The first portion of my route is set, so I thought I would share with you where I'm headed when I 'wheels-up' on August 8th. From Wilmington, I will travel up into the mountains to Asheville, NC.
From Asheville, I turn a wee bit northeast and drive to Burnsville, NC - a total drive-time of about 6 /12 hours. Burnsville is near where my first NC house was located and where the fabulous
The Penland School of Craft can be found. I plan to spend a few days with good friend and sewing buddy Karen and her darling hubby in their fabulous guest house.
Karen and I will 'play in her fabric stash and wander around my ol' stomping grounds' for a few days before I head off into the West.
My next stop will be to visit with my cousin Mary who lives in Marysville, TN, near Gatlinburg. This is now the
'my relatives' portion' of the trip as when I leave Marysville I will travel to Paducah, KY and Metropolis, IL to spend time with other cousins, Robbie, Max and Rex, and see how they faired after being flooded out of their homes when the Mississippi rose and they opened the levees in Cairo to keep that city from being underwater.
From Paducah, my next short drive is to Marshville, MO to stop and visit with Ralph and his wife Gretchen. Ralph and I grew up next door to each other in Danville, IL. I can't remember a day in my life as a young girl when Ralph wasn't a part of it. Normally he and the other neighborhood boys were either hitting me, chasing me, yelling at me and never letting me play with them...but he grew up okay:)
Then the next couple of days will be spent crossing that great, big, flat state of Kansas. I'm going to check out what there is to see in Wichita and Dodge City. After some sightseeing in the flatlands of KS, southern CO sounds cool and lovely. My sister-in-law Stephanie has for years been telling me I really need to see
Creede, CO where her sister Cindy lives. Creede has a huge artist colony and a very well-known repertory theater company. Sister Cindy was nice enough to volunteer to be my tour guide and let me bunk in her guest bedroom for a couple of nights. The photo ops looks fantastic and I'm looking forward to attending a play while there.
Next - Santa Fe and the fabulous
Indian Market.
After a week shopping, sightseeing and white water rafting (I actually agreed to do this!) and spending quality time with my best friend Ellen, its a short drive to Bernalillio, NM where my good friend Jami lives. This is now the
"Danville High School" portion of the trip. Jami and I had such a good time catching up the last time I was in New Mexico that she invited me stop by again.
Plan to try to talk Jami into hoping in the Jeep with me for a day's drive, because from her house its onto Prescott, AZ. There our mutual, good friend Carol, also a DHS alum, recently retired and decided to invite all the female alums living in and around the Phoenix area to her new house for a mini-reunion weekend. She has found 6 others who are planning to attend and we have one who is considering flying in from WI! So if you hear reports about a wild & crazy group of women doing weird things in Sedona the end of August, you'll know I was one of the instigators!
So by now I have driven
2597 miles since leaving home!. The big question is where to do I go from here? I am still trying to find work-along-the-road and have a few possibilities that might work. Since the price of gas is not going down, I sure hope I can find something that will put fuel in the tank and keep me going. Of course, if any of you know of anything, be sure and give me a shout!
Until next time.....
