End of September/Early October Update

 I am finally getting around to getting this done, and for you dear reader I apologize.

This is the second "busy time" of my year, and there is so much going on. Even as I write this on a Saturday morning, my wonderful wife (Gawd bless her!), and I are soon to be on our way to check out a Farm Market about 30 miles away.

I've wanted to spend some time with her, since for almost the last three weeks I haven't been here, (more on this later), and it's something we needed to do. 

So with all of this going on, I decided to jot down some stuff here for your review and entertainment.

Autumn Wars:

Without going into too much detail, my friend Noah and I hit HMGS-MW, closure convention, Autumn Wars, this past weekend. 

It was a short trip and we didn't do the full Monty weekend, coming back on Saturday night.

It was a fun time and there will be a bigger review of it in a soon to be published future post, (complete with pictures). But for now, here's a few pics of the con I took. (CLICK ON THEM FOR LARGER VERSIONS).

As always HMGS-MW hit it out of the park. 

I'm already looking forward to Little Wars.

My Virginia Trip:

Earlier this year, I had made a decision to go visit my sister in Virginia.

It's the first time I have seen here in 10 1/2 years, and the first time she and I had ever TRULY spent time together.

It was going to be one of my "wandering style" road trips where I say "I'm going on an adventure!"

But there were two that didn't want me to go, and weren't happy I was leaving....

(Juju Cat Logic: "If I lay on his clothing and give him "that look", he'll understand, and won't be able to pack and leave, and he'll stay here with us!")

(Gemma watches through the window and wonders "When I will return?")

One of the things we have discovered is that later on while I was gone, Gemma was having serious "abandoment/desertion issues". She had believed that I had abandoned her and was not handling it well. After all, I was "her human". 

But before I could go, I needed some cigars.

So I stopped at my local cigar place and picked up some sticks.

These are some pictures of the humidor at Smokers Choice in Brownsburg, Indiana. It's my go to store for events and stuff. Plus they carry FBB's, (Fat Bottom Betty's), which happen to be my current favorite smoke.

Then I hit the road....

First I sucked in the air, and crossed over into Ohio...

Then I slipped down across the border and river into Kentucky. 

Lawdie, please don't let meet up with a redheaded Kentucky gal. They're my Kryptonite.

While driving through Kentucky, I made a sidestop in Maysville, Kentucky. 

I was able to visit the grave of one of the worst Union generals of the war, Gen. William "Bull" Nelson.

For those not familiar with him, he was famous basically for three things.

1: He was a naval officer that "somehow" got himself a general position in the Army.

2: He got his butt whipped hard at the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky.

3: He got shot and killed by a fellow Union General during an argument in Louisville, Kentucky, where he insulted his comrade and ended up getting a bullet in the chest. The shooter was Union General Jefferson Davis.

It's interesting to note that the historical marker for his gravesite portrays him to be a better General than he actually was, but such is the way with some folks.

In the words of Forrest Gump...."That's all I'm gonna say about that."

I drove on down through Kentucky, and took a slight detour and sightseeing trip through the town of Augusta, Kentucky and fell in love with it. A beautiful little town that is prone to flooding...sigh.

(Augusta, Kentucky...)

I passed by Foster, Kentucky, and decided to drive through it, and was shocked and had wondered if I had driven onto the set of some horror movie. Most of the houses were derelict and abandoned, with vines and growth and the smell of age, and mildew on them.

I didn't take any pictures. It was simply too damn creepy.

Finally I got down to the West Virginia border and crossed over into it.

(They say that it's "Almost Heaven...")

I zipped on through and past the Golden Dome of the state capitol of Charleston, which has a statue of former Klansman Senator Robert Byrd whom (legend says) that if you stand in front of the statue, you will see that his hand has a finger pointing at you, and the direction of his finger is aimed directly at your pocket where your wallet is.

I had no desire to see if that was true.

I decided to stop and eat at a Long John Silvers.

LJ's is my guilty pleasure comfort food. I know, I know. It is what it is, and lawdie knows I have a thing for hush puppies.

(This surly fellow was making sure that I didn't abscond with too much of the Malt Vinegar....arrrr...)

(A good tray of comfort food to help with a long journey...)

