North Carolina, y'all! November and December, 2016

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!

Illinois and Red Bay, October and November

Illinois to Red Bay, October and November

Red Bay, Alabama,                                                                       October and November, 2016

We left Fairview, IL for Red Bay, AL (where we’ll get some motorhome problems fixed) on October 18.  We stopped in Sparta, IL, three days to visit with Jerry’s brother and sister-in-law, Don and Sally Woodall.  Sally certainly had the “eye” for fall colors.  Their home looked so pretty!

They had saved up some projects for us!  We parked the motorhome at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex, about 5 miles from their house.  The Shooting Complex, an Illinois DNR park, had 1000 campsites and 1600 acres in the strip mine spoils, dedicated to hunting, shooting, and boating.  We were there very late in the season and the whole place to ourselves.

We had not explored their corner of southern Illinois, so we went touring.  The little town of Chester, located on the banks of the Mississippi River about 60 miles south of St. Louis, expected the arrival of steam engine #844.  This locomotive was the last steam engine built for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1944.  It pulled many well-known passenger trains, such as the Overland Limited, the Los Angeles Limited, and the Portland Rose.  Since the engine’s retirement as a working locomotive, it has been used as Union Pacific’s ambassador of good will.  Some surprising facts:  the engine and tender weighed 454 tons, were 114 feet long, and carried 6,200 gallons of fuel.  You can see in the photo that I might have been a little too close to the tracks!

We happened to be in Chester on the day that the American Queen, the largest river sternwheeler steamboat ever built arrived.  She had 222 staterooms for a capacity of 436 guests and a crew of 160. She was 418 feet long and 89 feet wide.  Plans for another time???

Chester was an old river town, established in 1829 as the site of a ferry and a mill.  It was known for its production of castor oil for lubrication until the petroleum industry took over.  Chester was also home to the creator of Popeye and the visitor’s center provided me with a perfect photo op!

The visitor’s center gave us a great view of the bridge crossing the Mississippi and a superb place for me to pose in my Cubbies’ shirt.  I practically slept in this shirt during the World Series…and my efforts certainly paid off!

Mary’s River, a small stream just outside of Chester, was an impediment to the plank road as it made its way in to town.  The solution was to build this pretty covered bridge.

Don and Sally decided to travel with us as far as Memphis, Tennessee.  Along the way, we stopped at the New Madrid rest stop where we found a display about the New Madrid earthquake fault.  (I was in Champaign, IL, in 1968, when I first experienced an earthquake, thanks to the New Madrid fault).  The biggest earthquake in modern times occurred as a series in 1811 and 1812 over a period of several days.  This seismic activity changed the local topography, created sand volcanoes (yikes!), and caused the Mississippi River to temporarily flow backward.  It was felt as far away as Boston and New York!

We found the delightful Tom Sawyer Campground in West Memphis and, even though we were parked in their overflow, we thought we had a great spot.  This park was on the Mississippi River flood plain and on the wrong side of the levee.  The last flood’s high water mark was 11 feet above flood…well over the tops of our RVs.  That would be exciting!

We loved Memphis and will return for more exploring.  Originally we thought one of the attractions we wanted to visit was Elvis’ birthplace, but the whole area was so surrounded with touristy hype and expense that we skipped it.  We wandered up and down Beale St., surveyed the touristy trinket shops, and listened to the music that came rolling out of the bars.  It all reminded us of our time on Bourbon St. in New Orleans.

We did go to Beale St for dinner one evening…such sights!  We found yummy dinner at the Blues City Café where we were served seafood gumbo, ribs, and catfish.  Perfect!

Our favorite stop in Memphis, and, yes I hate to admit this, was Bass Pro Shop.  What a place!  The pyramid behind the bridge is the Bass Pro Shop building.  Not only did it have all of the hunting/fishing/sports paraphernalia one could imagine, but also it had a luxury hotel, a beautiful restaurant, a swamp, and huge aquariums.  

The elevator ride to the top took us up 28 stories for a spectacular view of the area.  I don’t think we’d been in anything quite like this before! 

Sunday, October 23, Don and Sally pulled out to head home and we pulled up the jacks to head to Red Bay, AL.  As luck would have it, we pulled in to the Tiffin Service Center right behind the coach who got the last spot in the campground.  That put us in the overflow…very busy place right now!  We learned from Norris (the Tiffin employee who visits the new arrivals to triage the work to be done) that it could be 3 weeks before we got into a repair bay.  Yikes! It was imperative to find stuff to do while we waited for our turn in a service bay!

