A Funeral, A Parade and A New Home

On November 11, 2011, Veterans Day, Melvin Porter Cagle, Jr. was laid to rest after a fine, traditional service lead by Charles and Gerald Sprinkle, father and son ministers, neighbors and long time friends of June.  I was honored to be one of the pall bearers and I'm glad the hill was a gentle one.  June's wife of 55 years, Hester, held up well in spite of her ailing health.  She's one of the strongest people I've ever known.  I wish her and the family well. 

Last Sunday I went to the liquor store for boxes to prepare for my move to the new trailer.  As I turned to go back for more, there were 2 wild turkeys walking by, apparently irritated by the store being closed.  Why?  Because they were looking for....some Wild Turkey!  Yeah, I know it was bad.  I just couldn't resist. 

I miss my little travel trailer, Howhee.  It was my home on wheels for the the past year and a half, and it was a good one.  Since I couldn't save my travel map or stickers, this was the next best thing.  Thanks for the good times, Howhee, and I hope your next owner enjoys you as much as I did.  Bon voyage!

Of all the moves I've made (and I'm somewhere in the 40's now), this was the easiest.  The trailers were parked door to door at the dealership, and we hauled the stuff about 6 feet from one to the other.  And settling into Howhee II has been easy because it is so much larger.  I'm having an open house tomorrow to show it off, so I'll take lots of pics and post them here.

Today I went to the Asheville Christmas Parade for the first time in over 40 years and thoroughly enjoyed it!  The weather was beautiful and so were the floats, cars, animals and girls.  This old woody was one of the finest exhibits as was the Wells Fargo stage coach. 

My proudest moment was when my alma mater came marching by - the Enka High School Marching Jet Band.  They were in step, in tune and lookin' real good!  Enka was and still is a rural school with a wonderful tradition for excellence, which still appears to be intact.  They also appeared to be the largest band in the parade.  It sure felt good to see them again!  Go Jets!

And finally, sometime during the past 2 weeks the 10,000th visit occurred  here on the blog.  When I began this in the winter of '09, I never thought about number of visits or anything like that.  I just wanted to journal about my journey to relieve my grief and perhaps entertain my family and a few friends in the process.  I  know I have accomplished the first and hopefully the second, too.  Soon I will be changing the blog as I have now redefined "normal" and want to share that with my readers.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you will return soon!