Day 29 - Hickory, NC

First of all I want to apologize for yesterday’s post. I wasn’t feeling too good and I left some things out. Like crossing the French Broad River on our way to Hendersonville. How could I forget that? Anyway, it seems that a lot of rivers in North Carolina end in Broad and this particular river was discovered by a Frenchmen. So there you are. I also see in my notes that I wanted to mention what may be the North Carolina pastime. Flea markets. Lots of them. One we saw was 10 acres. Now 10 acres has got to be a lot of stuff.

So what happened today? We slept in for one thing. Past 8:00 am. Although the motel had a continental breakfast we headed to IHOP for Barb’s birthday breakfast. Then it was off for some exciting travel maintenance. First stop was Best Buy to acquire another lens cap. This will be the last one, as I promised Barb I would use the little attachment thingy. Next was Walgreens for toothpaste, a card and a few other essentials.

With those chores taken care of we headed for the furniture capital of the United States. Yup, Hickory, North Carolina. Hickory, as I’m sure you know, was the birthplace of the Blue Sky Boys. That’s right, Earl and Bill Bolick, two of my favorite pure blue grass gospel singers from the 30’s and 40’s. With no interest in furniture and the Boys unavailable, having passed on, we stopped at two active retirement communities. The first was not worth the visit, but the second was outstanding. Wynnshire Ridge offers everything we want in a retirement community, except of course our Oregon friends. Guess we will just have to stay where we are.

The drive to Hickory was scenic for an interstate. For the return drive we took some back roads and while taking longer on the two lane roads it was a much prettier ride. Lots of trees changing to their fall colors, small creeks and some really beautiful homes set back in the woods. We passed through Chimney Rock and Bat Cave, skirted Lake Lure and couldn’t find a rest stop.

Some North Carolina observations. If you have lots of old cars in your yard, it’s ok to leave icicle lights up all year. 98% of all Baptist churches are built of red brick, feature white steeples and have four or six white columns at the entry. A good part of North Carolina is held together by a green vine-like plant. People say y’all a lot.

Barb elected Red Lobster for her birthday dinner and is now resting quietly in bed watching a movie. Tomorrow we head to Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, via the Blue Ridge Parkway and Smoky Mountain Expressway. 212 miles today.