Friday, January 31, 2014

The Great Summer Road Trip of 2013.....Day 9 & 10.....THE END

We woke up on Day 9 in the little town of AltaVista, VA.
AltaVista was a planned community, built around the turn of the 20th century, by industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers, at the point of convergence of 3 rail lines that carried bituminous coal from the hills to the sea port in Hampton Roads, VA.
The Lane Brothers Construction Company bought acreage to lay tracks for the railroad where 3 rail lines met and then had a town laid out surrounding this convergence and the town of AltaVista was born.
Incidentally, a John Lane purchased a box plant in AltaVista in 1912 and had his son Ed, start a chest factory in his manufacturing plant.  It grew and prospered and became known as Lane Home Furnishings.  They were well known for their cedar chests or "hope chests" which many girls growing up in Virginia were given as teens.
This one looks like mine.....


But I digress.

So what in heaven's name were we doing in AltaVista, VA?

Well it's in Campbell County Virginia near where my mother's father's family is from, the Phenix/Brookneal part of the county.
And it's the closest town to there with a motel.

First thing after breakfast at the motel, we went into town for a few things and to look around at the local Rose's store.
I found my daughter a lovely frock I know she is so sad that I didn't buy it for her......

A sleeveless jean dress with a chiffon camouflage skirt.
Can you imagine somebody actually bought and worn that......on purpose?!?!
 

Today was my day to spend some time at the Campbell County library, in their genealogical collection.

But first, we hit the cemetery of the Falling River Baptist Church in Brookneal.
Many of my mother's father's side of the family are buried here......

Grand old Magnolia tree in the center of the cemetery.

Here is my 2 x Great Grandmother, Mary Agnes Holt Tucker.....

There are lots of Tuckers, Harpers, Holts, Masons plus more of my family lines buried here.

I even found this stone, which may be of interest to LINDA ........


It was a horribly muggy, humid day and after about 40 minutes in the cemetery shooting photos the skies opened up and we had to leave.  Unfortunately, the rain didn't cool much of anything or any one off.

We went into Brookneal to search out some lunch.  Being the huge metropolis that Brookneal is(pop. 1,112), the choices were few if not at all.
So we went to the elegant restaurant my brother, when in the area on business, would take our Great Aunt Ollie and Uncle Warren to dinner, the Golden Skillet.


This chain began in 1964 in Richmond, was sold out to Dairy Queen in the 1980's and then sometime after that, they sold the brand to a franchisee in NC.  This is one of the few GS still in operation.
We got there at the tail end of the lunch rush so we missed their Fried Chicken Buffet
We had a lunch special(chicken-of course!lol, 2 sides and a biscuit)along with some iced tea.
It was good and filling but definitely not low-calorie.

On the way in I spied the local "watermelon man"......

This is a common sight during the Summer in the rural South.  Somebody taking their garden produce(or buying a lot of produce from a wholesaler or market)into town, parking in a store's lot and selling out of the back of their truck.
The lady on the right in the photo was none too happy with what this guy was trying to charge for his melons.
Highway robbery.....or rather parking lot robbery.  ;-)

I would have bought some myself except with weren't heading home for another day and we didn't have anyplace to put them to keep them fresh, short of turning out motel bathtub into a giant ice chest.

Before we leave Brookneal let me just add this funny footnote--
Just to prove that I come from a long line of agitators and rebels......it is said that on August 23, 1852, Brookneal & it's citizenry succeeded from the United States of America for a couple of weeks.

