AZ Day 7

The next morning, it was still raining. As Hope and I walked around the campground trying to find out which building was the office, I ran into a guy attempting to shovel ice away from one of the buildings. It wasn’t labeled, so I asked him if this building was the office and told him that I pulled in late last night and wanted to pay for my stay. He told me that he was the one to pay. The owner of the place recently had back surgery and needed help, so the owner asked this guy, who full-timed, if he’d come help. He laughed and said, “Yeah, we came up from Florida to live in this mess (meaning the weather) until the owner recuperates.” I paid my monstrously high fee of $12.50 and walked back through the rain, ice, and slush to the van.


Today’s destination was Cathy & Kevin’s in Gastonia. It was supposed to be approximately a 3 ½ hour drive, so I had lots and lots of time. Again, I think I left around noon – maybe 11:00. I avoided the interstate and took Rte 24/27 that crossed NC from Cameron, about 30 miles south of where I was staying, to Charlotte. It was a great route with almost no traffic.

I drove past acres and acres of areas that were clear cut of trees, then more acres of areas where southern pine trees were replanted. In fact, a good lot of North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi are the same. I drove through the Uwharrie National Forest and saw a sign that said something about some Indian mound. Unfortunately, the sign didn’t say how many miles down the road it was. I turned off Rte 24/27 and drove about 5.5 miles, never seeing another sign about the Indian mound, so I turned around and went back. Now as I look at the map, it was the Town Creek Indian Mound and looks to be about 10 miles from Rt 24/27. I really should look at the map more often.

The area I drove through was a community for pottery makers with many signs pointing to pottery stores or exhibits. I knew that to have such a large gathering of pottery makers, there must be a lot of clay in the area, but I couldn’t tell by looking at the terrain. Finally, I drove past a newly made driveway and could see the deep red clay of the earth, which confirmed the reason for the high concentration of potters.

Just beyond the Uwharrie National Forest, I drove over the Pee Dee River. I don’t know where this river starts or where it ends, but every single time I come out this way, I end up crossing the Pee Dee River somewhere. It was the deepest brownish/red I had ever seen of a river. Just past the bridge, I was able to turn off into a residential area and get out of the van to take some pictues. The road was high above the river and I discovered a path that lead down to the river’s edge, so I took Hopey for a quick walk.

Despite all the stops I made and having a leisurely hour-long lunch, I still arrived in Gastonia about 20 minutes earlier. As it was, I was at Cathy’s pretty close to an hour before she got home. It was great seeing Cathy, Kevin, and Bailey again. Later, Jess and her boyfriend, Jesse, came over. They forced me to watch three hours of “Lost,” as it was the first show of the last season. The first two hours were recaps of the previous five seasons’ shows. I figured out why the show is called “Lost.” It has nothing to do with what happened to the people on the island; it is a description of what the viewer experiences. I may just have to rent the series now so I can figure out what happened. There were so many twists to the plot with far, far too many characters for my piddly little brain to keep track of.