Lost, Again!

This morning after I’d finished all of my chores, Maribeth and I drove over to Jim and Liz Cravotta’s ranch to see their new home which they had built. Their ranch isn’t that far from us, but since I have not been over to their ranch, in over two years—we got lost!

We drove over the rivers and through the woods—over and over again. Since I was behind the wheel, and had actually been to their ranch before, I made one wrong turn after another.

On one of the wrong turns, I pulled up to an old hippie, with a gray ponytail like mine—walking his dog. I stopped the car—rolled down the window—the man stopped, looked at us‚ and I shot him the universal, two finger— peace sign.

He smiled and walked over to us with his giant, black, Great Dane happily following right behind him.

“We’re lost,” I declared. “Do you know where the Cravotta’s live?”

The old longhair started talking to us and didn’t make any sense to us. He was higher than a kite! Finally, when he quit talking, I thanked him and quickly drove off towards another river.

“That guy was obviously stoned,” I said. “Talk about rambling on.”

“I know,” Maribeth agreed. “He’s just an old hippie...”

“That did a little too much dope, back in the 60’s,” I said. “I’ll bet you, that he graduated in ‘69 or ‘70 like me because...”

“Stop!” Maribeth hollered. “Pull over!”

I slammed on the brakes, then pulled off of the road, and looked at Maribeth and said, “What?”

“I’ve got a signal!” she said. She waved her cell phone and said, “What’s their number? We’ll call them and get directions.”

“I don’t know—I can’t remember phone numbers,” I said.

Maribeth smiled, and then dialed information and got Jim and Liz’s phone number. When Jim answered the phone, she put the phone in my hand. “Hello Jim, this is Nancy and we’re lost.”

Jim laughed and then said, “I figured that you’d get lost! Where are y’all?”

“Sitting in front of the Volunteer Fire Department and no one is here, but me and Maribeth.”

Jim laughed and then gave me the directions, which I repeated to Maribeth, so she could write them down. Ten minutes later we arrived at the Cravotta Ranch!

Liz and Jim gave us the grand tour! First we went to their house, which was fixin’ to become their guest house real soon. Then they took us to their “Grey Goose Saloon” for refreshments. Their saloon is an exact replica of an 1880’s old west saloon and it is like walking back in time! We visited and did a lot of laughing.

Jim and Liz saved the best for last—we went to see their new home and we fell in love with it! The outside of their house looks like a giant metal barn, but when you walk inside—its incredible! I have to admit, while touring the big house, I became green with envy. Their new home was beautiful!

The tour ended after we went down and saw Liz’s design studio, and then the greenhouse.

As we walked back to the car, I told them, “This ranch is unbelievable. Y’all ought to seriously think about turning it into an amusement park!” Then we left and came back to the ranch.

Later, when Tony asked me about Jim and Liz's house, all I could say was, "I want it!"