The President sent 2 dozen armed soldiers to convince the town to rejoin the Union.  After hours of "peace talks", the terms of the compromise the town's mayor agreed to let the town return to the country and the Republic of Brookneal was given $2,000 and a rifle to every citizen of the town.
Of course, I have no doubts that 9 years later, most of those guns were drawn against the Union on the home front or in battle.  ;-)

See?
I come from true American non-conformist stock. 
But take this story with a grain of salt since I can't confirm it besides one online source.  ;-)

After lunch, Hubs took me to Rustburg(the county seat)and let me spend 2 hours going through books I can't get access to except in person.  I took my camera and was able to photograph many pages of potentially useful information.  I must say that I still haven't gotten around to actually reading all those pages but in the next couple of months I WILL read them.
We ran out of time to get to the courthouse next door to do some record searches there so that will have to wait until another visit.
I did get to see some town history books and some handmade family genealogy booklets.  The books had some great photos of assorted family lines I hadn't seen before too.

 
That guy is most probably my 2nd cousin 3 x removed from the little digging I have done on him.  (His grandfather was the brother of my 3x Great Grandmother.)  He was killed working on a bridge and his wife ended up in a mental hospital in 1930.

That evening we went out for dinner at this place we saw along the highway......notice the Kudzu swallowing up the trees behind the place.....

We figured the lot was full so it must be good, right?
It was pretty much a dive type place inside, so I felt right to home. lol
The adult beverage selection was excellent and the food was good....not great but good.
And the a/c was going full blast(it was late August)so it was all good for me.  8-))

We parked next to a big bush and look at what was hanging out on it......




The bush was covered in butterflies!  Wish I had a better camera and more time to shot them but Hubs was hollering for me to get a move on!

When we got back to the motel I suited up and went out into the motel pool.  It was still beastly muggy so that water felt good.  The skeeters kept away long enough for me to get a swim in.

Back in the room, I opened a bottle of wine and took a nice hot bath.....funny how our 1st room & last room on the trip both had a big ass tub in them.....


That sliding glass door opened the bathroom up into the motel room, so I slid it open and sipped wine in a plastic cup and watched TV while lounging in my hot bath.

Day TEN

The next morning we hit the free hot breakfast in the lobby HARD!(Kim hits her sewing hard but I hit breakfast hard. lol)then checked out and started the 8+ hour trip home to PA.

Some interesting sights on the road......


Here's a closer view....anybody remember this brand of soda?
Incidentally, you can still buy this stuff in some South American, Central American countries, as well as Pakistan and South Africa.

Too bad it was too early to stop for lunch when we passed this place......



We took a smaller road through the Rockfish Valley, up toward Waynesboro.  Kept seeing signs for a place called Saunders Brothers Farm and Orchard along the road, so we turned off to check it out.
It's a high falootin' farm market, crawling with mostly what seemed like tourists and people passing through bound for yuppie towns like Charlottesville.  At least that's what the prices were reflective of.
The veggies and fruits were pretty but the prices were like what you'd find in Whole Foods and such.
And they had a large selection of supposedly home canned condiments, salsas, relishes, jams and jellies and spreads with quite the high sticker prices to.
No thanks.
And I didn't even feel the need to take any pictures even though some fruitcake of a fellow kept following us around the market and kept trying to get us to talk to him about melons.
???
That was our cue to split.

Instead of jumping onto I-81 at Waynesboro, we decided to take a detour.......




Yep, we took the long meandering way through here.....



Now for some gratuitous photos along the Skyline Drive......










And here's another video......music to drive through the mountains of Virginia by.....



Here's some more info on Jim Lloyd and The Skyliners....



After we left the Skyline Parkway(we only drove a portion of the whole thing),  we stopped at a liquor store in Elkton and Hubs stocked up on some Dickel whiskey since we can't get it up in Yankeeland PA.
I went into a Food Lion and stocked up on this......

Cheerwine.
A cherry soda they only sell in the South.
It reminds me of cough syrup my mother use to give me when I was a kid.....reminds me in a good way. 
I "heart" cherry flavor.  8-)

In Harrisonburg we hit this place for lunch.....

Good subs there.

Then we tried to make some good time and stuck to the Interstate......

I LOVE this photo.......Oooooo! A hot shirtless man!!


Here it is again, but closer......on closer inspection maybe shirtless is NOT the right look for this guy.....

 And here's a tight shot.....

