Ft. Bragg

Sept 23 -26....Destination - Ft. Bragg, NC. We are currently at the Army Travel Camp on post. The grandson's spent the weekend with us so our time was filled with activity. Katherine was back and forth - it's great to be around family! Brandon is still out touring the country speaking to groups. He will be home on Friday so we will be able to see him this weekend. We leave here next Monday for Myrtle Beach, SC.

Mt. Airy, NC -- Squad Car replica from The Andy Griffith Show! (I forgot the camera so this is the only photo & I got it from their website) 

North & South Carolina

Sept 19 - 22.…We day in Mt. Airy, NC was fun. The much of the town is a replica of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith show. “Mayberry Days” are this weekend so we were able to catch the preparations for that. Our first stop was to the emporium where there is a big display of memorabilia. This display is owned by Emmit Forester, a good friend and classmate of Andy’s. He happened to be there so we talked with him at length. Remember Emmits Fix-It Shop & truck on the show? -- well he was the Emmit (however he didn’t own a fix-it shop). He said that Andy’s wife had just called him that morning as Andy had hip surgery and she was calling to give an update. He told us several stories about his days in Mt. Airy and his singing and acting career! It was really quite interesting. From there we walked down the historic town. We had lunch at “Snappy Lunch” referred to by Andy on the show - they are famous for their “pork chop sandwich’. Of course that is what we had - it was a bargin at $3.65. Next door is “Floyd’s City Barbershop”. The owner, who looks like the Floyd from the show was busy working. He’s working with all the original equipment from the 50’s/60’s - no update made there! Down the street was Sheriffs office/jail, squad car and “Walley’s Service Station” complete with the tow trucks! Last stop was Andy’s home (now a bed and breakfast). His family lived there until 1966 when he moved them to CA. Andy lived in this home until he went to CA.

Next stop - Gaffney , SC and the Freightliner Oasis Service Center. It was time for our initial maintenance on the motor home. We were able to park & stay in the motor home on Tue and Wed nights in their lot. They even had electric hookups. While there Dixie had to find a doctor - had a bad itchy rash/hives for 10 days. The Dr. thought it was Poison Oak (guess it happened on our hike in PA). After a steroid shot and more steroid pills it’s finally starting to get better. Still looks bad - not a part of the body that is not covered with red dots/bumps!

Today we are off to Ft. Bragg, NC to see Katherine and the Grandkids. Brandon is still off speaking to different groups around the USA. He hopes to be back around the 28th. We will hopefully be able to see him before we have to leave.

Burnsville Lake. View from our campsite in WV. 

At the PGA Golf Tournament in Farmington, PA. It is a beautiful course. 

The Cabin that friends are building -what a view from here! 

View of West Virginia from the cabin site  

More from West Virginia & moving south!

Sept 16-19...On Saturday we drove to Harmon, WV, which is in the north central part of the Monongahela National Forest. It is home to good friends of Dixie’s brother. We spent the night with them and enjoyed seeing the countryside. We road in a large 4 wheeler type of vehicle (actually a 6 wheel ‘Polaris Ranger‘) to the top of a mountain where they are building an A frame cabin. The view was incredible. We enjoyed our stay with them and some great West Virginia hospitality. We found that West Virginia is pretty much covered with Mountains/Hills and thick forest! On Monday we left WV and are now in Fancy Gap, Virginia (another very small town). It is right on the border of VA and NC. Today we are going into Mt. Airy, NC which is the home of Andy Griffith and the town that Mayberry was patterned after. More from there later. We leave here tomorrow and head to Gaffney, SC where we will be having some work done on the motor home at Freightliner.

