I must say thanks to all who remembered us traveling Sunday for mercies especially as we approached the South Carolina border with the tropical storm Bonnie making landfall just east of where we headed north on I-95, Yikes!!! I'll mention more in this ramble about this adventure that had a detour, water rushing over the roadway and a travel through a beautiful rural section of down home America and then seeing one of the most beautifully built church buildings we have ever seen.
The morning started out of course with me sleeping very little as I'm like a kid going fishin' for the first time. The anticipating road trip always leaves me sleepless the night before but it also releases lots of adrenalin as well. I was wide awake before the alarm was set to go off at 3 AM. I jumped out of bed and awakened Nancy from the "band playing"and she went to work on making herself presentable for a 4 AM departure. ( I don't know who will see her at that time of the morning) I packed the phones and started loading the coolers with the frozen meats as well as cleaned out the fridge. We don't usually leave anything that could be out dated or that will expire while we are gone for 5 months. I turned off the water to the house set the a/c to 83 and finally by 3:57 we prayed over the house and for a safe trip and was on the road.
We were making such good time as the traffic was rather lite. The weather was perfect and I was able to maintain a good constant speed as we stop every hour and half with a quick walk at the rest areas. We stopped twice prior to getting to Pouler, Ga where we usually make a Sam's stop but we were 45 minutes ahead of schedule so we continued northbound as they don't open until 10AM. This is usually half way to the cabin. Well we made a gas stop just north of there and started to see some dark rain clouds and by the time we got to Savannah it had started to rain moderately. Well as we tooted the horn for S.C. we noticed the rain came down much stronger and when we reached north of Hardeeville the traffic came to a complete stop. We had no idea why so we followed a detour off the interstate which took us about 45 minutes and several miles back to south of where we were initially stopped in the backup. There were no warnings about what was happening and nothing on the radio as well. When we took the detour we traveled some two lane roads with deep rushing water over flowing the roadway with many down trees as well.
Finally we saw a sign that indicated I-95 and we thought we were above the blockage but this detour was a delaying tactic I think, anyhow we decided to go in the opposite direction fording some deep water over the roadway. We traveled through lots of small communities and some very nice ones as well in this farming belt that eventually found us in Orangeburg. We picked up I-26 and headed west after at least an hour and half delay or more. The rain and wind continued at times in heavy down pours and severe gusts. Nancy was looking for a bathroom and on this two lane road in rural America it was by luck we found this little country store with a single gas pump that had an outside privy. You needed a key to get in and it wasn't marked by gender; just the hand painted sign restroom. Across the street we noticed this old beautiful church building and I noticed a young smiley black girl pumping gas and I mentioned to her how beautiful that church building was and she replied"that's my church". How proud she was and the fact a stranger noticed and commented. If it hadn't been raining and blowing so hard we would have gotten out and taken more pictures.
Well we made a couple more stops for walking and gas before finally getting to Wal-Mart in Elkin at the foot of the mountain to stock up on some goodies. The mountain air was refreshing as we climbed higher. The a/c was turned off and the fresh mountain air was exhilarating. It was 67 degrees after reaching the summit and heading for the cabin. Well it was a welcome site to see the place after 7 months and of course the grass was nearly waist high with the gardens over grown with weeds. The cabin inside looked like we left it yesterday and everything functioned properly. The water was sweet and cold and it didn't take the heater to give us hot water once again. We did notice a new utility box on the side of the cabin which is our fiber optic cable. Can you believe we have fios here in the mountains, Yikes!!! It took an hour or so to unload and then I headed out to get some of the plants I brought from Florida into the ground. They looked pretty good and hopefully will make after the shock of being uprooted and transplanted. I of course used some of the composed manure as well as Garden Magic while trans planting.
We had bowl of leftover spaghetti around 7:30 with a much needed glass of vino. There is so much to do but we both love this yearly transition from hot flat land living in Florida to the cool with nothing flat living surrounded by nothing but GOD'S creation. We both said a prayer of thanksgiving as we parked in the driveway. I hope to post some pictures along with these daily ramblings, LATER
I want to give credit for all those who served our nation so that I could enjoy this mountain place and this life I live. I still honor my Creator daily and respect the flag despite how this inept administration tries to down play our Christian values that have allowed us to be an exceptional people. Also I want to wish my oldest sister, Josie(I call her) a Happy Big Day!!
