After we
left Red Bay, Alabama, on November 15, we headed for North Carolina. We made one overnight stop just north of
Atlanta, and arrived at Glenview Acres RV Park, Concord, NC, next to the Charlotte Motor
Speedway on November 16. The area
offered lots to explore as well as being reasonably close to our Thanksgiving
destination, Martinsburg, WV.
One of
the first things we did was to tour the Charlotte Motor Speedway, actually located
in Concord, NC, on the northeast side of the city. Although neither of us were NASCAR fans, we
just couldn’t miss the opportunity to see this huge complex.
The motor
speedway included 8 racetracks, not just the 1.5-mile NASCAR oval. Our tour guide took us everywhere! We even drove
down the drag track, ran the oval at maximum van speed, and saw the fancy boxes
from which the folks with lots of money viewed the race. We learned that the speedway has several
educational programs. They provided
training to equip young drivers with skills to be safe in inclement
weather. They had a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
program for schools in the area. They
even had a huge ballroom for weddings, receptions, and banquets. Quite a place!
One funny little fact about the speedway: The seats in the grandstand were painted various random colors so that from a distance it appeared that all the seats are filled. Very clever.
Friday, November
18, we took the trolley to “uptown” Charlotte to take in the sights.
We walked
by the Bank of America stadium where the Carolina Panthers play. We found lunch at "Valhalla" not far from the stadium. Our waitress, a very chatty young lady, told us that we had just missed seeing Cam Newton, the Carolina quarterback, walk by. Apparently he was condo shopping the area! You just never know...!
Sunday,
November 20, we went to church at Family of Faith Lutheran Church, just down
the road. This was another very small
congregation…about 25 in worship…but so friendly. They were in the process of becoming a
mission church, due to their decreasing size.
Two folks we met there particularly stood out. Their interim pastor, a delightful lady, was
the first black lady pastor we had encountered.
What a message she delivered!
The
second person who was quite impressive was the pianist who accompanied the
service…on oxygen! I talked with her
afterward and said I was really
impressed with her spunkiness…she just
laughed!
After
church we made our way to Newton, NC, west of Charlotte in the foothills of the
Smoky Mountains. My cousin Anita (our
mothers were sisters) and her husband David lived there and had invited us for
Sunday dinner. I had not seen Anita in
years and it was amazing that we had so much to talk about! We had never met David, but it’s like we had
known him all our lives. Anita was a
professor at Lenoir Rhyne University and taught in the Occupational Therapy
department.
Monday, November
21, we continued on our reunion journey.
We drove to Laurinburg, NC, about 1.5 hours SE of Charlotte, to visit
with Andy and Patsy Foshay. Andy and I
were classmates all through grade school and high school. It was great fun reminiscing about all those
people we knew in London Mills 50 years ago!
Andy and Patsy have a construction business in Laurinburg, “Precision
Contractors, Inc.”. We got the nickel
tour of Andy’s projects, including a church he was building. He said he had become the favorite of the
black churches, because the ladies love his beautiful white hair! Andy and Patsy had a beautiful home on a lake
and a golf course outside Laurinburg.
What a treat it was to stay with them!
Tuesday, November 22, we drove from Laurinburg back to Charlotte, repacked our suitcase and headed to Martinsburg, WV, where Don and Dorothy Peterson lived. Dorothy is Jerry’s aunt, although 8 months younger than Jerry. We were invited for the Thanksgiving weekend along with Jerry’s brother Don and his wife Sally. The four Woodall’s were in addition to the Peterson’s usual Thanksgiving crowd, so there were 14 of us at the table, with an age spread from 19 to 90. We had a wonderful day and a delicious meal.
We
decided to stay with Don and Dorothy until Monday, to avoid traffic headed
south. We had some wonderful hikes to
work off that big meal. Don was an avid
bicycler and enjoyed riding along the C & O canal. It was too chilly and windy for bikes but we
did have a good walk. Have you ever seen
a bluer sky? This is a shot of Dorothy
as we made our away around the cliff face.
C&O
Canal occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch” operated from 1831 until
1924 along the Potomac River
from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland,
Maryland. The canal's
principal cargo was coal from the Allegheny
Mountains. Rising and falling over an elevation change of
605 feet, it required the construction of 74 canal locks,
11 aqueducts
to cross major streams, more than 240 culverts to cross smaller streams, and
the 3,118 ft. Paw Paw Tunnel. The canal way was now maintained as the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, with a trail that followed the
old towpath.
Tuesday,
November 29, we left Charlotte and made our way to Williamston, NC. This sweet little town, about 60 miles from
the outer banks was a perfect stop to explore the east coast of North Carolina. Williamston was another small town that had
lost lots of businesses. We drove down
Main Street and saw lots of closed stores and empty storefronts. Of course, Wal-Mart was strongly present, as
well as Dollar General. We weren’t sure
which came first…those ever-present cut-rate stores or the loss of local businesses. Sad.
We did
find a lovely little restaurant for dinner…”The Red Heron Café.” Yelp was our go-to app to find a
well-reviewed restaurant and this one got rave reviews. We arrived a little early and were the only
patrons for a while. That provided us
with the opportunity to have delightful conversations with our waitress,
Shatura and Chef Mike. We learned that
Shatura was involved with Bull Riding and Monster Trucks. She did the advance work for truck shows
internationally and had just come back from Sweden! What was she doing waitressing in
Williamston? Well, I don’t know! We did have the best pork chops we’ve ever
eaten and left knowing we had made two new friends.
