83 Dennis!

Thursday Dec 12, 2013

A test of Faith

      While packing the camper to leave I seen some movement in the channel that came up beside the drive way.  I kept my eye on it and took some pictures,  Looked like otters to me.  When I talked with Dale on the phone she said she had been told there were otter there, she asked what time I had seen them?  Six thirty I replied, guess we will never see them, not an early riser I guess.   Our ride today would take us to Charlotte NC.  A chilly clear morning, we made sure the home was locked and Wolfie was safe and we were on our way.      We had been on the road for a short time when we seen a group of people walking along the roadside, it seemed to be a mixed group of people and at the front they were carrying a sign or poster in the air.  We were rubbernecking as we passed trying to figure out what was going on.  It got the best of us and a mile down the road we did a U-turn to get the story.   I'm sure they wondered why we turned and were coming back.  One of the young people spoke better English than the adult we approached.  We gathered it was a religious pilgrimage that would take nine hours to complete.   Later at our destination Patti gave us the full story.  Today Dec 12 is one of the most important dates on the Mexican calendar. 
The faithful make a pilgrimage to honor "Our Lady of Guadalupe" the spiritual mother of all Mexicans.  They travel for miles often finishing on their knees to show their faith.  You learn some interesting things on the road if your curious enough.      
     A few years ago one of my sisters had brought a catalog to one of our breakfast get together's in Lake City Minnesota.   The catalog seemed to focus on restoration parts for Ford tractor and Cushman scooter's.  She said it was Dennis Carpenter's business.  I was impressed, I had heard he had built some kind of business down South.    A few weeks later we were riding by Albert lea Minnesota and we got behind one of his transport vehicles.  If I hadn't seen the catalog, would I have recognized the logo?  Just how big was his company anyway?  Coincidence?   I was getting curious.  I would find out today!   A couple of miles down the road we arrived at Carpenter Industry's. 
     Dennis, is at the employee Christmas party at the moment.  While we wait I will try and explain our connection.   His parents Clarence and Maxine farmed in the same

Thanks for the wonderful tour!

community with my parents, threshing crew, 4-H, we all went to the same Country Church " Elmira" As a young man Dennis liked to tip my mothers hat forward as he went past her in the Church pew.  It became such a ritual that she thought something was wrong if he didn't.  His sister Sylvia and I went to a one room (not counting the coat and supply) country school.   One of my predominant recollections of Dennis, he was in the upper level of a granary on his fathers farm.  

Got carburetors?

Showing me a one cylinder model airplane engine he was working on.  Approximately eight years my senior he was starting on a life path that is hard to comprehend.   How did he get from that farm to the nine building 300,000square foot production and retail facility that we just pulled into?  Was it his University of Minnesota college education shortened to 3 days when called home to run the farm for his injured father?  Was it a move to North Carolina?  Was it his hobby of restoring old automobiles?  Or was it Henry Ford himself?  Who knows if it would have even happened except for Henry Ford and his fascination with soybeans and their uses, Dennis said that Ford had soybeans growing around the automotive plants.  In 1935 they had over  five million acres dedicated to growing soybeans and used them to produce the plastic parts for their cars, from distributor caps to dash knobs.   And there in lies the problem, with age the knobs deteriorated and Dennis wanted his 1940 Ford restore to be perfect.  In 1970 he started producing his own.   By hand first and then a plastic injection machine and now
     It was good to see Dennis and as a bonus we found that Sylvia was also here.   Hard to bridge the gap of fifty some years in a few moments.  We had not seen each other since their fathers funeral a few years ago.   A plant tour had been arranged for us.  Wayne was our guide and he had an interesting association with Dennis also.  It seems he was doing some carpentry work nearby and Dennis stopped by to visit with him.  For the next twenty years he constructed buildings for him.  It worked out great as they were not in production this time of the day so we could take our time without the noise of the machines.  I thought we had stepped into a Ford production plant.  Thru the years it has grown from producing plastic auto parts to metal stamping machines and rubber extrusion production.  Another plus with the timing of our tour, we had a chance to meet and visit with some of the employees as we passed thru their area.  It was obvious they liked working with the Carpenter's. 

  Amazing, even carburetors, Ruthie will tell you there are over a 110 parts in a carburetor and they test each and everyone on an engine before it is shipped.  She was enjoying this as much as I was.  I think the other thing that intrigued her was the progressive stamping machines that took a flat piece of metal and with each stamp formed it a little more to the desired product like a hubcap.  I'm beginning to appreciate the cost of finished parts.  Some of these machines are two story's tall.  She also loves to tell the story of how Dennis got into the rubber extrusion business and the 62 foot long machine that produces it. But enough already.  Obviously we were impressed.   Are we done?  Not even close.  From here our tour took us to "The Museum"

a large building housing Dennis's collection.  Cars: 30-40 I would guess, from the 1940 Ford convertible that started it all, to model "T"s, a Mario Andretti race car, his Aunts antique car with only a front seat so she didn't have to take the neighbors to church.   Ford Tractors,  Hundreds of Cushman scooters, (I could have spent hours here, I think our patient guide thought we did.)  and then collections of every kind including the Avon collection his mother had.  I spent hours at their home (Maxine was trying to teach me guitar, bless her heart.)  and didn't even know she had one.  The couch where his father proposed to his mother. 

