Spirits in the Cemetery

Last night, Bonnie and I took the walking tour of Riverside Cemetery just before sunset. They had about a ten actors at various gravesites portraying the dearly departed. They told stories, funny and sad, and gave a lot of history in a very entertaining way.

At the end of the walk, we were at the Hart Mausoleum, where they had a nice spread of cheese, fruit, crackers, and wine. I thought it sort of funny looking to see the actress, who was still in her habit as one of the Sisters of Mercy, popping open a Bud Light at the reception.

Off to go get my truck

Tomorrow morning, I will be dropping off my rental and heading north with a friend to fetch my truck and its new engine. Yes, I am a few thousand dollars lighter than I used to be, and yes, it has been a rough couple of weeks; however, hopefully it will all come to an end soon.

If all goes well, I should be back behind the wheel of my truck by sundown tomorrow!

Auto-Tune the News #9: Nobel. health care. United Nations.

They did a great job on this one

Sorry for the absence...

To the few people who are regular viewers of this webpage, I must apologize for my recent absence of posts. This last week has been rough for me.

My truck is still in the shop, getting a new engine installed. Hopefully, it will be back up and running by this weekend though. My camper is stranded at my parents' home in the meantime. I borrowed my Dad's old car....actually my grandmother's old car in the meantime to use to get to work and around town. On Saturday night, I was in a wreck in it (not my fault, but still a very horrific accident in which to be involved). After dealing with the police and all the emotional baggage of the accident, I was still left without a car. Eventually, I was able to get a rental car, and reportedly my Dad's car made it out of the police impound lot over the weekend. I am still waiting to hear if the insurance company will call it a total loss or if it is repairable. Most likely, a loss.

So now, I am waiting to hear how much the truck will end up being, how much of a loss the car is, plus dealing with the longer term emotional impact of the accident. So as a result, I just have not been posting much online. Things will get better with time, and the posts will be back soon, once I can travel a little bit easier in my own vehicle.

Cades Cove Photos

Several other photos from the trip to the Smokies are posted here. Hope you enjoy them!

To the left is a pic of some of my photo taking buddies reviewing their shots while they waited on me to finish shooting a small waterfall by the roadside.

I am still waiting to hear from the garage on the total cost estimate on the truck.

Great fun, but expensive

I had a great time at Cades Cove and the Smokies in general....with one major exception. On the way up there, my truck started making very loud noises. Eventually, I had to abandon it at a Dodge dealership in Lenoir City, TN. The good news is that Dad saved my trip by driving over and hauling my camper (which was in tow behind my truck) to the campground, so I could still spend a few days there. The bad news is that the dealership figured out what the problem was. My spindle rod bearings bit the dust, and the repair cost is so labor intensive, that it will be "cheaper" to buy a new engine for the truck. Notice that "cheaper" is a very relative term.

So today, my Dad came back to the campground and hauled me and the RV to his house. I borrowed their spare car and drove it the other 4 hours home. So now, my truck is about 6 hours away, sitting in the dealership's parking lot, waiting on a tow. I have arranged for it to be towed to a neighbor of my parents' who is a mechanic on Wednesday. He is going to check on prices for a rebuilt engine to replace my dead one, and gently break the news to me in a day or two on that, so I don't go into cardiac arrest the way I did when I heard the price the dealership wanted to do the same thing ($6,200). He said he could do it for MUCH less, which is a good thing.

Oh well, it was a nice trip other than that. We spotted 2 bears, 30 turkey, 30 elk, and about 50 deer. Photos will come in a day or two. Back to work tomorrow morning first though.

I am off to Cades Cove

The camper is packed and I am off to Cades Cove in the Smokies for the weekend. Here is a video of the area and some of the wildlife. Not sure that I will actually see that much wildlife, but would be nice.