Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A Gamble

Today was a free day for Jilda and me. I was caught up on my work, neither of us had doctor's appointments, so we found ourselves in  unfamiliar territory.
After coffee, Jilda was scanning news on her iPad, and saw that the Powerball jackpot had hit half a billion dollars.
We looked at each other and said, "We've got to have a ticket." For most folks getting a ticket would mean putting on your house shoes, clomping down to the local convenience store, and buying a ticket. But here in Alabama, gambling is like adultery, or voting for a Democrat, it's illegal. Well, it's not really illegal to vote for a Democrat, but folks at Walmart look at you really mean if you have a Blue Dot sticker on your car.
Now where was I? Oh yes, we wanted a Powerball ticket. After we had our coffee we showered, dressed, and headed to Tennessee, which does in fact sell lottery tickets.
The Tennessee state line is 88 miles from our driveway. I know because I've measured it. The morning was crisp and the sky as blue as my sweetheart's eyes.
We had a beautiful drive up and after we crossed the state line, we pulled off at the first stop.
There were dozens of cars swarming the two places that sold lottery tickets. Apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea as us. Funny what a chance at $500 million dollars will make folks do.
We decided to drive a few miles further toward Nashville to the next exit. When we pulled in, there weren't that many cars and buying the tickets only took a few minutes.
On the way back to Alabama we stopped at the rest stop on the state line. Since the space industry is huge in Huntsville, Alabama, there's a Saturn Rocket at the rest stop. Not a model, but a full-sized rocket.
The rest stop also has a replica of The Wall Memorial. We've stopped at this rest stop many times, but we've always been in a hurry and never took the time to visit the memorial.
Today, we took the time. I shot a photo of Jilda pointing to one of the local men that died in Vietnam.
Jilda, when she worked for the local college, got an opportunity to visit The Wall in Washington D.C. and she said she was moved to tears just standing next to it.
We left the rest stop about 11 a.m. and we both realized it was lunch time.
Home was still over an hour away, so Jilda suggested we stop at our friend Berkeley Bob's Coffee House and have their Wednesday special which is red beans and rice.
That sounded good to me, and Cullman was less than an hour away so off we went. We waltzed in before the lunch crowd arrived and ordered up a couple bowls. I snapped this photo of Jilda.
Life is interesting, and I cannot think of a better way to spend a beautiful autumn day.
Also, if I win $500 million dollars later tonight, it might be a few days before I recover enough to write an update.

3 comments:

  1. Did you win?
    I think the adventure for the ticket was worth the millions for your memories. B

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh Gosh! That's really such a dream come true.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will never win the lottery because I never buy a ticket, but it sounds as if you two had a lovely day. The Wall is the most moving place in Washington. I've been there many times and have always seen vets standing in front of it and crying.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete

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