Our trip down or up the valley was very uneventful and we made really good time. We took a long lunch in the town just south of Roanoke at a Subway. This place was jumping with customers and even though the building was small and there was a line out the door at times. We walked around for a few minutes to keep our blood moving through out the body and to guard against clots forming.
We stopped in Hillsville at the farm market outlet and picked up new taters', 1/2 runner green beans, peaches, squash and 'maters then headed on to Wal-Mart for a few items. I picked up corn in the shuck for 5 for a buck which was awesome and the clerk mentioned it was 15 cents an ear on the 4th. Wow in Pa we paid 50 cents an ear and gas was 3.79 a gallon!!! I picked up a seedless watermelon for less than 3 bucks and a few others items we will need this coming week. It will just be us as we have no guests scheduled this coming week as Patrick and Kathryn are back in Florida on some business.
We pulled into the cabin somewhere around 3'ish after gassing up at 3.32. I saw it as low as 3.22 a gallon north of Galax on I-77. We could feel the difference in the temps as we climbed onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and saw the 88 temp drop down to 80 the closer we got to the cabin. We were greeted with the deer damage to the cone flowers, hydrangeas and to my beet greens, Swiss chard, pepper plants, beans and cilantro. The bloody beasts had a banquet while we were gone. I hope next year I will be barbequing them on the grille and I'm sure the meat will be eaten with mouth watering satisfaction, oh well.
I received in the mail a correction to my discharge DD214 that finally acknowledged I had served in Vietnam and they even sent me the Vietnam Service Medal. I had flown into the country for 7 years plus but because I was never stationed there permanently my discharge never reflected all of those missions so I was never recognized for that duty. I only found out my discharge was lacking this award when I signed up with the VA for some medical assistance due to a prior back injury while flying into Vietnam from 1966-73. It was my duty to provide the proof and thanks to the many fellow airmen who had saved some orders from my old squadron the 44th M.A.S. I was able to prove my service into that war zone. Many thanks to John, Jerry, Mike, and Wally who were fellow loadmasters on the C-141A jet aircraft we flew on during the Vietnam era.
Well after getting home we put the cabin back in order and unpacked. We had not received any rain and what was left of the garden was parched so I drug out the hose and gave everything a good drink as well as Nancy's flower beds. After a supper of rotisserie chicken from Wal-Mart and some salad we took off on a hike to the top of the mountain. We stopped at Joe and Jetta's and learned Norm was back on the mountain after being released from Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. Seems he wants to spend his final days here on the mountain as he is very weak and failing. He is a tough old West Virginian and very likable feller. We also learned there is little improvement in Eddies condition as he is still not breathing on his own. Both of these guys need some miraculous intervention at this time in their life.
After a good nights rest it was great to wake up in your own bed and hear the distant cawing of the crows and the coolness of the mountain temps. It's 60 degrees here this morning and the sunlight filtering through the woods and in the tree tops surrounding the cabin is a welcome sight. I need to get back to my routine(s) as they have been interrupted the past 5 days or so. I will post some pictures that were taken of the family memorial service in honor of Uncle Warnie in Lancaster, Pa, some from our short stop in beautiful hallowed Gettysburg town and battlefield and some from Virginia, LATER
