Thursday 10th and Friday 11th

Thursday we had the weather from hell. It started lightly raining shortly after we got up for breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the hotel room and loaded the truck. Dharma (kitty) loaded up really easy this time. I just picked her up and hugged her , then set her infront of the open carrier door. She went right in without the slightest bit of a struggle. There was only one little meow from her as hubby brought her down the stairs and headed towards the truck. In fact, once we got her loaded there was barely a peep out of her all day. She just curled herself up and went to sleep. I think she finally realized that just because she was put in the carrier and just because the carrier was brought outside...did NOT mean she was going to a vet. I found it rather surprising that Dharma was so settled because she's normally a tad on edge during horrendous weather. This day we had just that sort of weather. I wish that picture showed it better. The road we were on had stone on either side and the rain was coming down so hard that there were small waterfalls every few feet. Unfortunately I *just* missed a particularly spectacular one in that photo. This next photo shows the weather during some of the best visibility we had all day. Most times we couldnt see much farther than the nose of the pickup. Many times hubby tried to keep behind an 18 wheeler for a bit of shelter but there were times when the wind was so bad the rain was flying horizontally and the bigger trucks provided no shelter at all. We had pea sized hail at one point and the lightning show....well let's just say I wasnt enjoying it in the slightest. I used to as a kid but there was an incident during my first marriage where a nasty storm scared me so badly, well it makes me extremely nervous now. Thankfully I fell asleep during the worst parts of the storm. In the pic to the right, we were doing 30-35 in a 70 mph zone.

We arrived in Tazewell, TN in one piece. Our first stop was to Frostees to get supper then we headed to his folks house for about 45 minutes or so, then to the hotel. I was hoping to stay at the Holiday Inn a bit farther out from the in-laws but they didnt allow pets. We ended up in one of the local motor lodges. I had my reservations about it but once we got into the room I changed my mind. It was smaller than I'd care to have but it was so nice and clean, much nicer than the place we'd been the night before. Hubby got the laptop hooked to the internet and we checked our emails. The company *FINALLY* sent the address to the corporate housing via email. It was about friggin time. I swear this hurry up and wait attitude they have really irks the crap out of me. I was really glad to see we werent going to be assigned to a hotel room but an actual apartment instead (and damn it's nice....).

The above photos are pictures of the view from his folks house. Isnt it gorgeous? It's actually much better when it isnt so overcast. These were taken Friday before we went to his gramma's house. We spent most of the day with the family. Some of it was with gramma and some over his sister's house and then back to the folks place before going back to the hotel.