Wednesday,
November 30, we drove to the Outer Banks and stopped at Fort Raleigh National
Monument on Roanoke Island. It was here
that Virginia Dare was born in 1587, the first child of English parents born in
America. The colony disappeared 3 years later
and the mystery of their disappearance has yet to be solved. It was incredible to us that 450 years ago
settlers were on these shores! As we
crossed the inlet, we were halted as the bridge swung open to accommodate a
sailboat headed down the Intracostal Waterway!
In the
northern Outer Banks our favorite stop was at Kitty Hawk. In these sand dunes Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first to achieve powered flight in 1903.
Aviation has certainly come a long way.
We walked, looked, and talked about what it must have been like 113
years ago to make this happen. The
Wright Brothers’ support was the crew from the local lifeguard station. When the Wrights were ready for a test
flight, they ran a bed sheet up the flagpole so anyone available came in a
hurry!
Wednesday
had been overcast, rainy, and chilly, but Thursday, December 1 was sunny, warm
and beautiful. We drove to Swan Quarter,
NC, to catch the ferry to Ocracoke Island.
It was a delightful trip…even though it surprised us that it took
2.5
hours! We sat outside the whole time and
watched the sea birds fish in the ferry’s wake.
We’ve had some ferry experience in the Pacific Northwest, and this ferry
reminded us of one of the smaller ones…perhaps like the one that ran from
Anacortes to Guemes Island in Washington
Visiting
the Outer Banks meant seeing lighthouses.
We saw this one at Ocracoke. It
was still functioning but closed to tourists.
The pretty red-roofed house on the right was originally the
lightkeeper’s home, but now was a private residence.
We rode
another ferry to get to Hatteras and that light. Once again, we were surprised at the length
of the ferry ride. The Outer Banks are
basically big sand dunes and they were moving southwest. An inlet (channel between two dune-islands)
was occasionally created by a hurricane, moving the sand around. The ferry to Hatteras used to be a 30-minute
trip but now lasted an hour due to the sand moving in the path of the ferry
route. Still good…a pretty ride.
The iconic
Cape Hatteras light was closed to visitors on Columbus Day, so we couldn’t climb
the 13 zillion stairs…Rats!
December
2 we got some great advice from the RV park owner and headed to Edenton. This sweet little town on the Roanoke River
is full of old homes and history. Our
walking tour of the town started at the Roanoke River lighthouse. It was
moved here in 1955 from further upriver and has been restored. It was the last known square-sided, screwpile
lighthouse on the east coast.
We did a
walking tour of the old homes around town and were enchanted by the whimsical
homes…some 200 years old. Revolutionary war history was everywhere. The town was
getting ready for their Christmas tree lighting in the square and everything
felt very festive.
We got a
little lost on our walking tour and mistakenly walked past this old home. An older lady and an older man (across the
street neighbors) were visiting in his front yard and spotted us walking by. “Hey, Illinois,” the lady, having spotted
Jerry in his U of I sweatshirt, hollered at us.
We soon learned that both of these folks were U of I grads…a few years
ahead of Jerry! Pete had played baseball
at the U of I and in the minors after he graduated. He had even played with Ron Santos! He shared his Christmas card with us, which
had a photo of him and his wife in their Cubs shirts in front of a big blue W
banner hanging from the balcony. He
readily shared his Cubs enthusiasm and reminiscences of his days at the U of
I.
December
3 we moved to Wilmington, NC, and our first Elks Lodge RV parking. I cannot believe I didn’t take a photo! We parked behind the Elks Lodge building and
had 30-amp power and water but no sewer hookup.
So…not ideal but at $25/night it was ok. Of course, the lodge was located right in the
middle of the city. Wilmington, a city
of about 110,000, on the Cape Fear River was a major seaport for North
Carolina.
Our first
exploration in Wilmington was the battleship USS North Carolina, permanently
moored in the Cape Fear River. This ship
participated in every major operation in the Pacific during World War II and
was decorated with 15 battle stars.
Jerry was standing forward of some of the big guns. The ship was equipped with nine 16"
guns; twenty 5" guns; sixteen 1.1" machine guns; twelve .50-cal
machine guns. Whew!
Sunday
found us at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in downtown Wilmington. This beautiful old church was in the process
of being built in 1863 when Union troops camped in St. Paul's churchyard. The
troops stabled their horses in the unfinished church and took wooden
furnishings to use as firewood. The smoke from the campfires blackened the
steeple and the exterior of the church.
The war ended, the church recovered, and now it was a growing
congregation. Jerry was standing below
the balcony in the sanctuary. We had not
seen trumpets, as part of the organ pipes before. The organist gave us a demo…amazing!
December
5 we were off on a driving tour of the barrier islands off of southern North
Carolina, including another ferry ride from Fort Fisher to Southport. We loved Southport! This was another old town, full of history
and charm. Many of the shops and
restaurants were closed for the season, but we did find “Fishy, Fishy”, a local
seafood place that served delicious seafood chowder.
We drove
to Oak Island, primarily to see this lighthouse. The unique paint pattern helped ships at sea
identify which light they saw, so they knew where they were. This one was closed to tourists as well. Yep, we missed another opportunity to climb a
gazillion steps!
Our final
day in Wilmington was spent visiting unique city spots. We had heard about “Bitty and Beau’s” on a
PBS show about North Carolina and had to go there! This coffee shop was started by a family with
two children with Down’s Syndrome. Their
idea was to provide employment and reward for people with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. A quote from
their website says it all:
“Bitty & Beau's Coffee creates a culture
where diversity is not just appreciated, it's celebrated.” Pretty cool!
Not only did we have a great cup of coffee, but we met some delightful
people!
Our next
stop was Myrtle Beach, SC, but that’s a story for another time!