The Hills of West Virginia

Sept 12 - 15... On the 13th we headed down the road into West Virigina. We are parked at an Army Corp of Engineer park on Burnsville Lake at Bulltown. We have a site right on the Lake! This area is very mountainous and thick forest. On our walk the first evening we saw several deer. They seem to be quite used to people as they tend to stand there and just observe, that is until you get too close. We ventured into Flatwoods and Sutton, two small towns in the area. Writing this blog from the Library as we have no internet service so no photos today. Our cell phone service is hit or miss - mostly miss! Today we road our bikes to the park entrance and hiked through the Bulltown Civil War site. We will be at this park until Monday then plan to stop for 2 nights in Fancy Gap, VA.

Temporary Memorial near the UA Flight 93 crash site. 

Shanksville Chapel that is now a memorial to UA Flight 93 passengers and crew. 

The newly constructed memorial for the United 93 crew. Dedication on 9/11/06. It was still being worked on when we were there on 9/8. 

View of Pittsburgh from the top of Incline. The fountain is at the point where the 3 rivers meet - the Allegheny to the left, the Monongahela to the right & the Ohio in the center. 

The Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh. This car has been in use since 1877. The Incline is one of the two still in operation in Pittsburgh. 

The Fountain at River Point Park. The Incline in the background. 

Western Pennsylvania

Sept 7 - 11...Drove around the local area. Friday we drove to Somerset which is about 16 miles away. From there we drove the short distance to Shanksville, PA where United 93 crashed on 9/11 (5 yrs ago today). We went to the temporary memorial site which was very moving. We learned specific information from volunteers on what happened. There are several plaques, memorials and items placed on a large fence as a remembrance of the victims. There is a flag placed in the ground at the actual crash site. While there we saw a Pittsburgh ABC newsman and truck. When watching the news on Sunday night we saw our car on the telecast - they commented on people coming to visit the site ‘from as far away as Montana’. After leaving the crash site we visited the Memorial Chapel just out of Shanksville. This chapel & ground is also set up as a memorial to Flight 93. Inside is a wall with biography’s on each victim Outside is a new granite memorial that will be dedicated today (9/11). This is to honor the UA crew. There are also granite benches that list the names of the passengers. There is a ceremony today at the site where President Bush will lay a wreath at the site and speak to family members. We decided to not fight the crowds today!

On Saturday we drove into Pittsburgh. This city was a surprise to us! For some reason we didn’t picture this city as ‘picturesque’! We were wrong - it is very pretty. We had our picnic lunch at Point State Park which is at the point where the 3 rivers join. There is a fountain there that propels plumes of water to heights of 150 ft. It is one of the nations largest fountains. We road up the Duquesne Incline in the same cars used by passengers since 1877. This was quite interested - it’s a pretty steep incline but once at the top you get a beautiful view of the city and surrounding area. We have never seem so many bridges as there are in Pittsburgh. From this viewpoint we counted 18 bridges and could see more in the far distance! It really is quite a site.
Another trip was down the road to Seven Springs, a large ski resort. It’s actually much more that a ski resort - offering many summer activities as well. The western PA countryside is very pretty - the trees are just starting to turn.

Today we are going to Farmington where the PGA Golf Tournament is being played this week. We will watch the practice rounds today.

Amish Horse & Buggy at Middlefield, OH Walmart












Stable at Walmart 

Rural Ohio

Sept 1 - 6.....We drove the short distance to Middlefield, OH a couple of times. There is a large population of Amish in this area. It was quite interesting to see the farms - we could tell which where Amish as Monday must be 'wash day'. Many farms had laundry hanging on the line! You could also tell as there were no cars/trucks in the yard - only buggies. They have no motorized equipment - we saw them mowing lawns with a push mower and working in the field with horse and plow. While in town we saw many horse and buggies - they seem to be everywhere. At the local Walmart there is a stable built to house them while they are shopping. Most businesses have a hitching post! That's something you don't see in many towns in America. The best part was lunch at Mary Yoder's Amish Kitchen. While there we also bought some homemade rolls & noodle.....mmmmmm!

On the 5th we moved on to Pennsylvania. We are currently at Roaring Run Rv Resort near Champion, PA. It is raining today so haven't explored yet! Still can't put a photo on as we can't get internet service with our PC - only by going to a library!