What was 110’ tall now 110’ long?

Autos of beauty  1949 Studebaker with matching trailer.

For today:

We had a good trip down, and I did not eat one donut! We arrived parked the MH and set it up to use here for a week. We are loaning the house out this coming weekend to Stephen and Jennifer. They are coming here for Kennedy’s first birthday.  We are gonna suffer and stay in the motor home.  LOL

I had just checked the mail and still out front, when CRASH!!!   What was that noise????? Sherry was already out to look.

Just beyond that tire swing is the laid down oak tree. That is what sherry saw falling.

The Oak Tree was 110 feet tall.  Sherry was in the motor home and saw it fall. It is about 75’ in front of the motor home. Now I know what I am gonna be doing the next few days!

The tree took two more trees down with it. It fell just past the fire pit seats and swings. No real damage was done as we breathe a sigh of relief.

You can see this tree trunk twist it's full 110 feet thru the bushes. it is roughly 90 yrs old.

This one came down with no wind. It broke off at the trunk and did not pull up a big dirt ball.

And YES since we do have about 30 around here it gives one pause to think!

Nite Shipslog

New stuff apple cider doughnuts & the confession of a cook

Autos of beauty

1948 Buick and matching trailer. this would be a neat combo to travel with.


I have heard about apple cider doughnuts twice in the last two weeks, So we planned to give them a try. WE found Grand-dad’s Orchard and was shocked at the crowd. There were 100’s of cars and visitors.
 Below from one parking lot.

 The line to the bakery was about 50 yards long. We stood there a few minutes then decided to browse thru the apple store.

Grand dad musta had too much hard cider to park his John Deere up  there.

We sampled several names. We decided to come back when it was less crowded.  Grand dad’s is more like a festival with rides thru the orchard, u-pick trips and some bouncing games for the kids.

Just down the road was another orchard, not crowded at all. We stopped and bought some doughnuts, they were very good.

On Sunday we went back to the same orchard and bought some ‘chow-chow’ and a dozen doughnuts to take to Belmont.

I mentioned festivals above. I thought of my Nephew Ted. He was into BBQ cookouts for years. He manufactured the Big unique BBQ grills. He has made all kinds, one out of an antique car and one from a truck. He told me of a confession of a friend. He said, “On the way to the cookout my friend Joseph realized he had forgotten his special recipe BBQ sauce he used in completion. In desperation he bought two jars of sauce at a grocery and mixed them, just so he could be with us and compete, He WON!”  Ted said Joe was embarrassed but after winning, he really hated to confess, and didn't!  LOL

Nite Shipslog

Vows on the Blue Ridge Parkway

 Doreen Good above and 35 Ford pickup were new when the Blue Ridge Parkway was started.

For today:

Matt and Kiersten have been together through 4-5 yrs of college and a few yrs after. They picked the Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway for their wedding.

We were looking for a good reason to get out in the coach, and this was a good one. So we are here in the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains enjoying the Fall.  This is NOT the peak season for leaves.

If you are familiar with these mountains at ‘peak leaf season’ you KNOW about the LO===ONG line as cars weaving the thousands of curves and switchbacks on the mountain roads, OOO’ing and AHHH’ing. The Blue Ridge Parkway is the #1 place to view God’s beautiful paintings. It is listed as the 2^nd biggest attraction of USA. And the Bear-jams when traffic comes to a crawl when a mama and her cub is spotted.

Topography orders roads, so many cannot be straight and turns square. They can be confusing, i.e. these one-way signs at a street in Hendersonville.

We drove up yesterday to make sure we knew where the event would be held. When we located it, another wedding was in progress.

We have enjoyed the BRP since our youth and later brought our boys to let them enjoy it. Now this is a Grandson’s marriage ON the BRP.

Matt is a handsome man and Kiersten is a beautiful lady. Her best friend as the photographer and one of his friends performed the ceremony.

About 20 family and friends drove the 160 miles for the ceremony. We drove up early to make sure we were there. To watch the iffy weather.

We saw this as the clouds engulfed the mountain tops around us.

And later we saw this The skies cleared for the ceremony!

And in the end we saw this, two wonderful people pledging to spend the rest of their lives together in love. Our prayers and support will be with them.

 Above shows Kiki's wedding shoes, worn because they were going to climb the mountain just after the ceremony.

Nite Shipslog

PS: And we were very fortunate yesterday within a mile of entering the BRP a bear crossed the road in front us us.

We slowed down and I spoke to it. We DID NOT grab a camera. As you can tell I am not a photographer.

The Blue Ridge Parkway

Automobile of interest:

  1946 Chevy, someone's project car, but not mine!

We arrived in Fletcher and set up. Fletcher is on I-26 15 miles south of Asheville, NC. Sherry heated up left over Pinto beans cornbread and salmon patties with her delicious ‘Lettuce Slaw’. Then we wanted to look around the area.

I asked at the office where the nearest intersection on the Blue Ridge Parkway was located. “Honey I can’t know that, too many little side roads to get there, but Google maps will know.” 

Easy to see why they are called the Blue Ridge

So Google knew but wanted us to go about 30 miles out of the way, true. I knew the BRP was within 8 miles of the RV park. Finally we found the Parkway. I had forgotten how beautiful the views are. We have driven the entire BRP including the Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive. As a matter of fact we backpacked the Shenandoah's also.

 

 Looking North, this is the entrance to the Craggy Pinnacle Tunnel. The wedding site is about 1/2mile on the other side.

The view from what I think will be the Wedding site.

 

Anyway we located the spot where Matt and Kiersten’s wedding will be held, Craggy Gardens and it is beautiful.

We spotted a Culver's on the way back and stopped for a small Ice Cream. We learned to enjoy Culver’s while in the Yipsilanti area.

This is the girl I took for a ride today. She agreed to come home with me. I am a lucky dude!

Nite Shipslog

PS: I served in the USN under Dan Doughton. His Uncle played a big part in developing the Parkway in 1935-6. Doughton Park is named in his Honor. I think that is kinda neat.