I'm back home in Michigan now. Got in sometime mid-afternoon. I pretty much spent the rest of the day inside, watching 'Dexter' on my laptop. It was an uneventful rest of the day. Today I went back to work... in Jackson. I have some WFH this week, and then the rest of my week is pretty open. Call me.
So anyway, I woke up Saturday morning, and began my trek for Ohio. I think I took off at 8:30 am and didn't get to my grandparents' house until almost 11:30. That's about 15 hours on what could have been an 11 hour trip... but I made a lot of stops. I took the scenic route, which took me through Athens, GA, Greenville, SC, Asheville, NC, Black Mountain, NC and Johnson City, TN. I stopped in Athens. It's a nice place... a lot nicer than I expected since it's a college town. The Georgia campus puts the Michigan campus to shame if you ask me.
There was nothing too exciting around Greenville, so I didn't stop. I just saw a lot of bikers on the way. I did finally stop in Asheville, and decided to go downtown and have lunch at a place called Tupelo Honey. There was a line out the door and it looked like some yuppy joint, so I walked around looking for something else. There were lines everywhere. So I went back to Tupelo Honey, and then line had died down. Even then it was still a 20 minute wit TO SIT AT THE BAR. Gah. I gave up and started walking to my truck. Lo and behold, there was little cafe right where I parked. I could have just ate there to start with and saved myself a lot of trouble. I went in and got an omelet with red peppers, garlic, and mozzarella, grits and toast. It was quite good and I was satisfied.
I liked Asheville alright, but it was rather swanky, like Birmingham, MI except more hippies. Lots of chubby cute nerdy girls there too. I'm sure there are better parts that I didn't get to see. The one thing that stood out the most though was the air. Even on a rather warm day, the mountain air felt so magnificent. Man, you just stick your hand out the window, and ooh la la... my skin felt so good.
I went from Asheville to Black Mountain. How could a place called Black Mountain not be cool? There's a band called Black Mountain that I like pretty well, and it just sounds like it must be a scenic wonder. It wasn't at all. It was a little town that was overrun with silly crafty things. There was a festival going on called the Sourwood festival. I might have checked it out but I needed to get on the road and I didn't think I'd be missing that much.
Out of Asheville I went on to Johnson City. That is where you cross a real mountain range. It's pretty ridiculous. Man. Just gorgeous over the smokies there in Tennessee. Johnson City didn't look interesting enough for another stop though. So I hightailed it into Virginia and then West Virginia. Ugh. I-77 through West Virginia was so brutal. I've done it many times, but I guess I just forgot. I crossed the border and before going into the first tunnel, my CHECK ENGINE light came on. Great. Just what I needed. My truck seemed to do fine though. I stopped to check it out and couldn't see any problems. It was probably that stupid O2 sensor again. I drove the rest of the way with it on, all the way to Ohio. I talked to may Grandfather a little and went to bed.
I spend most of the day Sunday with my nephew Ty. We decided to get my other nephew Jacob and my brother and go to Magic Mountain for go-carts, bumper cars, etc. Actually, it was Ty who decided. I hate that place. Such a rip-off for nothing really. Then Jake was getting whiny. We finally got out of there. I took Ty home to my sister's and hung out there for a bit before heading over to see my Grandma Guinta. Then it was back to my other grandparents' to go to sleep, and up in the morning, back to Michigan. I stopped on the way out and picked up all kinds of produce from the farm. I'm going to have to make some tomato sauce soon.
That's really all I got. I loved my trip. It was so much fun. I got to see everyone but my Dad. Don't even get me started there. I called him and we talked, but I have no idea what happened to him on Sunday. So it goes. Parents are so freaking weird, even when you're 36.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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