Today we were back to our normal frenetic activity level.  We did still read the paper and do a couple of puzzles before getting out of bed, but managed to shower, eat breakfast and get dressed and on the road to the Blue Ridge Parkway by 10:30 am!  What a lovely drive.  We wove through quaint and innovative Brevard NC, where I spent 8 weeks of my 10th year of life with a painful lump of homesickness in my throat at Camp Illahee and 2 hours of bliss there with two of my best friends on my 60th birthday.

From Brevard we made our way to the BRP, jumping on at mile marker 406 with the goal of reaching mile marker 320 (Linville Falls) by 3 pm.  We would have made it, I feel sure, had Brad not suffered an attack of the “I’m-too-sleepy-to-drive-another-inch-without-a-cup-of-coffee”s, whereupon we pulled into a sunny overlook and attempted to brew a pot of coffee in the Airstream using battery power from the truck.  We got about 1/4 pot before the truck cried “Uncle!”   Brad gave up on the coffee, ate two candy bars and regained his will to live.  A few miles later, he noted that our gas gauge was dropping like a stone, pulling the 7600 pound trailer straight up the Appalachian Chain.   The range gauge reported that we could make it another 42 miles before choking to a stop, but it was 35 miles to Linville Falls.  What were the chances we would encounter a Flying J truck stop with Cummins Diesel fuel within 7 miles of mile marker 320 on the BRP?  Nil.  So we exited at the next opportunity and blessedly found the magic elixir in the small town of Spruce Pine.  We made it safely to Grandfather Mountain Campground near Boone at about 5 pm, just in time to set up the Airstream, hang out the white fairy lights on the awning and get dinner on the grill and drinks and hors d’oeuvre on the picnic table by 6 pm for our dinner party to start the wedding weekend!

Wonderful dinner with Nancy and Bill (grandparents of the bride).  Looking forward to the festivities to come!