Tennessee

OK, so this blog is late in getting out.  That's not good because Johnson City was amazing and I want to tell everyone!  It's late because yesterday was late as well, which made this one late, and there's one entry still to come after this one.  But have no fear- as soon as this blog entry is finished, the other one will come, and everything will be caught up by tomorrow morning!

I'll say it again- Johnson City, Tennessee, was incredible.  First, though, we had to get there from Hazard, Kentucky, and we saw some interesting sights.  First was the "Goose House", a bed-and-breakfast that looks like a goose.  It's a local landmark!

We began traveling toward Tennessee and we saw this sign at a Long John Silvers:

Now, I understand that the sign is probably saying that they offer a discount to all medical personnel on Mondays.  Still, if I owned a restaurant, I'm not sure that I'd use the phrase "Medical Monday" in connection with my eatery!

Next was this tire shop.  In Cincinnati, we have the number of tire shops you'd expect, but none of them sell tires like this:

So- off to Johnson City.  Pastor Greg and his staff really outdid themselves.  For the past several weeks they've been running radio and newspaper ads.  A newspaper reporter also took notice, and ran a two page article about the show.  There really was no doubt that this one would be packed.  They also had an ARMY of volunteers there to help load in.  Pastor Greg had heard about my rib injury and had instructed the volunteers not to let me lift anything.  So, we got everything inside quickly, but I sure felt lazy!

Just before the show, one of our volunteers showed his support for the show.  How's this for dedication?

For those who don't know, my beard is purple as well (can't really tell it in this photo, but it's a lot brighter in person).  The process is to bleach it first so that the dye shows up as bright as possible.  Well, in this photo, I have quite a bit of brown growing back in, so the purple isn't as neon bright as it could be.  This guy, though, used purple hairspray over a snow white beard.  Quite the bright results!  This is a reminder that I need to redo mine.

The show was completely packed tonight.  This crowd was loads of fun!

After the show, all of the previous volunteers (and a few extras) stuck around to help load up.  It went fast!  Pastor Greg then treated our entire family to a wonderful dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Our families stayed and talked for a long time- it was well after midnight when we finally headed out again.  Thanks again Pastor Greg and staff, for all your hard work in getting the word out about tonight and for everything you did to make us feel so welcome!

So, tomorrow, it's off to North Carolina.  It's nice to be back down South.  We love this area of the country and can't wait to bring some magic to the 19 states we have left!