Well, we've arrived at Mount Airy, NC, the hometown of Andy Griffith and the basis for the town of Mayberry in the Andy Griffith Show.  On the way here, we swung into Dublin, VA for a bite of lunch.  After passing all the fast food restaurants, I decided a U-turn was in order.  After all, it's a four-lane divided highway, so plenty of room, even though Janice thought it a bit too tight.  But, hey, who's got the vast truck driving experience, right?  it was too tight.  We (I) have now completely blocked two lanes of traffic.  Can't back up with the truck hitched, so it's time to bail out and do a pit stop style disconnect of the toad.  Nobody honked or swore (so that we could hear), and we clear the intersection and pull into a Walmart lot to regroup.  Enter the Sheriff's Deputy.  Someone had reported a motorhome broken down in the intersection.  We explained my little faux pas and he couldn't have been nicer.  Said the same thing happened to him one time.

On Wednesday we tour downtown.  We have pork tenderloins at Snappy Lunch (only real business mentioned by name in the TV show).  They are phenomenal!  If ever in the area, stop by... definitely worth the detour.  Next, since I need a haircut, it's a stop at Floyd's Barber Shop.  I even got to meet the "real" Floyd, Russell Hiatt, now 91 years old.

Getting my hair cut at Floyd's.  The "real" Floyd, Russell Hiatt, is the gentlemen in the next chair

We then took a tour in a Mayberry era squad car.  very informative and the driver was a blast.  Speaking of blasts, did you know that Mount Airy is home to the world's largest open-faced granite quarry?  A really fun day!  We hope to see the Andy Griffith Museum before we leave.

Our first hiccup!  We arrived at Shenandoah Crossing at twilight on Nov. 6 only to find that our reservation for a pull-through site had morphed into a back-in site too small for our motorhome.  I parked in "overflow parking," unhooked the toad, and Janice drove it to the office while I stayed with the coach (and had a cocktail!).  Janice returned, saying everything was set and then uttered the infamous words "follow me!"  It is now pitch dark and Janice promptly takes us into areas where 44-ft. motorhomes were never meant to tread!!  In her defense, the roads were narrow and the road signs and site numbers were carved into wooden signs and were totally unreadable. Those factors did not, however, in any way minimize the epithets that were being uttered by yours truly!  Finally, Janice obtained the aid of another camper and we found our site.  Did I mention the road was narrow?  That it was DARK?!  The pull-through site had a rail fence post on one corner of the pad, and a tree on the other!!  Clearly, the designer of the RV park had no idea what he was doing!  This evaluation was confirmed after, finally squeezing our MH into the site, the MH only leveled after the right front wheel was well off the ground!  (a host at the resort later stated to us that the people who constructed the RV park didn't know what they were doing...  ya think?)  The next day was clear and bright, and would have been a great day for activities... EXCEPT we had to attend the sales pitch.  Ours was a promotional stay which cost us a total of about $30, and it was time to pay the piper.  The presentation was actually not high pressure, and we politely declined spending $$$ for a membership.  After the presentation, we decided to take the bikes of the truck and go for a ride.  OOPS!  "Did you have the keys for the cable lock last?"  "No, I thought you had them."  The keys were lost and the rains began, lasting the remaining two days of our trip.  The next day we found a locksmith who picked the Master padlock in about 15 seconds (really feeling secure about our storage units back in Springfield now!), after which we drove to Monticello.  Really fabulous!  Awe-inspiring to walk the same grounds as Jefferson and stand in his study.  And talk about beautiful country!  We visited Madison's Montpelier the following day.  Weather getting nippy, so we decide to forego our planned visit to Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate and we head directly to the warmer climes of the South.  On to Mayberry, RFD!

Drive from Mt. Comfort, IN to Milton, WV went smoothly... but don't apply that term to the interstate in Ohio!  We arrived at the KOA campground around 5:00 pm.  The park was nice.. even had a catch & release pond for fishing, though we passed on that activity.  A quiet overnight and it's on to Shenandoah Crossings Resort just outside of Gordonsville, VA.

Our adventure begins!  We headed east out of Springfield, bound for Mt. Comfort, Indiana, where we purchased our motorhome last March.  Nothing serious, just a few warranty items we believed should be addressed prior to a lengthy journey.  Unfortunately, parts were needed and our stay lasted longer than we anticipated.  We spent the time bicycling the canal in downtown Indy and checking out local restaurants.  The work was finished on 11/05 and, on the morning of 11/06 we headed out to Milton, WV.