Road Trippin': Days 1 & 2

After just over a week at my parents' house, we decided it was time to start making our way out to our final destination of Provo, Utah. So we set off on what would become an epic 19 day, 18 state, and 4769 mile road trip. (See map.)

The first thing on our list of things to do and places to see was Asheville, North Carolina. We've heard it's a very cool town, and Austin wanted to use this trip in part to explore new areas of the country where we might want to live when he graduates from business school.

On the first day, we set off down Highway 23 from my parents house and drove thru...

and

We had hoped to make it all the way to North Carolina that day, but we got a late start. And as good a travel companion as Carson was, we decided not to push our luck and make him cranky. Plus, we intended to camp and figured it would be less of a hassle to find a good camping spot before the sun went down.

When you're used to camping in the West, it can be frustrating to find a good camping spot in the East. It's more populated, has less open space, and is much more more tree-y. We had made it all the way to Duffield, Virginia and decided to backtrack up into the Jefferson National Forest to find our spot. But it turned out that Jefferson National Forest doesn't have very much open space at all. Where there weren't houses, there was dense foliage and tree-age, or the side of the mountain dropped off so steeply that I was nervous just on the road! Eventually we made it to the peak of the mountain, found an old abandoned road that was gated off and slept just behind the gate.

Another thing about sleeping in the West is that there is less concern about bugs. Therefore, we don't own a tent. This is us sleeping under a rain fly in the tall, open grasses of the Virginia hills. On one hand, it was nice to be sleeping out in the fresh air; Carson was tired enough to fall asleep pretty quickly; and our sleeping bags are at least as comfortable as our Chinese bed was. But on the other hand, it turned out that all that paranoid itching I was doing all night wasn't so paranoid afterall. Carson and I had been quite a feast for the local contingent of chiggers. Deee-lightful! But on the whole, it was a pleasant experience.

The next morning, it was refreshing to look out at the place we had stumbled upon in the dark. We were pleasantly surprised to find a handful of blackberry bushes, and Austin and Carson set off on an expedition to find some "good berries"--the term Carson picked up to distinguish ripe berries from green.

(We found Carson with his head covered like this in the morning.)

So after the hike and berry hunt, we began our drive again thru:

And on into...

When we got to Asheville, it turned out there was a huge festival going on. The entire downtown was shut down, and there were booths and exhibits and novelties going on all over.

Among the attractions were the human statue (it was like 100degrees and super humid out!) who played Civil War style drum rhythms from time to time, some weird jugglers...

And the incredible, Ultimate Air Dogs! These dogs were amazing! They would run along the deck towards their handlers who would then throw a toy out into the pool for them to dive after. Some of these dogs were jumping upwards of 23 feet! It was incredible! We thought about how much our dog would enjoy something like this.

And speaking of the hairy beast, here he is:

Our final destination for Day 2 was Guntersville, Alabama where a good friend of mine and her family were taking care of Seamus during our year in China. We were very excited to see him. When we arrived, he first barked at us, then decided we weren't a threat so came up to say hi. But then as we were petting him, the recognition began to dawn on him, and he started whimpering louder and louder. "You're not dead! You're not dead! I thought you were dead!" So it was a warm, hearty greeting.

We stayed overnight in Alabama, and the next morning, we heard a little whimper at our bedroom door. I opened up to find Seamus lying there, nose pressed against the doorjamb, waiting for us to wake up. I let him in and he shoved his head on my lap for his favorite good-morning ear rub. And he grunted with pleasure as I scratched him.

Huge thanks to Marcia and her family for putting up with (and loving!) our favorite dog with all of his neuroses and obsessions for this past year! We think he's a great dog, but we know that his obsessive-compulsing ball fetching, stick chasing, and rock dragging tendencies can be a little bit tedious. We're so grateful that they were willing to take that on. Thanks yet one more time!