19 October 2021
I got ten hours of sleep last night. I went to bed around 7:30 pm and made coffee at 5:30 am. It was a good night with one exception. Around 1:30 am, as I turned over in my single sleeping bag (turns out two bags were too warm last night) I heard a very large motor leaving the campsite area. I opened my eyes and saw red flashing lights.
I was due for a bathroom break so I got up and as I returned to the tent, an ambulance drove down to the sites below mine. Later, I figured the large motor sound with flashing red lights was a fire truck. I have no idea what happened but I do know the ambulance stayed around an hour. I hope whatever happened ended on a better note than it started.
I was on the road by 8 am. I’m getting pretty good at breaking down camp. The GPS in my car said I was 7 hours away from Greensboro. I knew that wasn’t correct. I checked Google maps on my iPad and it said 4 hours. That sounded better. Later, at a diesel stop, I realized I had set the parameters for my trip from Suwannee River State Park to Mistletoe State Park to exclude interstates and toll roads. The Jeep GPS was sending me the back roads to Greensboro. I corrected that and shifted back from the iPad Google maps to my Jeep GPS.
All was well and good until the GPS tried to get me to exit I-85 into Greensboro well before I thought I should. I knew I-85 took me into Greensboro but I also knew I had to get off it and work my way to my cousin’s house in the north section of town. I-85 comes in from the south of Greensboro. I finally gave in to the GPS insistence (I named her Casandra because she often predicts doom and gloom ahead on the road) and left I-85 at Thomasville. From there I went through High Point. It was 35 mph for the rest of the trip when I wasn’t stopped a red lights.
It’s not like I haven’t updated the GPS. I have installed 3 GPS updates since I purchased the Jeep. I still can’t figure out why it routed me through these small towns on the outskirts of Greensboro.
Jimmie and Stephen have my permission to track me via my iPhone and I’m sure they thought I must have lost my mind by traveling the back roads.
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On a whim, I checked for towns close to Bradford, VA (and hence Peaks of Otter) and found a Hilton Inn & Suites in Lynchburg, 18 minutes away from Bradford. I decided to encamp at Hilton Inn & Suites and make the trip to Charles Town refreshed, clean, non-stinky, and on time.
It was so good to see Jimmie and Stephen. At one time, with Covid, I wondered if I would ever get a chance to see them again other than FaceTime. Jimmie immediately put a load of my dirty laundry on (I swear that’s not why I visit them when I’m in the area – yet I always have laundry) and we set out on a short walk. Then it was tea cake time.
Jimmie and I used to make tea cakes with my Great Grandmother Laura Lee McEwen Tadlock. As Grandma Laura made the dough and rolled it out, we’d lick the bowl (the recipe has raw eggs and yet we lived to tell about it) and help cut out the cookies. It’s become something of a tradition between Jimmie and me to make tea cakes together whenever we visit each other. Stephen is the official taste tester. He may have even sampled some raw dough.
Depending on how thick you roll the dough and how long you keep them in the oven, tea cakes can be crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside (Jimmie’s favorite) or crisp throughout (my favorite). I eat the thin crisp ones, Jimmie eats the thick chewy ones. Somehow this batch all ended thick and chewy. Hmmmm.
Well, it is her birthday tomorrow. And they did feed me lunch and dinner. And provide a second floor all to myself. I’ll just make sure when they visit me next time to roll the dough extra thin and crispy.
Tomorrow is a big day. We’ll celebrate Jimmie’s birthday, eat freshly baked bagels, head to the science museum and continue to catch up.
Stay tuned.