Live from Staunton

Melissa and I are in Staunton, Va. on our way to BT and Kellye's nuptial ceremonies in Bristol/Abingdon. I spoke with BT yesterday evening. Already in Bristol, he sounded pretty tired. Frankly, I tried to provide some crisis to get him motivated: My tux was delivered to Knoxville instead of Pentagon City, as I'd preferred. But BT took it in stride, and had his best man grab the garment.

This is actually the second time in five days that I've stopped in Staunton. On the drive north with a trailer-load of pointless personal belongings, I fueled up at the Texaco next to Mrs. Rowe's while my parents picked up a sack of cookies. While heading up I-81, we passed dozens and dozens of bucket trucks, presumably heading for the Gulf states. At the Texaco, the road was lined with City of Baltimore municipal vehicles waiting to fuel up. Dump trucks, earth moving equipment and a set of police vehicles were followed by two buses of folks to man them. I felt a little silly gassing up dad's Ranger to drag several boxes of books I'll never read and a door desk to my dry apartment in Arlington.

I walked Tuxedo while the 'rents finished up their transaction; the dog relieved himself on what I believe to be the restaurant's mailbox, and we hit the road again.