Road Trip

828 Miles Later…

828 Miles Later?…we are home again. Maybe 275 of that was today (I didn’t keep track) on the way home. Half the trip back was mountainous twisty and only about 1/3 of that was spent at “speed.” It is during the 4th of July week and high tourist season in the mountains. Most of the time I was stuck behind a car from Florida or an old man in a hat driving a Camry. Secretly there were times when Donna was happy to have a slow poke in front of me for some of the trip, by mid-morning she had had just about enough of being tossed around, bless her heart.

The Blue Boar Inn is a mile and a half into the woods on a dirt road and after about 8 trips on that surface, the car was ugly dirty, so I washed it this evening. Much better.

One last story from the trip. On Friday when we went out to see the Milky Way, but were thwarted by the bright moon, we did get a substitute show. Right across the Skyway from the overlook we stopped at was a big old hill full of trees that spread from left to right traversing our whole view. The hill side was alive with fireflies. It reminded me of people flicking their lighters at an outdoor stadium rock show. We sat on a little wall and watched for about 10 minutes oohing and aahing, until some animal snorted in the woods behind us. Being city folks this noise made us get up quickly, dust off our butts, walk to the car and head back to the Inn.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up to wash, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 250

Robbinsville Part II

We did go up on the Cheohala Skyway last night, but the Milky Way was a no show. It wasn’t cloud cover it was the moon. Amazing the amount of light generated by the 1st Quarter Moon when there is no other ambient light present.

And we did do an out and back Gap run before breakfast. Donna normally loves riding through the twisties as much as I love driving them, but the chemo has made her a little more sensitive to jostling around. I ran through the 318 turns at about 3/4 speed and it went good as we had an uninterrupted run. On the way back I dialed the speed up a little bit and she was a real trooper about it. We got about 9 miles of free running before I caught the tail end of a 3 cruiser motorcycle group. When we finished she told me that that was quite enough Gapping for awhile. We made it back in near perfect time for breakfast.

As always the food was fantastic, but way more than we normally eat. So instead of going for a hike after breakfast we returned to our room and laid on the bed like lizards in the sun digesting. At 11AM we finally got in the Miata for a trip all the way across the Cherohala Skyway to reconnoiter lunch or dinner spots for a future MMC visit. Whenever we have gone over there in the past we have always eaten at the same ol’ place and while the food is good it is kind of pricey. Guess what? other than that place the picking are extremely thin. A Subway, a Hardee’s (where we ended up and were sorry we did), a pizza place and a little family restaurant. The most interesting thing about Telico Plains was that the natives spoke an entirely unintelligible form of English. The accent was 1/2 mountain south and 1/2 mumble. One women in the Hardee’s parking lot spoke to us and we had to say what twice in an effort to understand her and we finally just shrugged our shoulders and moved on. The nicest part about Telico Plains was leaving it.

For our evening meal we ended up in Robbinsville at a BBQ we had eaten at before. Last couple of times we had been in there we wondered how they stayed in business as the customers were nearly non-existent. This night the joint was jumping, it was jammed with motorcyclists and we had to finally wave over a waitress and demand she take our order. After dinner I wanted to go to the start of the Gap once again to get a sticker for the trunk lid to replace the one that used to be on the old trunk. Strangely enough the Crossroads of Time was closed this morning at 6:30 when we went by. When I hung a left out of the BBQ place Donna asked why. She thought we we going the long way, over the Stecoah Gap and up NC28. I said I didn’t think you wanted any more really windy roads, but she said 28 is so pretty a drive and even though it is very twisty, the curves are not as densely packed as the Gap itself. So we went that way turning a 12 mile return trip into 60 miles…cool.

Tomorrow we are going for today’s scheduled hike before the huge and delicious breakfast so we won’t have any excuse not to go for a walk in the woods.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, down once more, and back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 245

Robbinsville

Fun drive up. We stopped a couple times and took short walks. Once at Whitewater Falls which we have visited before and once in Gorges State Park which we hadn’t. Took our usual Wyah Bald Road from Franklin to Nantahala. Instead of fighting the expected crowd at the NOC restaurants, we stopped at a roadside place and had a pretty darn good BBQ sandwich and some nachos.

