I jumped on the Interstate heading southwest and remembered how beautiful it was. This is the way I would drive home from Ferrum College back in the early 70's.
While on the road, my brother Snake called me and said I should take the "Virginia Snake" route on my way south. I looked it up and it was a great motorcycle road with: "489 curves in 33 miles with 3 mountains and 1 valley"
I headed off the Interstate to go ride this great ride and it was beautiful just getting there:
In the middle of the ride there is a place called Shady Valley that has a gas stop and store to buy Snake stickers . . . I used the restroom and saw this hanging on the wall that I thought my son Luke would enjoy since he works for EcoLabs
Not sure what it is, but looked fancy . . . I got back on the road and here are a few shots, when I could take them, as the road was VERY twisty ;-) Just the way we like it!!!
This is WAY back woods America and it is beautiful!
And the Smokey Mountain views
AKA The Blue Ridge as they run together . . .
You can see that beautiful blue hue to everything. Finally had to get back on the slab (interstate) to make up lost time. It was still pretty:
Now some quick explaining as to what I had to pull off. My Mom has 2 sisters, one is not doing so well and is in a care facility with memory loss. I didn't go visit her because she would not have known who I was. But my Mom was all excitied that I go visit her other sister, Jean and her husband Everitt in Ashville NC. They are in their 80' and I wasn't sure they could keep the whole motorcycle thing a secret, so I devised a plan to park the bike and rent a car to drive over to their house. My brother Snake, again came to the rescue and said for me to call my cousin Cathy and her husband Mark, also a long haul motorcycle rider. As a short aside, Snake was riding and camping in the Smokey Mountains and ran into this guy going to Alaska. They sat around and talked and figured out he was Cathy's husband and that they were sort of related . . . Small world . . . and on his way to AK, he stayed at Snake and Laurie's house.
Well, back to the story, I called Mark and he said, " Nonsense!" to this parking the bike and renting a car. He returned Snake's favor by inviting me to his house, parking the bike there and borrowing his car to go visit Jean. Another delimma was that my mom had talked, or Jean offered, to send home with me in my SUV, that has PLENTY of room, a box full of fresh canned beans and Jelly and tomatoes. I would be glad to haul all that back to Las Vegas, why not? ;-)
Well, again Mark and Cathy came to the rescue. They have a friend that is a Postmaster of the local Post Office, and they would ship them back. . . Another problem solved !!!!
Soooooo, I go driving into this beautiful piece of property, with 16 acres, with a nice house and garage and met a great guy and my cousin I hadn't seen for 20-30- years. Again they welcomed me with open arms - Ahhh - Family . . . I love it!
Mark and Cathy at the side of their house
A very pretty place and way out there so it is so quiet!
Looking out their porch
With BIG Oak trees all over the place
I can't tell you just how nice it was and these pictures don't do it justice! You'll have to trust me here, this was a little piece of paradise. I also found out that Mark is a musician and plays one of my favorite instruments, the Hammered Dulcimer. It is a mountain instrument originated here in the US for blue grass music and man does he play it great! I video'ed him playing it but can't post video on the blog so I will show you later:
I have one of the origional ones at home, but can't remember how to tune it nor play it and Mark hammered away Ode to Joy like it was nothing . . .
I have one of the first Dusty Strings instruments, but this one is a handmade one by a friend of Mark's and a beautiful piece of work!
After dropping my gear at their house and borrowing their silver SUV . . . like mine . . . perfect . . . I drove to Aunt Jean's house. Here is the road to their house
And finally getting there. Thank goodness for GPS ;-)
It has been a long time since I have been here, but it brought back a lot of good memories. And here are my Aunt and Uncle
Having not had dinner, Jean put out a spread for a king!
Chicken and rice cassarole, fresh green beans with potatoes and creamed corn with cukes and tomatoes all grown in their own garden! with maybe the best corn bread, made from scratch, in the world. This was followed with homemade angel-food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream on top.
A meal doesn't get any better than this!!! Here, also, are some very nice people and family!
Of course, they had to show me how their family had grown and I took a few pictures of their pictures to share here. Sorry the quality is not so good, but it's hard to shoot through glass . . .
Jill and her two kidsAndrew and Corine
Joy and then, sorry, I get lost with all the names . . . :-(
Here are some beauties, left to right, Jean, Mom, Mazel, and Mamaw (our grandmother) This was the last shot of all of them taken together!
My granddad Lane, whom my middle name is after
We stayed up WAY too long for these folks, so we called it a night. I wanted to blog again, but was way too tired and crashed, with a fully tummy and a soft bed to sleep in . . .
Good Night all . . . Zzzzzzz. . . .
LUKE Out!
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