Atlanta
I left Jim and Carol Monday morning and arrived at Jim and Stephanie Lucke’s in Atlanta in the afternoon. Jim is a fellow ND alumnus, and they have 3 young kids – Katie, Madeline and Danny – who were very excited to see Abbey. Apparently they’ve been asking for a dog for a while, so having one visit was the next best thing. They live in an old Atlanta neighborhood just outside the city limits. The trees are huge and beautiful and it is quite hilly. It’s funny, though, because a lot of people have torn down the small, old houses in order to build new, much bigger ones. Parking the RV was tough on their street which was narrow and hilly, but luckily I didn’t have to sleep in it. The weather was quite warm most days, even for Atlanta, considering it was January. Stephanie must have been excited to have a visitor because she went all out to make me feel at home and to feed me. I definitely gained weight, not to mention she sent me off with more food at the end of the week. She must either think I can’t cook or I’m too thin.
In any case, they were great hosts for the week. If any of you ND guys are thinking of visiting, I can certainly vouch for their hospitality. I was hoping to split time between their house and that of another ND friend and the creator of my blog, Jeb. Unfortunately, it was a real bad week schedule-wise for Jeb so I stayed the whole week at the Lucke’s which turned out fine. Plus their kids were happy to have Abbey the whole week.
On Wednesday it was actually cold and windy but it was perfectly sunny so I drove Abbey out to Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield. It was the site of an important battle in the Union’s campaign to take Atlanta in the Civil War. Aside from that, they had some nice trails and Abbey and I took our first real hike in several months. We walked around 9 or 10 miles and were both exhausted by the end. For some reason my shins were really bothering me so I decided to give Abbey (and me) a break the next day. I went downtown to visit the Martin Luther King National Historic Site. I was pretty impressed with it, especially the visitor’s center which had a history of his life and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Every once in a while I try to throw something historic or educational into my travels so I’m not accused of just having fun all the time.
Jim’s neighbor is the president of the group that owns the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers so they invited us to go with them to the Hawks game against the Pistons. The Hawks are having another rough year, but since their seats are right on the floor we decided we couldn’t turn it down. It was definitely a different perspective than I’m used to for watching an NBA game – the nosebleed section sure looked a long way up from where we sat. The players sure looked a lot bigger too. Sadly the Hawks got blown out again so our host was not a happy camper. It is his business after all. On Thursday I went to see yet another cousin of mine, David Coalson and his wife Merry, who I hadn’t seen in about 12 years. David is my mom’s sister’s son. He was a bit older than my brothers and sisters and he liked to pick on us when we were growing up. We still liked to see him though ‘cause he was kind of wild and we were a bit in awe of him. I really enjoyed catching up with them, and, not to mention, having some good wine. David remembered a lot more stories from the old days than I did mostly ‘cause I was too young to remember much from those days.
Friday night Jim, Stephanie and I went out for Tapas and margaritas while the kids went to Concourse Kid's night, whatever that is. On Saturday, before they were supposed to come over to the Luckes’, Jeb’s wife Kathy got sick. After the margaritas the previous night and the Cashels canceling on us, we took it easy on Saturday. Thankfully, Kathy recovered in time so they could come over along with their daughters Kelly and Claire on Sunday. The kids all had a great time playing together as if they were old friends, and the adults all enjoyed catching up. Believe it or not, the Luckes have been in Atlanta for a year and a half but they still hadn’t gotten together with the Cashels. So I was a good excuse for them to finally get together, and it was real nice for me to see them all. Tomorrow I’m off to the Okefenokee Swamp and the Georgia coast. I’m hoping to do some canoeing or kayaking, though I haven’t mentioned it to Abbey yet.
The 3 ND Guys
Cashins, Luckes and Me
The Kids
More of the Kids