World United States Georgia Dillard

The Russell Sabbatical

so thankful Nov 22, 2007

Yesterday (Wednesday), we spent most of the day thinking it was Tuesday. We drove up to Rome, Georgia to meet Blacktop (Ken Gentle), a southern contemporary folk artist. Dave asked him what he was doing for Thanksgiving, and he said, "Well, tomorrow we're having some people over." Dave wondered why he was telling us about Wednesday instead of Thanksgiving. It only took us a while to figure it out. We also were an hour off (we had moved into central time a while ago, but had moved back to eastern time at some point that we don't know about). So we did a motel again - it was dark and raining by the time we left Blacktop (by the way - he calls himself Blacktop because he lays down a coat of tar before he starts painting and etching) after buying a number of pieces from him. I got depressed about Thanksgiving figuring we'd be eating sub sandwiches from Chevron or something - we didn't have reservations anywhere and didn't even know where we'd be today. Today, we spent driving through some of the most beautiful country - northern Georgia. We were thrilled when we found a Starbucks in the middle of almost nowhere. We ate cold pizza (leftover dinner) and admired some real Normal Rockwell looking towns. We pulled in to Dillard, Georgia - in the far northeast corner - about 2:00 and checked in to a motel (we're splurging - it's Thanksgiving). We found Eric Legge - 1 of our favorite folk artists. Eric is one of the sweetest, most down to earth guys we know. We love visiting him. He's in the middle of moving to Ashville, North Carolina, so he didn't have lots of pieces available, but we managed to find 15! Leave it to the Russells to dig through every corner, every box, and every shelf. While he finished signing the pieces, we went back to the hotel, swam and hot tubbed, and showered for dinner. The famous Dillard House was serving dinner, so we got our number and we were told it would be 1 1/2 hour wait. While waiting, we went to Eric's to get our art and shared some wine (Washington!) we bought 15 minutes before the Piggly Wiggly closed. What fun! Talking to Eric...drinking wine...watching him sign the art - what a great way to spend Thanksgiving if we couldn't be with family and friends. Then, we went for dinner. O.K. It was amazing. We sat down and the table was already set with a relish tray, cranberry relish, and two fruit salads. After we snacked on that, the rest of the food came (no ordering - just food arriving): pork loin, turkey, and ham, creamed corn, rice, mashed pumpkin w/ pecans, pickeled beets, baked apples, cabbage w/ cheese, 3 kinds of breads/rolls, green beans, peas, stuffing, & gravy. When we'd eaten all we could eat, we were given to-go boxes and then dessert. They ran out of pecan pie, so we had pumpkin pie and carrot cake. Wow. This place serves about 3,000 meals and I guess every Thanksgiving gets bigger. It was all southern style - not fancy - just good. So we somehow made it back to our motel, got into pajamas, and now we're surveying our art buys over the past few days. Time to buy another car. Here's the best part of the day: Leah said she was grateful that we took her on this trip...and then freaked out when I said I was going to cry. Tomorrow we start heading west (again! and for the last time, I think) and north to go to Nashville. Dave can never be in this area without stopping at Hatch Show Print in Nashville. They have made every poster for the Grand Ol' Opry and have been operating since the 1870's. They still do music posters and for lots of big names. So as I wrap up this Thanksgiving blog, I want to thank you for keeping in touch, for following our blog, and for sending up great thoughts. This was a good day and I really hope yours was, too. G'night y'all, and happy Thanksgiving.

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