We discovered that fellow Jell-O Travelers, Larry and Kathy Belikoff are here for repairs on their Allegro Bus as well.  They were parked at the Downtown RV Park, a more comfortable spot for their German shepherd, Dakota.  We had dinner with them lots while we waited and even found a new restaurant in Red Bay, the Mason Jar.  This was a yummy place run by a delightful family.

Since we had spent about three weeks in Red Bay in May, 2015, we had visited all the easily accessible and readily apparent tourist spots such as the Coon Dog Cemetery and the Rattlesnake Saloon.  Tough to beat those places!  Our first “second tier touristy” stop in the area was Woodall Mountain, just outside of Corinth, MS.  This is the highest point in Mississippi at 806 feet.  We drove to the top of this pine-wooded knob and found it covered with cell towers and no view.  Not really very impressive.  By the way, I think Great Great Great Grandpa Zephaniah Woodall, for whom this mountain was named, must be from another branch of the clan…not one of us Yankees!

Another day we drove to Natural Arch Park, southeast of Red Bay and hiked through the woods.  The 148-foot sandstone bridge towers 60 feet above winding pathways and is the longest natural bridge east of the Rockies.  Rattlesnake Saloon, a touristy spot near here, was located under an overhang that had not lost its “roof” and turned into an arch.  

We saw lots of evidence of iron ore, acting as a protective "cap" on the limestone overhangs.

Grocery shopping in the South was quite a surprise after becoming very accustomed to the offerings in the Northwest.  Here are a few new items to us:

Grits were very popular but who knew such a large variety existed?

This robust display of many types of salsa was a surprise…not to mention the bone suckin’ mustard!

And then there is always “bourbon and branch water!”

Florence and Muscle Shoals, located northeast of Red Bay, comprised a large metropolitan area on the Tennessee River.  Since the 1960s, Muscle Shoals had been known for music and developing the "Muscle Shoals Sound".  Local recording studios (including FAME Studios in the late 1950s and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969) produced hit records that shaped the history of popular music. 

After exploring the area we found lunch at a pretty marina on the Tennessee River.  This huge waterway was part of the “Great Loop” which at one time we thought we would cruise.

It’s possible to circumnavigate the eastern third of the US…east coast, Great Lakes, Mississippi River to the Ohio River, and Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway to the Gulf Coast.  This marina would have been a welcome stop along the route and in fact we talked to a couple who were “loopers” on their Nordhavn yacht.

Huntsville, about 100 miles northeast, was home to the Marshall Space Flight Center, a part of NASA.  Joy came here to Space Camp when she was in elementary school.  What an experience!  We were particularly impressed with the Saturn 5 museum and all the history presented.  This was an amazing time in our country and we wondered what has happened to the enthusiasm for space exploration. 

While we sat in Red Bay we watched all the World Series games and moaned when the Cubbies fell behind.  Everywhere we went, I wore my Cubs shirt and had lots of interesting conversations with folks who would not have had much to say otherwise.  We went to breakfast with Larry and Kathy Belikoff one Saturday morning and I had a delightful discussion with a young man who obviously had seriously followed the Cubs for quite awhile.  It was a great chat, but seemed “half a bubble off” since he had a heavy Alabama accent…not the Chicago brogue of Cubs fans!

We decided to take the Tiffin Motorhome factory tour even though we had done this when we were here last year.  We knew we still had a lot to learn.  We were still amazed that the factory produced 12 motorhomes every day.  Period.  Tiffin employed a total of 1500 employees and 900 worked at the manufacturing plant.  This is obviously a plum of a job in northwest Alabama.  In the photo the tile floor is being laid on the sub-floor of a new Allegro Bus.

The next day we toured the paint shop in Belmont, MS, just over the state line.  It was here that all of the motorhomes were painted, including the tricky striping, typical of every coach. The facility was huge and fairly new.  It felt much more organized than the manufacturing plant in Red Bay.  In the photo you can see that it took time and patience to place the beautiful stripes on the bus.

