#temp. story tag: margarita.

[gallowsraisedarc]

the sanchez family was a large & established hunting family , working in the southern states of the usa for decades now. carlos sanchez took over from his father when he was just 20 years old & grew the family business massively during his time at the helm. though he was married and had a baby daughter by this point , his wife antonia hated the dangerous lifestyle the family led , and left carlos & their daughter margarita when the little girl was only 2 years old. carlos turned to his closest friend , a distant cousin and fellow hunter marcus kennedy , for support during this difficult time.

marcus was also to be a young father , his wife faith giving birth to a daughter , dahlia , a year after antonia left. the two girls grew up as close as sisters for most their childhood & were educated in the hunting ways of their fathers. then tragedy struck : marcus was fatally injured whilst on a hunt , and passed away in the arms of faith and carlos , who could do nothing to save the man they both thought the world of. dahlia , aged 10 , was also distraught but mags struggled to find the words to support her , driving a wedge between the two. when faith kennedy and carlos sanchez announced some time later , with the deathbed blessing of marcus , that they would be wedded , neither girl was particularly pleased.

nonetheless , as they began going out on more hunts themselves , the girls rekindled their tight friendship , relying on the other constantly to keep themselves safe and alive. though carlos wanted mags to eventually take over running the family business , the reckless attitude of his daughter stayed his hand & eventually mags pleaded with him to not place that responsibility upon her. when asked , dahlia also declined , stating that her place would always be next to mags.

the women eventually began travelling further afield to fight supernatural creatures side by side , rarely returning to sacramento unless carlos specifically calls them home.

[travelingtheusa]

SOUTH CAROLINA

2021 May 13 (Thu) – We stayed home most of the day, working on caravan issues.  I took an Advil last night so I could at least sleep.  It helped a little but not as much as I needed.

    At 4:30 p.m. Vanleigh called to ask for the tag number on the Spyder panel. We have no heat, no air, no tank readings, and the temp says it’s -426 degrees.  They messed it up during the owner’s rally in Arkansas and we are having a dilly of a time getting it fixed.  They are now trying to figure out what model panel we have.  What a mess!

     Following the phone call from Vanleigh, we drove to the park to watch Noah’s baseball game.  His team is playing in the finals.  Tonight’s game did not go well.  They play again next week.  After the game, we took Noah to WalMart to get him a birthday present.  His birthday is next month on June 18.  We won’t be here for his party.  He chose a Lego game with Mario (is that character still around?). It is somehow connected to a video game. I don’t understand it all but he was very happy with it.  We bid everyone goodbye and came home to prepare for tomorrow’s move.  The fridge smells worse than ever.

 2021 May 12 (Wed) – We continued working on caravan issues. Adjustments had to be made on the Corning Glass Museum tour and some prices have gone up since we quoted costs last year.  The Museum of Play is going through renovations and the diner is closed.  We are making adjustments as needed.  

      I was so sick today.  I have a sore throat, runny nose, and sinus headache big enough to choke an elephant. I am not supposed to take any Advil, Motrin, or Excedrin because of the chemo I am on.  It could cause a bleeding episode.

     Something has gone bad in the refrigerator.  We have searched high and low but can’t find it.  Every time you open the door, the most awful smell wafts out into the air.

 2021 May 11 (Tue) – We went over to Trap’s for dinner.  He has the bug, too.

     We spent the day working on caravan “stuff.”  I called all the restaurants and venues to confirm (1) that the caravan is still on, and (2) to check that they are still in business. We had some changes, but for the most part, a good deal of our planned activities will take place.  The Lake Placid Olympics Museum is closed for renovations until 2022.  That’s disappointing.

 2021 May 10 (Mon) – We took Sam to Home Depot to buy fencing for the new house.  They did not have everything they wanted.  Construction is going like crazy right now and as soon as materials come in, they sell out.  Sam put in an order for the posts and sheets.  We used my military discount to get 10% off the total cost.

     After we got home, Sam checked with Lowe’s and found they had the materials on hand.  So, she cancelled the Home Depot order and we ran to Lowe’s to pick up ten posts, ten bags of cement, and eight 2x4’s.  They did not have any doors in stock.  The rest of the order is going to be delivered.  We then dropped the material off at the new house.  While we were there, the delivery truck arrived from Home Depot with their new refrigerator.  That was great timing!