Once I reached Beckley, I stopped for the evening, and grabbed dinner at "The Texas Steakhouse". 

Truly there was nothing "Texas" about it, but the ribeye I had was good for a decent price. 

I crashed for the night and got up to do the last part of the trip the next morning. 

The next morning I crossed over into Virginia.

(The sign says "Virginia is for lovers"...However the first love I encountered, (immediately after passing this sign), was a pothole in the road. Yeps...Welcome to Virginia...)

Once I was in Virginia, I slipped onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. I stopped at one of the overlooks and took a panoramic photo of the Valley that I love the best.

Once I arrived at my sisters, in true Southern tradition, (as well as Virginia tradition, and family tradition), I was "well fed"....

Prepare to be deluged by FOOD pics!

Some of the amazing dinner/supper meals my sister made...including her BBQ ribs that I cleaned out...

And of course the wonderful "Southern Style Breakfast!"

Yankee's don't eat like this....

Needless to say that after this trip and my Chicago Autumn Wars trip, I discovered I had gained almost six odd pounds!

Ah well...back to "eating healthy and weight management" again.

Among the many things I was able to do while I was visiting my sister was discover an AWI historical marker.

(A nice historical find....)

I also got a chance to meet my sisters cat. Her name is Mitzy, but she also answers to "Peedee".

She may have only three legs, and a racoon tail, and a small meow that sounds more like the screech of a small hungry bird, but she's got a lot of love and a heart as big as Texas.

And while I was there, I got a chance to check out some antique stores and found something I really wanted, and I mean, REALLY, but couldn't justify the price.

(A massive matted and framed portrait of Lee first day at G'burg. In this scene Lee is on the Cashtown Pike, receiving the initial report from Gen'l Heath, as to encountering federal troops in force. AP Hill is there as is the rest of the staff. In the background, if I am correct are troops from Dorsey Pender moving forward for support.)

I am quietly working to see that this is mine in the future...

And I took time to visit the churches and graves of my family and ancestors at the two churches where some of the rest, until called forth by our Lord.

  

And I got a chance to visit my other sister....

And I got the honor once again, of visiting my great-grandfather.

-Deo Vindice. You are not forgotten....

And while driving through Virginia, I got a chance to get some good looks at the terrain and put it into gaming perspectives.

(Now imagine the scenario where you are required to move a supply convoy and troops down THIS road.... Now imagine trying to do this scenario at night....)

And I got pics of my niece and my sister when we went out to eat, (again)...

Yeps, that's me. Yours truly with some pretty awesome gals!

I'm lucky and blessed.

And I got to hit the local Amish stuff.

One of the interesting things happening down where my sister lives is that a large portion of the Lancaster Pennsylvania Amish have left that state and moved down to where my sister lives. They have set up a nice thriving community to include an Amish variety store, hardware, grocery and deli, tiny buildings, and a pretty awesome and fun Amish Produce Auction, where you can watch Yoder sell radishes, pumpkins, corn, turnips, and anything else brought in to the highest bidder.

At the Cottontown Variety Store, you can get all sorts of Amish and Amish supported stuff, (including View masters with slides of farm animals!). Truly, if Yoder needs a new hat, or Malachi needs to pick up a set of rubber boots, or Zelda needs some black cloth to make a vest for her husband Zebadiah, this is the place to get it.

(mmmm....bacon.....)

And the Amish produce was even more interesting...

Okay, okay, enough with the Amish and the pumpkins! I hear you!

So while I was there, I also had a chance to visit the American Civil War Museum at Appomattox.

I had heard about the issues with this museum before and was hoping that it would have been straightened out by now, but I sadly found out that this wasn't the case.

From the two very disinterested employees working there, to the ideological/political mindset of the museum, to the site entirely skipping almost 2 1/2 years of the war, it was pretty much a mess, and you could tell it was essentially someone's social justice/socio political platform.

(If you want to see "How a museum dedicated to a major historical event SHOULDN'T be run...hurry to this one.")

Now I will admit that they had a nice collection of Confederate Officer uniforms and flags on display. as well as some swords, and ONE (1) musket. I didn't see any pistols, etc. 

(This was my main expression during the entire museum "experience". And what an experience it was...)

And in case you were interested, they had an entire section of the museum dedicated to "money"....

