Hmm, hmm, good

Oct. 21--Jim's uncle Webster and aunt Dot live in rural North Carolina, two hours north of Raleigh, almost to Virginia. It is low country, farmland. It is very peaceful, if you like country living.

We arrived last evening, and Dot had (of course) waited dinner for us. And this morning she made us a nice country breakfast. Good eats, all around. We never leave there empty-handed. Webster has been retired from farming for many years, but he still gardens and supplies a local restaurant with such "goodies" as green peppers and collards (yuck!). Whenever we visit, he insists that we leave loaded with garden goodies, and if we want, many home-canned goods. This time he sent us home with home-canned green beans, jellies, and assorted other goodies, as well as red and green peppers. Next week (or maybe while we are on the road), I'll prepare some stuffed peppers.

After stopping by the cemetery to view the final resting places of Jim's mom and dad (and a lot of other relatives), we stopped by a little butcher shop where they prepare fresh pork sausage twice a week. Today was one of the days. We purchased both ground sausage and links, hot and mild, of this wonderful sausage. I have to admit: Nothing "store-bought" beats its taste.

We finally got on the road, and around Rocky Mount, we decided to have a late lunch. Carolina bar-be-que was what we wanted. We saw a local restaurant advertised and headed toward it. We had eaten there before, and we liked the fare.

Real local bar-be-que

But, as we were ready to pull into the restaurant, we saw a group preparing bar-be-que in a parking lot and decided to try "really" local stuff. Turns out it was a group raising funds for a stepping team who were going down to Jacksonville to compete. Small world. Unfortunately, they did have pork, only chicken and fish. We opted for the chicken and weren't disappointed.

After lunch we finished our trip to Raleigh and checked into the state park where we had preregistered. It's a wonderfully secluded area on a lake, only about 20 minutes from Rob's house. Our only disappointment was to find that we had a curfew! The state park locks its gates at 8 p.m. and they do not issue pass codes. Our choices: Get back by 8 p.m. and be able to drive to our site, or come back late and park on the street and hike 1.5 miles to our camp site. I'm not much of a hiker, so we had a short visit with Rob, Corky, and the kids this evening.

Corky fed us well with her special chili. Excellent.

Tomorrow is the birthday party, and the "kids" are wondering if we indeed will be in costume. We will be. Our biggest dilemma will be how to deal with the curfew. I think we drive Baby to Rob's and park in the cul-de-sac for the evening--either that or a nearby WalMart.

Until next time,
Your Reluctant RoVer,
Linda