Vacation in France 7 Oct. 2011 Travel Day

Don and I are awake by 6:15 A.M. to be ready to leave for Camden with enough time to talk to Mom and Dad before we leave at 8 A.M. with Patrick for CVG. We park at Fast Park between rows 13 and 14. Thirteen is our lucky number 13, so even if I forget to write it on the ticket I might still remember in nine days where we parked. Check-in procedures go smoother than Don expects. Yesterday, he was frustrated by American Airlines website in his attempts to print the boarding passes. The agent had to do one extra step: swipe the information strip for Don’s passport. The boarding passes print correctly. We are ready for boarding before 10AM, and departure time is 12:30PM.

During a two-hour wait, I would prefer to listen to an audio-book while I people watch. Patrick wants to talk so we listen.

When we arrive at JFK, we have enough time for a good meal. I eat a portabella vegetarian sandwich with a side salad, and drink a glass of Reisling wine. Don and Patrick eat well-made cheeseburgers and fries. They wait until we are on the plane to drink wine.

Patrick needs to be on one-side of the 3-seat middle and me on the other. I cross to the same aisle. Next time I’ll go the opposite way of Patrick’s choice and loading won’t be so difficult for the three of us. For the first time in a long time, this airline offered Don and me their vegan meal option we requested through the Expedia booking. We ate chick peas in a spicy curry with rice and broccoli, salad and honeydew melon slices while everybody else had a choice of chicken or pasta entrée. Ours looked more colorful and fresh. I read most of Hunt at the Well of Eternity, and I sleep when I can. During our 7-hour plus going through 6 time zones flight the in-flight movies have no audio. The second movie is True Grit, and the cinematography conveys much of the story and mood without the dialogue.

I Don't Think Those Yankees Are Kin

When I spell out our surname and insist there is no t in the middle, I am occasionally asked if we are related to Mary Chesnut, the author of A Diary from Dixie which is used as primary source material for many historians of the Civil War/War Between the States.
"Oh yes, I know who you mean: Mary, the wife of cousin James. We are going to her house for a visit in the summer of 2009."

When I made the reservation for our one-night stay at Chesnut Cottage Bed & Breakfast, I told the host, Gale Garrett, he knew how to spell our last name.

"Are you related?"

This time, as a serious family historian and amateur genealogist, I admitted I had not been able to yet document the familial relationship. If my husband is related to her husband, the relationship is no closer than a fourth-cousin, many-times-removed.
We walked around historic sites of Columbia SC. A short, rain shower only raised the humidity and heat for which Columbia, SC is famous so we returned to our room for an afternoon nap.

An hour into our nap, I heard a rattling of the glass in our room door, as if someone were shaking the door or a wind gust blew against it. By the time I got to the door, no human was on the other side. In my drowsy state, I muttered to whatever spirits might still linger in any old house, "Thanks for letting us stay here. I appreciate it."

At our breakfast the next morning, Gale Garrett told us of the unexplained noises he heard during the renovation of the house and of the photographed cat who did not appear in printed pictures. Now I can imagine my experience was the spirit of our Southern lady declaiming, "I do not think those Yankees are kin."