Road Trip - Day Three

Road trips are exhausting but at least we got to relax yesterday. But not before we had a long day of driving.

The events of the day were organized by Shelly who is a big groupie of the person we were scheduled to meet.  Had a decent breakfast in the hotel lobby and then we were packed in the van and off by 7:30 but not before we located a geocache so we could claim the souvenir for the state of Ohio.

Not going to mention any names, but a couple of our group members weren't too happy about that early morning start, but we needed to leave some margin for stopping and other road issues. Good thing that we did. More on that in a minute.

The object of geocaching is not getting just one in each state, but our goal is to have a minimum of one in each state. Then we get a virtual souvenir that we have stopped in that state. One is good enough for me especially when we're in a hurry.

We crossed into West Virginia and we stopped to get another cache. Holy - I can't even remember which cache was which. Oh yes -that was the one right by the highway and there was a LOT of traffic on it. So much for being subtle!

Early in the day, we had to get off the main highway and onto another one. There was no connecting highway so we were going through town. Hmm - does this seem right when we still have hours to drive? Yes - it was. But lots of weird twists and turns yesterday as we snaked our way south.

At last, we crossed over into Virginia. While we stopped for gas, Shelly was happy to drive all day - I think because she didn't want any of us screwing up the trip as she really really wanted to get to our destination and because this person was doing us a favor, we didn't' want to take advantage of the situation.

The scenery changed quite a bit as well as we traveled. Look at those hills. We're definitely in the "mountains" as they call them here in this area. We went through two tunnels and saw many barn quilts along the way, but no time for pictures. The last road we ended up on was twisty and filled with turns. Only a single lane in each direction and twice we got stopped for road work. I think we were stopped for almost 20 minutes at one stop. No worries - leaving that extra hour early meant that we arrived at the exact time that we said we would. Which was awesome because our host had just finished a podcast with her publisher.

How would we locate our host's house when our GPS wouldn't recognize the address and no cell service???  When your destination is Quiltville USA, you recognize the Post Office and the Quiltville Inn from the internet - that's how. We came around the corner of the road into Mouth of Wilson and there was Bonnie Hunter's place.

Oh my god - we were like a couple of kids on Christmas morning. We got to meet Bonnie who is very bubbly and excited about everything. But she is truly over the top about her new digs. We took a quick tour of the Post Office which is her new office/shipping space. Just like the pictures.

Then we asked if we'd like a tour of the Quiltville Inn. Ah - yes, please!!!!   OH MY GOD!!!!!  The wrap around porch is enough for me. It's HUGE and it literally wraps around three sides of this massive house. We entered through the backdoor which took us into the kitchen. She's done an enormous amount of work in the house.

The sewing room with the double-sided fireplace is HUGE. The dining room which seats 16 is HUGE. The bedrooms which sleep three each are HUGE. I've never been to a retreat house with so much space for every activity. The kitchen is small compared to the rest of the rooms, but who wants to eat?

She's been collecting furniture from here and there and there are some quilts on the beds. She's got chairs and tables and bookcases to assemble. There's still a whole lot of work to do. Gosh - she needs a crew of people to come in and get all that done in a day!!!  But it's her baby and she's working away at it. It's an absolutely fascinating house.

We came out the front door and took pictures on the huge wide steps. Can you believe that she gave us an HOUR of her time? When she was getting ready for a trip.  It was a wonderful experience and we were very thankful for the time she spent with us and a HUGE thanks to Shelly who made that happen.

The rest of the trip is a little more relaxing and not nearly so much driving until the final day when we start our trip home.

There is not much around here in the way of shopping - we wanted to locate a Joann's, a Target or a Walmart. We found a Walmart halfway between Bonnie's and our final destination. I found one thing that I was looking for. I needed two packages, but there was only one. One is enough for the moment. More on that later.

At last, we arrived in Blowing Rock in North Carolina. Oh - shortly after we left Quiltville, we crossed into North Carolina and we found our geocache at the Walmart.

Not before we took the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway to get here. What beautiful scenery. The mountains are covered in trees (Christmas Tree farming is huge here). We stopped for some pictures - lots of pictures and then arrived in Blowing Rock. We checked into a small motel - it's so cute. Everything here is cute. Shelly and I get the fun of sharing a king-sized bed but that's OK. We're all pretty tired so we don't move much1

We headed out to dinner around the corner and there are so many cute little boutiques and shops. It reminds me of Niagara on the Lake. I'm not sure what was in the local ale that I drank, but thank goodness I was walking back to the motel!! It was a beautiful night and we grabbed one of our bottles that gave the border crossing guard a chuckle and some cups and went to sit by the gas fire in the front yard. We met up with a couple who had been evacuated from their condo on the coast in North Caroline because of the hurricane.

They live on the 24th floor and have been through three hurricanes I think they said. They experienced a lot of water damage via the roof and the windows in the previous storms. Imagine that! They've no idea what to expect. This isn't their home - it's their rental property.

Anyway - we had a good chat about marijuana (of all things) and weather and then it was time to tuck ourselves into bed.

None of us got up early this morning. We're meeting for breakfast at 7:30 and then off to our first adventure for 9 AM. It's a 20-minute drive away!!!

By the way - Bonnie is NOT taking reservations yet for her retreat house. She wants it finished first so there is no pressure to get anything done! Good plan.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!