Dixie is so excited.
She loooooooves Halloween.
Here she is at the top of the steps,
above the foyer,
just waiting and anticipating.
I'm finally getting around today
to blogging about our trip back
to the Outer Banks.
This is last Sunday,
when we started home.
See what you find when you take the back roads?
It's Day 3.
Sunday of our trip.
And we're on our way back home.
Now, if I'd listened to our Garmin
after leaving the waterfalls,
we would have been ushered to I 40,
then to Greensboro and I 85,
then to US 64.
BOOOOOOORRRRRIIIINNNNNGGGG!
Been there.
Done that.
Hate it.
I didn't want to be on a super highway,
traveling 70+ MPH.
I wanted a scenic route and Mr. Hawthorne
wanted a route that went pretty much
straight east to the Outer Banks.
Leave it up to the navigator of all navigators -
MOI.
I got out my regular North Carolina road map -
the type you get at gas stations
that I am totally unable to fold back up properly.
I used the road map to get an overview
and my bearings
and kind of map out the route,
but it's impossible to follow
because it doesn't have details.
Ahhh.
The devil is in the details.
Then I got out my North Carolina ATLAS,
which is very detailed
and 1 inch equals 3 miles
and a page is about 30 miles,
so it really feels like you're getting somewhere fast.
I love my atlas.
I mapped out our route.
We had to backtrack on 64 E to Brevard,
the whole time of which I had my nose stuck
in the atlas and fold out map,
actually impressing myself
with my awesome map skillz.
We continued on 64 to Hendersonville.
Then I mapped out Hwy 74 to Shelby
and to Kings Mountain.
Picked up 85 there to bypass
Kings Mountain, Gastonia, and Charlotte.
Picked up the N485 loop or Inner Beltway
to go around Charlotte.
(Why do they call it an Inner Beltway,
when it goes North around the outside of Charlotte?)
And rats!
Part of 485 is blocked off
and I have to program the Garmin
to get me to 24/27,
which it does, surprisingly, quite efficiently.
After Charlotte,
our next town was Locust,
then Albemarle.
We stopped at the Aldi's there to buy
my favorite potato chips -
Rodeo Bill's or Rodeo Bob's -
and some wine.
$2.99 a bottle for
Winking Owl Cabernet Sauvignon for me
and the Chardonnay for Mr. H.
(My dear friend, Maxine,
introduced me to the Aldi's in Danville
and Rodeo B's tater chips and Winking Owl wine.)
Mr. Hawthorne wanted to stop in Albemarle
for the night.
I wanted to keep going.
I could look at the big picture
and knew where we were.
He thought we were much farther along.
Plus, it was only 4 PM
and who the hell stops at 4 o'clock?
I wanted to get at least to Benson
and to 95.
Three more hours.
From Albemarle,
we continued on 24/27
through the Uwharrie National Forest,
to Troy, Briscoe,
Carthage, Cameron, Johnsonville,
where we took 27 to the north
(24 split off there to the south)
to Mason and then to Lillington.
And I only wish I could have stopped
in both Troy and Carthage
to shoot pictures.
Beautiful old homes.
Impressive architecture.
And downtowns.
A thing of the past.
Somewhere along the route,
we passed a pumpkin farm.
but Mr. Hawthorne was nice enough
to turn around and go back
so I could get these photographs.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
From Lillington,
it's just a hope, skip, and a jump
through Buies Creek and Coats
to Benson and I 95,
where I knew we could find lodging
for the night.
And speaking of Lillington,
I see from my Feedjit I have a reader from Lillington,
so hello to you, Lillingtoner.
Perhaps you saw us Sunday afternoon.
We were in a white Avalanche.
Now, starting sometime before Lillington,
Mr. Hawthorne started getting very bitchy.
He's tired of driving.
I said to pull over, I'd drive.
But noooooooo.
He's tired of driving
and tired of being in a car.
Period.
And he becomes unpleasant,
like a petulant child.
He starts whining,
"I told you we should've stopped in Albemarle
for the night.
There's not going to be any place to stay tonight."
Rosie: "Well sure, if you want to turn around
and drive the 2 hours back to Albemarle,
be my guest."
And he starts pouting
and being disagreeable, fractious,
and just plain bitchy.
I try to reassure him we're just 10 miles
away from I 95 and there will certainly
be lodging there, but he ain't hearing nothing.
"No, it's Sunday night.
There's not gonna be anything."
(Huh?)
Whine.
More whine.
Oh, ye of little faith.
Finally, we get on 95
and I check the Garmin for accomodations.
Ah ha!
There's a Holiday Express within miles.
We take the exit and end up
at a freakin' Holiday Express COA Campground.
Not a Holiday Inn Express Motel.
I think steam started coming out of
Mr. Hawthorne's ears at this point.
He has to turn around and go back to 95
and I'm looking at the pitch black driveway
he's trying to back into and turn around in
and there are two deep gulches on either side.
I'm praying that he doesn't back into either gulch
because there would be HELL to pay if he did that.
Back on 95.
Two more miles north,
thank you, Jesus,
there's a Jameson Inn in Smithfield, NC.
I see the signs advertising
the Ava Gardner Museum.
See here too.
Ava grew up in the small farming community
of Grabtown, near Smithfield.
I wouldn't mind visiting this museum
Monday morning,
but Mr. Hawthorne is not up to it.
Sorry, I digress.
Now, this is interesting.
Before Mr. Hawthorne got all pissy,
he had asked me about dinner for tonight.
And I said,
"You know what?
I wouldn't be averse to a nice sub."
And a sub worked for him too.
And I've never suggested a sub before.
But it worked for me
since we had those terrific potato chips.
When we pulled into the Jameson Inn,
lo and behold,
there was a Subway within walking distance
of our room.
It was meant to be.
My thunderbird mocs.
My mouth is watering just looking at this.
I jumped on this baby like
a monkey on a cupcake
or Pauler Deen on buttah
or Sandra Lee on a seasoning packet.
Or pumpkin pie spice.
Or a bottle of vodka.
I don't know why Mr. Hawthorne
took a video of his snoring.
The next morning we hit the road
to get back home.
Cotton fields.
As always,
I had to video the compass
as we went over the Mother Ship
which lies beneath Alligator River Bridge.
We are driving due east.
When we finally got home,
about 1 PM,
I got out all our goodies
we'd bought in Cherokee and the Linville Gem Shop.
Here's my tiered plant stand.
I didn't want to cover up all the pretty
with plants just yet,
so I put my geodes and quartz crystal on it.
We had a very nice trip
and a lot of fun.
Four days.
1255.1 miles.
Mr. Hawthorne asked me:
"Do you realize that's 6 hours of driving a day."
"Yes, I was there.
Remember?"
I love Subway. Intensely, unabashedly, unashamedly love it.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Kathy.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had fun and thanks for taking us along for the ride.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite sub place is Jersey Mike's, but they aren't here in B-town.