We left Nashville Sunday morning with a group of six boats all heading for Hendersonville, TN to take our friends Tim and Carol from Liquid Assets home.  What a fabulous homecoming they had. And we feel so special that they included us in the celebration.  Bitter sweet to be sure.  We met them on Day 2 in Joliet and have traveled with them every day since.  We got to meet their friends and family.  Everyone welcomed the group of great loopers with open arms. The southern hospitality is so clear around here.  Their sweet neighbor told the kids to come on over and jump right in her pool.

Monday we tackled school first thing and then Tim took us to a great place on the water for lunch.  We pulled up and docked the boat and hopped off to eat. Then we took a boat ride to see Old Hickory Lake and anchored and swam for a long time in the 85 degree water.  Houses along the water are beautiful.

Tuesday night Tim took us, Mike and Cathy from Trawler Life and Gabby and John from Crazy Love by boat to the Cherokee restaurant, also on the water.  Great steaks.  I got Maddy to try steak and she liked it.  Tim and Carol’s whole family joined us! Tim’s daughter Megan, her husband and three adorable children (who Molly and Maddy loved playing with!), Carol’s son Jason and wife Kathy, Carol’s daughter Cortney, her boyfriend and son Tony (who Maddy swam with for hours!), Carol’s sister and her dad.  We had a big group!

Wednesday morning was tough.  We haven’t had to say goodbye since we left Chicago and this was a hard one.  Tim and Carol took us under their wing from Joliet on and we will miss them and their dog Benji immensely.  They saw us off after some teary hugs and goodbyes and we were on our way back to Nashville.  They promise they will come see us in Florida.  Maddy asked last night how fast we can get to Florida to see them again.  Lonely running by ourselves today!  But I digress…yesterday we continued on with Trawler Life and Crazy Love.  We stopped in Nashville as they continued on a bit further.

Yesterday after a VERY TRYING morning with school we got off the boat and took an uber to Marathon Motor Works.  Cool old area with a lot of history.  Antique Archaeology is there…store with items found on Antique Roadshow.  So we poked around there for a bit and looked the old cars on display in the Marathon Motor building.  Then took an uber back to Broadway.  We walked through Tootsie’s to check it out and then went to the Johnny Cash museum.  The museum was great.  Maddy was not.  But so it goes!  Anyway, the rest of us enjoyed it and looked at a lot of very interesting things, old letters, part of a stone wall from his house on Old Hickory Lake that burned down (which we got to see by boat with Tim!), etc and of course lots of good music throughout.  We stopped and had some Hot Chicken for dinner…but no not from Hattie’s….was still good though!

This morning we needed a free morning to explore.  The water pump on the ice maker broke yesterday so Ben tackled fixing that and I took the girls and their scooters up to the park path right next to the river where we were docked.  We scootered and jogged around the Titan’s stadium and then into Cumberland Park.  So glad we finally had time to explore!  The girls had a great time  Rope swings and rock climbing built into the walls, neat other features and slides, etc.  While playing and exhausting themselves we ran into another mom with 4 kids.  She asked if we are home schooling and I said yes.  She is as well.  They have moved around a lot and her husband does interior design and outfitting for restaurants, fashion shows, etc.  She mentioned they were going for lunch and it’s her birthday and would we like to join.  Best thing about not having a schedule?  Why not?  Still in my gross running clothes?  Oh well!  So, we went across the big pedestrian bridge once more and had a great lunch with them.  We pulled out of Nashville a little after 2 pm and are hoping to make it to Clarksville, TN tonight.  Late start for boating but well worth it to have a free morning. Downside…just starting school now!  Hopefully we’ll get through it quickly today.

We’ll head to Green Turtle Bay for a few days tomorrow again in part for an oil change and some other things and then head south next week on Kentucky Lake for a few days to explore.  We’ll take our time heading south to the Tennessee River. Hoping we will be in a location that crosses paths with my mom and Jim next Sunday Oct. 2nd as they drive home from my cousin’s wedding.  Want to give a big shout out to Michael and Addi who are getting married Saturday!  We are so sorry we won’t be there with you to celebrate!  Then as we get onto the Tennessee river Kathy, Livia, Claudia and Sabina are coming!!!!!  I’ve told the girls less than TWO WEEKS!  They are ecstatic.  So are we!  Planning to spend a handful of days in Chattanooga with them and Jack for the weekend.  We are celebrating my and Jack’s 40th bdays!  And then after that visit Ben’s parents are coming for a week!  Will be so much fun to have friends and family joining us.

Alright, back to teaching…

Laura