November 18 - North Carolina - Old Friends and Old Haunts and TOO MUCH Rain The big news for this post is the rain in North Carolina. After beautiful weather on the Outer Banks we ran into a weather pattern where the jet stream was pulling tons of water out of the Gulf of Mexico and dumping it on North Carolina. We had 5 days of heavy rain with most locations recording over 4 inches of rain for that period. We were camping at Jordan Lake near Raleigh with a camp site near the lake. On Tuesday evening the campground called us and said we had to move to higher ground because the lake was rising so fast they couldn’t guarantee we would stay dry. So we moved camp to the top of the hill and indeed, a lot of the camp sites were flooded - many with the picnic tables and trash cans submerged.

Flooded Campground

The best part of this stay was visiting with old friends and seeing old haunts. We lived in this area from 1985 to 1994. As with most places, it has grown and expanded to the point where it is hard to find the old places - we couldn’t find our three favorite restaurants (all long gone) - and many more high rises and new subdivisions are going up all over the Triangle area. And traffic is of course terrible! We had meals with many of the friends we haven’t seen in 25 years and it was great to catch up and hear about their kids who are now in their 30’s …. Where does the time go!

Laurie Overton, Chickens and Laurie

To stay out of the rain we visited the North Carolina Museum of Art with a Georgia O’Keefe exhibit and photographs by Candida Hofer - if you get a chance to Google her you will be amazed by her photos. This is a very modern museum with a fantastic collection and we particularly liked the sculpture garden with the metal screen piece below.

Sculpture Garden

We also revisited many outdoor sites - we walked around the Duke Forest and Duke Gardens; the Eno River State Park and West Point on there Eno State Park with a grist mill; the North Carolina Botanical Gardens with an “Art in the Gardens” sculpture display; and the UNC campus.

Grist Mill Eno River

Duke Chapel 

On November 15 we left Chapel Hill and headed to Greenville South Carolina to visit Laurie’s sister. Our major stop on the way was at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. This museum preserves the 34 stall roundhouse, turntable and shop buildings that was the major shop for servicing and maintaining steams engines for The Southern Railroad. Mark enjoyed being in the roundhouse as there are only a few of these left standing in the country. It is the main exhibit space full of steam and diesel locomotives, railcars, and maintenance equipment. They have many exhibits about the equipment,, the servicing that was done here and the workers who manned the shop. One high point was a completely restored RPO (Railroad Post Office) . These cars were used to collect, sort, and deliver mail while the train was moving between cities. We also took a 25 minute train ride around the grounds.

RPO Car

Laurie with Atlantic Coast Line Engine 1031

Southern Railway 2601

Spencer Roundhouse

Interior of Roundhouse

We arrived in Taylor, South Carolina on November 16 and have the camper set up at Laurie's sister's house. We have been hiking in beautiful parks with waterfalls and visiting area wineries. With the exception of Steven having to work in Oregon, all of Laurie’s family are coming in to join us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Chuck and Ginger, Mark and Laurie, at Raven Cliff Falls

Ginger and Laurie at Twin Falls

Twin Falls

After the holiday we will visit the South Carolina and Georgia coasts and into Florida in early December.

We hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.