Today we had to be up and out of our hotel and to McKinley’s by 9am (easy for my dad and I, not so much for my brother).  As we pulled into McKinley’s driveway, he was all ready and waiting for us to show up.  Since I had already drank three cups of coffee and two glasses of water, I had to quickly use McKinley’s restroom before our three hour drive to Tennessee to meet the rest of our relatives.  Much to my surprise when I came back out to our rented jeep, McKinley was sitting in the back with me.  I thought for sure he did not want to be rude and kick my brother out of the front seat, but that was not it at all.  McKinley wanted to talk to me, to hear about my life and to see how I was doing.   We got several great hours of bonding time in the back while my dad drove (with his GPS telling him to turn into random rice fields, odd) and my brother sound asleep in the front?.

After passing through too many small towns to count, we were finally in Tennessee at our great aunt’s house, Mary Lu.  Her twin sister Susie was there with her husband as well, waiting anxiously to greet us.  Susie seemed impressed with my brother, worst than a Jonas brother’s fan - lingering on every word he said, it was odd, but my brother was soaking up all the attention he could get.

After passing time with several awkward silences, and my brother occasionally gabbing away about nothing, they all decided it was time to grab some lunch, finally.  Since no one could agree on where exactly to go, they decided it was best to satisfy everyone’s needs and go to another (yes you guessed it) buffet.  At the buffet, we met up with two other family members, our great aunt Bernadine’s (she passed away in October 2008) husband and daughter.

Before my dad and I had realized, Aunt Susie and Aunt Mary Lu had paid for everyone², we were directed to our table and then we all separated out amongst the many isles of the buffet.  I headed straight for the salad bar, promising myself to eat light, since the last few days I had stuffed myself with fried food that neither my stomach nor my taste buds really seemed to appreciate.  As we all filled our plates (I chose to use the smallest plate they had) and sat back down, everything seemed a little too familiar to me – Déjà vu!  I had dreamt about this happening, but at the time I had no clue who these people were… it all makes sense now.  Back at the table, Uncle Kin (McKinley - my favorite) had chosen to sit down next to me (really I saved him the seat), and my dad on the other side.  My brother was surrounded by our great Aunts, chatting away as usual.  While everyone continued to stuff their faces, I excused myself to the rest room (too much water).  While in the restroom, I set my wallet down³ and I must have forgot to grab it, because ten minutes later, the waitress came over shouting my name (I totally thought I was in trouble for something, then I remembered – crap, I forgot my wallet!).  Luckily the woman who returned it was honest, nothing was missing. 

Almost three hours later, we finished with lunch and headed back to great Aunt Mary Lu’s house.  Mary Lu gave me several pictures of my grandfather (who had died before I was born) and my dad and his brothers and sisters from when he was a child.  We then took some family photos and my dad, McKinley, my brother and myself headed back to Bradford.  My brother was bummed to have left; he was looking forward to getting to know them better (or them getting to know him – Mr. Talk a lot).

I am not great at sitting in the car for long periods of time, luckily my dad and McKinley were extremely accommodating and would always stop when I needed to get out and stretch, take a picture, go to the restroom, etc.  I told my dad that I needed to use the restroom so he planned to stop in the next small town.  McKinley kindly asked my dad to wait till a few towns farther ahead, apparently the small town we were approaching the “black folk are mean there.”  McKinley is not racist, and the kindest man you could ever meet, so I was shocked when he had said that.  I then remembered several of my friends telling me about a dozen places in the south that are still separated and where whites and blacks do not get along.  That was a hard concept for me to wrap my mind around, since I’ve grown up in Seattle where the city is very diverse, and the same living in Los Angeles.

As we get back into Bradford and pass the famous street that holds our last name, I had my dad pull over so that I could take a picture of my favorite flower – the tulip.  They were in someone’s yard, and the house owner was outside starting up his BBQ grill.  I quickly ran over to the tulips, 007 style, adjusted my camera and snapped a few pictures, JUST IN TIME before the man came over with his shotgun4! I hopped into the jeep, McKinley waved and everything was A-Ok.

Once we got back to McKinley’s it was still a little early and my dad did not want to leave, but instead enjoy McKinley’s company.  My brother and I, although love chatting with McKinley, were bored, since we had already scoped out all there was to scope out about Bradford.  My brother and I decided to take a walk down the huge hill by McKinley’s house.  Once we got to the bottom of the hill, we saw a cute little pup, it was a beagle/blue heeler mix and could not have been more than three months old.   As my brother and I walked back up the enormous hill to McKinley’s house, the puppy, not wanting to be left behind again5 followed us back to McKinley’s.  You could tell the puppy had not eaten in days and once it followed us back, it saw McKinley’s dog Opie and would not leave his side.  My brother and I convinced McKinley to feed the puppy (he gave in because he knew how much I loved that little dog).  I tried to convince my dad to let me take the puppy home, but he was against it.

My dad, my brother and myself finally head back to the hotel.  I feel as if I have gained at least ten pounds from all the fried food and buffets, that I am glad to have booked the hotel that had a gym.   I convinced my brother to go and workout with me, which was a good choice, there were boys stopping to stare every five seconds 6 through the huge glass windows.  I am not sure exactly what I thought my brother would do about it, but I was just glad to have him there as a security.  A hour and a half later, I felt as if I had done as much exercise as I could for the night and headed up to bed.

?Catching flies with his mouth wide open.

²Again, our “Washington” money was no good there.

³Due to bag restrictions on the plane and not wanting to check my bag, I did not bring my purse, only a wallet with my I.D., debit card and cash.

4Okay, so not everyone in Bradford is nice.

5We think someone dropped the puppy and took off.  Although there was a woman who lived a few houses down from where we found the puppy who had the exact same dog, but older. She promised the puppy was not from her dog – I am not sure that I believe her.

6 I kid you not; I think there was a track team staying in the hotel.