Introduction

We left Fri night intending to get a headstart, but I konked out after only an hour, so we stayed at a cheap place outside of Jefferson TX. It was called "Budget Inn" and the experience certainly lived up to its name--it was hot upon entry, and smelled of urine (according to my wife and Helen), but I was dead tired and didn't care. KSG arrived Sat as we did, as I recall I made Cherokee Casserole that night for him to have something upon arrival. It was nice remniscing with him about the old days, and that was part of it, as my mother used to make Cherokee Casserole all the time growing up.

Details

Spots we went to include Falling Waterfalls, Six Finger Falls (Tue), Archey Fork (M & W), Grinder's Ferry several times (including Fri morning by me before leaving), Big Creek (KSG Mon) Blanchard and Mirror Falls (Sun). We went to the "western town" on Thur, ate ice cream at "Sugar Rush," we were going to go to North Maumee as KSG had been there and said it was deep (I found South Maumee shallow last year), but I was low on gas. We also almost went to Zack Ridge (tried to cram it on before Falling Waterfalls on Wed), but its roads were very cury and time was short. We were sad to learn that the Marshall Diner, now called Marshall Restaurant I believe, is set to be sold and will become a Thailand restaurant as I understand it. That's a big loss, that diner really helped keep us fed in the mornings.

A close call: on the way home, about 2 hours away from Marshall, I observed that I didn't recall packing the computer, which contained all the photos (I backed up to a portable external hard drive, but that was contained in the computer bag). I contacted my wife and she hadn't seen it either. Fortunately I managed to get a hold of the cabin owner and they saw it, and shipped it back to me the following Monday, it arrived Thur. Surprisingly, I didn't flip out about it, nor drive back to get it immediately, but instead simply trusted that it would arrive from them shipping it to me and it would be OK. They did in fact arrive Thur, fully intact. It did mean I would experience a delay with getting the photos posted. I was pleased at myself, however, for remaining calm vs having a meltdown.