Rhett Butler is Coming Home to His Beloved Scarlett O'Hara in Georgia

I am at the Green River Lodge in Morgantown, Kentucky, the only motel within 60 miles of my destination tomorrow, Draco Kennels in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. Morgantown claims to be the catfish capital of the world, and maybe it is, but I’m not sure catfish is on the menu at McDonalds or Sonic which are the only places I have seen to eat nearby.

We had scheduled a flight here in my plane last Sunday, but bad weather interfered, and other circumstances conspired so that I had to drive roughly 10 hours from Savannah today to pick up Rhett Butler tomorrow. The lovely Laura Lee is in New York, and I had nothing better to do than drive off into the winter today to bring Rhett home. Rhett is a 9-week-old Gordon Setter who is joining our household.

Scarlett O’Hara, the Irish Setter at right, arrived in our home some eight years ago when we already had two Labs, Moose and Indica. Moose tolerated Scarlett immediately and allowed her to crawl all over him and abuse him greatly. Indica, our female, was far more removed, and only barely tolerated the wild young puppy in the house. But while Indica was the queen, Scarlett was clearly a princess in waiting to one day be in control. She has been an only child at our house for some time now, and we are a little anxious about how she will take to Rhett. But then Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind had somewhat ambivalent feelings about Rhett Butler, so we should expect fireworks. Scarlett is boarding for a couple of nights and has no idea her life is about to be upended, while Rhett of course will be leaving home for the first time, and he will be upended as well I am sure.

The trip here today was uneventful, but nevertheless an adventure as I have not driven for 10 hours in years. It was all Interstate highways until the last leg, I-16 to Macon, I-75 through Atlanta to Chatanooga, I-24 to Nashville, and I-65 to just south of Bowling Green where I turned north and went into the middle of nowhere. I don’t normally use the tracking device in the car, but I turned it on today to record the trip.

The motel is adequate, and warm with the loud through-wall heater set to high. I’ve got the TV on to watch the Olympics, hoping that skating will be minimal and downhill skiing prominent, and I’m waiting to see if I win the Powerball Lottery tonight. I bought a ticket because the jackpot is up to $330 million ($189 million cash). Somebody has to win, and it might as well be me. If I win, I think I should build a nice hotel and restaurant here in Morgantown.

The only remarkable thing about the Green River Lodge is that there is only one door and one fixed-glass window in my room, but there is a prominent “EXIT” sign over the only door, and a sign taped to the door which reads “IN CASE OF A FIRE OR AN EMERGENCY EXIT THROUGH THIS DOOR”. Makes me wonder, since it is the only way out of the room. Perhaps this is a requirement of the Fire Marshall here in the “Catfish Capital of the World”.

The adventure will continue when I pick up Rhett Butler in the morning, and I will post pictures of him on the trip home when I get back to Georgia tomorrow night.

Update on Monday, February 17, 2014 at 05:16AM by John Samford

I successfully picked up Rhett yesterday morning after a two-hour drive out into the middle of nowhere. Then we bonded on the 11-hour trip back to Georgia. I haven’t been this tired in a long time, but Rhett is a real joy.

He is quite “clingy”, which I guess is to be expected when leaving the nest for the first time. He whined for about 10 minutes last night, then fell off to sleep. But he did start whining again early this morning, so our day began at 5:30 am. He’s done his “business”, had some breakfast and water, and is right now sleeping peacefully on my lap.

Welcome to Georgia Rhett. Scarlett will be back here this afternoon.