Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia

From Jose

At the end of my last entry we had arrived at my cousin Hilda's in Smithfield, VA. I had not seen her in 13 years and her son Robert in 45 years. Hilda has not changed much in all the time I've known her.  She always looks and acts so youthful. I met Robert's wife Kim, who is also a great person, and spent some good quality time with all of them. They made us feel welcome even though they are very busy. Robert and Kim have jobs and Kim was organizing a birthday party for her sister. We heard many cool stories about how Hilda came to live in Smithfield, how Robert met Kim and many other family stories. I liked their neighborhood too. Houses are big, well kept and with plenty of space between them.

When we left Hilda's we realized we were close to colonial Williamsburg and decided to check it out. They have kept the town the way it looked during colonial days and there are employees in costume.  Some exhibits require tickets but tickets are not required to walk around the town or go into the shops. It was a pretty relaxing stroll through 1776 Williamsburg, like going into the past.

From Williamsburg we went to Raleigh, North Carolina to see my dear friend Brooke. She was my neighbor in Kanab with her sister Sarah. They are two of the nicest people I have ever known. I had not seen Brooke in about 4 years. We met for lunch at The Raleigh Times Bar. The building originally housed a newspaper, hence the name. We had a great time catching up with all that Brooke has done since I last saw her. She graduated from Ringling College of Art & Design, where she studied Computer Animation. She is very talented it and I'm sure will be very successful.

From Raleigh we went to a place I really wanted to see: South of the Border, a very tacky tourist trap just south of the North Carolina/South Carolina line. Diane had been there before and was not too thrilled about seeing it again so I had agreed to make it a quick stop. But by the time we got there it was time to stop for the day anyway so we got to stay at Camp Pedro, South of the Border's own campground. There are several restaurants, several gift shops, two gas stations, its own fire and police department and thousands of trinkets for sale.  For a subjective review of the place see:

http://www.fieldtripper.com/c/5mp2m9JQgLg/south-of-the-border

Now that I have seen it and got that out of my system I can see why Diane was not keen on seeing it again.

At this point we had a decision to make. Some time ago we had estimated that we would be in Georgia at the end of November and informed our friends Lynne and Ed that we would see them for Thanksgiving. As it turned out we were way behind schedule and still had some things to do and people to see before reaching Georgia. No way we could do all that and still make Georgia by Thanksgiving. Right around that time the weather folks forecasted a big snowstorm coming our way. Freezing weather is especially bad for an rv with all the exposed water pipes underneath. So, to spend Thanksgiving with Lynne and Ed and stay away from the bad weather we decided to fast forward to Georgia and backtrack later to the states we missed. Good decision.

Diane and I met Lynne and Ed at Best Friends and quickly realized they were both very nice. Then it turns out Lynne is Diane's cousin. When Lynne and Ed come to Kanab we always all get together. So it was good to spend Thanksgiving with them. They live on 12 acres near Atlanta, there was plenty of room for the rv and even electricity hookup.

Lynne 's mom was from Spain and she has slightly different traditions. Instead of turkey for Thanksgiving she made a pork roast with lemon and garlic. I'm going to let Diane go into more detail about the food, all I can say is that it was delicious. They took us on a drive around some beautiful parts of Georgia that tourists don't usually get to see. But we mostly stayed in the house, talking about family, seeing old family photos, enjoying the antics of their cats, checking out Ed 's guns (if there are any burglars reading this, don't go to Ed's house) and being family. Huge thanks to Lynne and Ed for your real southern hospitality.

From there we stopped by Amicalola Falls State Park, recommended by Carey.  The start of the Appalachian Trail is nearby and I wanted to go there but the road is not good for rv's, so I went to the park instead. They have a huge fancy Lodge and some fantastic scenery.

We are now back in North Carolina, in Asheville, to see this beautiful city and to catch up with the people and places we missed before.  Stay tuned.