Weekend at Lexington

Our last trip to Lexington was over Labor Day holiday. We've kept in touch with Josh via Email,Texts, and Skype but we still wanted to be with him in person. We'd picked out the weekend of the 24th of October for several reasons. The main was that the North Lexington congregation was having a Ladies Day that Saturday and Donna wanted to go to that. UK was to play Louisiana Monroe in football as well and I managed to snag a really good seat. So, we went up last weekend.

We left Friday and made it without incident. We ended up staying at the Hampton Inn in Georgetown (about 20 minutes north of Lexington). It was much cheaper (the hotels in Lexington raise their rates on football weekends). Plus, we were more isolated from raucous celebrators (if you get my drift). The hotel was nice like most Hamptons I've ever gone to are. We checked in and went to meet Josh at his dorm.

He came out and we exchanged hugs and greetings. We had brought up a supply of Hot Pockets in a cooler (Josh and his roommate eat them a lot). Josh took the cooler into his dorm and was stopped by the attendant who made him show him what was in it. I never thought of how that might look (bringing in a cooler) but I am actually glad that they are conscientious enough to check there.

Josh then took me to the "Underground". The Underground is a workout area underneath the dorm next to Josh's. They have machines and free weights plus treadmills and the like. Josh and I worked out together. He showed me how much stronger he'd gotten (he goes regularly to stay in shape) plus some variations on some upper body work I'd been doing. I survived it but was sore the next evening.

We then went to the hotel and to Ruby Tuesday's to eat dinner. Josh ordered a steak and we split a dessert. I was happy to find out they served Coke Zero. We then went to Wal-mart to lay in supplies for him. We went back to the hotel and I helped him a bit with some C++ programming. Finally, Josh just crashed out and we did a bit later as well.

The next morning, Donna left to take Josh back to his dorm and then she would go on to Ladies Day. When Josh got to the parking log where his car his (Commonwealth Stadium), they were already towing cars. One of the stipulations for that lot is you have to have your car out on Saturdays when there are UK football games. Josh's car had orange tape to be towed, but fortunately he got his car out just in time. He parked at a friend's house, then Donna took him to his dorm. Donna went to the Ladies Day and really enjoyed it. Shelia Butt spoke on "Sisterhood" and Donna got a lot out of it. I spent the day at the hotel on the treadmill, then doing some Bible reading and finally watching a DVD I had Netflixed and hadn't had a chance to watch (Wolverine - X-men Origins).

Donna got back and we drove to campus. We parked our car in the same spot Josh had and walked. We went to the K-Lair to eat. This is an on-campus restaurant that Josh works at. He was working and we got to see him "in action" plus he got to hang out with us a bit. I walked Donna back to the car and then walked back to Commonwealth Stadium (I ended up getting in almost 6 miles just walking back and forth).

I got to the UK-ULM game and found my seat was as good as I thought it would be. I was on the 50 yard line 24 rows up and had and excellent view of the game. It was a bit nippy but I had dressed for the occasion. UK jumped on them 21-0 and it looked like it was going to be a rout. However, it appeared UK relaxed a bit and ULM got to within 28-7 and just missed another touchdown at the end of the half when the clock ran out. UK had no offense at all in the 2nd half. ULM moved the ball but fortunately only scored one touchdown. UK finally got a safety and ran an interception back for a TD to win 36-13. They'll have to play better than that to beat Mississippi State next week. I met Josh on the walk back and we met Donna and the car and went back to the hotel for the night.

We got up the next morning and checked out and went to North Lexington for Bible class and worship services. We went to Josh's college class with him. Afterwards, we ate at Wendy's and then had to take him back to his dorm for goodbyes. It was sad. We had a lot of fun together and he seems to be doing wonderfully, but we still miss him a lot.