That Second Special Cigar

Time to start telling the story of the big move to Tennessee, but where should I start? At the end, of course!

We arrived in Dayton, Tennessee at around 4:30 on Wednesday, January 21. It was sunny and cold, the high that day being 38 degrees. I led the way in the Camry with our two indoor cats, Sunshine and Mikey; Luanne's parents were next in line in the big moving truck; Luanne and her son, David, we in the chase car with the outdoor cats, Tiger and Molly. We drove up to the house where we found my dad waiting on the front porch swing.

We immediately started unloading the truck, working for about an hour or two before deciding that was enough for the evening. We ended up going to my parents' house for a spaghetti dinner to celebrate our first night at our new home. The new house was too much of a mess to even consider trying to eat in that first night, but things soon got much better. By mid-day on Thursday, we had emptied out the truck and were taking it Cleveland to return it, the satellite TV had been installed, and everyone was quite tired. Friday the PODS container showed up and we got a few things out of it, but not nearly everything as we had to wait to get our mini-barn before that could happen.

Saturday we spent the day more-or-less relaxing. I had rented a minivan to take Luanne's parents back to Nashville International Airport for their flight home; we had the use of it for Saturday, so they, my parents, Luanne and I all went to Fall Creek Falls State Park to eat and do a little sightseeing "East TN Style" (I'll try to remember to post some pictures of that at a later time). Sunday we drove Art and Garnette to the airport, stopping at Cracker Barrel for breakfast/lunch on the way. That's where I was able to score a half-price deal on the bright orange Vols cap you see me wearing in the picture below.

So, through all this activity, I had no opportunity to sit still and have a cigar. I got my desk and computer set up to get back to work. I unpacked boxes. I moved furniture. But I didn't smoke a cigar. Until the afternoon of Thursday, January 29. I finally had a chance to relax and sit still for an hour and a half or so. It helped that it was sunny and moderately warm (about 50) when I finally got the chance to smoke, too!

I relaxed on my new front porch in one of my favorite patio chairs, poured a glass of Maker's Mark, and lit up the second of two Casa Fuente Churchill cigars. Was the cigar good enough to pay $25 for? Honestly, probably not. But the connection to the old patio and to my last time gathering on it with my friends was priceless. I enjoyed my first cigar in the new house. After not smoking for a week, it was a little on the strong side and I couldn't smoke it down as far as I normally would, but that's okay--it was getting cold by that time anyway.

That is the ending--and a new beginning, too. I'll relate some of the other tales of the road and of getting moved in and set up in the new house over the next few days. The area is beautiful...I wish you all could be here!