    We stopped at home to feed the animals, then went to watch Hudson play soccer and Noah play baseball.  It was a long day.  To kick it off, it looks like I have caught the kids’ virus.  They’ve all had runny noses since we arrived.  Now I have it!

 2021 May 9 (Sun) – Hudson had a soccer game this morning. Afterward, we all went to Paris Mountain State Park for a hike in the woods today.  It reminded us of upstate New York when we used to camp and hike there with the kids.

 2021 May 8 (Sat) – Paul and Travis went to the new house to put in the floors upstairs in the boys’ bedrooms.  I stayed at the house with Sam and the boys.  Noah had a baseball game.  

 2021 May 7 (Fri) – We drove to Sam’s house today to help her load up some items to bring to their new house.  They bought a house in Taylors although their rent for the house in Simpsonville doesn’t expire until August.  That gives them some time to get things done before moving in.  The traffic was very heavy and it took us about 40 minutes to get there when it should have taken 20.

     The new house has a very steep driveway.  It is in a cul-de-sac and on a hill.  The deck in the back of the house is 3 stories high!  The crawlspace has a ceiling height of about 26’. It is unfinished and gets a lot of water in there.  The house itself is very modern and updated.  There are 2 bedrooms and a bath upstairs and 2 bedrooms, a great room, a bath, a laundry/mud room, and large kitchen with nook area.  It was built in 2014 and is in a pretty new development. There are new developments going up all over the place around here.  The rate of construction is mind boggling.  I wonder what it’s doing to the infrastructure.  It’s like what was happening to Las Vegas a few years ago.

     After we dropped off the items to the new house, we went to lunch at Denny’s.  Hudson had school today but Noah had a virtual class.  So Noah, Lincoln, Sam and us went to lunch.  The service was very slow (typical for this area).   They went home and we returned to the campground to feed the animals and walk Bonnie.  I even got in a quick nap!

     At 5 p.m. we went back to the new house to help Travis do some work. He was there with a co-worker. They were ripping up the carpet in the upstairs bedrooms.  Paul and Travis walked around the house and consulted on things that needed to be done. I played with the boys until it was time to go.  Sam had left earlier with Lincoln because he kept getting in the way.  Since Travis had the work truck, he couldn’t fit the boys. So we drove the boys back to their house then returned to our trailer.

 2021 May 6 (Thu) – We drove into Greer to look around and pick up pet food.  Then we stopped at La Reata for lunch.  It was a Mexican restaurant with good food.  The margaritas were delicious.

     After a quick stop at home, we went to the BMX Zentrum to take a one-hour tour of the factory.  It is the only BMW production plant in the United States.  The entire plant was very clean and bright.  We saw robots and people putting parts together to produce cars. It was interesting but not as good as the Mercedes tour we took a few years ago.  

     Another quick stop back at the trailer, then we were off to see the grandsons.  They are growing like weeds (as expected).  They appear to be very happy down here in South Carolina.  The schools reopened and they started going back into the classroom last week.  Sam cooked dinner then we all took off for the ball field where Noah had a baseball game. Greg and Sharon were also there. Noah did very well and after the game, the coach gave him the game ball for his outstanding playing.  Everyone was delighted!

     Then it was a drive to Bruster’s to celebrate with ice cream for everyone.  We didn’t get home until after 8 p.m.  The poor animals!  They usually eat between 4 and 4:30.  And Bonnie needed to go out immediately.

 2021 May 5 (Wed) – We packed up in a light rain and left Lebanon, TN at 10 a.m.  There was rain on and off during our more than 4 hour drive to Greer, SC.  We are here to spend 10 days with Travis and his family.  

      The campground is nice.  The sites are a little close together.  We have FHU with a back-in site.  There is an upper and a lower level to the campground and we are located on the lower level.  There’s a large dog park for Bonnie to run in and some trails in the area.

     As we were driving into the area, we spotted a BMW factory.  After we got set up, I checked the internet and found the factory offers tours.  I promptly ordered two tickets for a factory tour tomorrow.  Not only did they send an email to confirm our reservation, an agent called to go over the rules – no open shoes, arrive 30 minutes early, and bring a mask.  I guess too many people ignore the rules outlined in the email so that they have to call and repeat them.