General Lee visit makes Farley brothers’ day

 CARIBOU, Maine — When the famous “Dukes of Hazzard” car General Lee rolled into the driveway of the Caribou Rehab and Nursing Center on Aug. 18 with its horn playing those twelve iconic notes of “Dixie,” it made Bobby and Andy Farley’s summer.
“It made their summer,” said their mother, Nicole Farley of Woodland.
Andy, 17, and Bobby, 20, both have leukodystrophy which, in layman’s terms, Nicole said is a degenerative nerve disease that prevents the back of the brain from developing correctly.
But Andy and Bobby love cars and trucks, really anything with a motor, and they really love the “Dukes of Hazzard,” which is why they were so excited to see the iconic General Lee drive up to greet them last week.
The Farley brothers have limited speech, but they can say very clearly word like “Dukes” and “Bo” — and they did so excitedly when car owner Troy Nichols of Presque Isle dropped by for a visit.
Not only did Nichols bring with him some props from the show, he spent time with the boys talking about the show.
“(Troy) is pretty amazing, for him to take time out of his busy schedule to just come and do this for nothing — it’s just amazing and wonderful,” Nicole said. “He talked with the boys and would say ‘Flash signed this, you remember Flash?’ and Bobby would shake his head ‘yes,’” she added. “He talked with them one-on-one and explained things to them — and he didn’t treat them any different from anybody else, which really touched me.”
Bobby and Andy didn’t know that the General Lee was coming for a visit, and the surprise was arranged through Nancy Fletcher, a CNA at the Caribou Rehab and Nursing Center.
Showing just how much the visit meant to the boys was how tired they were on Tuesday.
“They were exhausted on Tuesday because they didn’t sleep well Monday night because were just so excited,” Nicole said with a smile. She originally was a little worried about the General Lee driving up and tooting its horn, because Andy generally doesn’t like loud noises, but “He lit right up,” she recalled. “It was amazing.”
While Andy and Bobby tremendously enjoyed kicking the wheels of the General Lee, they weren’t the only Farley men excited about the visit.
“My husband (Albert) is a big, diehard Dukes fan, so that’s where the boys get it,” Nicole explained.