Catching up -- Tennessee

My riding companion, strapped into his car seat since Murfreesboro has a city ordinance against a dog having free access to the front seat.

I don't know what this flower is, but it was intriguing. Hanging below the blossom are long seed pods.

Yesterday included a visit to Starbucks (for me and Remy), a walk along the Stones River Greenway (from which the following pictures are taken), supper at Toot's -- a Murfreesboro landmark, but one that Rick had not yet been to. We both liked it a lot. -- and an amazing production of Next to Normal at the Murfreesboro Little Theatre.

A muddy backwater section of the Stones River.

Remy was very thirsty, so we walked out on these rocks to find some clean pools of water. This long-legged bird (heron?) was completely unafraid of us.

It moved further away when a pair of young me with a pair of large dogs came along ...

... but then returned to its preferred fishing spot.

Two notes from today's drive from Murfreesboro to Johnson City, TN: 

* An interviewer on NPR talking to an author: 

Interviewer: "Does it bother you to think that you won't be remembered as a writer?"

Writer: "Of course not. I'll be dead."

* As I  have headed east, and now north, a vague sense of anxiety pervades my travel that did not exist prior to Albuquerque. Maybe it's because I still don't know where I'm going to end up. On the other hand, it may be because I belong somewhere further west and/or north, and as I move away from that my body is telling me that something's not right. 

I have arrived at Chuck's cousin's, Nancy's, house in Johnson City, TN. She will be working (from home) today and tomorrow, but she is putting me up in this gorgeous apartment attached to the house. Her dachshunds aren't too crazy about having Remy, so I hope he'll be okay staying in the apartment if I want to be over in the house, talking with Nancy, or hanging out by the pool with her. 

From here, north ... I would love to go to Falling Water and swim in the river, but I'm not sure if I want to do it alone. I'll see how that plays out. My reservation in Ithaca is July 23-29, but I may go sooner. I miss Abby, and I want to have a look at Ithaca from a not-just-visiting standpoint.