Slept on love seat last night so I could elevate foot and not have to worry about fighting for space with Harvey.  I’d say the foot feels 70-80% better today.

I spent most of the morning getting myself and Milly ready.  I’d already packed my clothes for the trip to Kentucky, but I had to get things like my laptop and chargers and Milly ready to go.  Milly wasn’t going with me, but I was dropping her off at Nana and Paw Paw’s, and while Amanda had packed her clothes, I still had to get her ready and all.

We left a little after 10:00.  Phil and Karen’s friend Graham was there getting ready to do some work on something, but Karen had slipped out for a minute to grab a Diet Mountain Dew.  I didn’t have to wait long and Milly was ready to go play with her grandmother, so the goodbye didn’t take long.

I drove to Raleigh and met Dad at his work.  I left the Steak there and loaded my stuff into the Prius, then we were off to Lexington.

The drive seemed to go pretty fast.  We got to Pat and Peggy’s in about seven and a half hours.  We talked about all kinds of things on the way there.  Before we went to Pat and Peggy’s though, we went by the spot where Baba and Pap’s house used to be.  It was the first time I’ve been back since it was torn down.  It was dark, so I didn’t get the full effect, but it was very strange to see an empty lot with a few trees in the place I spent so many Fourth of Julys.

Once at the Paynes’ we talked to Peggy for a bit then Pat came in with some mini burgers.  We had a drink with him on his back porch then he went to bed and we talked to Mrs. Jenkins, Peggy’s mom, who was staying there tonight.  I had a blast talking with her.  Dad mentioned a laugh that she had, and I knew what he was talking about as soon as I heard it.  He later told me that he saw me give him a look when I first heard it, like, “Ah, that’s the laugh you were talking about.”  She was just a really cool lady to talk with and listen to.

On the homefront, Amanda decided to paint the steps.  We bought the paint for it quite some time ago, but never got around to it because we needed some time when Milly wouldn’t be around for a few days and we didn’t have much going on.  With me and Milly both out of town, Amanda had her chance.  She painted the tops of the steps white and considered painting the fronts something else, but it looks pretty nice as is.

Zach Dotsey