The Traveling Toddler

For any fellow travelers out there that think they (like I) have mastered the art of business travel, I invite you to spice things up and take a toddler along with you the next trip you go on. It gives you a whole new level of compassion and empathy for the screaming kids on the plane or the runaway toddler in terminal B.

After parking at the airport, Noah was so excited waiting and watching for the bus to take us to the terminal. Waiting for the plane was a hoot after we found these...

I mentioned to the ticket agent about Noah's peanut allergy and it got us to the front of the line to board. If you ever fly Southwest you know how big a perk that is. Here's the happy boy pre-takeoff.

After the scenic tour of Tampa thanks to Papa's GPS, we made it to Ft. Green where we viewed all the changes that have taken place since our last visit. One of Noah's favorites...

We went out on Papa's boat in Tampa Bay. 72 degrees and not a cloud in the sky while it was snowing back home. Ahh sunny Florida...

We spent one whole day with Noah's birth family where they celebrated the big 3 for him a little early. I think he likes being the star of the show.

Cows, cats, horses, bees, barns, boats, trucks, cars, presents, cake, balloons, Sonny's BBQ, home cooking, playing with cousins, riding the Kubota, and playing in the spa. What more could a boy ask for in life?

Noah had such a great time and so did I. I think we bonded during our travels. It must have something to do with smelling his stinky breath and pushing him back over to his side of the bed all night long.

Dragging a little from the return trip we finally made it home and we were so happy to see Mommy and Anna. Thanks again so much, Memaw and Papa!

Used Cows For Sale

If you happen to be driving in Kentucky northbound on I-65, make a mental note around mile marker 78 to look to your right. There is a giant sign advertising just what you might need. That's right, used cows. I wrote down the number to call if you want to ask about new ones. This is almost as good as the sign in someone's yard near Paducah, KY advertising kids for sale.

This past week I made consecutive day runs to Louisville and Memphis . 26hrs on the road, 800+ miles, and a lot of bad radio. Besides the 8 or so inches of snow on the roadside heading to Memphis, one of my favorite sights was due to an awful traffic jam getting out of the city. My trusty GPS routed me through some tiny back roads where I passed a teenage girl riding a horse - while on a cell phone.

I'll be heading out of town this week for a little r & r in sunny Florida. Noah and I are looking forward to 85 degrees and visiting with my family. I can't wait to share the stories and pics when I return.

The Latest in Building & Traveling

I'm sorry I let February slip away without a post. I started the month off with a trip to Salt Lake City for business. My goal was to entertain a couple of customers while helping them to learn all about one of our products. For dinner one night we made our way to Park City which is apparently a well known ski town. If you're like me and don't ski, it is pretty much a tourist trap. We did, however, eat at a restaurant owned by Robert Redford if that matters to anyone. Checking out the people there and the stuff they sale in the boutiques (for the two guys that read this, that's a small shop with a very small selection of over-priced merchandise) helped me realize there is a whole culture to the ski town that is far, far from life in middle Tennessee. Here are a couple of pictures to prove I actually went there and am not making this stuff up.

From there I spent some oh-so-precious free time finishing out a room in the back portion of my workshop. Noah calls it "Daddy's House". Electrical outlets, insulation, siding, ceiling, lights, insulated sub-floor, carpet, and trim. Yeah, that pretty much took up February. I still have shelving to go and a little bit of trim and I'll be ready to move in. The picture is old, but you get the idea of where I'm working.

Business has been slowing this month so I found myself making cold calls for the first time. Think of me in a tie like a door-to-door salesman except that I'm going to schools instead of houses. Yeah, yuck is right. I found that low expectations are the key in this game. If my goal is to say hello and drop off some information I'm much less likely to be disappointed than if I expect to actually sell something. My favorite bit of info came from a poor little rural school where they informed me they get their computers from donations in the community and that the teachers just started using email this school year and would not welcome additional technology just yet. I refrained from volunteering to show myself the door.

And just because you actually read to the end of the post, here are a couple of bonus pics for you.