By the time we got to Robbinsville we were pretty worn out, so we did a little shopping at Ingles and headed up to the Inn. The Blue Boar now has wireless internet, so I could blog and listen to the FRS beat up on the Marlins. I took a few pictures today and about the only thing missing in my mobile office now is a way to transfer images from the camera to the laptop. Kodak had an Easy Share camera similar to the one I bought with wireless connectivity, but it lacked a couple things I really wanted, so I didn’t get it. While looking around on the net for a sort of multifunction USB thumb drive and SD card reader I found the perfect solution. Behold, the transforming SD card that folds to reveal a USB connection – Sandisk 1 GB Ultra II SD Plus.

Later tonight we plan on a quick trip up to the Cherohala Skyway for some star gazing. We get up to almost 5000′ and far enough from any lights that, weather permitting, we can see the milky way. Breakfast at the Inn is from 8 to 9AM, so tomorrow morning we plan on an early rise to get in a out and back run through the Gap and then get breakfast.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 239

Aiken

As Glenda the Good Witch told Dorothy, “There’s no place like home.”

US1 runs through Sanford, NC and Aiken, SC too, so we decided to just follow it home. This caused Donna to remember that 42 years ago when her family moved from NJ to New Orleans the traveled down via US1 in a station wagon. They drove straight thru with Mom and Dad splitting the driving, figuring it was easy to remember what roads to take by picking one and sticking with it. They folded the back seat flat and the 4 kids rode down in the back of the wagon with their sleeping bags. No minivan with child seats, seat belts or DVD players, just sleeping bags and some kiddie books. I then shared that my mom and one of her male friends took 2 weeks to travel the whole length of US1 from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida. She asked how old I was thinking that perhaps in some weird coincidence her family and my mom had crossed paths, maybe saying hello at a gas station or sat in adjoining booths at a roadside diner. No such thing happened though as my parents were still together when I was nine. Mom and Leo did their trip some 4 or 5 years after the Morrisons, because I was in my early teens when my mom and he were an item. Kind of strange that our parents passed through Aiken long before Donna and I lived here.

Around Camden, SC we actually got tired of the back roads and feeling the pull of home, jumped on I-20 to speed up the trip. This is also about the time the car started to make a loud rattling noise. It seemed to happen when shifting between 2nd and 3rd, but was entirely restricted to just then. It would occur between 2500 to 3000 RPM. I suspected it was somehow exhaust related, but wasn’t really sure. It didn’t sound life threatening, so the plan was to get home and take a look underneath the car. We made a detour into Columbia for lunch. Donna wanted spaghetti and meatballs and we remembered a restaurant in downtown called The Old Spaghetti Factory. We drove around where we thought it was, did I mention that the last time we ate there was 8 or 9 years ago? We finally gave up and asked someone. They remembered it, but was sure they had closed some time ago. We ended up at Subway where Donna got her meatballs, just in a sub, not on a pile of pasta.

With all the city driving the noise was getting a lot louder and a lot more frequent. We decided to head a few miles back and stop in at the Mazda dealer in Columbia. They were open and said they would get a technician to look at it. We retired to the waiting room with thoughts of possible expensive repairs floating in our heads. About 45 minutes later the service adviser came over and said it was fixed, they found that a bolt had come loose on an exhaust hanger up near the front of the car. When I asked how much we owed them, he replied, “Nothing.” Cool. We thanked him and finished the trip home in quiet.

At home the Emperor got a well deserved bath. I want it to look good because tomorrow we go back to the body shop for them to fix their errors when they repaired it earlier this month.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 173

Sanford

Breakfast was at the “River City Diner” that was attached to the Holiday Inn. Could be a chain restaurant and seeing as most big towns have a river running thru it, it would fit right in nearly anywhere. The waiters wore bowling shirts and the waitresses wore something with very short sleeves and a collar that were left over from Rizzo’s closet. All shiny chrome and vinyl, the only thing missing were the classic diner shape and little jukeboxes in the booths. The food was diner plentiful, I ordered pancakes with 2 eggs scrambled and the flapjacks were as big as Frisbees and the eggs must have been from ostrich-sized chickens.

After saying so long to Sally and “little” Claire we were off to the west side of Richmond to visit Donna’s cousin Sue and family. Susie and Alex live in a tree lined planned community that is the picture next to the term suburb in the central Virginia encyclopedia. They have three beautiful girls and whenever we pop in for a visit (approximately every half decade) we bring gifts for them. This time it was t-shirts with Aiken and horses on them, three different designs for three different ages. When kids are little they will put on anything mom pops over their heads, but at some age they will develope a style sense of their own making clothing a risky gift, so who knows they might put them on and never want to take them off or the only use they’ll get is to wipe up spilled Pepsi. The only daughter home was the oldest, 13 or 14 and she hung out in the kitchen with us adults as we discussed Donna’s breast cancer which then segued into medical insurance. Maybe there was nothing on MTV or she just wanted to hang with the grown-ups. I just hope in 2055 or so she thinks back to that “aunt” who had breast cancer, was cured because they caught it early and starts getting yearly mammograms herself.