"Breathtaking Scenery is RIGHT!"
A sweaty hairy middle aged paunchy man.....
Euwwww!
Bwwaaaaaahhhhh!!!

Ok enough of disgusting, let's look at some nice pictures.......


 


Hey!  I wonder if I have any family living there?


And not soon enough, we were crossing back into WV.....


Potty & picture break in Wild and Wonderful WV....

Then shortly after we crossed into MD.....

And after a very short while, into PA.....


And to illustrate once again, how I always attract the strange and weird, look at what we passed on the Interstate once we got into PA..........





You can read all about Lynda Farley HERE .
I love that I caught her taking a drag from her cigarette in that last photo.  8-)
She must have been on her way to NJ for a court appearance when we passed her in August.
Or she could have been on her way to fight summons issued in PA, since she has gotten those too.

And just so you know.....don't EVER Google "smoking granny", unless of course you want to see old lady porn....... 8-X

We stopped in Linglestown PA at a truck stop for dinner.
We just did the Buffet du Jour since we didn't want to wait for made-to-order food.  It was steak night.
Might have been nice if they had supplied something that cut better than a plastic knife.



Here's a pseudo cake/brownie.
I thought it was a brownie but it turned out to be a really dry piece of cake....what the plastic wrap covering it trying to keep the moist OUT or IN?!?
Beats me.....

There were random shreds of coconut inside it.  Not even coconut to flavor the thing, but more like someone in the kitchen said, "Hey! What should I do with this handful of coconut that is leftover?  I  know.....I'll put it into this cake that needs more moisture!!"
Just so you know kitchen worker.....it didn't help.





We pulled into the driveway around 9pm that evening.
Glad to be home but sorry that our travels had come to an end.

I can't wait to get out on the highway again!

This is your roving reporter signing off.....

Sluggy

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Paying Your Life Away.......A Rant

I was working on the last installment of my Summer Road Trip Saga the other day.  I was going to include this little bit in that post but it really deserves a post of it's own.

This Summer we saw a lot of these signs while in the South.....these particular ones were seen in Virginia on our ride home......


close up of the previous shot....notice the little white/red signs on that building.....


Rent to Own sheds......and No Credit Check!


I don't see this sort of thing up here where we live, but then again, I don't get out much here, outside of my teeny tiny town or the big city in the valley below.  Let me know if this kind of thing-the Rent To Own concept-is prevalent in other parts of the country, besides the South, willya?


Seriously?
If you can't afford to pay cash for a shed, maybe you really don't need one now?

I think this is a sad, sad commentary on the state of our society.  Sheds are not like buying a house.
People really can't delay that gratification long enough to save up a couple thousand dollars and just go pay cash for a shed?
Really?!?

I rented a storage unit for many many years so this issue speaks to me.
Granted my storage unit was a business expense for most of the years I rented it, but I did store personal items in it too before I decided to let them go.

The storage industry is HUGE in this country now!
Facilities large and small to hold your goods temporarily when you don't have a place for them and more and more frequently, a place to store all your old junk and clutter that you don't need but can't emotionally let go of.
This idea started out as a good thing but it seems to have devolved into an industry that just is a languishing ground for our cast off junk.

Then those "pod" companies spun-off of the storage idea, so you could have your "stuff" on your own property(or picked up and stored in the pod at a facility if you didn't need access to it)but still be renting the container and not having to own a building.  While it's a good idea in the temporarily, I have seen people who have had these things parked next to their homes for YEARS now.  Temporarily went by the wayside long ago for some of the users of this business.

Plus there is this shed option, which has been around for ages--owning your own storage container/building on your own land in which to store your "junk".

Owning a storage shed use to be pretty straightforward.  Only folks who had property enough to put one up and lived in a place that allowed them on your property AND who could afford to pay for one owned storage sheds.
Lots of people have bought these buildings since before I was a small child.
But paying cash for a shed I guess made the potential customer base too small.
The people in the shed making/building business jumped onto the credit bandwagon at some point when I wasn't looking and now you can buy a storage shed on credit with rent to own terms.
Sigh.

