We left Bradyville on Saturday, January 04th and headed to Deborah's hometown of Oak Ridge/Knoxville. Deb's best friend in the world, Jean Norris was kind enough to drive the two hours to middle Tennessee to pick us up. After a brief stop at Jean's to unload the luggage, we headed to a local Oak Ridge institution, Big Ed's Pizza. I'd heard about this place briefly when I was in Canada and thought that I'd just have to see it for myself. I didn't realize the history here. Big Ed's has been a local favorite since 1970 (43 years) and served up some pretty good pizza if I say so myself. This was where we said our last goodbyes to Joe & Keli and the grands once we finished dinner. It's been quite a different stay here in Knoxville as compared to what we got accustomed to in Bradyville and we miss them all terribly. Just before we left Bradyville, my cousin Tom sent me an email saying that he was being compelled to take a week's holidays from BC Hydro in early February - so they were looking at a number of holiday options. It seems they have narrowed it down to a Mexican cruise on Princess Cruises leaving Los Angeles on February 8th. It was quite obvious that it's been some time since we've had some holiday time, so we're joining them onboard for this cruise too. So when we get home on the 15th in just three short weeks we'll be heading off to Los Angeles to board the Sapphire Princess. Back to Knoxville - Jean was so good to let us use her car while she was at work, so on Sunday we headed up to see Deborah's brother Jim who lives in Maynardville (about 1 hour northwest of Knoxville) with his wife Norma. It was really great to see Jim and his family again - he has a really nice set up and a man cave that anyone would be proud of - complete with his 3-wheel'd Can-Am motorcycle, 4X4, Bass Boat, Go-Cart to mention only a few. While we were in Jim's front parlour getting caught up - he proudly pulls out two, yes two guns that he carries (yes they were loaded) at all times. As he waived them back and forth, I could see the next day's headlines - "brother-in-law" shot by accident in Bradyville home. I can cross another thing off my bucket list - we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch that was in the back room of a Shell gas station - to use the washroom one had to head into the gas station - quite unique to say the least. On Monday we got in the car and headed out to some of Deb's old stomping grounds - we went out to her old house in Kingston and then on to my grandparents place of birth - Oliver Springs, TN. Coincidently this was also where Deborah's daughter went to high school - it was pretty weird that while I looked for information on my family's history at the local library, she was able to find Keli's yearbook from the year she graduated high school. It must really be fate that Deb and I hooked up, except there is a distinct possibility that we could be related now that I read some history.