Gravel crunching under the tires, we arrived to find a small greeting party, which included the caretaker Sam. David had told me about Sam but had not mentioned what appeared to be a rather large Labrador Retriever mix, who as we approached and parked was barking ferociously at us. As we came to a stop, I said to Maggie, “Oh great, a vicious dog!”

“Oh, Jim, you don’t know that!” Maggie said.

We had barely come to a stop when Sam came over to the car to introduce himself.

“Y’all don’t mind ole Strider. He’s a bit overly protective of the place. He thinks it’s his job to scare everybody off. Sorry ‘bout all the noise he’s making. He’s been real fussy lately.”

“Is he going to let us out of the car?” Maggie said half jokingly.

“Strider, hush up! Get on outta here!” Sam said, and with a wave of his hand Strider disappeared around the corner of the house.

Sam walked over to the car and as he opened the car door for Maggie he said, “My name is Sam. I’m the caretaker here and you must be Maggie, and hello there, Jim! David said y’all was comin’ down for the weekend.”