I am sitting in the lobby of a Frampton Inn in Cullman, AL at 12 to midnight listening to an oldies station playing the cool oldies; Stevie Wonder, Jerry Lee Lewis, Booker T & the MGs, Howlin' Wolf. We are taking a tremendously long time to actually make it to Nashville, mostly because we're free of most encumbrances for the first time in three and half years, and why not take our blasted time? For those of you wondering, closing went fine, and our little convoy of Jimbo in his Rodeo, C & Abby in the Saturn, and me, Max and Emmett in the Olds went out to Peg Leg Pete's (Lyla, you missed out) after running 5002 last minute errands. We thought we would eat and go, but that didn't happen. Instead, we got a beach view balcony two-room suite with 9 doors and spent the evening playing Uno, drinking champagne, smoking and watching cable. We also had the 1st restful sleep in an epoch, especially Jimbo in the nook.
This morning, we had a breakfast tower and did some beach and walkie-talkie testing time (once again, to Lyla: good goddamn idea) and hit the road after noon. We have been stopping a lot, listening to crazy radio, and eating crap food. After the Alabama Highway Patrol advised me that the tail lights on the Olds were out (something we just discovered recently), we decided to stop for the night and get a fresh start in the morning when we only have less than three hours or so to manage.
I am tired without being bone-weary. I am unworried about the future for the moment. I am able to laugh at my relatively small problems, and joke about the Zombie Mart here in Cullman. Talking with Max, spending quiet time with Abby, and having conversations about non-urgent things with C has been a joy, and having Jimbo on this trip has been wonderful, indispensable, and fun. I am now anxious to join what I feel is my life already in progress, but would like to be well-rested when I do it.
For now, though, I pause here.