Do Nothing Day

 Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Started out going to the Outlet Malls and walked through some of the stores.  We are not big fans of "Outlet" stores, but it was something to do.  This area has a lot of Outlet Malls.  We drove around a bit and then found a laundromat.  Unfortunately, we can only bring so much underwear and have to take the time to do laundry about every 10 days.  Got back to the RV and put laundry away.  Then I decided to clean out the refrigerator.  It smelled funny.  Smelled fine when I finished.  Cocktails on our little patio overlooking the lake and traffic on 95.  Actually, it was quite relaxing.  Oh, we watched the ducks too.

Roadside Attractions

 Monday, June 28, 2021

We drove around pretty much all day today, chasing American Roadside Attractions.  We collect these attractions like some people collect things.  Especially if an area doesn't have a lot of places to go or if the weather isn't good, this is what we do.

We started out in Wilson, NC at the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park.  We had heard of him and his creations on one of the YouTube channels we watch.

Mr. Simpson built these amazing whirligigs and displayed them in a pasture next to his house.  He made them from the debris he'd salvaged from his years as a machinery repairman.   He lived to be 94.  A deal was struck with the town of Wilson.  They would buy 30 of his creations and move them to a park.  He agreed and saw one placed before his death.

Also in Winston, we found these two attractions.

Muffler Man -  White's Tire #2

Freeman Round House & Dinosaur

We passed by two others but did not take pictures.  A replica of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and an unusual Nautical Oddities store, (which may have been closed).

We passed by this western looking facade.  We know nothing about it except it is in a town called Stantonsburg.

Next we found this marker of a possible nuclear Mishap.

It only seemed logical to find this 1950, 40-foot long cruise missile that once carried a nuclear warhead.  It was a TM-61C Matador.

How about a water tower shaped like a baseball?

Here is a Big Mercury Cougar.

Found this one on our own.

Well, that was a lot of driving.  

Welcome to Selma, North Carolina

 Sunday, June 27, 2021

It is a travel day.  We are leaving Tanglewood and driving east to Selma.  We stayed at Rvacation Campground.  This was basically a good spot on the map.  We really didn't know much about this area.  Our campsite was really nice.  We had a lakefront site and were greeted by four white ducks and a Great Blue Heron in our front yard.  Although I-95 was literally on the other side of the small lake, it didn't bother us.  Our RV is very well insulated so the road noise wasn't an issue.  We had a patio, table, and chairs.  As Bruce sat out on the patio, he said watching the traffic on 95 was as mesmerizing as watching a campfire.  We enjoyed relaxing with a cocktail and commenting about the vehicles racing by.

Site G-1

Dinosaurs and Cider

 Saturday, June 12, 2021

Yesterday it rained all day and other than a trip to the grocery store, we just stayed at the RV.  But, Saturday morning, we had a zoom meeting with the Retired Members Club and then went to visit Dinosaur Kindom II.  This is another venture by Mark Cline.  He has to be one of the most energetic people we have ever met.  

Didn't really know what to expect at Dinosaur Kingdom II, but we were told to put our "kid" on and we did.

Dinosaur Kingdom II takes place during the Civil War.  Union soldiers discovered dinosaurs in the valley of the Natural Bridge.  They thought if they could harness these great creatures, they could beat the South and end the war pronto.  They had no success and were so embarrassed that that part of history was never talked about.  We started out in a small town and then proceeded to travel through the woods.

Kids having a water gun fight with Sasquatch

I don't fall for many gags, but this Chaple got me.  I walked in and as I approached the alter it started to shake and scared the daylights out of me.

Chaple

On our way home we stopped by the Halcyon Days Cider Co.  We had a flight of Ciders.  That was different and very good.  Had some great cheese wafers too.

Finding Things to Do in the Rain and our Celebrity Ghost Tour

 Thursday, July 10, 2021

Yes, we are having a bit of on again, off again rain.  After a slow start we just decided to do a local road trip.  Our first stop was the home of Cyrus McCormik who invented the first successful mechanical reaper in 1834.  His new horse drawn reaper could harvest grain five times faster, with a small fraction of the physical effort.  His efforts built on more than two decades of work by his father, Robert McCormick, Jr., with the aid of Jo Anderson, a person enslaved by his family.  This was done right here in his blacksmith shop on his farm, Walnut Grove.  We were also able to visit the grist mill and a surviving building that was a slave quarters.

This model of the reaper can and has reaped grain.

Blacksmith shop.

What is believed to be Cryus' original anvil.

Top floor of the gristmill.

A mill stone and inside the gristmill.

Scenes around the farm.

This was a day of gristmills.  We visited the Kennedy-Wade Mill.  This is Virginia's oldest operating commercial gristmill.  This mill is circa 1750.  The Kennedy family owned and operated the mill for over a century.  Thw Wade family purchased the mill in1882. They operated it for four generations.  It was then purchased by Jim and George Young in 1991 In 2016 the mill was purchased by John and Karen Siegfried, with the commitment to preserve and continue the 260+ year tradition of family owned and operated stone ground milling in the Shenandoah Valley.  In fact, we prchased two bags of mix from them.

On our way home we saw the Lone-henge, designed by Mark Cline.  This was somewhat ironic because we have a ghonst tour schedued for tonight with his Lexington's Ghost Tour. 

Lone-henge.

One more stop on the way home to do a bit of shopping.  Saw this outside a car wash.  Love our quricky.

Well we show up at the designated start of the Ghost Tour.  One other couple was there and we waited for our guide.  Low and behold it was Mark Cline himself.  We were thrilled.  We had visited his Foam-henge years ago and have seen and heard more about his art on YouTube so we were very happy to have him as our guide.  The ghost tour was so much fun.  He was very entertaining and because it was just a group of four, and we were all willing to follow  him anywhere, we had a longer tour than usual and I think it was really fun.  We did buy his book about the tour and he even autographed it for us.  We visited Stonewall Jackson's grave after dark.  Creepy spots like the site of the last hanging in Lexington and the story of the cook and the cat.  A doorway where a mysterious dog apeared for years and the home of Robert E. Lee.  He performed the collaspe of Lee just two weeks before he died.  He was a good story teller as well as a good impersonater.  We laughed and went ahh many times.