Monday, September 29, 2008

this is life. the journey is the reward, right?

well, we signed up to do some campaigning in sparta this weekend @ their annual bluegrass festival. we took my mom along with us... just to make things a little more interesting (which she always does) & because she is a fierce Lankford for Congress campaigner. it was a nice little event & the day went well. of course, livi totally refused to sleep on the 2+ hour trip there so was exhausted by the time we were ready to hit the festival. but, we took turns passing her around & she did fine. then, by 3:30 pm we were ready for a break & livi was desperately in need of a nap. (note: i had called around the week before and booked us a room @ the only bed & breakfast in town. the lady @ the sparta chamber of commerce said it was a "darling little place" so i called and booked the "cottage" for saturday night.) we thought we would check-in, drop off our stuff, let livi get a 30 minute nap or so, & hit the festival again. little did we know that the b&b was 7 miles out of town down a winding country road. the main house was only a little scary but after paying our $$ the man said "now, just hop in the car & follow me down the road a bit & i'll take you to the cottage." so after going about a mile down the road & passed several graveyards we came to.......





the "cozy cottage".... a total dump.... it actually looks a little better in pictures than in real life. the man actually bragged it was "built in the early 1930s" which i have no trouble believing since it looked like all the furnishings were still the originals...ahhhhhh. anyway, we were just so exhausted, livi was crying, so i just went into the little bedroom to lay her down. i pulled back the sheets to find this guy waiting....


hard to tell in the picture but this spider was the size of a quarter. now, i'm not especially scared of spiders & may have just had drae kill him & go on about my business had it not been for the other 3 spiders that came out from under the pillow when i moved it. needless to say, we checked out... immediately... without a nap (which is why livi required a passie for the photo below).
so, we headed back downtown sparta where drae pulled the car behind someone's home & beside a patch of grass. we spread out this blanket- said forget the nap- and livi had a snack of puffs & water in a strangers backyard. this is where she & i waited while drason & peggy jean handed out flyers till they closed down the festival :)

needless to say, we were all very happy & relieved to check into the holiday inn express in cookeville later that night.... below is our bed... spider-free. however, we did spend the rest of the night attempting to locate my mother's Bible which she lost at some point on this trip... the fun never ends!


overall, it was a wonderful weekend. we made it home safe & sound & still all in a reasonably good mood and posed for one last campaign photo.... we are so blessed to be close to family & friends as we travel this crazy journey together!









5 comments:

Bill and Amanda said...

It sounds like you had a very interesting campaigning weekend! And it seems that you were quite flexible considering the circumstances! If I still lived in TN I would be Lankford all the way. But since I'm an AK girl now, I am definately on the McCain/PALIN train!

Courtney said...

I had heard tidbits of your story from Nana.
I must say...What we will do...All in the name of Congress:)
I do not in the least bit like spiders! EEEEWWWW!It's not even Halloween yet.
Ya'll win trooper award for the weekend. Especially Drae with his double dose from the Friday nite ordeal. Wow!
So glad you gals could hang with us Friday nite! I'm bringin' your stuff to your house tomorrow!I'll leave it with Drason.
Have a spider free week!
Love, Court

Emily Lavenue-Roberts & Chad Roberts said...

the spiders are the most horrible thing i have ever heard of... well, almost the most horrible- why in the world do you have a mccain-palin sign in your yard? please don't tell me you have converted drason? : ) - your lovely obama supporting roomie! oh, and i definitely would vote lankford if i was in that voting district. (to hell with being a democrat on that one!)

Emily Lavenue-Roberts & Chad Roberts said...

i can't believe drason converted... i will never forgive you! : ) november 1st sounds spectacular! and i definitely will have a pumpkin pie readily available (along with a harvest candle burning...aaahhh, doesn't it take you back?). i have also been meaning to mention to you- can we stay with you guys sometime in november? we are going to the florida/vanderbilt game. i'm just not sure which weekend it is, but will let you know! : )

Mary-Kate said...

You have the greatest mom in the world. I love her! We need to get Mad Dog blogging. :)