OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

For those of you who don't understand my title, just repeat OH MY GOSH many times. We have been off the map at campgrounds the past two nights, with no internet access. Barb just read my emails to me. Greg reports that Finny was not fat--she delivered a foal yesterday!!!! I am in shock. I sure didn't buy her as a bred mare. OMG, I have three horses, I have a foal to train and feed. And to place in a home. Wow, is this unplanned!!!!!

Now we are racing home, skipping the stops at the Belair (if it is still there) and
Geneva.

So, an update on the past two days.

Monday afternoon we spent a little time in Cherokee, NC We arrived in great time. We didn't buy any turquoise and silver jewelry or any glass animals! (Didn't even see any glass animals). We decided to go to Joyce Kilmer Forest in far western NC. Joyce Kilmer is the author of "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree...." And I mean the real poem, not Gram's version. John Reynolds told us there were huge trees there. It is supposed to be the last stand of virgin forest anywhere around. We didn't see the giant trees, because we didn't have time to walk the whole trail. There were lots of dead hickorys that the park service blew up so it looked NATURAL!!!! Unfortunately, it was such a long drive, we didn't get to walk much in the park, either. We drove forever in Nantahala Forest coming and going.

As it was, it was very late when we finally arrived at North Mills River Campground. Gates closed. Hmmmmmmm. Manager's RV right there, so I went up to knock. Sign: Please use other door. So I went to the other door. Sign on other door: If you are arriving after hours, please see camp hosts at site _____. Which was in a locked area. Barb the bold (Louise) got out and found that the gate to the area with our site was not locked, just pulled to, so we
broke in.

Our site was nice; we could hear Mills River in the quiet. Unfortunately, no showers, no
water. But it was dark and quiet, and I slept like the dead (the stinky dead). It was a long day driving. Barb noted the temp was 58--nice sleeping weather. Alarm clock was birds and the river--very nice.

We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway Tuesday morning close to Asheville. The speed limit is 45, but I don't think we got much over 35 in NC. Incredible switchbacks and twisty, hilly road.
Beautiful!

We passed some grazing deer and a couple of turkeys. LOTS of Christmas tree and topiary farms
in VA. One section we had to travel part of the way off the Parkway due to construction work. There were about 5 signs warning us of a detour, so which one did I believe? Of course, the one that was partially covered with a black plastic bag. So we went to the construction site before we turned around. In case you wondered, they were working on a scenic overlook wall. Glad we know that now. We decided to get off the Parkway earlier than
planned or we'd never get to our campground. We only did about 200 miles in 6 1/2 hours on the Parkway.

We managed to get up, have breakfast and pack up by 9:30, and were on our way.
We have actually stopped to have lunch in spite of the exciting news, but are now back on the road. There was a short debate about names for the new addition, and the current fav is Sherando after last night's campsite, with final approval from Greg, the almost midwife.

We'll tell you about last night later. Some serious miles to cover real fast. ( of course we'll be careful).

Later, T & L