Sandy passed us by and we are not upset at all!

Where are we today ?

Salisbury North Carolina

        Another great day, good sleep last night and warmer weather. Nothing on the agenda today and that is good. Kinda hang out, tidy up a bit , Suzie did a whirlwind cleanup of our house (dust vacuum etc..) Looks like a new house again!
        I did the standard outside stuff check tires, oil etc... we are on the road in the morning.  Lotsa sunshine and no wind today, looks like hurricane Sandy passed us by completely (thats a good thing). Able to relax with our books for while and enjoy the great weather here.

a wonderful day here

          By mid afternoon Rob and Pat dropped by, chat and plan the next couple days on the road. "Happy hour" and Lady girl is relaxed on Suzie's lap for a while. Nice and warm in the sun.

Lady Girl is too comfy

think I will have a nap!

        As the day slipped by it was soon time to fire up our Weber Q and grill a couple burgers, Fry Daddy for some homemade fries and we have very tasty "fast food" supper, slower, better and cheaper than we can buy anywhere else.

our Weber at work doing a great job

finished product hot fresh and tasty

         Our day just zipped on by with no adverse effects from Sandy at all, hope everyone else north of us gets thru this as easy as we did. Hang onto your hats and tie down your lawn chairs, dogs, BBQ's, pull in your slides and secure anything else you don't wanna loose.
        Thanks for the read and y'all come back now, hear?

Check out the map below to see where we have been this winter

View Winter 2012-1013 in a larger map

A great tour of Salisbury NC.and some Cheerwine, actually a softdrink!

Where are we today ?

Salisbury North Carolina

        A mild morning and slightly overcast, maybe rain, but I think not. So the four of us decided to wander into town and check out the local farmer's market.

        Around the corner on the way to the market we passed this 6,000 square foot mural historical mural that was painted from 1978-1981depicting life at the turn of the century. The characters were modeled after local citizens. It is an impressive mural and was touched up in 2010 by local artists, to read the article click here.

        Then around the corner to the Salisbury farmer's Market. A little disappointing but hey got us out for a walk in the morning air.

recycled feed bags

cool birdhouses

        Next stop was the visitor center to check out the narrated Trolley tour around town. We had an hour to wait so did a walkabout on our own until tour time.

interesting store fronts

wonder if its a relative?

Old courthouse and Museum c.1855

Yadkin House hotel 1913, next to train station is
 now apartments

Salsbury Train Station 1908,  now renovated for conference centre
still 7 Amtrack trains a day stop here.

beautiful shrubs by the sidewalk, I believe is Holy
correct me if I am wrong.

new courthouse 1921

Now back to the visitor center and the Trolley arrives, almost a full load today for their last run of the season.

        So we hopped on and were overloaded with great scenery, facts and history of this wonderful town, for about 75 minutes. Well done.

        The Fulton-Mock Blackmer house below has an interesting recent history click here  

 fake window in the huge chimney 

impressive looking mansion

Salisbury National Cemetery

mosaic wall mural

Us in the trolley

Trolley ride done

        Now our ride was done and it was very informative and worthwhile too. So we gonna head back home for lunch, but first a stop at the store to pick up a bottle of Cheerwine to taste. This is a softdrink created locally in 1917 read about it here, almost tastes either like a cherry coke or Dr. Pepper but is pretty good. So if you see it around its worth a try.

Cheerwine,
A great tasting soft drink!

We being "Happy for an hour"

especially "Lady Girl"

Now supper is my version of
a "Pork Stroganoff'

        Then a wonderful sunset here in the mountains of North Carolina.

        Hurricane Sandy? We are keeping a close eye out and are 325 miles from the shore and about 1,500 ft above sea level, so looks like all is good here. Safe and sound in a nice resort, we just wait until it passes by us then we head south to Florida. Today ended up  no wind and no rain so all is good here. Monday should be good for us to head further south.

        Thanks for your concerns and stopping by, a wonderful day here, a bit overcast and about 65f (18c) so all is good.

        So take care and enjoy your days we are having a ball !

Check out the map below to see where we have been this winter

View Winter 2012-1013 in a larger map

Trains in Spencer North Carolina

Where are we today ?

Salisbury North Carolina

        Another wonderful day and just puttering around this morning, cleaning and a few errands. Chat with Rob and Pat late morning and we were checking the campground flyer to see what might be in the area thats interesting.
        Well Rob spotted a tiny add for the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer NC. So a quick check out their website and we decided lets take a drive only about 15 minutes away and see what its all about. Not expecting anything too great we were overwhelmed by the size of this facility and the amazing history behind it.
        All the trains and track that was there, the largest operating round house and all the empty buildings that once employed over 2,000 people until the mid 1900's until the diesel engine replace the steam engine after close to 100 years of railroad history. 
        The facility is run by volunteers who love doing what they do , operating and repairing real trains. Passing on the history and enjoy talking with people.
        We arrived there shortly after 1 o'clock and before we know it with a train ride on a 1921 rail car, chatting with the conductor and enjoying the nice weather, We ended up in the museum, lotsa history, a cool video of days gone by and so much to see. Not just a regular museum but one full of real live ancient rail cars and engines. Repair facilities and so much more.
       We took way too many pictures today and I posted way to many but only a small sample of what we saw.

we are heading into the visitor center

map of the facility

Rob and the girls

me and Suzie

all aboard!

train station

boarding the train

our conductor from Bramalea Ontario, 1 hour from home!, small world.

turntable

leaving our train

see ya later

a video history

our engine heading to the turntable

ready to turn

off the turntable into the shed

looks at years wages 1922 ($1,030.32) 

model of the train yards

restoration area

mail car

hospital car

Suzie on left peaking out and Pat on right

this be the repair facility, now empty

        Now after three hours of "training" and way too much fun, we headed back to camp, kinda late but just enough time for a very short "Happy 1/2 hour" while our BBQ's heated up to grill supper. 

         As we headed back into the campground Rob wanted to go dumpster diving and insisted on stopping by the dumpster to reclaim some of his garbage. Head first in the dumpster hmm. Got his prize and is happy, don't smell too good anymore thou!

        And tonight a couple "Canadian" garlic sausage from home, mashed taters and steamed broccoli. Perfect to round out a wonderful friday.

Rob the dumpster diver

        Thats it for another great day, hope you enjoyed the trains as much as we did.
        Thanks for the read, see y'all later!

Check out the map below to see where we have been this winter 

View Winter 2012-1013 in a larger map