We didn’t leave there until about 10:30, so we hopped on I-95 and started south. Donna drove for 60 miles then I did a 60 mile shift before we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch where we both ate too much again. After lunch, I continued south on I-95 until we could take the monotonous snapping of tires over concrete expansion joints no more. We jumped onto the back roads and made our way over to the town founded by Fred and Lamont in 1977 after they quit the junk business, Sanford, North Carolina.

There was a Sagebrush right across the street from the hotel, so that is where we went for a late dinner. This is the fourth different Sagebrush I have dined at and they are now batting .500. Rock Hill, SC and Monroe, NC are winners, every time I’ve been there I have wanted to go back. The one that lasted a year and a half in Aiken was awful all three times we went. Sanford, NC now joins them in the losers column. Our waiter had to be asked to bring us the usual bucket of peanuts that are their equivalent of the chips and salsa at a Mexican eatery. Our salads arrived 3 or so minutes after our main course. My blue cheese dressing was the worst I ever had and that is saying something. The steak was good, except the cook was a little heavy handed with the grilling spices. Plus I think whoever cooked up the Bunkhouse Beans mistook the teaspoon abbreviation for tablespoon, because those bad boys were peppery. I didn’t say anything because this is the first time I’ve had them and for all I know that is their signature way of doing beans…

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 171

Richmond

Breakfast was just about what we expected, I had a bowl of Raisin Bran with what milk I could get out of a mostly frozen jug and Donna ate a biscuit with sausage gravy. Plus we each ate one of those half dollar sized powdered doughnuts that come in packs of 10 for fifty cents. We stopped a few miles down the road and bought some fruit at a grocery store.

Donna had the official North Carolina Travel book out and we were going to stop in a couple small towns to see some of the “points of interest” in them. Trouble was all we really had were descriptions of the sites, no directions. There was a covered bridge near Asheboro, one of only two remaining in NC, that we actually found some signs to, but gave up finding after traveling 10 miles on two-lane roads with nothing to show for it. Next site we couldn’t find was a antique carousel inn Burlington. It was located in a city park at the center of town, but we never saw a sign for downtown.

Side Note: Berries & Cream Dr. Pepper tastes a lot like cough syrup.

Traffic was amazing light until we got to Richmond when we needed it the least. A miscommunicated routing request sent the driver several miles out of the way causing a delay in getting into our hotel room.

We had a nice visit with Sally over DQ Blizzards and got the inside dish on Africa and the whole Pitt-Jolie birthing extravaganza. Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast with her and her “Tug Boat Captain” daughter Claire before visiting Donna’s Cousin Sue and family.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 169

Kannapolis

Rest easy Mark, we resisted the “Call of the Rat Toe.” We came into Concord on US601 and even though we were 5-6 miles east of Lowes Motor Speedway the traffic was as thick as mosquitos on a summer’s eve. Descretion being the better part of valor we just rolled north into Kannapolis.

After a few false moves we found our motel. I couldn’t beleive that we could find a room this close to the big race on such short notice, but maybe I know why now, it is only a couple short steps up from a dump. But hey, there is wireless broadband internet, the water pressure is great, the AC blows cold air and after manually hitting the power button, the remote control works the TV just fine, so what else do you want for $80.

At the front desk there was a schedule for the Kannapolis Intimidators, class A farm team for the Chicago White Sox, and they were home. We found a local pizza place for dinner, Flyin Buffalo and went to a baseball game, sort of.

Parking was a buck and General Admission was to be $4 each, but some guy was giving away complimentary General Admission tickets just outside the gate. He assured Donna there was no catch, so we took them and got in for free. About 10 minutes before gametime the grounds crew put the tarp on the field. The PA announcer said the game would be delayed a few minutes as there was a storm system headed our way. Donna and I immediately made our way to one of several covered picnic areas, even though it wasn’t raining yet, to avoid the rush later. After about a half hour and no rain we decided to just go ahead and leave as our tickets were free. Before we made it to the exit they started to take the tarp up, so we got some seats to watch some baseball. We made it through two whole innings before our long day caught up to us and we headed for the exit again.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 165