Motorcycling and KIPing to Mississippi and Back

Old Natchez Trace north of Jackson, Mississippi

Pat and I just returned from a 5 day vacation, from August 28 to Sept. 1. We rode his Honda Pacific Coast to Jackson, Mississippi, visited family there, then took the Natchez Trace north and worked our way back to Kansas via Arkansas and Missouri. We may have been the only tourists caught among a host of folks from Louisiana running before Hurricane Gustav. We didn't quit seeing Louisiana tags until Sunday in Russellville, Arkansas.

Bike travel means traveling light. We had a couple of pairs of jeans each and several t-shirts, and our toothbrushes, but I managed to bring my yarn with me! It was safely stashed in the backpack purse I wore. I wasn't ready to knit while biking down the road at 70 mph, but I did bring it out every time we made a serious stop -- for cold drinks, for a meal, for the night.

I am working on socks for me. This is the first pair where I've tried to work a lace pattern on the sock. (Cables I have done, but never lace.) It's a mixed success. I've mastered the pattern, but I have sport weight yarn, not fingering weight yarn. It doesn't look as delicate as it should. Ah, well, they will be warm. I'll need that in our 100-year-old house come winter.

I was disappointed that we didn't find any yarn stores along the way. I'm sure there were plenty, but I didn't search the net for them before we left, so we didn't know where to go for them. Next time, I'll know better.

We did stop at the Mississippi Crafts Center a bit north of Jackson, just off the Trace. I talked to a woman who was spinning silk. Small world that it is, she used to live in Midlothian, Texas, just south of Grand Prairie where I lived for over 20 yrs! She was a regular at Scarborough Faire, the Renaissance Faire outside Waxahatchie, Tex. and she knew of Steve's friend, Bull, who works at Excalibur Swords. Now that's just getting weird...

I was fascinated by the lady's spinning. She has one of the small spinning wheels like some of my Kansas friends have. I really am going to have to learn to spin. It does look interesting.

Talk about a yarn stash! I can't knit all the yarn I have now. What would I do if I started spinning my own yarn? Hm... Well, I'd have the right weight yarn for my lace socks, that would be one thing. And fingering weight would pack even smaller on the next bike ride. Gee, that does sound promising!

Texas Grandkids Visit

When we returned from Texas yesterday, we brought back the Texas grandkids, Reyes and Lala. Reyes is 10; Lala is 8. They will be here Thurs. and Friday and Uncle Joe will take them to Oklahoma City to meet their Mom on Saturday. (OKC is about half way to Dallas from here.)  We're getting it ready to sell. (Anyone want to buy a house in a suburb of Dallas?)

We bought them yarn and spool knitters to work on in the van, but they mainly dozed and asked "are we there yet?" We ended the "Are we there yet?" question by stopping in Oklahoma and Kansas at the Tourist Information Centers. We got each kid his/her own map of the state we were driving through and showed them how to follow the line for I-35. Every time we'd pass a town, I'd ask "What town will we come to next?"

Lala caught on quickly, but Reyes has a bit of his parents' ADD. He swore he didn't know how to read a map. On the other hand, he quit asking "Are we there yet?" because he could tell we hadn't traveled all the way along the green line yet.

Mean ol' Grandma. Making a kid learn something on a summer vacation!

Actually, I think the kids are here to visit Uncle Joe. They really love their uncle and don't get to see much of him while he's going to school at Emporia State. Pat and I both worked today and will again tomorrow. Fortunately, Uncle Joe is between school sessions, so he is the designated babysitter. (Ah, that's hard on all of them! He missed the kids as much as they missed him.)

They talked him into taking them swimming today. I've already heard plans to go again tomorrow. They are watching videos and playing Runescape when they aren't pestering their Uncle. This part of vacation is good!