January 25, 2012 (Wed) Mars Hill, NC (6) 33/57° - Yummi Yarns is a wonderful shop in Burnsville. Pat, Joy and Kaye had planned to check it out this morning but Pat had to fill in for Bob delivering the Meals-on-Wheels so Joy and Kaye went by themselves and had a great time. They even found time to shop at a nearby quilt shop.
Robertjohn and Claire live deep in the mountains at the end of a very long barely maintained single lane dirt road which ends at a ford crossing a small brook that defines the beginning of their driveway. Their house is somewhat modern (very modern compared to most of their sparsely situated neighbors) and is filled with wonderful art. Calling their location remote, borders on understatement. That's where we went this evening with Bob, Pat and Kaye for a delicious dinner, lively jamming (Roberjohn plays the fiddle) and stimulating conversation. A great time.
January 26, 2012 (Thu) Mars Hill, NC (7) 43/61° - A slow relaxing day
January 27, 2012 (Fri) Mars Hill, NC (8) 53/49° - The old high school building in Marshall, NC, which is on an island in the river, has been converted into artist studios. Pat and then Bob were going to take us over there to see their friend Libby's quilting studio but things came up for both, so we went by ourselves. We had a very nice talk with Libby as she showed us around where she and her daughter Jennifer work at their quilting and weaving. Libby's specialty is landscape scenes and the works-in-progress hanging on the walls were wonderful. While there we stopped in and had a chat with the artist in the room next door, a weaver. The other studios in the building, which included a pottery, graphic artists and others, were closed - not surprising as the building housed work areas not shops.
The highest temperature we saw on the thermometer today was 53° when we got up. Other than getting colder all day the weather was drizzly miserable until mid afternoon when the sun finally appeared for a few minutes.
January 28, 2012 (Sat) Mars Hill, NC (9) 32/49° - Woke up this morning to an outside temperature of 33° and an inside temperature of 32°. It had either already begun to warm up or we need to find a new location for our thermometer's outside probe. There was a heavy frost on everything exposed to the damp outside air so it had obviously been colder than 33° out there at some time during the night.
January 29, 2012 (Sun) Mars Hill, NC (10) 27/51° - Our original plans were to be here only a few days but Bob was going to give the sermon this Sunday and wanted us to stay. So we did. And we were glad on several levels. We have always enjoyed hearing Bob's sermons and it's been a long time since we have been around when he is in the pulpit. Today's was particularly interesting, some would say poignant. Also staying gave Mark another opportunity to jam with music group here in the afternoon. We are off tomorrow, headed for the Ocala National Forest in Florida
Q082872 Bob and Pat's Yard (x10)
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January 30, 2012 (Mon) Mars Hill, NC to Savannah, GA (340/1033 miles) 28/67° - It was a clear crisp morning - the last of the cold for a while we hope. We said good-bye to our hosts and got under way about 9:30. Thank you Bob and Pat and all your delightful, talented friends for a great stay. We hope we didn't over-stay our welcome! It wasn't a particularly exciting trip south. We made the usual pit stops to do what one does at pit stops, exercise Lamont, and eat lunch. We watched the price of gas go from $3.53 in NC to a low of $3.25 in SC (we missed that and paid $3.43 later) and back up to $3.42 in GA (We paid $3.32 at Walmart). Isn't that exciting?
Q083212 Camp Walmart Savannah, GA
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January 31, 2012 (Tue) Savannah, GA to Ocala NF (203/1236 miles) 36/77° - Our question last night was: will the price of gas go up or down if it changes. Prices have been going up of late so the chances are if it changes, it will go up. Wrong!! It went down 6¢. We could have saved $1.30 if we'd waited until today. It was good we only needed a half tank.
The ambiance in a rest stop is usually marginally better than in a Walmart parking lot. So after making some traveling coffee we broke camp and headed south on I-95. 50 miles later we were parked with the big-rigs for breakfast listening to their engines and viewing their trailers on both sides. Diesel fumes filled air. Oh well! At least it was warmer, 63°.
Going through Starke is always interesting (read sarcasm). Traffic is always beyond heavy and today an ambulance, siren blaring, worked its way through the the stopped vehicles on US301. It turned north on US17 and had to wait for an elderly lady in her small slow moving electric wheelchair/scooter finish her transit across the 4 busy lanes. She turned at the corner and was waiting to cross much heavier traffic on US301 as we continued on south.
It's warm here in Juniper Springs (76°) but we are still cold from all that we've had getting here. We look forward to some shorts and sandal time. We will be here a week, maybe more.
