At our staff meeting the Tuesday morning before July 4th, Brandon announced the good news to us. In addition to the day after July 4th, we would be taking the whole next week off, with pay! Woo Hoo! Rather than stay in Tuscaloosa during the time off, where I would probably just keep working on Habitat homes (Know thyself) I put together a road trip. I had wanted to visit my 2nd son Bob in Columbus Ohio for some time and hadn't yet, so this seemed a good time to do so. He's been up there for about 3 years already, working for Honda at their testing facility as a mechanical engineer. He graduated from VCU in Richmond, applied to about 300 different places and Honda won. About halfway up to Columbus is Nashville, Tn. To break the drive up, I called my friend Craig Snow there to see if he 1) was there and 2) would like a visit from an old friend. It was yes to both, so off I went. I met Craig while he was working in Biloxi,Ms. after Hurricane Katrina. He was and still is working for a non-profit organization called Hope Force. They are based in Nashville. After being on the road for over twenty years as missionaries with his wife Becky, they finally bought a way-fixer -upper in Nashville, and finally are living in their own home, rather that an RV, a hospital ship, or volunteer lodging. Craig and Becky have four children. His only son, Jeremy, was working with him for a bit in Biloxi and is now a general contractor in Nashville, although his education is in theology. Jeremy married recently, the whole family attended a destination wedding in Rome. Met Julie, his new bride and saw bunch of pictures of the great event while at Craig's home. His daughter, Heidi was there also. She teaches autistic children. Craig, Heidi and I watched the firework display in downtown Nashville on the 4th. It was a Gigantic display. 25 minutes long. The city evidently purchased other municipalitys fireworks also (Many had cancelled due to weather concerns). The band Perry performed on a big screen before the fireworks and put on an energetic performance.
      Next morning, after some awesome cinnamon roll pancakes, recipe courtesy of Craig's daughter Laura's website smallwalletbigappetite , it was off to Columbus . Met with son Bob, who was in the process of moving in with girlfriend Jaquie Sanborn. boxes of stuff to sort out., so we didn't hang around the apartment that much. Jaquie works for the local CBS tv station and works 4-12 pm so we didn't have a whole lot of time together. We went to visit the Columbus library, a gift from Andrew Carnegie. That evening, went downtown to the artist walk with street musicians in front of stores and also connected with Columbus student and long time volunteer and friend, Miss Kim. Had some excellent ice cream at (oooh, I forget the name, but look at the picture).
     During the trip, I've been posting lots of pictures to Facebook. One of the perks in working with volunteers that come to work with me since 2005 is that I've got friends to visit now all over the country. One of these is Phil Manogg, a retired attorney from Newark, Ohio just outside Columbus. His wife Lee saw on FB that I was in town and Phil texted me that I should drop by for brunch the following day, which I done . Phil has brought groups at least a dozen times to work with me since Katrina to Biloxi, Bay St. Louis, Bridge City Texas and Port Sulphur, La. The last trip to Port Sulphur, among the volunteers were his grand daughters, Carleigh and Kim and their friend, who became quite good tile-layers in Malcom Savage's home. At the brunch, Phil and Lee also invited two other couples who had come to help on various trips and had the pleasure to meet Carleigh there as well. Phil brought me to see a labor of love that he has been working on for 8 years. He calls it the clubhouse. It's a massive warehouse that is all about the Bucks sports team. The floor throughout the clubhouse was salvaged from a school- all tongue and groove that had to have all of the nails removed and then glued down to the cornet floor. No wonder it took 8 years.   That's some happy flooring, though.
      From Ohio, halfway to Virginia looked like Pittsburg, where I have never been, so off I went. Nancy McDaniels home town. She works with me in Tuscaloosa .   Nice city with all yellow bridges. Went to the famous sandwhich shop at Market Square with the french-fries in the sandwhiches. Looked around the city and toured the Andy Warhol Museum.
      From there, off to Virginia to visit wife Lois and son Albert. Tried calling son Albert's cell phone for the two days prior to visit but, oops, not charged, so it turned into a surprise visit. Glad they were home. Lois is still in school, so Albert and I jumped on the subway and downtown to the Air and Space Museum. My sister Jean, who lives in nearby Maryland and was also off this week on vacation and joined us for lunch at an open air French restaurant called Paul's on Penn. Ave and 7th near the Navy Memorial fountain. Spent some downtime afterwards at home. Helped Albert clean up the storage shed. Took a bunch of my old junk to the Re-Store in Alexandria. That evening had dinner with Lois at the Thai restaurant in Shirlington and combined that with visit with my younger sister Mary, who stopped by on the way home from her work at Verizon in Reston Virginia.
     Was gonna visit son Paul in Baltimore and friends Carl and Jeanine in Alexandria, but got the itch to go and headed back to Tuscaloosa on Wednesday. Stopped by Knoxville, Tn, haflway on the way back and volunteered with the Habitat affiliate there. Big affiliate. Built over 400 homes since the 1980's
     Got back home Friday to rest up for a few days before starting back to work on Monday. Saturday helped Joe Chastine with Calvary's volunteer ministry. He said I looked rested. The external reflects the internal. It was a bit of driving, but well worth it to see friends and family! Great road trip.