Does this mean that sheds have gotten too expensive in the great scheme of things, if people can't afford to buy them outright?
Does this mean the economy has tanked so badly that no one has the funds to afford many things they use to buy handily with cash?
Does this mean Americans have gotten to the point that they can't delay gratification for ANYTHING anymore?

I just don't think buying a shed on "rent to own" terms is a very good idea.
And what happens when you don't make your shed payment?  They come put it on a trailer and cart it off with all your crap inside?
Uh oh!  Gotta watch out for that Shed Repo Man now.....lol

Making payments on houses, making payments on cars, making payments on furniture, making payments on riding lawn mowers, making payments on student loans, making payments on HELOCs.....When will the madness end????

Does anybody in this country wait until they can AFFORD something to buy it anymore?!

What is next?.....rent to own toasters?!?
Seriously, I can see this all coming to that.

Did anyone ever stop to think that all this buying stuff on credit, before you have the cash to actually pay for it will never lead us to a good place economically and culturally?!?

I just want them all to STOP IT.....STOP IT NOW!!!

I bet we would all be better off if we just turned off our televisions for good.
No more marketing in our face in our homes 24/7!
No more pressure on our kids to buy/own/wear/adore certain "celebrities"......you know, those people your young people look up to, who have accomplished NOTHING of historical significance.
Unless you call twerking, marrying another celebrity, or walking up and down a runway an accomplishment for the ages.

Sluggy-who feels the pressure to become a hermit & excuse herself from the culture she lives among more and more each day

 

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Rite-Aid Spending Spree.....Weeeee!

With all the nice +Up Rewards Deals this week, I broke down and went back to Rite-Aid.
That and I miss seeing my buddies who work there.

In order to NOT go over my January food budget, I withdrew my February food budget $ a few days early, so this is all being put on February's tab.

If I had had any +Ups left to roll, I could have gotten out of there with very little OOP.
But that not being the case, combined with the fact that some of the items I wanted to buy for some deals were out of stock, here is the best I could do......


2 x Tostitos on sale $3=$6.00
3 x DiGiorno Pizza on sale 2/$11=$16.50
2 x Simple Cleansers on sale $5=$10.00
1 x Simple Cleaning Wipes on sale=$5.00
1 x Clear Shampoo on sale=$5.00
2 x Tresemme Shampoo/Treatment on sale $5=$10.00
SubTotal.....$52.50

Coupons Used
2 x $1/1 Tostitos VideoValues Q=$2.00
1 x B2G1Free DiGiorno IPQ=$5.50
2 x $3/1 Simple Cleansers VideoValues Q=$6.00
1 x $2/1 Simple Cleansers Load2Card Q=$2.00
1 x B1CleanserG1FreeWipes ManuQ=$5.00
1 x $1/1 Simple Wipes VideoValues Q=$1.00
1 x $2.50/1 Clear Shampoo ManuQ=$2.50
1 x $1/1 Clear Shampoo VideoValues Q=$1.00
1 x $2/1 Tresemme Load2Card Q=$2.00
1 x $2/1 Tresemme ManuQ=$2.00
2 x $2/1 Tresemme VideoValues Q=$4.00*
Coupon Total.....$33.00

$52.50-$33.00=$19.50 + .51¢tax=$20.01 OOP

And I received $15 back in +Up Rewards(2 x $5 wyb $15 of Unilever hair/face products, $5 wyb $15 select food products-pizzas).
So after counting for what I got back in Rite-Aid script, my haul cost me $5.01.

Here is what each item cost after Qs--
2 Tostitos=$2 a bag
3 DiGiorno Pizza=$3.67 a pie
2 Simple Cleansers=$1 a bottle
1 Simple Cleaning Wipes= negative $1 a pack
1 Clear Shampoo=$1.50 a bottle
2 Tresemme Shampoo/Treatment=$1 a bottle


*Those Tresemme VV Qs....I wasn't sure if they'd take them since the wording didn't match ANY of the Tresemme products in the store.  But they did take them, no problem.

