The End of the Project that Started it ALL

Finally, the project which pulled us across the pond to London to live abroad and was the sole reason we started this blog has come to an end. So many interesting/great people made it an experience we won't soon forget. It took us to London, led us to that interesting spurt of time in Reading and Barcelona, and then dropped us back in the states in Nashville where we now sit together looking and thinking about what is next. 

This picture about sums it all up.  Fun, interesting, stressful, and at times just a little too strange to explain how this project and the people have changed us forever.  (Yes - she wears sunglasses at night).







Thanks to everybody who made the experience possible and of course made the related project releases such a success.  A special shout out to a group of people in Manila who helped carry me through some interesting work situations the last couple years.  You know who you are... we'll keep in touch.

White Water Rafting - The Ocoee River (Copperhill, TN)

We found yet another reason to go enjoy the outdoors near our new residence and that is rafting down the Ocoee River right about where North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee meet.

The upper part of this river was used in the 1996 Atlanta Olypmics but the middle part continues to be the most popular.  Our guide "Stan the Man" from White Water Express led our team of six down the middle Ocoee and really gave us a chance to make the rapids a little more challenging when we wanted and to pull up on top of some hydraulics as well.

A new move that I have not seen on my trips to other rivers was "riding the bull".  This is when someone sat on the front of the raft with their feet out the front and held onto a small cord as we dropped into a rapid.  We have a well documented case where Jolene's attempt at this results in just about all of us submerged (no finger pointing), floating down the river.  It's important to note that the lesson to make sure your feet are up so you don't get a foot caught in a rock really stuck with me since it appears I planned on keeping them out of the water for as long as possible.

We had a great group in our raft and whether Stan has 23 years or was it just one online class of experience he kept us out of trouble and having a great time.

While we were not rafting we were hanging out at the White Water Express compound where we spent a couple nights in one of their cabins.  We went horseback riding and even enjoyed doing flips off the "blob" in their small lake with a couple we met while rafting.

Our Cabin

A quick shout out to Scout and Jeremiah (horses) who took the time (whether they wanted to or not) to carry us around a muddy trail in the woods that one afternoon.

Lake + Blob

Mike Flip off Blob

It was definitely a fun trip and all the people we met made it very enjoyable.

We like to move it move it!

We have finally emptied our storage unit in Pittsburgh and transported our worldly possessions to Nashville.  The stuff had been sitting in there for four years!  Basically a time capsule from the day we moved to Richmond (lots of memories).

With flashbacks of when we put Jolene behind the driver's seat of the manual car in Northern Spain, we set her up as the pilot of a sixteen foot Budget truck.  Like a jumbo jet she got us up to cruising speed and glided West through Ohio and then straight South through Kentucky into Tennessee.  This trip however was done with zero tears but I once again played the role of navigator and moral support.

The following day she moved anything she could carry up to the apartment and then a couple friends from work were nice enough to stop by and help me with the heavy stuff that evening.

Now is the task of splitting our belongings into Keep, Donate, and Trash piles. To me it looks like there are going to be some very happy people that get stuff we don't have space for.  We have already found someone who will sell us a couch they have and I am sure the old school Sylvania TV will be replaced in the near future with something that can handle high definition (it makes buzzing sounds!).

All I know for sure is if you need someone to get you from point A to point B, Jolene is the one for the job (no joke).  Mode of transportation won't stop her.

The DiLo's do Nashville and Memphis

As part of a long road trip from Pittsburgh to the South Mr. and Mrs. DiLo visited us in Nashville.  We hit all our normal haunts like Edley's BBQ, Pancake Pantry, and Layla's.  We also tricked them into making a couple great meals for us while they were in town and took advantage by grilling out at the pool.

While they did take advantage of close by Nashville they also headed out with Jolene to Memphis for a day to visit Graceland.  All I can tell for certain is they had a really good time and absorbed a lot of fascinating Elvis trivia.














Feel free to stop by on your next trip South and...  "Thank you.  Thank you very much." - Elvis Presley

Mike Nashville Birthday

Another Birthday... This one included a quick trip up to Pittsburgh to renew my license, some crazy green cupcake I should not have ate for breakfast, and of course to finish it all up a triple layered mint chocolate chip cake made by Jolene.

I was obviously pretty excited about it.

(Our friends Matt and Jess also had their second kid today to join me on my birthday as well!)

God Bless America - JR and Narus Come to Nashville

Fireworks until the smoke blocked them all out

4th of July Pub Crawl - Tequila Cowboy

Group Hike - Mike's Idea

We celebrated the fourth of July the right way by having some good friends from the North come down and visit us in the South. Strangely enough most of their trip aligned perfectly with the longest rainstorm I've ever seen going South to North right over Nashville.

During the 4th we walked downtown and hit a group of bars with live music on Broadway prior to seeing the fireworks.  We also met up with Cameron and Lucie which made our pub crawl a little more exciting than expected that evening.

Not to worry, I didn't let JR and Narus come down here without seeing a bit of the local scene.  We went down to Lynchburg and toured the Jack Daniels distillery, did a hike in Percy Warner Park, went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and of course tried on some cowboy hats.

Who's the new sheriff in town?

Tour Group - JR and the little girl both hate whiskey

Jolene Nashville Birthday

A fun packed birthday weekend for Jolene.  Her friend Rachel came down from Pittsburgh to visit to make sure we celebrated in style.  We started the day at Pancake Pantry and then once again Jolene's birthday led us to the zoo where we got memberships.

This time I was able to determine the price and rules in English rather than Catalan and the sky remained relatively clear rather than the flash flood we saw last year.  We finished her birthday with Rachel taking us out to Kobe Steaks in West End and a special birthday cake.

Over the long weekend we also got to go on a pub crawl down Broadway hitting a bunch of places for the first time along with some of our favorites.  For some reason it is always acceptable to dance on the bar at Coyote Ugly.  There was also a band at Two Fiddles with two female singers that was awesome.


We had our first grill out by our pool that included a couple that just moved here that Jolene and Rachel knew.















Of course to top it all off was the ride from police officers home after breakfast the one day.  Interesting story and nobody got injured.