After friends Barb and Bob left and headed North, Liz and I spent a couple more days at Tybee Island, near Savannah. Our next scheduled event was a Hockey Game in Pittsburgh. Departing Tybee, and right on the way we headed back to Brunswick for another round of festivities at the McNicolls’. You may recall that we started our travels at Xmas time with Liz’s brother’s inlaws. Anyway, despite the McNicolls foreknowledge of the Harrises, we were again welcomed to their home for a festive occasion. This time it was Liz’s sister-in-law Stephanie’s memorable and significant 40th B-Day. Very memorable for us as well.
Our RV Parking was arranged courtesy of the McNicolls’ neighbor…right across the street.
First, we were treated to a Low Country Shrimp boil. I have never seen such a large pot, and so much shrimp put into it. YUM. We ate and ate and ate. Then, the next day we had cold shrimp salad.
Next, we were treated to the Brunswick Air Show…which included the Blue Angels. Flying right over the house.
Honestly, if the McNicoll’s keep hosting us in such fine fashion, we are pretty sure Brunswick, Ga can be “on the way” to almost everywhere!! (There was discussion of Easter Dinner…but I think we’ll give them a break!)
After leaving Brunswick, we headed north towards Pittsburgh. Along the way we made a couple of stops. First at a Walmart in Huntersville, NC. There, the manager said that as far as he was concerned, we could park, but the Huntersville Municipality does NOT allow overnight parking….we might get rousted by the police in the middle of the night. Just in case, I put a sign in the window: “Dead Tired. Unsafe to drive further. Will leave first thing in the AM. Thanks for understanding.” Not entirely untrue, and we were NOT rousted…maybe because of the sign, maybe because we were invisibly sandwiched between a couple of trucks who were also taking their chances overnighting.
The next night was a KOA near Sutton, West Virginia. Between the two, we discovered that WVa is possibly the MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE we have yet traversed. Route 19/79 through the New River Gorge was stunning. Like the Grand Canyon, except not as Grand and much more lush (i.e. not a desert). Also the cheapest fuel we have yet experienced ($2.13/gal). That is significant when you are filling a 235 gallon tank! We will have to return to this area in the summer!
Arriving at The McDowells, we set about catching up on our lives and travels. And eating. And drinking. And, of course, the hockey trash-talking commenced almost as soon as we arrived.
Mike began with excuses right out of the chute: “Well, you know, the Penguins are all hurt. It is Sid and no one else…” Blah. Blah. Blah. Well, after the first period (4-0 Hawks, Penguins nowhere to be found), Mike was threatening to leave…and leave me behind. I made sure we used the bathroom at the same time, in case he might think to not return to the seats! Ultimately we (he) lasted until the middle of the third, when it was 5-0 Hawks. At that point, he said he was leaving…whether I did or not was not his concern! But, the ultimate injustice had not yet occurred.
On the way in, I paid for parking…Mike seemed to have lost the ticket. So when we arrived at the exit of the lot, the gate would not go up and the security guard would NOT raise it without us paying. AGAIN! I am not certain it was because he saw my Hawks sweater in the front seat, but I cannot rule it out. I offered to pay AGAIN, but Mike would have none of that. He knew I would be talking about the results of the game, and did not want to add yet more fodder. I let him salvage a little bit of his dignity at the gate (but, as you can see, this did not silence me!).
While in Washington, PA, we also tee’d up dinner with Bruce and Chris Lane…friends from years past. We started with cocktails at “Our Place” (the Bus was parked at the Meadows Casino – in a back lot way up high and overlooking the race track…), Then, we went to a place with live music and had a great time catching up. Live music featured the Anthem-singer from the Pens game. The way the Pens played, it is good he has other gigs…he won’t be singing the anthem much longer this year! That night, we stayed in the parking lot of the Meadows Casino.
Hi Dan. I so enjoy reading about your travels. I presume you have more than one credit card with a special gas discount. 235 gallons–glad I am not behind you at fill up. You are lucky to have so many friends that are willing to put up with you–they must like Liz. Sounded like a great airshow. Anyway, happy driving.