Now I can take that $15 in +Ups and go back tomorrow and buy 5 bottles of Tide and 1 bottle of Dawn......
5 x $5.94=$29.70
1 x Dawn=$1.39(sale price if you don't buy 4)
Subtotal....$31.09

Use the $6 in assorted Tide and Dawn Qs I have.....
$31.09-$6=$25.09

And pay with the $15 +Ups......
$25.09-$15=$10.09(plus tax) OOP

I'll get 5 Tide, 1 Dawn for $10.09 and receive $10 in +Ups back.....making my effective cost $.09.
8-)))

Then I can buy another $15 in select food(crap food for sure!lol), use Qs to bring it down to $11, pay with that $10 +Ups and spend $1 OOP on that lot, and get another $5 +Ups for buying the select food.

Hey, Pantene is 2/$7 this week, so I "could" use that last $5+Ups and a L2C Q for Pantene $3/2 and buy ZERO for 2 bottles of that and then have no +Ups to roll in future weeks.

Oh, decisions, decisions.......lolz

Sorry if nobody can follow this but I just ramble on in my head to work out these deals sometimes.
Lucky you who get to read it.....not! ;-)

That's the fun I had today.
Sad isn't it?

What has everyone else gotten at Rite-Aid this week?

Sluggy

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The Great Summer Road Trip of 2013......Day Eight

Day Eight of the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013 dawned early.

I guess we rose so early because we were so hungry, not having eaten a "proper" dinner the night before.
We performed our morning ablutions and decided to by-pass the meager dining options available in the lobby at this motel, and just check-out and head into the day.  We had a lot we wanted to get done today, which started with this.....


We could see that sign way up yonder from the motel so we got our keesters down the road for breakfast, were I ordered up this.....


A lovely salty country ham slice....almost as good as having Bacon but more filling!


It came with 2 eggs, a biscuit and a big pile of grits.  We don't see grits much around where I live in Yankeeland so I got them and fixed them so any Southerner worth their "salt" could eat them.......


"Proper Grits"....mashed up with fried eggs and pieces of salty ham.
Mmmmmmmm! 8-)

After that plate of YUM, we headed north to the first stop of the day.......


The Wolf Creek Indian Village and Museum in Bastian, VA.
This place hasn't been around long and is well off the beaten path to ANYWHERE!
In 1970, the archaeological remains of a long gone Native American village were uncovered and by 1996 the recreated village was opened to the public, with the Museum following in 1998.  Revitalization began in 2009 on the village structures to what you see today.

Experts have yet to identify which tribe this band of 1st Peoples were part of, other than to say that they were Eastern Woodlands Indians and the village is approx. 500 years old, so early 1500's/late 1400's, and predating any European contact.

You can visit their website HERE.

I didn't get any shots inside the museum, as they don't allow cameras but I did shoot our guided Village Tour.
All 9 episodes of it.
You might want to bookmark these videos and come back to them later at your leisure to watch them all at one time if you are interested in history and the ways of ancient peoples.

The first video was on the ride down to the Village.  It's right by the Wolf Creek so quite the hike down a ridge where the museum and parking lot were, to the village.  Since I could have walked down there but probably not have been able to walk back UP, we took the golf cart ride down and back.  Mr. John was our driver and he handed us off to Mr. Glen who conducted the tour for us.
John was a real character and I would have LOVED to have spent more time with him.  I didn't get one story on film he told us, about his days in the army during Vietnam and how he got the best of all those city slicker recruits which was hysterical.  I just got this little bit of him on that first video.  I am sure he would be Awesome to hang out with!

Mr. Glen did a good job with his tour and we enjoyed it.
I hope you do too.








Mr. John makes a cameo appearance in this video.....


