Wednesday, June 29

This morning we knew we had to leave early because we had a lot of miles to cover and a stop to make before we got to Gaffney, South Carolina for the night.  We were up and on the road by  7:30, wishing we could stay longer with Kathy to see all the things we missed.  ("There are some lovely old Victorian homes that have been restored down that road.  I guess I'll have to take you there next time.")

Now every morning as we drive, we have written part of the each day's blog, commenting on what we see as we drive through this country.  So shortly after leaving Kathy's house, Yvonne reached for the journal she has been writing in and couldn't find it in the truck.  We called Kathy to see if we had left it at her house.  When she reported that she'd even looked under the bed and it wasn't there, we decided it had gotten packed in the trailer and figured we'd find it when we set up.  It wasn't in the trailer and we were stumped as to where it could be.  We eventually found it way under the driver's seat of the truck having slipped down off the back seat during some re-organization of the things that travel there. 

We were hoping to stop in Birmingham, AL to visit the Civil Rights Museum there, but as the hours passed we had to give that up.  You see, we had a very important stop to make in Zirconia, NC.  Today we drove across beautiful green Alabama, across the northwest corner of South Carolina into western North Carolina and back into South Carolina to our campsite in Gaffney.  In SC the freeways are lined with gorgeous flower gardens, I think they are Peruvian lilies, mostly yellow but some orange and coral colored ones.   Everything is so green.  The woods continue to line the freeways as well.  We know that California was essentially a desert until we began to irrigate it, so we are not used to all this greenery.  Also there are rivers, large and small, and lakes and ponds and bayous everywhere.  No wonder everything is green.

Back to our special stop in Zirconia.  Most of you know that Yvonne has been studying the harp for the last year and a half.  Our friend, Donna Luder, graciously loaned Yvonne her beautiful Hidden Valley harp to use.  Well, Yvonne has decided to train to become a Certified Music Practitioner, which allows her to enter hospitals, hospices, convalescent homes, etc. to play for those who are ill or dying.  This means she will have to carry her harp  up and down stairs, and in and out of the car.  The Hidden Valley harp weighs in at 48 pounds and that is a little more that she wants to wrangle.  Her teacher told her about a harp builder that makes harps out of carbon fiber fabric which weigh less the 10 pounds and his workshop, Heartland Harps, is in Zirconia, NC,  near Asheville, NC (for those of you who are familiar with the territory.)

We wound through the Smokey Mountains following the directions that Rosemary dictated and drove right to the front door of Heartland Harps (unfortunately Stanley did not believe Rosemary so we went by and had to get turned round on these little back roads. How fun)  Then it was up the driveway to their shop. 

There we met Dave (the harp builder) and Pamela (his harpist wife).  We were introduced to the harps and got to listen to the wonderful sound that this plastic harp produces.  (We had an unintended example of how tough these harps are when Dave knocked over one of the harps and it banged into another.  No damage.  They are just amazing.)  We spent time learning how these harps are made and coming to the conclusion that this harp was for Yvonne.  All of these harps are made to order so we put a down payment and the harp should arrive (by fed ex) late August or early September. 

Then we had to get the truck and trailer turned around in their driveway and it was back on the road to South Carolina (Haven't we been there before?).  Another hour and we were in Gaffney KOA, set up and exhausted.   We are just not made to be on the road for 9+ hours.  We will try not to do that again but it was worth the trip to the harp workshop. 

Tomorrow we are up and off to Virginia Beach to greet Michelle.