Toccoa!

After my August road trip to Alabama, I wanted to make sure and visit Georgia this time. I invited Mom and Dad along, but Dad couldn't pull away from work. Mom, however, still regretting that she didn't go with me in August, wasn't going to miss out this time. We headed out at 9:30 the morning after Christmas.

The trip took about thirteen hours, just like it always does. The time passed quickly, though, since Mom and I talked the whole time. We talked about all kinds of things, from stuff about Japan to my plans afterwards to random conversations about things seen on the side of the road. I'd almost forgotten how much fun it is to have a talkative road trip buddy. It'd been years since Mom and I had been on a trip together, and it reminded me of us talking every morning when she'd drive me to school.

The only traffic we hit was mild congestion between Chattanooga and Nashville, which is incredible: they're almost always tearing up parts of I-24 or I-75. We stopped for lunch at a Subway, and I made it a point to take a picture of a common American sandwich. (Just like in August, I was trying to look at things like my students would, and take pictures of the remarkable stuff.) We got to Toccoa at about 1:30 in the morning, and Granny and Papa's Boston terrier, Pugsley, greeted us excitedly.

The next morning, Granny cooked breakfast--another meal that I almost cried when I saw--and we all sat around talking. It hurt to think about the fact that I hadn't seen them in a full year. On the other hand, I couldn't tell if they'd changed at all. I'm horrible at noticing changes in body types anyway--when I lived in Athens, Mom would always ask me how Granny and Papa looked, and I'd never be able to give more detail than "good"--but they looked just as happy as I've ever known them to be.

For lunch, Mom, Granny, and I headed to town. Bell's is a restaurant famous locally for its hot dogs, and Dad and I always get our fix when we visit. Mom prefers fried chicken livers--another of their specialties--so everybody finds something they want. We three called our order in there, dropped Granny off at the grocery store while we went to pick it up. When we went back to the store to catch up with her, we found her chatting with a friend of hers. Between living her whole life and being the wife of the sheriff in a small town like Toccoa, she knows just about everybody.

In fact, they know so much about so many people that at least one story told at family get-togethers at Granny and Papa's will consist of this exchange:

"He went to school with... oh, I can't remember his name... that Roller boy. Not Jimmy--that was his brother, the one who married Tom Jenson's little girl--but the other one..."
"Roy McCay's cousin, Freddy? The one who crashed that brand-new Mustang in the ditch out on Oak Valley Road?"
"That's the one! I saw him the other day."

She finished shopping and we went to Arby's to pick up lunch for Papa. (They also got a beef & cheddar sandwich for Pugsley. Their dog. I've never quite understood it, but my grandparents have always given people food to their dogs. Dad occasionally sneaks a bite to Buster, our dog, but Papa puts a slice of cheese on top of Pugsley's dog food.)

My cousin Brandon stopped by to spend the night. I hadn't seen him since I graduated from UGA, and he'd grown up a lot since then. It was good to catch up with him, especially given how quick this visit was going to be.