{"id":8443,"date":"2019-06-28T00:57:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T00:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=8443"},"modified":"2019-07-12T00:40:29","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T00:40:29","slug":"on-a-wedding-in-hadley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=8443","title":{"rendered":"On a wedding in Hadley…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rehearsalwalk\"<\/p>\n

“Day before” wedding rehearsal.\u00a0 (I\u2019m sure there\u2019s no “body-language hidden meaning\u2026”)<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago I got\u00a0back from\u00a0three weeks in Israel<\/a>.\u00a0 Then right away I had to make a dramatic transition:\u00a0 From free-wheeling world traveler to “weird uncle of the bride.”<\/p>\n

\"TownWhich is being interpreted:\u00a0 After my adventures in Tel Aviv – getting lost hiking to the train station, taking the wrong train (away<\/strong> from the airport)<\/em> and going 26 hours without sleep – I had to begin preparing for an 1,100 mile road trip up to Hadley, Massachusetts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There my “favorite niece from Utah” was getting married.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

My latest adventure started after church on Sunday, June 16.\u00a0 By the time I got out<\/em> <\/strong>of church and gassed up, it was noon in\u00a0PTC<\/a>.\u00a0 That afternoon I got as far as Knoxville TN.\u00a0\u00a0I wanted to make it to Dandridge, but had a bit of a mixup trying to online-register for a Super 8 there.\u00a0 (After pulling over during one of several traffic tie-ups on I-75, northwest of Atlanta…\u00a0 Among other things, to check alternate routes via more scenic but slower back roads.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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To\u00a0 make a long story short – and after yet another traffic slowdown coming into Chattanooga – I took a fallback position:\u00a0 I picked up a delightfully-retro\u00a0Travel Coupon<\/a>\u00a0booklet at a convenience store.\u00a0 (Another bladder break and coffee.)\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 Then I “proceeded on,” taking\u00a0more<\/em> <\/strong>back roads around the south part of the city.\u00a0 (The good news:\u00a0 Now I know where the Social Security and county farm offices are in south Chattanooga, should the need ever arise\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"LonnieNext day – Monday, June 17 – I made the Motel 6 in south Harrisonburg VA.\u00a0 I had<\/em> <\/strong>considered taking my time and getting to Hadley around noon on Wednesday, but by that Monday night I’d had my fill of motels.<\/p>\n

So next morning I got up at 5:00 a.m. and left Harrisonburg in the dark.\u00a0 I made the West Virginia line by 7:02, the Maryland line by 7:24 and Pennsylvania by 7:34.\u00a0 Then – at the exit leading to\u00a0Cumberland Gap Park<\/a>\u00a0– the “radio*” started playing \u201cCumberland Gap,\u201d by the 1950\u2019s Skiffle singer\u00a0Lonnie Donegan<\/a>.\u00a0 (Best known for his hit single, \u201cDoes Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (On the Bedpost Overnight<\/a>?”)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>I figured it was sign from God…\u00a0 (That “all is well.”)<\/em><\/p>\n

From there the going was pretty good – until I got through Chambersburg PA.\u00a0\u00a0There was a bad accident on I-81 north of Lebanon and yet another traffic tie-up.\u00a0 Then a sign beside the interstate noted another lane closure at Mile Marker 117.\u00a0 So I took more backroads to “bypass resistance<\/a>;” state roads\u00a0443 and 61, over to Pottsville and back up to Interstate 81.\u00a0 (Well past Mile Marker 117.)\u00a0<\/em> I passed through some cute little Pennsylvania towns and stopped for gas – and another bladder break – in Schuylkill Haven.\u00a0 There I also got a ready-made chicken salad sandwich on a kaiser roll.\u00a0 Despite being made at a gas station, it was pretty dang good!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"319bridge\"<\/a>I ended up making it to the rental house in Northampton MA – across the Connecticut River from Hadley – by 6:00 PM.\u00a0 (At right.\u00a0 As you can see, it was cloudy, overcast and subject to passing bands of rain, as it had been for most of the drive up.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

To review that<\/em> <\/strong>part of the trip on the way up:\u00a0 It took me 54 hours to make about 1,100 miles.\u00a0 Interstate 81 was – as usual – a pain, with clusters of tractor-trailers trying to pass each other like slow-moving turtles that blocked both lanes so<\/em> <\/strong>well.<\/p>\n

