Up On Cripple Creek

Vince was outside putting together a couple of shelving units for the greenhouse.

He had his music going. He put surround sound speakers on the back porch and they do sound nice. Growing up, I always listened to country music and Vince listened more to 3 Dog Night, Credence . . that kind of music. I was out there looking at the shelves and Up On Cripple Creek came on. I said “I love this song!” Vince said “You know this song?” I don’t know any of the music he likes because I really never listened to that.

Then this line came on:

Straight down the Mississippi River
To the Gulf of Mexico
To Lake Charles, Louisiana

Because Lake Charles, Louisiana isn’t his home, at least til he met me, it was just words in a song. Now it means something totally different to him. The best food ever! And maybe . . crazy people! 🙂

I always thought we would retire back in Lake Charles. I was even more certain that Chad would go back and spend his life there. We moved to Kentucky when Chad was 9 and probably til he was out of college, he thought of Lake Charles as home.

I’ll never forget when we moved to Nevada, MO. I know I’ve told this multiple times here. This was at the end of 2006. Chad had just graduated from high school and was going to go to college here. We had driven from Kentucky and spent a few nights in Springfield, MO. The entire trip, Vince was in front leading the pack. I was in the middle with Speck, and Chad was behind me. Vince didn’t have a cell phone and was determined he would never have a cell phone. He got a set of walkie talkie radios. He had one and I had one. Then I had a phone and Chad had a phone. Vince would buzz me on the walkie talkie and say “We’re going to stop up here and eat.” Then I’d call Chad and say “We’re going to stop up here and eat”!

We spent a couple of nights in Springfield, MO in a hotel because we were way ahead of the moving van with all our stuff. Even though we already had the house, we didn’t have beds or pots and pans.

When we got to Nevada, which is really a tiny little town, we stopped to get gas. Chad literally jumped out of the car and came running up to my car and said “Tell me we’re just stopping here for gas and this is NOT the place we’re going to live!” Nope, Chad . . can’t tell you that. This is where we’re going to live. He was not happy with us at all.

I think it was really the first week we were there that he met Bobby and I think that was one of the major events in Chad’s life that made him who he is today. When we were in Kentucky, he would make fun of guys with pickup trucks who hunted and fished. Bobby drove a pickup and Bobby hunted and fished . . probably every day! Bobby’s family was large and welcoming and I will forever be grateful to those folks for the influence they had in Chad’s life. I’m friends with the mom on Facebook and I’ve told her several times how thankful I am for them.

In fact, Chad had been out to Bobby’s family’s home the day he totaled his little sports car and ended up with his first pickup (which he still has).

Vince and I laugh that Chad was so disappointed in that town when he realized that’s where we were going to live but now, I don’t think he’ll ever leave there. When he was moving around with Walmart, all he wanted to do was get back to Nevada, and he did!

If Chad had gone back to Lake Charles to live his life, I’m sure that’s where we would have ended up too but I’m glad he stayed in Missouri. Most of all, I’m happy that he’s happy. He would love to live out in the country but overall, he’s happy with the area. Chad has four or five really good friends – the kind of friends that will do anything for you. When he got my grandpa’s old truck from my uncle, one of his friends has a car hauler trailer and Chad was going to borrow it. The guy said “Take my 3/4 ton pickup. It’s easy pulling that trailer with the bigger pickup.” That guy can fix any vehicle and he keeps Chad’s 20 year old pickup running. He has another friend who lives 2 hours away. During the worst of summer, Chad’s a/c went out and that guy drove down, got it running, ordered a part, came back and fixed it when the part came in and would only let Chad pay for the part. I tell Chad . . it makes me proud that you have such good friends. You have to be a good friend to have good friends! I’m happy he’s a good friend.