We had our
longest travel day yet driving from SC to NC – 8 hours on the road, mostly
because of the many stops along the way to check out the clean and modern rest
areas along the interstate and to have a hearty lunch at the Cracker Barrel
near Columbia, SC. Our destination for the next two nights was Lewisville, NC.
Tom and Liz
Layman opened up their home to us and invited us to stay with them while we
were in the Winston-Salem area. Tom and I worked together for 25 years at
National General Insurance Company. Liz and I actually worked together before
that at Worldwide Insurance and then later at NGIC. They started out in
California, and then moved to NC several years ago when Tom got promoted into a
senior manager job.
They have a
wonderful home and an even more wonderful family with their two sons, Will and
John. We had a great time visiting with them and hearing about what they’ve
been up to for the past few years. Their pet dog, Jasmine (Jazzy) took to Karen
and slept in our room each of the nights we were there. I’m telling you, it was
a little hard to think about sleeping in the Aliner again after spending two
nights indoors in a real bed!
The second
evening, we met up with my old (well, he’s not so old, but he’s my former)
boss, George Hall for dinner in Winston-Salem. George, Tom and I experienced
some pretty intense times together towards the end of my stint at NGIC. George
and I worked together for nearly 20 years and he really helped me get through
the last couple of years; and I think he went to bat for me in many situations
during the height of the intensity. He’s a good guy.
George and
his wife, Carolyn, brought us up to date on how their three successful
daughters are doing as they made their transition from college years to
careers. We also learned how George and Carolyn first met as college students,
and after dinner we walked over to the actual site of the momentous event (which
is an apartment house where their eldest daughter is currently residing!).
George and I have been sharing stories about our families over the past 20
years or so (mostly by telephone), and it was nice to see each other
face-to-face for a few hours. In today’s business environment, many of the
relationships you develop are ‘virtual’, and I think you really have to treasure the times
when you can see people in person.
From
Lewisville, we headed to Asheville, NC to take in the Biltmore Estates tour.
This is something you’ve got to see if you are curious about how the ‘one
per-centers’ lived at the end of the 19th century. We were able to
spend most of a day touring the mansion and the famous gardens.
From there,
we headed to Weaverville, NC to the Aldi grocery store to stock up for our time
in the wilderness with George B. and Roxanne at their property near
Barnardsvile, NC. Karen was not impressed with Aldi – it started with the
requirement that you deposit a quarter (25 cents) into a slot that allows you
to use a shopping cart, and continued with the fact that they didn’t have all
the items we wanted to buy, and was capped off by the somewhat recalcitrant
attitude of some of the employees. Nevertheless, we got our supplies and set
the GPS for Wah Haw Haw.
Tucked away in the Pisgah National Forest, is
where George and Roxanne have their special getaway place. At about 3000 ft
elevation, it’s much cooler than what we’ve been used to for the past several
weeks. If you saw the movie, “The Last of the Mohicans”, you’ll have an idea of
what it looks like around here. So far, we’ve done some light hiking, seen some
local flora and fauna, and done some exploration of the local area. We’ve also
had some authentic southern happy hour appetizers.
Next: Mt.
Mitchell
Hahaha...no, I cam't imagine Karen embracing the ALDI experience.
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