Griffin Speaks

ARE WE THERE YET?

Whether you’re traveling to our nation’s capital or visiting New York City, road trips are when family memories are created. On June 7, 2006 the Griffin’s hit the road on our first vacation of the year. My wife Debra and daughter Alexis traveled by charter bus to New York City with the Girl Scouts. My boys, Greg Jr. and Chris traveled with me by car through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and D.C. visiting friends and family along the way. Greg Jr. with only one- month experience with his driver’s permit drove half of the 2000- mile roundtrip. It seemed as though every 50 miles Chris would ask, “Are we there yet?”

Our first stop was Charlotte, North Carolina. We spent the night with my best friend from high school Aaron “Chick” Williams. Chick is a supervisor with the North Carolina State Troopers. Chick and Eleanor have a beautiful home. The hospitality was wonderful. We woke up early the next morning and visited one of my best friends and former Birmingham neighbor Steve Kezman. Steve treated us to lunch at a great Chinese restaurant. We then left Charlotte for my brother Napoleon’s Estate in Louisburgh, North Carolina. It is something to see! Napoleon and Jane live like royalty. We also visited the home of one of his best friends, Jerry, which is under construction. The house is twenty-one thousand square feet with a full auditorium inside. My boys loved the 2- day visit. While visiting “Pole” and Jane I took my boys to see some of my old homes and schools. It was truly back down memory lane. 

We were in constant contact with Debra and Alexis by way of Nextel two- way radio. They were having a ball. We called one time and they were on top of the Empire State building. I hadn’t been there since I took Greg Jr. there when he was seven years old, eight years ago. They shopped until they dropped! 

We left the Estate and traveled to visit my best friend C. Howie Hodges II and his beautiful wife Elizabeth Jackson Hodges in Falls Church, Virginia. “Beth” is the daughter of the late Maynard Holbrook Jackson. My boys were impressed with Howie and Beth’s new million-dollar home. I must admit one of my major reasons for going up there was to check out the house. Debra had already visited the home a few months ago while on a business trip. I wanted to see for myself if it was as nice as Debra claimed. As soon as we arrived and we walked through the front entrance I turned to Howie and Beth and said, “this is enough to make you want to go home and burn up everything you got!” Your home is beautiful. As the old folks say “Beth knows what to do with a house!” 

We cleaned up and were taken to visit Frederick Douglas’s home. It was a great and inspiring visit. We were then taken to a SOS concert. I have a special place in my heart for the SOS Band since Beth and I were the first non band members to hear their first two million selling hit single “Take Your Time (“Do It Right”). Beth’s mom was their manager at the time. Howie and Beth surprised us with backstage passes. The highlight of the trip was for a few moments my boys got to hang with the comedian-actor Steve Harvey. Chris said that he thought he was going to pass out when he met and shook his hand. The drummer for the SOS band gave Chris her drumsticks after the sold out show. It was also a treat to hear the world famous bass player Marcus Miller and the Chuck Brown Band. We also saw Sugar Bear from EU in the movie School Daze. 

The following day we had a wonderful home cooked breakfast, cooked not by any housekeeper, but by Beth. It was wonderful. We all went to visit Mt. Vernon  the home of George Washington. It was a great visit. Chris got a little angry that George had the slaves sleeping on hay in the barn. We left Mt. Vernon and Greg Jr. and I drove all the way back to Montgomery, Alabama in 11 hours. We pulled into the garage and Chris asks, “Are we there yet?” I told him yes and then I said my usual “Let us thank the Lord because people don’t always arrive home safely.” Debra and Alexis arrived safely the following day. It was an incredible week. 

We will take a family vacation at the end of the summer. I hope that you will have an enjoyable summer and safe vacations!

In the words of my dad, “If you don’t have money at least have class!”

Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com