March 24th – 27th

On Sunday I drove through Virginia heading south to North Carolina — looking forward to getting my trailer back. I took the Blue Ridge Parkway because it’s such a scenic route. The drive meandered through the Shenandoah Valley. This was where I started to see the Eastern Red Bud starting to bloom. I fell in love with them – more on that later! Stopped in Greensboro NC, had dinner with Robin and Tim, then proceeded to Clemmons and stayed at Danny and Julie’s house. On Monday I talked to Fowlers, repair shop, and they expected the axle parts to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday (so I figured it would be ready on Wednesday or Thursday). On Tuesday Danny and Julie and I drove back to Greensboro and spent the day with Robin and Tim – had lunch and went to the Art Museum. Robin and I explored the entire museum. Then we took a city tour to see the Civil Rights Museum, the original Woolworth’s where the civil rights movement began, and other sights. I got a call from Fowlers at 2pm while we were in the museum. The trailer was DONE!! They had made it a priority as soon as the parts arrived!

I spent one last night at Danny and Julie’s house, got up early on Wednesday and headed to Hudson to pick up the trailer. It had been 3 full weeks since the axle got bent! Fowlers treated me very well, made my repairs a priority, and communicated very clearly along the way. I drove to Asheville and parked the trailer at Vicki’s condo (Casey’s mom), reorganized things inside, then unhooked the truck and went to Kelley and Casey’s house (no room for me to park the trailer there). Had a short visit with them, but they had other plans so Vicki and I went out to dinner. We said our goodbyes before going to bed because Kelley had to be up and gone by 6:30am. Casey and I had some time together Thursday morning, then I headed north – toward Michigan.

Short video of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia:

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