And this last part is a view down by the creek before we headed back up to the parking lot.


After spending quite some time on the village tour and in the museum, we hit the road south.

Next stop, the Big Walker Mountain Lookout.
You will notice in this short clip how my accent has rather thickened after spending a few hours with Mr. John and Mr. Glen. lol
 


 
 Big Walker Lookout Pass is the starting point for the Civil War Heritage Trail concerning the Battle of "Wytheville".  The federal troops under John Toland came to this area to destroy the railroad tracks around Wytheville, plus tear down telegraph lines and capture nearby lead and salt mines.  A local named Molly Tynes used the views from this mountain pass to warn the town of the advance of the Yankee troops.
 


You will notice on the close-up of the map that Wytheville is not too far from Saltville, VA....about 44 miles.  If you've been reading my blog for a few years, you may recall that my 3 x Great Uncle was captured at the Battle of Saltville in Oct. of 1864 and later died of gangrene as a POW at Camp Chase in Columbus, OH.
I talk about him HERE in 2012.


 Here are a couple of shots I took from the ground into the valley below......


And then I gave the camera to Hubs and he climbed the tower and took these beautiful shots of God's Country.......







And then Hubs took a shot of yours truly from high above......



We went into the store and I bought of few of the "what nots" Mr. John talked about and yes, the place was full of touristy "what nots". lol

I got to talking with the elderly lady manning the store(this place has been run continuously since 1947, at least the tower has, by the Kime family)and I mentioned an ancestor had been captured at the Battle of Saltville, which led us into chatting about our respective Southern ancestors. 
Seem she had done some digging into her genealogy/family roots at one point and had found out that her ancestor had been labeled a Confederate deserter during the Civil War.  She was quite upset by that blackmark on the family honor, even now.  But then she got some additional information from a WBTS's buff that often when Southern soldiers were wounded, there was no field medic to treat them and/or no hospital to send them to for recovery and rehabilitation, so usually the wounded, who could get home, would go home to recover and return when they were fit for service again.  And many records show soldiers as deserting when in fact, they were just going home to recover from their injuries and be nursed to health by their families.  I can guess there were some who didn't return but she believed her ancestor had done the gentlemanly thing.

We bid adieu to the Big Walker Lookout and headed South down into Wytheville.

Our next stop was right in downtown Wytheville, Virginia......
 


...for a visit to the Edith Bolling Wilson Museum.
After all, she is family.
Yes, here I go again with the genealogy stuff.  8-))

My 7 x Great Grandmother, Mary Hunt married Field Jefferson(2nd marriage for both), which made her the Aunt of Thomas Jefferson(yes, THAT one!)and his sister, Mary Martha Jefferson.

Mary J. married a fellow named John Blair Bolling and their great grandson was named William Holcombe Bolling.  William Bolling was a lawyer and eventually a Judge.  He married Sarah "Sallie" Spiers White in 1860.  They had eleven children, nine of whom lived to adulthood.  Their 7th child born was Edith White Bolling, making her my 7th Great Grandmother's 3rd Niece.
Edith went on to marry a successful Washington D.C. jewelry store owner named Norman Galt, and after being widowed in 1908, she continued to run the store and made it an even more successful enterprise.  In 1915, she caught the eye of the recently widowed Woodrow Wilson, the then current President of the USA and wed him.
And the rest, as they say, is history.

This 7th Great Grandmother of mine also links me by marriage to another pair of famous Bolling Family members.  Edith's 8 x Great Grandparents are John and Rebecca Rolfe....or as she is better known, Pocahontas. (Though much oral history among the 1st Peoples of Virginia says that their son, Thomas, was NOT in fact John Rolfe's issue.....Thomas' actual father may have been  in reality another European in the VA colony or Pocahontas' native husband.  Native histories and stores have long been ignored by those in positions of power. But that's fodder for another time.)