Q083418 Juniper Springs CG, Ocala National Forest. #9 $8.50 dry A
QC21-02 Mountains to Forest
QC21-01 Out of the cold
January 19, 2012 (Thur) Home to Winchester, VA (296/296 miles) 20/40° - We heard that they are being very strict about toll cheaters on the Garden State Parkway - vigilance, steep fines etc. There is no toll taker in the booth where we normally get on northbound (only EZ Pass and exact change baskets) and we have no idea what the new tolls are for a motor home, much less a motor home with a car in tow. So we drove up NJ35 to Cliffwood separately, hooked up and got on the GSP up there - probably saving $3 to $5 in the process. Then of all times, we missed a turn (or rather got ourselves in the wrong lane to get on I-278) and wound up wandering around Raritan Center, making our way back to the parkway.
The temperature climbed through the 20s and 30s as we drove south on I-81 through PA, MD, WV, into VA. It was 40° when we got to Winchester. After an early supper at Chipotle (delicious) and poking around a Books-a-Million book store for a while we found the Walmart, made up our bed and retired early - 7:30pm
Q082475 Camp Walmart Winchester, VA
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January 20, 2012 (Fri) Winchester, VA to Mars Hill, NC (397/693 miles) 28/58° - The area of the parking lot we called home last night was completely empty when we pulled in around 5:00. An hour or so later a big class A motor home pulled in and parked right beside us and turned on his generator. It was still running when we finally got to sleep sometime after 11:00 (we'd gone to bed at 7:30!). We noticed it was quiet around 12:00 but at 3am the drone started up again waking us both from a sound sleep. Why, if the guy was going to run his generator all night (to power his electric blanket?), did he choose to park next to us? We were up early and off by 6:20 hoping we'd made enough noise to disturb their sleep.
The sunrise over the Shenandoah Mountains, though not spectacular, was beautiful as we drove south on I-81. But sunrises are almost always beautiful - one of the reasons we like traveling in the early morning. At 7:40 we stopped in a rest area to fix and eat our breakfast.
After lunch in another rest area and again southbound on I-81 we were passed by a flat bed truck carrying a huge sign consisting of the just the letters K and S - 10 foot tall letters!. They were obviously only part of a larger word so we speculated for a while on what the whole word might be (some thoughts more risque than others). Finally curiosity overtook common sense and we sped up to catch and pass the truck so that we could see the other side where we assumed the rest of the sign was. There we saw "DIC" in equally huge letters. Apparently Dicks Sporting Goods would be getting a new sign somewhere.
Spritzing rain accompanied us as we crossed over the Blue Ridge Mountains from TN into NC. We pulled into Bob and Pat's driveway at 4:03.
January 21, 2012 (Sat) Mars Hill, NC (2) 44/58° - A quiet unremarkable day mostly visiting and reading - oh, and the obligatory game of dominoes.
January 22, 2012 (Sun) Mars Hill, NC (3) 43/59° - The annual meeting for Bob and Pat's church was held immediately after the service. We didn't stay but of interest was that the priest integrated his "rector's report" into the sermon. This not only shortened the annual meeting, as was his stated intent, but gave him the opportunity illustrate spiritual points with relatable events and activities but also to publicly praise his flock for all their good work over the year - which was extensive. A good sermon.
Bob's music friends came over in the afternoon and Mark had a great time jamming with them. Pat and Joy retreated to the front room to knit and talk. In the evening we all went up to Kaye's house for soup and dominoes. And lemon meringue pie - Mark's favorite. He got an extra big piece. John and Marti were also there.
January 23, 2012 (Mon) Mars Hill, NC (4) 42/57° - It's been overcast and rather miserable since we got here. The sun has shown now and then but for the most part spritzing rain was much more likely. This afternoon the sun began to come out with a lot more purpose and promise of better things to come.
January 24, 2012 (Tue) Mars Hill, NC (5) 38/58° - Joy and Pat went into Marshall early to work at My Sister's Place, a second hand shop that benefits abused women, while Mark and Bob hung out at home doing odd jobs. We all lunched together at Zuma's in Marshall. In the evening we watched the president's State of the Union speech.
Q082872 Bob and Pat's Yard
QC21-00 On the road again
January 18, 2012 (Wed) After a delay for Mark to get some dental work taken care of we are about ready to head south again for the rest of the Winter. Our first stop will be in the North Carolina mountains then it's on down to warm sunny (we hope) Florida. As always, we can be reached by cell phone, email and now even via Facebook
