Friday with Forrest

I spent the day with my son, Forrest, Friday, and it was a good one. He had a couple of weeks before said he wanted to go to Louisville. We still have a few kinfolks over there. He had the good sense to say that we should contact them first. Because with COVID, they might not be comfortable with us coming. I checked in with my cousin Elizabeth Ann, and she was afraid to go to Lake Tiak O' Khata with us for lunch. She and her husband both have health issues. 

Forrest texted my after that info came in and wrote:

     If no one is comfortable, can we still have a day together? We can run, bike,         or just ride the backroads and eat gas station food.

That sounded so good to me that I almost wished no one wanted us to visit, but Aunt Mary gave us the greenlight. So we left town a little before 8:00 a.m. headed to Louisville, Mississippi, but not before first stopping at Acy's for breakfast. If you are from around the Greenwood or Carroll County area, you are no doubt familiar with Acy's hamburgers and po'boys. If you have not tried their breakfast, however, get up there as soon as you can and order you one. I had three eggs over easy, grits, sausage, toast, and coffee. It was good, yeah.

After Acy's, we and made our way to Blackhawk, to Vaiden, and then down 35 to Kosciusko. From there, we took Highway 14 to Louisville. At Louisville, we hopped 15 south towards Noxapater but stopped first at Flower Ridge United Methodist Church. There I showed Forrest the graves of his great grandmother and father, Uncle Teddy Bear's and Aunt Johnnie's graves, and the headstone of his great uncle, Roy Hodge, who survived the Batan Death March and died in WW II. 

We left the church and continued south to Noxapater and stopped at D & D Tire Service were two of my first cousins work. Paul and John Darby are always a welcome sight to me. Paul looked good. He's lost some weight and appeared healthy. John, on the other hand, could stand to shed a few pounds, but I did not tell him that. While there, I got them to balance and rotate my tires. I also goaded Paul into telling Forrest some of the stories from his youth that I have heard him tell in the past. I laughed so hard at a couple of them that I had sore abs the next day.

We tried to get Aunt Mary to go to the lake with us for lunch but she refused. I threatened to kidnap her but she still said no way and insisted that we eat lunch and then come by her house. The Tiak O' Khata buffet was top notch. Paired with the Acy's breakfast, we were on pace to gain some weight.

We had a nice visit with Aunt Mary. She is my dad's younger sister and the very last of that generation in our family. We talked about an hour and a half and then it was time for Forrest and me to head back to the flatlands. We did not, however, leave Louisville until we went downtown to the Masonite Cemetery. There we visited the grave of George Henry Quinton, my great grandfather and Forrest's great-great grandfather. When George was twelve years old, his family abandoned him in the Utah Territory, and he walked back to Mississippi and reunited with his family. That story has long fascinated me. When Penny complains about my obsession with endurance athletics, I blame it on George. It's in my blood, I can't help it, I inherited it from George.

On the ride home, I talked some in reverse about the journey run to Noxapater I made in 2015. Or was it 2016? We went the route I ran then and I showed Forrest where I slept and ate and told him some of the lessons I learned. 

It was a really enjoyable day as it always is when Forrest and I get to hang out together. I want to do the riding and gas station food thing. Soon. I know a lot of places that I found when I was on my bicycle riding craze. Let's do it, Forrest. What do we have to lose beside our waistlines?