Riding lawn mowers everywhere

In my lifetime, I have known a few people who had riding lawn mowers. Those were mostly those who had extensive acreage to mow and who had a lot of money.  Well, in Tennessee and Kentucky, I think nearly everyone who has a house must have a riding lawn mower.

People from all ages and sizes were out mowing their lawns.  The lawns were well maintained, so I would bet that they mowed them at least once per week.  On my travels, I was surprised to even see bulletin boards advertising riding mowers (sorry, no pics of those).

Definitely a large lot

Another large lot

This was in front of some company

Okay, so not everyone mows the lawns (or fields as I would call these) on a riding lawn mower.  This guy is helping out at the company in the previous photo.

This is how to do it

Just one of many riding lawn mower lots

This guy in Ohio has it right:

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They don’t bale hay

Being a farm girl at heart, I seem to pay attention to unusual things.  One of the first things that I noticed is that farmers did not actually make hay bales in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio.  Well, let’s just say they did not make them the way that I have been accustomed to bucking.  Here are a few images.

From what I could tell, these huge hay rolls just hang out in the fields wherever they were made.  In this next photo, though, you can see that these rolls were not allowed in one field.  I did not have time to stop and analyze the differences between the fields or to ask questions, but I thought it curious the rolls were clearly restrained in that one field.

It seemed quite strange that these rolls would be left where made.  These were the only hay rolls that I saw on a truck:

Granted, I have not been there in the winter, but here in Oregon, the cows would eat the hay bales if they remained in the field.  These hay rolls were at least near to the barn.

In my earlier years, I looked fondly on hay time because we hauled the hay bales from the fields and stored them in the barn.  Below is the only one that I saw, and they actually have bales! (That building is more like where we parked our tractor, but it’s similar to a barn.)

My introduction to driving in OH

My first time in Ohio, I came in from Indiana. (I never would have imagined that would be the case.) The signs were not optimistic as I arrived, though.

I guess that I’m in the wrong lane and must make a choice

Then I was welcomed and encouraged to discover

Uh, more welcoming, I guess

Options for exploration

Signs are getting better

And then…Traffic is moving well. There are two lanes, and the person in front of me is driving an SUV.  I had been happily following for many miles. Then, from an on-ramp, this young woman crosses double lines, cuts off the car to my right, and pulls between me and the SUV.  She is obviously in quite a rush. So, what does the person in the SUV do?

Slows down and rides beside the car to his right for several miles

LOVED IT!

The Trip to Find the Colonel’s Origin

Before I went to Kentucky for the first time, I researched the “must see” sites. All of the reputable sites said a visit to Colonel Sander’s first store fit the category and the restaurant was an historical venue with a museum. Because of this (and having another reason to travel through London and later seeing Cumberland Falls), I scheduled my return to the Nashville airport through these destinations.

As I approached Corbin, KY, I put the museum’s location into my GPS. After many strange turns, I dead-ended in someone’s driveway in a residential section on a hill. So, I found another website and added that location to my GPS. This one took me to an industrial location that was on the south side of Corbin and nearly abandoned.

Then, I searched for another location and followed the GPS to the north side of the town to a small community of Lacy (I think). At this point, I lost my patience. Seriously, this was a small town. How difficult could it be to find Colonel Sander’s museum? I located another online site and drove south (retracing my steps yet again). This time, “my location” was in a busy intersection. I decided enough of this and headed towards Cumberland Falls.

Less then 1/2 mile ahead, I saw a tall KFC sign. There it was (based on photos online). I was so excited to see the museum and taste the Colonel’s chicken made in the original kitchen. Great exhilaration followed by immediate deflation–It was KFC. Just the same options with a few “relics” behind glass. How sad…

The long journey

The last two days were one of the most confusing and frustrating travel ravel experiences I have had.  I believe the flight systems are a mess. Yesterday, all three of my flights were delayed. It wasn’t just my flight, it was most of them around me.

After having my travel route and times changed three times, I did finally arrive in Nashville, TN. Because I was landing so late (and on a different flight than when I booked my car), I called Hertz. This lady was unhelpful to be kind. She informed me that the Nashville center closed at midnight, no matter what. That made no sense to me, from a customer service standpoint.

when we arrived early, about 11:50pm, I rushed to baggage claim, but the bags weren’t there yet. Then I remembered that car rentals were just down one floor. I rushed down there only to find that Hertz had moved outside, across the street, down the way, and up two floors. So, I waited for my bag, which came about 12:15am. During the wait, I tried to find lodging using apps on my phone, but they don’t allow you to book “that night.”

Anyway, I made the long journey to the Hertz Gold kiosk, and she was open. Thank heavens. She gave me a Yaris, which is a weird car with the driving console in the center. This is a new one with the console in front of the driver. After checking out through their new security system, I was on my way.

what I learned last night about Tennessee is:

• Gas is $3.30 to $3.35 per gallon. (Very low compared to Oregon.)
• There seem to be a lot of bright signs advertising adult stores.
• Trucks and their drivers may park and rest along the freeway.
• Trucks may also travel the same speed as cars, which on the freeway was 70.

The coolest thing was that I saw an armadillo on the while line at the right side of the road. It took me a while to figure our the shape of that weird possum, but it was an armadillo!! I looked it up, and they have invaded here.

More to come…

Another flight delay

So, once again, my flights are out of sync. I checked the flight status at 7am, and everything was on schedule. When I arrived at check-in, the attendant took 30 minutes to reroute a family for international travel. Our flight here that should leave at 9:25 is delayed until 11:08 according to the latest update. The poor guy at the counter had to call for technical help to resync my flights.

I was traveling SFO to Houston to Nashville, but the guy said my only option was an overnight to arrive Thursday morning. My expression must have shouted, “NO” because then he mentioned looking for a US Airlines flight (I originally booked on US Airlines).

Now, I go from SFO to Charlotte to Nashville, and I should arrive there about 10:45pm.

I learned that Hertz holds my car reservation for 48 hours because they expect flight delays. Also, the motel said that arriving late was expected.

The flight delay is due to weather in San Fran. We may leave at 10:30 if the weather clears. The plane is here, and they are just waiting for clearance from SFO flight control.

Not on a plane

Right now, I should be in the air heading to the San Francisco airport. Nope.

On the way to the airport, I had a phone call from United (the first flight was booked on US Airways, but somehow it was a United flight). The automated message said there was a change and my SFO flight would leave tomorrow (not tonight) at 11:30-ish am for Houston. Then from Houston, I would fly to Nashville, arriving at 9:38 pm. That didn’t make me very happy because it meant an overnight at SFO.

When I arrived at the Eugene airport, I quickly learned that the SFO flight was cancelled. Of course there was only one person working the counter. Everyone was on their phone trying to rebook. I guess that I got lucky (sarcasm) because I had a very nice woman who explained my SFO to Houston to Nashville flight. What she failed to understand was that I needed to get from Eugene to SFO. I was on the phone with her for 54 minutes, and she was unable to get me on a 9:30am flight to SFO. She says that I have a spot reserved, and the counter can issue the ticket in the morning. We’ll see.

So, Max drove me to the airport (because I don’t want to risk my car being stolen again), and then he had to come get me. Please don’t ask him how he spent his evening. I don’t think chauffeuring his mother to and from the airport is his idea of fun.

Hopefully tomorrow goes better. The good part is that I won’t need to sleep on the plane.