Needless to say, I was appalled, and as Forrest Gump said; "That's all I have to say about that."

But I did get a chance to gorge out on my sisters banana pudding.

(mmm..this easily makes up for bad museums and staff that simply "don't care"...)

One of my peculiar quirks is that I like exploring old buildings. Virginia has a lot of deserted, and abandoned homes and buildings scattered throughout the countryside. Some of these have a POSTED no trespassing, no hunting sign on them. I leave them alone. If I see one that doesn't have one, I might stop and run my metal detector over it, or check it out.

Such was the case with this old farmhouse that I discovered and explored.

Unlike some folks, I didn't take any souvenirs from inside the house, but I did find an old (new) Pepsi bottle so that came back home with me.

But eventually all things must come to an end, and it was with sadness that I finally packed up my vehicle, said goodbye to my sister and headed out onto the road.

Instead of heading straight out, I headed out towards Farmville, stopping at Farmville/Cumberland Church, where the last real victory of the ANV occurred.

And then I headed down Southwest towards the VA/North Carolina border to the town of Stuart where I met up with fellow TMP'er Joe Evans for a couple of hours before having to head out.

It's always a blessing and an honor to meet up with friends F2F finally, and this one was golden.

I just wish we could've had more time.

But the road kept calling and I needed to put some miles on the odometer.

Stopped in Danville for a moment.

(AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!...)

I stopped in Wytheville VA, that evening, got dinner and a room, and called it a night.

The next morning I had breakfast and found out that my SSA had been finished and I was officially "technically" retired.

I just needed the letter to show up to validate it.

(I'm kinda guessing this was my "retirement breakfast"....)

So I headed out and ended up in the Appalachians on the WV state line.

And then I slipped back into Kentucky.

I drove through the East South Eastern Kentucky Coal Country, and what I saw shocked me.

It wasn't just the poverty of the coal region of Appalachia but the overwhelming invasion of the area by Kudzu.

In some places it had take over entire buildings, guardrails, hillsides, powerlines and poles, etc.

(Yes. That IS an electric power line, AND an electric pole covered in Kudzu and being brought down by the weight of it all...)

And I kept driving.

I made it through the side roads to Lexington and then onto Louisville.

From L-ville, I kept straight to home, getting home about 10 minutes before midnight.

One of the souvenirs I brought back from my trip was three bottles of Virginia Hooch.

I picked these up at a VA ABC store in Stuart.

Two bourbons and a whiskey.

I was welcomed home by my wonderful wife, (Gawd bless her!), and two kitty cats that missed me. Juju missed me but handled it better than Gemma. Gemma was having some abandonment/desertion fears and for the next few days stayed next to me, or within eyesight to make sure that I wasn't "going away again". Unfortunately I had to, and for the first time I saw fear in her eyes when she saw me packing again. Since then, I have made sure to give her extra time, loving, treats, and snuggles. She has decided to make sure when "Dad has to go to bed."

And so I unpacked, did laundry, rested for a day, repacked, and on Thursday too my wife to her medical follow up before hearing out for Little Wars, (and that my friends and dear readers is another story altogether)....

But before I left, I made sure to have some porch sitting time, with The Lord, and some Virginia Bourbon, and a Fat Bottom Betty, and express my gratitude and thanks and praises for the blessings I had been given.

Epilogue:

There's so much more that happened in this trip than I can ever actually realistically put into words here. Some of it I don't think is wise or feasible to put here in this blog, and some parts were a bit too painful. The meeting with my sister had me initially filled with anxiety as I didn't know how it was going to go. But it went better than expected. For that I am glad and thankful.

My sister did an amazing job making me feel welcome. She deserves a medal for putting up with me.

With Autumn Wars behind me, I now look forward to Advance The Colors this upcoming weekend. And then after that my wife and I are taking a trip to Frankenmuth and possibly Shipshewana. After that, I do believe my traveling for the year is done. I have much to build and paint and playtest, and already I can the faintest roll of the drums carried upon the wind coming out of Lisle, Illinois as Little Wars edges closer by the day.

I hope you enjoyed this entry, and it entertained you. Please leave comments and your thoughts. They are appreciated.

And once again, stay tuned because there is more to come!