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On the other hand, Interstate 88 east from Binghamton NY\u00a0was\u00a0much<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>better.\u00a0 It passed through beautiful rolling hills, and farmland \u2013 and not much traffic.\u00a0 And the New York Thruway\u00a0(I-90, around Albany and south over to Massachusetts)<\/em>\u00a0was a\u00a0very<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Tuesday night I arrived, my brother and sister-in-law were over at \u201cthe Kelly\u2019s\u201d \u2013 the future in-laws \u2013 doing their early part of getting ready for the wedding.\u00a0 So I puttered around the rental house, finding the washer and dryer \u2013 much needed \u2013 along with how to get my stair-stepping equipment easily into the basement.\u00a0 Not to mention a place to store my kayak.<\/p>\n

On that note, the early part of Wednesday (6\/19) I spent\u00a0two hours and 24 minutes kayaking on the Connecticut River.\u00a0\u00a0(Which runs between Northampton and Hadley.)\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0I put in near Elwell State Park, which has a footbridge from the Northampton bank to an island in the middle of the river, then onto the Hadley side.\u00a0 For that bout of kayaking there was SOME sun, but not much.<\/p>\n

Later that Wednesday we all had dinner\u00a0with the future in-laws.<\/p>\n

\"tent\"<\/a>On Thursday we got down to work.\u00a0 The main\u00a0wedding party started working on \u201cfavors.\u201d\u00a0 I helped most by\u00a0staying out of the way.\u00a0\u00a0(As in \u201cLead, follow or get the hell out of the way.\u201d)\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0And by reading a first (1908) edition of Kipling<\/a>\u2019s \u201cThe Light That Failed<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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I made up for it on Friday by helping set up a tent-full of tables and chairs.\u00a0 (As shown above left, completed.)\u00a0<\/em> Then the wedding rehearsal finally started.\u00a0\u00a0(A good bit after the scheduled 6:00 p.m. start time, but the happy couple was \u201cnot hung up on that deadline thing!\u201d)\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0That\u2019s when I took the photo of the father of the bride and bride-to-be, heading down the \u201caisle,\u201d as shown at the top of the page.<\/p>\n

Then came the final preparations the morning and early-afternoon of the wedding day, June 22.\u00a0 Then came the count-down:\u00a0 4:52 p.m. \u201cIt shan\u2019t be long now!\u201d\u00a0 Then the\u00a0Officiant getting some last-minute instructions, as shown by a photo in the notes below.<\/p>\n

And finally \u2013 at or about\u00a05:43 p.m. \u2013 it became\u00a0official.\u00a0 They were married!<\/p>\n

And then \u2013 It was TIME TO DANCE!<\/em><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

\"dancepic\"<\/a><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

I took the upper-photo image on June 21, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Wikipedia caption for the Hadley MA image is “Town Hall and First Congregational Church.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Re:\u00a0 “The radio.”\u00a0 I do have a radio in my car but mostly listen to\u00a0Sirius Satellite Radio<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Re:\u00a0 Lonnie Donegan, and his “Skiffle” style.\u00a0 Wikipedia:\u00a0 “With a\u00a0washboard<\/a>,\u00a0tea-chest bass<\/a>\u00a0and a cheap Spanish guitar, Donegan played folk and blues songs by artists such as\u00a0Lead Belly<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Woody Guthrie<\/a>.\u00a0 This proved popular,” beginning in 1954.\u00a0 Later\u00a0<\/em>Donegan “went on to successes such as “Cumberland Gap<\/a>” – later to be the sign from God, as noted – and “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?)<\/a>, his biggest hit in the U.S…\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>He continued in the UK charts until 1962, before succumbing [sic] to\u00a0The Beatles<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0beat music<\/a>.”\u00a0\"lastminuteinstructions\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Re:\u00a0 “Final preparations.”\u00a0 They included the Wedding Officiant – to the right, with beard – getting last-minute instructions.<\/em><\/p>\n

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“Day before” wedding rehearsal.\u00a0 (I\u2019m sure there\u2019s no “body-language hidden meaning\u2026”) * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * Two weeks ago I got\u00a0back from\u00a0three weeks in Israel.\u00a0 Then right away I had to make a dramatic transition:\u00a0 From free-wheeling world traveler to “weird uncle of the bride.” Which is being interpreted:\u00a0 After my adventures in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8443"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8443"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8535,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8443\/revisions\/8535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}