A quick trip but it sure was fun. We were going to fly to Indiana to go to Steve's cousin's wedding but we ended up driving our little truck out there. Steve Sr. was in the market for an old truck to use at their new house in Kentucky and we figured we needed to sell the Nissan sometime soon (still in hopes of early retirement), so it was a perfect match. IF the Nissan would make it all the way out there. It did. It ran like a champ (although it got a bit hot a couple of days) and the tunes were thumpin'.
The road trip was fantastic although I must say that Texas really freaks us out. Instead of American flags being flown in various places around town, there are only Texan flags. They have the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere just off the highway, and there was actually a flat wooden cow painted like an American flag (the one American flag we saw) that said "We support our troops". The cows support the troops or they think a flag cow is a sign of support??? Weird.
We stayed over in Amarillo (tried to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at a Mexican restaurant but not much going on), Oklahoma City (gave up on nightlife so went to a local dive bar and found a great Guatemalan restaurant that even sold the hot sauce we liked from Guatemala), and Memphis (went to what was advertised as an industrial club but was pathetic – should have gone to Beale St to listen to blues). We had really terrible rain one morning and just missed some tornadoes by one day. But the road trip was so much fun that as we started getting close to Nashville, we were a bit bummed it was almost over.
Cool abandoned building.
It was great to arrive in Tennessee and see Steve's sister Barb, Brian, and their kids. We spent the night there, then headed up to Kentucky to Steve's parents house. They have a nice place in the cute town of Franklin. Right out of Normal Rockwell it even has a town square. Just enough time there to see the house quickly and pile into the RV to head north. Got to Danny & Sam's house (Steve's cousin) to get ready for the wedding (and play a little Wii). They were nice enough to let us spend the night in their groovy downstairs.
The wedding/reception was held at a German chalet not too far from Evansville. It was great to see everyone! The wedding was perfect and the bride and groom seemed very very happy. Then we went out afterward with Sam & Danny and met up w/ Roger & Nancy (Steve's uncle and aunt) at a bar with a great live band!
The next day a bunch of the fam all met up at Hacienda for lunch and a surprise early celebration for Steve's 40th bday. He was thoroughly embarrassed by the birthday cake, singing staff, sombrero, and 40 cups of cheer (20 bras strung together!). It was wonderful.
Surprise bday gathering at the Hacienda.
40 cups of cheer! LOL
We flew into Denver, rented a car to get home, and spent the night in Colorado Springs at Walt & Tracy's house. We just missed Walt by about an hour as he was on his way to Germany. But we had a fun visit and were happy to find that their daughter Sophie was visiting from Florida. We were also excited to finally get some of the black vodka that so far has only been found in C Springs (thanks Betty for finding it!). We loaded up and made the 5 hour drive home that night only to have to get up the next morning and drive to Durango the next morning to return the rental car. Whew – what a whirlwind trip!
