Riley is six years older than Shelby, in their early thirties. Jess is a couple years older than Riley, and Ariella will be two next month. This is my crew!

Shelby has secured us a sweet BNB in downtown Nashville. All the amenities, off street parking for my truck, walking distance to cool stuff, and a short Uber to the heart of the city.

The kids will have their own place nearby, so Nashville and the South are at our fingertips! First visit for the kids and I've been there twice, but not like this.

I managed to get up on the stage during the NFL draft a few years back, and Brian and I cruised around a sleepy downtown on a Sunday morning when he was here.

Third time's a charm!

Things are shaping up for the family visit in a week and a half! Riley, Jess and my grand-daughter Ariella will arrive Thursday, pick up Shelby flying in from DC at BNA midday Friday, and then drive down here to Lawrenceburg Tennessee.

Where they will see my neck of the woods, my home, the town, the Park, maybe meet some friends. We have a few hours to do this, after which I will follow them back up to Nashville in my truck, with Shelby riding shotgun of course!

The kids have their own timeshare and Jess and Shelby have been coordinating everything. My grand-daughter Shelby's job is Event Planner, and she's really good. She just found this place for she and I over the weekend, called "The Swiftie Shangri-La" for $334 a night. I'm up!

OK, Shelby and I have a nice place secured, but it's not this place, just kidding!

We're getting hammered. This storm started last night and looks like it's going on for a while. I haven't seen a tube bus go by yet, and I don't expect one.

It's been an interesting couple of days. My co-driver at the tubing company Massey, called me yesterday, had a flat tire downtown. I was really busy, watching TicTok, but I dropped everything and rushed to his rescue.

The morning was consumed with tires, a trip to his house out in the boonies, a tire shop and other goodies. We landed back at my place and a friend dropped by and got him back to the tire shop in town.

Massey's vehicle is now moving. This morning I drove him and the two tires sitting in the back of my truck, with the bed folded back, back to the scrap metal place off highway 64W.

Then I got my hair cut at the Beauty College! Erika was amazing, she even trimmed my goatee! A seven dollar haircut with a ten dollar tip. I love this place! She's got four kids, eighteen on down, sounds like a solid marriage.

She wanted to know why I stayed here after losing Steph. I had no answer...

Daniel and I decided to mosey up to Stettars restaurant. have a cocktail, and eat. We had fried cheese curds and mushrooms, followed by tacos.

We had a bet pile going on my home table, which I grabbed and it paid the bill, with change.

A guy mossied up to the end of the bar and we started chatting. Turns out he owns the place. I shook his hand, introduced myself, and gave him my blog name. His name is Michael Stettar, very nice guy.

I just talked on the phone to a really nice lady from Summertown about house cleaning services. Her name is Alisha and she does it for a living.

She's going to professionally clean my house right before family gets to town. She quoted me $120 for an initial clean based on the square footage of 1700.

There's nothing like making a human connection over the phone, which we did, and Alisha is local.

I'm not looking to have my place deep cleaned. That would require moving around electronics that I probably couldn't remember how to put back together if they separated. There's five years of dust behind them, holding the wires together.

I'm looking to get my floors cleaned, kitchen area and bathroom cleaned. Just basic stuff that wears me out quickly when I start.

The reason I knew that square footage number is because the big company cleaning guy up in Columbia yesterday, looked my half of a duplex up, in a big database, and told me. He wanted $200 with half down, a full signup on their website, and access to my bank. I told him no, politely.

Alisha didn't ask me for nutin! We just set a date. I really love the South sometimes.

Update: Daniel just told me that that whole house is 1700 square feet. My corner is 300 at max!

I've been trying to have someone go on a road trip with me lately, or on a trip to Mexico! No takers.

Now I've got family converging in sixteen days. We can all road trip together!

I'm trying to get Riley and Jess to upgrade to a larger vehicle, where Ariella can sit between Shelby and me in the back. They will have one entertained little girl back there!

I don't know what the kids have planned yet, they're working on it tonight, but I think we have a hell of a road crew going. Let's rock the South guys!

As my family reunion approaches, I observe that monetary issues are important. We need to save a buck where we can while still having a great adventure, it's the reality of life today.

I just want to say to Riley and family, and Shelby, that I am so honored that you are coming here, to spend a little time with me. I'm a lonely old man and I need my family so much.

Let me cover the big bills. I want you to have a great time without worrying about your bottom line. Welcome to Nashville!

The August Family Gathering is starting to go down! My son Riley, Jessica and young Ariella are landing at their Nashville timeshare Thursday evening, the 17th. They return Tuesday midday, the 22nd.

Shelby just got Friday thru Monday off, 18th thru the 21st. She's going to fly into Nashville Thursday night, with her service puppy. I'll pick them up at the airport, and then bring um down to my place.

Daniel bet me $5 that there is no way my beautiful favorite grand-daughter would agree to spend a night on the floor in front of my TV, on the bed from my truck. He lost.

The kids could then drive down here on Friday morning and we can plan our adventures. I can show them around town!

This great event is shaping up!

The ducks were in the lake when I pulled up, and they spotted me and came running. I couldn't film and open my bag, so it's a short video.

If the video fails to load, click Here.