May 4, 2015.  On Sunday morning, we nipped down I-81 and I-26, arriving about 2 pm at a gorgeous campground (Campfire Lodgings) in Asheville that Brad’s brother Tom had told us about.  There are five premium campsites here directly overlooking the French Broad River valley from the vantage of several thousand feet.  We did not get one of those for Sunday night, but it didn’t matter because we just dropped off the Airstream and drove directly to Hendersonville (about 40 miles to the south) to spend the night with my dear cousin Susan and her cute husband Bill. Susan and I are more like sisters than cousins, even though she is A LOT older than I am (just teasing; she is my sister Jenny’s age).   Really, we have all been very close all our lives because our mothers were best friends as well as sisters-in-law.

After a couple of hours catching up on matters of utmost importance, we went for a walk at Connemara, the fascinating but humble former home and goat emporium of Carl Sandberg and his wife Lillian, and then to a fine dinner at Greenwood Barbecue in nearby Saluda NC, where Bill was the well-known star.  This morning, Brad was not feeling well (coming down with a cold), so Susan and I planted about a dozen red geraniums in her back yard and went to visit Camp Greystone, where she, my sister Jenny, and five of my nieces attended camp as young girls.  It is far fancier than Illahee, where I went to camp in nearby Brevard when I was 10.  (Unfortunately, I was using a camera card in Hendersonville that I can’t access today — sorry to miss those pictures here!)

We rousted Brad from bed at 11 and he followed Susan and me to Asheville, where we relocated the Airstream to one of the five premium campsites, ate lunch overlooking the stunning mountains and French Broad river valley (see below), played some Canasta and tucked Brad in for a nap while Susan and I explored the shops and galleries in the village of Weaverville.  It was a grand day for me, other than Brad being sick.  Hoping he will be fine tomorrow.  He and I will chill out here and, if he feels up to it, venture into Asheville.  Susan has to work tomorrow, so we said our tearful good-byes late this afternoon — but they will be at the lake in June, so the tears were less copious than otherwise.

Susan gave me the great blue heron you see below — he is made of bottle caps and motherboards with a sparkplug beak!