiring from their jobs in IL to take up residence in Crossville, TN. We kept the same plan to visit them but drove instead. In spite of the nasty weather that we left in IL, we had a very beautiful drive through southern IN and Kentucky on our way to Crossville. The Redbud trees and Dogwoods were bursting with color, the bright red-orange clay in the fields of Kentucky and the foothills of the mountains in Tennessee really were spectacular! The acres and acres of green in the valleys wasn't bad either. (Our yard was just turning green when we had left home.) We arrived in Crossville at Cathie and Dan's very late on Sunday and stayed the next day to explore their new surroundings.

We woke to the smells of a real 'down home' southern breakfast. Cathie was working in her newly remodeled kithchen making eggs to order, skillet fried potatoes, and bacon, as she beckoned us to visit with her while she finished up at the stove. Of course, the table was already set with homemade banana bread, fresh orange juice, a bowl of market fresh strawberries, and blackberries and coffee. Dan was the chef's assistant pouring and serving and then taking over the clean-up part of this delicious start to our first day away.
After breakfast we jumped in their car headed for a tour of the retirement community of which they are part of, and a tour of downtown Crossville. It is a very lovely area. I hadn't ever thought much about TN except to hear jokes about hillbillies, etc. Well....it is not about hillbillies where they live, believe me. Cathie and Dan explained that most of the people in their area are imports. Many of the retirees are from the North as are they. We saw license plates from MI, IN, IL, OH as well a some from closer states like KY. Their home located in Fairfield Glade Community is in the area known as the Cumberland Plateau which is at an elevation of 2000'. The great part of their area is that even though they get the yearly benefits of warmer weather they don't get as much humidity since they are a bit elevated. The breeze they experience also tends to blow away the warm weather pests such as mosquitoes, and those famous 'no-see'ums' in SC. The homes that are part of this village are built and designed by the homeowners, so they are not cookie cutters like you might see in other retired homesteads. Each home has its own personality. The area is situated on three lakes and some of the homes are nestled in amongst the hills or on the borders of one of two golf courses. We ate lunch at one of the villages golf courses and watched folks practice their putting while sitting on the veranda of the clubhouse. It was so nice to be able to actually eat outside and have the sunshine at our backs!

Dan and Cathie explained that the community offers varying price ranges for lots depending on its location...weather it is on a lake, or sits in a valley or on a golf course or perhaps just a lot across the street from one of these higher priced locations. Even the 'plain' lots are among trees and meadowland which is still pretty inviting to someone who loves a warmer, more relaxed way of life. Of course these folks are part of an association which allows participatin in all of the services and recreations there.

When we drove through the sweet little downtown, we stopped at the home of Trade-a-Plane newspaper. All of the pilots out there know about this paper as it is your life-line to purchasing a plane, new or used. I didn't go in the building, but my pilot husband did and he picked up a souvenir paper to document our visit. That was all there was to see other than the town library and bank. I did ask about a knitting shop and Cathie did say they had one, but I didn't get a chance to visit....next time. On the way back to their neighborhood we drove by the perfectly good airport and saw where we could have landed and gotten fuel....next time.

We took an afternoon cocktail cruise on one of the neighbors pontoon boats around the lake that Cathie and Dan live on, had a relaxing pasta dinner, retired for the night, ate a light breakfast the next morning, gave hugs and kisses and continued our travels to Charleston! More later.