The weekend of November 5 and 6 we decided to leave the bus overnight and go touring down the Natchez Trace.  This ancient trail extends roughly 440 miles from Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee, linking the Cumberland, Tennessee, and Mississippi Rivers.  The trail was created and used for centuries by Native Americans, and was later used by early European and American explorers, traders, and emigrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today, the path is commemorated by the 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway.  The road is a two-line highway on which no semis were allowed and the speed limit was 50.  Not for the lead-footed!

We settled into our Natchez hotel and found our way to the “The Camp” a sports bar located “below the hill”, right on the Mississippi River.  The photo is a shot of the bridge that leads from Natchez, MS, to Vidalia, LA., our view off the front porch of the sports bar.  As luck would have it, the LSU/Alabama football game was televised that evening and the sports bar was alive with LSU fans.  We stayed for the whole game and visited with a young couple, about Jill and Bob’s ages (our daughter and son-in-law), from Gulf Shores, AL.  A very entertaining evening!

Sunday morning we toured Melrose Mansion, the prototypical antebellum home in Natchez.  During the Civil War, General Grant, apparently said “This city is too beautiful to burn” and consequently there were many antebellum homes to tour, but no time!  Off we went to Vicksburg to explore the Civil War Battlefield there.

Vicksburg saw a prolonged campaign/seige of several months and employed both ground troops and watercraft.  The battlefield itself reminded us of Shiloh and Gettysburg, with many monuments and markers.  This monument to the army of Illinois was particularly impressive.  The toll on human lives was staggering:  Union casualties for the battle and siege of Vicksburg were 4,835; Confederate were 32,697 (29,495 surrendered).  The full campaign claimed 10,142 Union and 9,091 Confederate killed and wounded.  The result of the Union victory was complete control of the Mississippi River and was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. 

We did make it to church a couple of times while we waited in Red Bay.  We attended the First Baptist Church of Red Bay, one of the friendliest congregations we had encountered.  We even saw an immersion baptism…something new to us.  This church was a key member of the community and had a huge “Treat or Trunk” activity on Halloween.

Another Sunday we drove to Corinth, MS, to attend an LCMS (Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod) Lutheran Church.  This congregation was very friendly too…all 12 of them!  We met a man and a woman from Washington State and, interestingly, neither knew the other was a Washingtonian.  We also met a young man who was originally from Peoria, IL, and was in the process of transferring to Corinth, where there was a significant Caterpillar presence.  His family had not yet joined him and he was ready to talk to someone “from home.  The worship was very traditional and we didn’t think the church would be around much longer.

That Sunday afternoon we drove to Tishomingo State Park, just over the state line in NE Mississippi.  It was a beautiful warm fall day and we decided to hike the Overhangs Trail.  This was a well-used park and we met several families with kids and dogs along the way.  The CCC had done a lot of work in this park, building roads, establishing trails, erecting cabins, a lodge, and even a swimming pool.  In the summer this place surely was crazy busy!

Bear Creek ran through the park, and had eroded a creek valley with exposed limestone cliffs…thus, the overhangs.  They had built this amazing bridge over the creek to make the trails much more accessible.  As you can see in the photo, the fall colors were outstanding.

Wonder of wonders!! We got a phone call to be in service bay #3 Thursday morning, November 10 at 7 a.m.  Wahoo!!!  We had about 25 items to be fixed and Danny and Scott jumped right in.  

They easily replaced this broken hose that drained our kitchen sink.  Every time we used the sink the bay below it would get wet if the slide was in.

By Friday afternoon all of our problems but the “big 2” were left…a horrible dash squeak and our exuberant odometer…no decimals in that number!  Apparently we had driven over 7 million miles!

Back to bay #3 on Monday morning for those dreaded repairs.  We were sure the horrible dash noise would require deconstructing the whole cockpit of the coach.  Jer took the 2 bay technicians for a drive and Danny immediately knew what was wrong.  A cord connecting the Mobile Eye sensor to the console display passed between the dash and the windshield and squeaked every time the bus body flexed. Using a dremel tool to create a channel, Danny solved that problem.  Another technician connected his laptop computer to the bus data center and determined our odometer should actually read 27,792 (only 22 miles greater than my calculations!).  A new odometer/speedometer was installed, the correct mileage was programmed and we were good to go!

Tuesday, November 15, we left Red Bay to begin our travels to the mid Atlantic States.  That’s another story!