That is as good an excuse as any for my failure to keep this blog up to date. Somehow we managed to pick up the car on Friday afternoon and get the coach loaded and ready to roll on Saturday morning, once Carol’s doctor gave us the go ahead to leave town for the winter. As I write we are in Red Bay Alabama around the corner from the factory where GeeWhiz was built. Our sole reason for coming this year was to have the stove cover repaired and the counters polished like factory new by the man who does that all day long in the factory!

We arrived at Malena and Dan’s in Dyke VA midafternoon and soon were set up in the driveway for our stay. We celebrated my 80th the next day with lamb chops! and Red Breast Irish Whiskey. It was a great celebration and Alexander was there for the event. For the most part they were working during the day and we went about our own lives until dinner time. Of course I helped feed the horses, well I observed and stayed out of the way mostly. I swear Galopin and Tivoly are twice as big as the Iceland horses we saw. On Friday Dan took Carol and me on a wonderful walk on a trial off the Blue Ridge Parkway. As is true of almost all BRP trails it is “upside down”. It starts out with a long descent and finishes by climbing back to the trailhead. We made it!

Travel from there started out by backing out of the long not completely straight driveway we had driven in on. With Carol at the wheel and me talking on the handsfree cellphones (for the first time) this was accomplished easily. Once hooked up, we had an uneventful drive with a stop for fuel and arriving for a pleasant stay at Fort Chiswell RV Park. I cannot believe we haven’t stayed there before. However it is less than four hours drive and we used to travel for six hours in our youth. Another 4 hour day found us at Mama Gerties Campground outside of Asheville. Imagine taking a cliff and carving roads and level campsites on the side of the cliff. We had been there before but it seems steeper than memory. We were in G2 on that trip so more than 10 years ago. 

Our friends Leigh and Patrick moved to Asheville within the year and have bought a lovely house with glorious views.We had dinner out with Leigh on Tuesday night and with both of them at their home Wednesday night. it was a lovely visit and it gave us time to wander a bit in Asheville. We wandered around in Blue Spiral Gallery, as we do every time we are there and across the street to the Mast Store where Carol found something to buy. 

Early Thursday morning (for us) we set out for a two day run to Red Bay. Since the drive is about 10 hours we planned an overnight at a Harvest Host Winery we had visited before, Del Monaco Winery outside Nashville. Plenty of parking away from the winery itself which was good since they had a large crush of guests for a college reunion arriving about 5. By 9 PM they were all gone and it was peaceful for the night.

Now I must really start preparing my Treasurer’s Report for September 30.