572 miles

That's how far I drove last week. I know my grandson-in-law probably drives at least twice that much every week as part of his job, but I'm retired. And the only time I was more than 40 miles from my house, I was riding with someone else.

It started on Sunday when I picked Rose up to spend the night with me. Monday morning I took her to the dentist in Lone Oak for a filling, then to Mayfield for basketball practice, and on to lunch in Paducah and over to Metropolis for Brady's birthday party, and of course home again after the party.

We combined his party with a 50th anniversary celebration for my brother and sister-in-law. For their anniversary on June 22, they did something novel. Instead or having a party at or near their home in Florida, they sent $50 bills to our sisters and me and I have no idea who else, asking us to celebrate with people who are special to us, and to send them pictures. I held onto that bill until my western KY/southern IL family were able to get together. Then I gave it to Alyssa and Stephen to help pay for the pizza, sodas, etc. for Brady's bityhday party. Here is the picture:

The adults and teen-agers, left to right: Stephen, Devin, Lexi, Alyssa, Rose, Lanny (Carmen's friend), and Carmen holding Calla. In front are: Brady, me holding a sign Alyssa made, Lily, and Brady's girlfriend Charlotte.

There were several other people there, as well, and I told them they were welcome to get in the picture, but they opted not to. Stephen's father took the picture.

Sara was missing, and Reggie, and of course the New Jersey gang.

Back to the week's driving: I've forgotten exactly how things went, but since it was fall break all week for Rose and Lily, I was helping with them and was back and forth to Metropolis and Mayfield several times.

Then on Saturday I went to a high school marching band competition in Sikeston MO. That's the time I rode with friends - Lexi's grandparents. Since we could not go the way people from this area usually go to Sikeston, because the bridge over the Ohio River between Wickliffe KY and Cairo IL is closed for repair, we went to Metropolis and followed the buses and equipment trailers. Then we sat in the football stadium for about four hours watching bands of various sizes do their thing. The temperature was in the low 50's. After about three hours, when I went to the ladies room, I had trouble unbuttoning my jeans because my fingers were so cold. I had started knitting a scarf on the trip over, but certainly couldn't work on it while we were there.

The Massac County band places third in their class, and their drum major placed first!

Here are my two trumpeters, Devin and Lexi:

 

Afterwards, we joined the band for supper at Lambert's (home of throwed rolls). Even though we had a reservation, we had to wait over an hour to get in, because a couple of the other bands were there, too. Lambert's stayed open past their usual closing time to serve us.

Then we followed the buses back to Metropolis. It was 1:45 before I got home. It was a very interesting day.