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Shake Rattle and Roll

“Andra, now you know that Tennessee Trace is crooked as a dog’s hind leg.”

“YES, DAD.”

“And mountainous.”

“YEP! MOUNTAINS!”

“That woman told me where I bought that table—”

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU BOUGHT THAT TABLE, DAD!!!!!”

“I can sell it.”

Dad selling two

“WE CAN BARELY GET EVERYTHING IN THE CAR NOW, WITH MOM’S THINGS!!!”

“Now, don’t bring my things into this, Andra.”

“Well, you can have those energy pills back, because they didn’t agree with me.”

“What do you mean, didn’t agree?”

“Um…………they gave me gas.”

“So, THAT’S what’s been wrong with me.”

Mom walking a few with me. Note the sequins.

Mom walking a few with me. Note the sequins.

“She stinks to high heaven!”

“DAD!!!!!”

“I gotta pull off and go wee.”

“THERE’S NO PLACE TO—”

“Don’t matter. I gotta go.”

The Old Man Car didn’t QUITE end up in a ditch.

That time.

Click here to see the best photos from Day 18 of my Natchez Trace 444-mile walk: Andra Watkins Tumblr

You could be just one #ToLiveForeverbook share away from a free trip to Charleston. Tweet, Facebook, type and review your way to Charleston, South Carolina in the To Live Forever Journey to Charleston Contest. The more you enter, the better your chance to WIN. Click here to find out more: Support My Aching Feet.

Lots more scenes to see before I’m done walking. To Live Forever: An Afterlife Journey of Meriwether Lewis is available in paperback and e-book formats at these outlets: Click to Purchase To Live Forever.

Here’s our Reader Question for today. Blush.

55 Comments Post a comment
  1. It is so great to see the two of you together. That made me giggle. 9 days. I can’t wait.

    March 19, 2014
    • I’m looking forward to it, Lisa. I’m ready to have more company on these walks. xo

      March 19, 2014
  2. Sitting at my desk sneeking a look at this post on my phone. Laughing…..busted!!! :).

    March 19, 2014
    • I hope you kept your job. 🙂

      March 19, 2014
      • Whew….I did. And thank you for that break. I hope your walk is more than you hoped for!!!

        March 20, 2014
    • Hey Colleen. I took my ear buds to work so I can play the Reader Question without being busted. 🙂 Of course, sometimes I sit their and shake with suppressed laughter. I love seeing Andra and MTM together!

      March 19, 2014
      • I know! Reading it is hard enough to not laugh. But the video put me over the top. 😉 Maybe I need to carry some ear buds with me! Or wait until lunch.

        March 20, 2014
  3. That is a hoot. I can hear him now. Why didn’t we get a picture of the table? Maybe you should have done this trip with a van? And a trailer.

    And if the pills give you gas, you could just light them. Then you would be rocket powered walking!

    March 19, 2014
    • He took the table apart. It’s in pieces in the trunk of the car.

      I’m not taking the pills anymore, but all this crazy food is working just like them. We leave Houston, MS in the morning. Next stop – TUPELO!

      March 19, 2014
  4. I’m not as worried about you finishing your walk as I am about you finishing off your parents. 🙂

    March 19, 2014
    • I was already laughing…. Then I read your comment!! 😀

      March 19, 2014
    • I wouldn’t trade this time for anything, Lisa. How many people get to do something like this with their parents near the end of their parents’ lives? I had to remind myself of that multiple umpteen times today. 🙂

      March 19, 2014
  5. Crop dusting the Trace. What a hoot. (Toot?)

    March 19, 2014
  6. Don’t know what’s funnier, your parental units, or all the comments about them.

    March 19, 2014
  7. Roy bought a table. Of course he did. 🙂 How am I not there to witness all this first hand?? This is my dream!

    p.s. mom’s sequins made my life.

    March 19, 2014
    • She wore them again today. I can’t believe she still gets up and does full make-up and hair to be outside all day.

      March 19, 2014
  8. this is a riot. i hope roy ‘does not go missing’ along the way )

    March 19, 2014
    • If he does, it will be because he wandered off in the woods to take a dump and got lost.

      March 19, 2014
  9. It’s the Griswolds of South Carolina!

    Say, do you get any attention from people driving the parkway? Honks, waves, cat calls, whatever. Anything to get you to notice them, basically.

    March 19, 2014
  10. You and MTM are so cute together 🙂

    March 19, 2014
    • I miss him. We recorded that one last weekend. He’s been gone since Sunday.

