Hi Y'all and Welcome!

Mountain Man and I left Ohio bright and early, 4:30 a.m. to be exact, on Thursday, August 26.  Our circus train resembling the Beverly Hillbillies began with our 17 year old Ford F250 loaded to the gills and then some, pulling a car carrier that carried our 16 year old Nissan, also loaded to the gills.  But, can I go on?  Oh yes I can!  Underneath the car rode our truck ramps and on top of the car was tied our full size canoe.  I only half teasingly told the fam that I was going to put a rocking chair on the top of the truck and ride like Granny!

The trip itself was rather calm and uneventful other than the barrage of calls and texts from our banker and real estate agent.  Mountain Man drove and I worked and in 11 short hours we arrived at our temporary new home.

Upon our arrival our local friends invited us over for dinner, but being road weary and brain dead, we opted out.  I threw a couple of frozen dinners, that I had brought with us, into the microwave. We ate, showered and were in bed before eight.  

We woke fresh and ready for the world twelve hours later.  Little did we know, that while we slept, our welcoming committee had also arrived.  Still quite groggy, I stumbled into the kitchen ready for my first of many cups of coffee. As I was pouring the coffee, I noticed a couple little tiny red ants scamper across the top of the stove.  No big deal, I was warned by more than a few people that I should expect a whole new variety of critters in the south so a few little ants were the least of my concerns. By now Mountain Man was up and dying of starvation (according to him).  So, being the good little mountain wife that I'd like to think that I am (yes, I can hear you all laughing), I put out a spread fit for a king.  I poured the Cheerios and put out the almond milk for my lactose intolerant MM.  I had also brought along a few doughnuts and muffins, so I added them to the smorgasbord.  MM dug right into the doughnut box to get one of his favorite iced jelly filled yummies.  I saw the look of horror on his face and instantly knew that something beat him to his favorite treat.  Yes, there on top of all of that gooey white icing were teeny little red ants.  I swear that they were laughing at the fact that they had won the prize.  Not to be beaten by those stupid ants, I told MM that I also had some tasty blueberry muffins that were inside of a plastic container, so I KNEW that they had to be safe!  Wasting no time, MM opened the package, grabbed a muffin and proceeded to take the paper wrapper off all the while holding it over his cereal bowl.  My MM was well trained by his mountain mama and is very neat and tidy.  This fact usually serves him well.  Except for that morning.  As he was unwrapping his muffin I watched in disbelief as one little red ant after another fell from the bottom of his muffin paper into his gourmet bowl of cereal.  Needless to say, that was the end of breakfast for both of us!  After cleaning up the kitchen and finding several more of the welcoming committee, we made a trip to our local Ace Hardware. We walked straight in and right to the aisle of death knowing just what we needed to eliminate our new found friends.  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come when we get into our permanent digs!

We have spent the last few days visiting our local coffee shop and a few local restaurants and hangouts and meeting some very nice people who are also transplants to the area.  One of my fears was that I would be made to feel like an outsider looking in.  So far, that's not been the case.  People seem genuinely happy here and happy to have new people among them.  

Sometimes, as we are driving down the road enjoying the mountain views I start thinking that this is just another vacation and wondering how many days that we have left till we have to head home.  Then I come back to reality and realize that, wow, I am home!