A Close Friendship Across the Miles
(About the friendship this song created)
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I have already told you about how that catchy little song ‘Tennessee Birdwalk’ brought Jack and Misty and myself together in the first place, after I heard it on Internet radio in November 2004. When I bought my first CD from them in early 2005, I fell in love with their music and have subsequently bought many more of their CDs. I never dreamed that this song would create the friendship that it has.
Jack and Misty were happy for me to choreograph this dance, which they later adopted as the ‘official’ dance to their song. They also encouraged me in the building of my first website and they had their webmaster link it to their own website.
Lengthy correspondence followed our first on-line meeting, during which time we started to get to know each other. Several months later I started phoning Misty. I wanted to get to know her too, as she could not use a computer at that time. I had learnt a lot about her through my correspondence with Jack and through reading his many essays on their website …. but you can never get to really know someone without direct contact.
Over two years of correspondence passed, by which time I very much wanted to meet them face to face. I got my wish in April 2007, when I visited them in Florida during a month long trip to the USA. During this trip I had planned to meet other e-mail and MySpace friends too. These were in Nashville, in the Smoky Mountains and in Georgia. In addition, I was to spend a week with my sister in Massachusetts. I met all 18 people on my list … and started many other new friendships too.
Another trip to the USA followed in July 2008. This was for my nephew’s wedding in Massachusetts. With e-mails and phone calls too numerous to mention between those trips, my friendship with Jack and Misty continued to grow. I feel so honoured to have been accepted as an additional member of their family by this lovely couple. They have welcomed me to their home and we have shared many hours together, talking, shopping and going out for meals.
It never ceases to amaze me how a song could bring about such a lovely friendship across so many miles. It is a friendship that means a lot to me and I hope that it will continue for many years to come.
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Since then I have been over to visit them several more times. In 2009, after visiting Jack & Misty, I went to Nashville again. One person I met there was a friend of theirs, Hal Willis. Hal was a French Canadian singer who had known Jack and Misty for a number of years. He invited me to stay at his home for six nights during my next trip the following spring, in March 2010. The following September he had been inducted into the Canadian Hall of Honour.
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During that spring trip I also visited Jack's daughters, Kathi and Michele. They live in north Tennessee and I spent five days with them, meeting several other members of their family during my stay.
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Then, that summer, I learned that Jack & Misty were to be inducted into the Buffalo (NY) Music Hall of Fame. As they hate flying, the decision was taken to rent a car and to share the driving. I flew to the States to join them at the end of September. The ceremony took place on October 7th 2010 at the Tralf Theater in Buffalo. That day also happened to be their 47th wedding anniversary, a double celebration. While we were in Buffalo, they met up with several long lost relatives and old friends who attended the induction ceremony.
We had a marvellous time throughout the trip and, because we were travelling by car, we were able to visit other friends and family members on the way. The total distance we travelled was over 3000 miles from Florida through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania to New York State .... and back again. We also got to see the Niagara Falls while we were staying in Buffalo.
During my trip in the spring of 2011, I travelled with Jack & Misty again. On reaching Tennessee, before reached Nashville, we visited friends in Winchester. We then spent a week in Nashville, where we had a list of about twenty people to visit. We managed to meet nearly all of them, plus some others not on the original list.
After that, we visited family and friends in north Tennessee and in the Smokey Mountains. Travelling south again, we visited a long-time friend of theirs in Yulee, Florida, who was recovering from major surgery. We also met with some other friends in Georgia who they'd not seen since the 70s.
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I have been on several more trips since this one; in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Stories from those trips can be found in my travel blog, 'Discovering the Real America'.
My next trip is not yet planned, but I am hoping I might go again in the spring of 2019.