Western Trip 2020, Oct. 25

October 25, 2020

Drive from Miller's Campground in Laurel Springs, NC, to Bear Grass, NC.

The sun is no where to be found this morning as we break camp and get on the road headed home to Bear Grass.  We have had some wonderful weather this whole trip with only a couple of days with a few sprinkles of rain.  It rained all night last night and it is still soggy this morning with all this thick fog.

Although the fog and rain obscured some of the colors, the Blue Ridge Parkway was still beautiful!

These geese are heading south for the winter.

The Yadkin River

Back on the interstate once again.

The traffic is backed up on I-40 because of an accident.  We saw many places along the roadway where the barriers looked like they had been literally peeled back because a vehicle had hit them.  We assumed it was because of all the heavy rain. 

Once we were on Hwy 64, we stopped for a fast lunch at Bojangles in Nashville and then made a stop at Joann's Fabrics in Rocky Mount for a few things I needed for projects at home.  

Getting closer to Martin County.

In a previous blog post from one of the western states, I posted pictures of cotton fields.  Well, here are "them ole cotton fields back home", as the old song says.

Our last "exit" before home.  It has rained the whole way. 

The farmers have picked the cotton in the fields in front of our house.  They "packaged" it a little differently this year. 

Home again after 48 days on the road and almost 7, 650 miles.  We are so thankful for all of our Lord's protection and provision during this challenging but wonderful trip.  God is so good, and we thank Him for all He's done for us.  Until next time, be blessed everyone!

 

Western Trip 2020, Oct. 23-24

 October 23-24, 2020

From New River State Park to Miller's Campground, Laurel Springs, NC.

We took our time leaving New River this morning because our next park is not far down the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We decided to drive into a little town called Sparta, NC, just to see what we could see.  Fabric store maybe?  Quilt store?

Neither one!  We did stop at a couple other variety shops, though.  We also sat in the parking lot in downtown Sparta and used their Wifi to upload some pictures.  We found a great little restaurant called "Crave" that had good American/Italian food, great service, and wonderful "oldies" music playing.  Best of all, though, was who I was with. We aren't tired of each other yet, even after 40 + days on the road together. 

I see old houses like this one below all along the way, and I always wonder what family lived there and what was their life like?  

We made a special trip to Thistle Meadow Winery in Laurel Springs that we like to go to whenever we're in this area.  They have very good wine, and the area is so beautiful.

After a morning of checking out the nearby towns and shops, we got to our last park of this trip, Miller's Camping, a private campground located right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We set up Little House and then headed down to the laundry.  Someone had just started both washers so we came back down to our site and settled in.  We waited about an hour and then headed back down.  Once the laundry was loaded, Paul stayed and completed the task while I just chilled out back at Little House.  I sat outside and knitted a while.  "Chilled out" was right!  It's very chilly underneath these majestic pines. 

That's a beautiful barn quilt on the laundry house.

Just look at the height of those pines!  After the laundry was done we sat out underneath these trees and had dinner by the campfire and then just enjoyed the fire until almost dark.  

Saturday morning dawned overcast and chilly.  We had breakfast and waited for the sun to show itself and then took a hike around the park and up the hillside to where we could see the mountains off in the distance.  We saw this cute bench on our hike, and it looks like a good project for Paul this fall.  One like it would look very nice in our backyard. 

So much beauty!

Christmas trees!  Oh, the smell!

After our hike, we had lunch and sat outside for a while.  We intended to have another campfire tonight, but the clouds came back, and it started to rain about mid-afternoon.  That's ok.  Little House is very cozy. Tomorrow, we head for home--47 nights on the road this time.  Tomorrow will be day # 48.  Check back in tomorrow night for the final blog of our Western Trip, 2020.  Love you all.