 
Which makes the Rolfes the 3 x Great Grandparents of the husband of the niece of my 7th Great Grandmother(through marriage).
Got that? lolz

Anyway since we share a tenuous familial bond, it would have been rude not to stop in Wytheville and say "hey y'all" to Edith's home.
I even paid the extra to tour the upstairs of the building which was the family's living quarters from 1866-1899, when the family moved away after the death of Judge Bolling. Judge Bolling has lost the family plantation after the war and his father, Dr. Archibald Bolling had bought this building for the family to move to.  Edith was born in this home and lived there with her parents, her 8 siblings, her grandmother(who considered Edith her favorite), along with 26 canaries(her grandmother's passion)and other assorted pets.

Here's a photo of some of the Bolling children, probably taken about 1874 or so....
My guess from birth order l to r....Annie, Edith, Gertrude. In back....Rolfe.  In front....William.

The upstairs has NOT been renovated and it was interesting to tour the home in it's "raw" state.  Some details remain from the Bolling family's time there but much work needs to be done to keep this treasure from the ravages of time and decay.
Of course, we made a donation to the cause and became a sponsor of the Foundation.
I also bought my daughter a t-shirt.....


The museum did not allow any pictures to be taken or film to be shot but I did get a photo of myself
with Edith's sign.....


I found this video last week.  Some filmmaker from South Africa had his own Summer Road Trip last Summer and we went to some of the same places.
He put some videos on YouTube and while he was in Wytheville he got the person who founded the Foundation/Museum, Farin Smith to let him film inside.
The segment concerned starts at 2:48......




After bidding goodbye to Edith and Mrs. Smith, we went down the street to the end of the building for lunch......
 

To  the E. N. Umberger Store......otherwise known to the world as Skeeter's!


I don't think the décor has changed much in here since the 1960's.  It's been in operation since 1925, selling hot dogs and such.  I think items have been added to the décor since that time but nobody has ever thrown anything away. lolz

Here is Hubs digging into his dog.....


 And here's another short film.....



Sometimes a cold drink and a lowly tube steak just hits the spot, does it not?

Here's the lovely lady who waited on us.  She even let me take her picture but I can't for the life of me remember her name now..........Catherine I think?.....


 So after slaking off our hunger and thirst, we went next door.....

Actually Hubs had been cooling his heels in there while I was doing the tour upstairs at Edith's place.
So Hubs took me into Carter's Beverage Company to check out some interesting brews he had found.

I found that South African guy has also done a short film with Carter, the owner......




Hubs and I talked for a bit with Mr. Pennington.  He had just opened this business earlier last year.  I told him about that hard Root Beer stuff I had become addicted to from Sonya Ann's liquor store and brought him in a bottle so he could check it out and see about trying to get it to carry there since he is all about the unusual but good brews.
Carter is good people and I wish him the best of luck with his shop!

It was getting on to about 4 o clock by now and we needed to head out to our next motel stop.
But before we left Wytheville, I had Hubs stop HERE.
Tucked into this tiny town in the backroads of western Virginia is quite the fabric store.....especially if you quilt or like batiks.
They have a large internet business selling all over the world.
Fabric stores, really GOOD fabric stores intoxicate me.
A hit of fabric is better than booze in my book.

I'll just say, Hubs was tapping his foot impatiently so I showed remarkable restraint by only staying an hour and only buying 3 lengths of rayon batik fabric......rayon batiks are Very expensive in this country......




You do NOT want to know how much this stuff cost.....trust me! lolz
Let's just say I blew my souvenir budget in that store. ;-)

By 5pm, when they roll the sidewalks up in Wytheville by the way, we hit the interstate heading to Alta Vista, VA, our next stop.
Rolled into that town around dusk(8ish), trudged out things into the room and then back out to find something for dinner.  We found a Chinese buffet nearby in a shopping mall so we gorged on Quasi-Asian foods and went back to the motel to pop open some wine and relax for the evening.

Day 8 was quite the adventure but we were worn down to a nub and ready for some down time.

Sluggy