      March 19, 2014
  11. Of course your mother was wearing sequins. My mother would have also, along with bright lipstick and tons of perfume which would attract all the insects on the Trace! hee,hee. It’s clear that MTM ‘misses’ you! 🙂

    March 19, 2014
  12. Poor Andra! I can see your childhood now:

    At least when Roy tips the car THIS time, it’ll be upside down and on that sturdy table secured to the roof. MTM looks like he’s trying out for a James Bond role (don’t tell him I said this – he’ll start practicing diving behind the furniture at home as if he’s avoiding patrolling guards in some evil genius’ lair)…

    March 19, 2014
    • Our furniture is too minimalist for him to hide behind it. Ha.

      March 19, 2014
      • That’s why Roy bought that table, dear. He SAID he wants to sell it… but he didn’t say to whoM(TM)… 😀

        March 19, 2014
  13. Well, now I sympathize with Roy. I can’t resist a good table, myself. However it might be a good idea to add a small u-Haul trailer behind the car if he finds chairs. Love the sequins on the sweater, that’s some fashion sense there!

    March 19, 2014
    • If you saw my parents’ house, Laura, you would understand that they never need to buy another thing for the remainder of time.

      March 19, 2014
  14. tarakianwarrior #

    A Southern Lady through and through = Andra’s Mom. Oh Andra I bet you giggle to yourself all the time, well, if you don’t, I giggle for you…maybe after all this is over you’ll giggle? I’m enjoying your travels and I’m sending you energy and healing thoughts (don’t let your Mom read this – or I’ll have another check mark by my name). 🙂

    March 19, 2014
    • I’m laughing more than anything on this trip, Lori. When I’m ready to pummel Dad to death, I’m still laughing at him. Mom is being the perfect wingman. She does everything for me, and I just walk and keep my feet up.

      March 19, 2014
  15. tarakianwarrior #

    Uh, of course I couldn’t go without saying – WOOHOO – I GOT A TWOFER!!!! MTM read my question and you answered it! I’m so lucky, lucky, lucky! Sorry about the knees. My knees hurt just thinking about the walk…Um, yeah, glad that your “knees” got a rest while MTM was with you. wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean? Haha. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    March 19, 2014
    • MTM thought you would like him being in your video. 🙂 I’m glad you liked it.

      March 19, 2014
  16. OMG—-I LOVE it, ANDRA!!! Glad your knees got that much-needed time off!

    Hugs from Ecuador,
    Kathy

    March 19, 2014
  17. When about four years old, I’d been to a livestock auction with my dad, who bought a mule. After it had been loaded into the trailer and we were driving home, my Dad asked me “Ronnie, what should we name our mule?” I replied “Elvis” and he started laughing really hard… which I did not really understand but pleased me nonetheless…

    March 19, 2014
  18. Why does bodily gas made one laugh like they are 12 years old? 😀 Andra, you and MTM are so cute together! I’m happy to see he is back to support you.

    March 19, 2014
    • He’s gone again, Mary, but he’s coming back this weekend. It’s my birthday weekend, and that’s his present to me.

      March 19, 2014
  19. Tomi Jean Cleveland #

    Aahhh yes, I can hear your dad all too well saying these things! He does make me smile, even giggle a little! Hang in there, Andra!!!

    March 19, 2014
    • Wish you were here. He’s in rare form. He did something today and then said, “DON’T PUT THAT ON THE BLOG, ANDRA!!!!!!!” Of course, I am going to. 🙂 🙂 🙂

      March 19, 2014
  20. You two are just the cutest! So glad it is going well, Andra…even with your dad’s shinanigans!

    March 19, 2014
    • He’s getting worse as he goes along, Angela. I thought I’d never make it through today.

      March 19, 2014
  21. Love the reader question today, Andra. I am so glad you’re holding up well. You look absolutely fantastic, and I’m not just saying that. I would think that by now the road weariness might be on your face, and it isn’t! I love your dad…I really do.

    March 19, 2014
    • I’m sleeping pretty well. I hope that helps. I am really, really tired. But I got some Starbucks in Tupelo today. 🙂

      March 19, 2014
  22. That vanishing point doesn’t attract me at all….it does make me think of a great movie, however:)

    March 20, 2014
  23. I also giggled at that wink MTM gave. 🙂
    And conversations with your parents always make me smile.

    March 20, 2014
  24. Parents, its like traveling with your kids. Yours sound so much like mine (my parents).

    March 20, 2014
    • Never a dull moment on this trip, Jon. 🙂 Glad you have crazy parents, too.

      March 20, 2014

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