Ellwood Manor
Stonewall Jackson’s Arm Burial Site
Confederate General Robert E. Lee referred to Stonewall Jackson as “my right arm,” so what is buried there is the left arm of Lee’s right arm.
Richard’s wife had family business to take care of, so us guys were turned loose. First we went to the Hollywood Cemetery to walk the dogs and to see where 3 presidents are interred. The 5th President of the US, James Monroe; the 10th President of the US, John Tyler; and the 1st and only President of the CSA, Jefferson Davis.
After dropping the dogs back home, Richard and I toured a couple of Civil War battlefields, including the one he volunteers at. Then we headed to a BBQ place for lunch, and we ate way too much because we were unsupervised.
Today’s Roadside America photo is the Largest Shotgun Shell located in Ashland, VA.
World’s Largest Shotgun Shell
And this evening I visited with another of Donna’s cousins, Susie and her husband, Alex, who live about 20 miles from where I’ve been holed up for the last couple of days.
I’m pretty sure that Santa Fe Sally doesn’t read this, but if she does, I could fall out of her favor… You see, I am currently staying in the home of ‘He Who Shall Not Be Named’ and his second wife. And I totally get her animosity because of the way she found out he was leaving her. He told the oldest son before he told her. Dick move, but then again his name is Richard.
World’s Largest Strawberry
When Laurie moved south with husband #2 back in the mid-2000s, Donna and I used to visit once in a while. But when Ted passed away, we upped it to once a month at a Cracker Barrel nearer to her than us. She and I, much to Donna’s amusement, would empty the creamer and the real sugar packets on the table into our coffees. Marriage count sidebar: Harrold is husband #3 for her, but Laurie is wife #5 for him. But this union, forged in 2012, is the longest for either of them. So, kids, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.
Unlike yesterday, when I had an hour or so of no rain, today was a total washout. It never quit, and there were times when 55 MPH was too fast to be driving in that quantity of precipitation.
I’m watching the Red Sox game and having some Salt & Vinegar Kettle Chips. They are only 140 calories per serving, but unfortunately the bag is listed as 2.5 servings…
Foggy Morning on the Blueridge Parkway
I was wrong; Google will direct you onto the Parkway. How do I know? It put me right on it this morning where John, Carol, and I got on yesterday.
And in spite of the dire warning from John & Carol and the big yellow sign on the way onto it, to not travel it in fog and rain, I took it all the way to Blowing Rock. This morning’s fog and rain kept me moving at only around 35 MPH until I got under about 4,000 feet level, and even then the Parkway’s posted 45 MPH speed limit was fast enough for me. I saw no one traveling in my direction, and maybe a half dozen passed in the other.
Today’s Roadside America find occured in the small community of Calvander a few miles from Chapel Hill proper, Hartleyhenge and unlike the original, it is more of a spiral than a circle. Also, it’s very worth a visit if you are ever in this neck of the woods.
This, of course, is my second “Henge” of the trip, and another notch in my belt, see: Road Trip – Day 10: A Giant Rabbit & Another ‘Henge
The road to the beginning of Deals Gap, AKA The Tail of The Dragon, is fun in and of itself. When I got to the intersection at the start, no one was coming my way, so I blasted off. I told myself that I would go as far as I could until I came upon a slow-moving vehicle. There are dozens of spots where they have paved turnouts for slow movers, but some people refuse to use them because they might lose ten seconds of travel time. About the time I caught up with someone, they were catching someone even slower. The odds of one car turning out to let you by are small to begin with, but with two, forget it.
I had gone about 5 miles of the eleven, so I just whipped a U-turn and drove back to Robbinsville. At least I got a few of the famed turns in. Luckily I had also already been by two of the many photographers who park in a spot and snap photos of every car that passes by. They all have a website that you can visit and look for your car and hopefully buy one or more high-resolution images of you driving. I have purchased several of the previous 2 Miatas, and one time I drove the 2010 Hyundai Sonata through the Gap and I bought a photo or two of that car as well.
Here are today’s proofs from the 2 photographers that I passed:
Ooh, look, the house next to my sister’s is for sale. We could be neighbors…
1) If I did move back to South Carolina, it wouldn’t be that close.
2) It would back in Aiken which is a mere 2 hours away
3) The traffic in Greenville/Spartanburg is nuts.
4) It is about $100k more than I could afford.
Like Santa Fe there is a Dunkin’ about a mile and a half away, and I’ve been there both mornings so far and will again one more time before I head out into the wilds of Western North Carolina.
After breakfast the BIL and I took a 2-1/2 mile walk around their subdivision’s property and ponds, dodging the goose poop on the sidewalks. The number of geese here greatly overshadows the flock that hangs around the Salish Ponds back in Fairview.
Diane and I went out to lunch at a local pizza place to spare Allen the sight and smell of us eating, pizza for me and a meatball grinder for her. He has a colonoscopy tomorrow, so he had to “feast” on orange jello and plain chicken broth.
This afternoon Allen and I hung up all his UCONN basketball memorabilia in the home theater room. There were also a couple of other photos and artworks that needed hanging too. There are more things needing hanging, but we ran out of time.
If I don’t have anything as exciting as this tomorrow, I’ll write about this morning’s fuse buying fun.