At the conclusion, (we had to let this poor man get home) our guide called Dennis.  Dennis had one more thing to show us before we left the museum,   There was a framed newspaper clipping of his father Clarence presenting my father with a conservation award.   And just below it was another article of the Elmira school building being moved to his fathers farm and turned into a hog farrowing building.  That's right, the building that Sylvia, I, and countless others went to school was now a pig barn.  

     Introducing us to Patti, I think she has many jobs here, her husband assembles the  carburetors and at the moment she is 




A 1978 Gold Wing!

sorting, identifying and cataloging miscellaneous automotive parts.  One of Dennis's warehouses is what they call "new old parts" old stock found in warehouses that had never been sold.  Patti made sure we were settled in "Mom and Dads" house and to call her if there was anything we needed.  Giving us the keys to a Bronco (ford of course) and a "we will do lunch tomorrow" he was on his

1976 Gold Wing still in the box!

way.  Patti was our source for our information on the Pilgrimage we had seen this morning.  She made sure we were comfortable in the home located on the property.   Our living quarters was another experience for us.   In their later years Clarence and Maxine lived here in the winter until Maxine passed away, Clarence returned every winter keeping busy with odd jobs around the plant and clearing wood from the factory grounds.  (made room for more buildings) He would cord up the wood and sell it locally delivering it in the pickup that still sits under the carport.  Dennis said if someone looked strapped for cash his dad would just give them the wood.   I have fond memories of them and
remember Clarence loved to sing at our little church with Maxine playing the piano.  Good memories.   The strange thing is hearing Dennis's memories of my parents.  Is it possible that we are to hard on those we love the most and they don't know it?  Sorry, you will think I'm sensitive or something.  That's not the way my father raised me!  

     It was like Clarence and Maxine stepped out of the house this morning and we entered tonight.

The car that started it all, 1940 Ford Deluxe Convertible

 It was just the way they left it, Maxine's apron and a shadow box I remember from the farm, Clarence's cap still hanging on the hall tree.  We would
 be comfortable here.  It took my thoughts back to the farm neighborhood, coupled with Dennis's mention of his fathers horrible farm accident that had cut his education short.  Evidently I was young enough that I wasn't aware of it and his recovery was such that it was never brought to my attention.  It got me thinking deaths suffered by farmers my fathers age as they transitioned from horse and hand labor to mechanized farming.  We had lost our closest neighbor to a tractor accident, another was run over by his tractor my father had broke both his arms falling off a silo.     I was in a coma for sometime (all I know is when I came out of it my Mother said I gave her the nicest smile.) when I fell off a work horse, startled when our neighbor

Walter started his John Deere tractor.  In the beginning the machines had almost no safety provisions.  On our first tractor a John Deere model "B" usable power was transferred to another machine either by means of a pulley coming out I believe the right side of the tractor via a 8-10 inch wide belt.   We used it often on our farm, to grind feed, power the threshing machine and since our home was heated with a pot belly wood stove in the
living room we used it to cut wood.  Here is how it worked, the belt went from the pulley to the front of the tractor and another large pulley, the shaft from the pulley went across the front of the tractor, on that side was a 24 inch round saw blade (maybe it was smaller, remember I was very little) was mounted.  Working together my parents lifted a log on to a wooden frame by the blade, the log could be quite long if it was
a smaller branch or six to eight feet if it was larger 8 to 12 inches.   Sliding it past the blade to a length that would fit in our stove they started the cut, if they didn't move the entire log smoothly parallel to the blade it would bind the saw blade.  (resulting in many dangerous and unpleasant moments) My job was to stand between the saw blade and the belt/pulley and push/throw the wood chunks away as they exited the blade.  The other power source was a PTO (had to think for a moment, Power take off.  Makes sense).  In the beginning they were just connected to the machine via a shaft with a u-joint on both ends, we climbed on and off the tractor, straddled and stepped over them all the while it was spinning.   It caught and entwined many a farm member with its unforgiving force.  It is sad to think of the lives lost and suffering dealt to farm families as they worked to provide for their loved ones.  Sorry, a tangent I know, but who knows maybe my great grandchild will read this some day with no clue of the way farming was back then.

      Wayne mentioned we should visit Hendrix motorsports and their contribution to the racing industry, he said you could see them build race cars there.   When you are told something you (at least I do) form a mental image of what you are going to see.  How far off could I be?  My picture was a rather large garage where you could stand behind a pipe rail and watch a couple of mechanics work on a car.   Wayne had suggested it, we were close, we had time before  lunch and we had the trusty Bronco, good thing as there was a hard frost to scrape off the window.  What we actually seen.  A very large complex devoted to designing and building cars for the track.  They had one building devoted to engines, that one had extra security involved.  I had no idea how big this sport was.   We toured the museum and store that housed over twenty special race cars.  We cut our tour short when Dennis called to meet us for lunch.    Dennis didn't say where we were meeting, just gave us
some directions.  After a few misguided turns we figured out we were actually going inside the Charlotte speedway.  We met Dennis in the parking lot, he was accompanied by Patti and her son Daniel.  Lunch was in the "Speedway club" a restaurant on the top floor that overlooked the speedway. 

We thought it looked big as we drove by, I'm sure the restaurant staff wondered where

                    Similar to what it says in your rearview mirror,

                   objects  maybe closer than they appear   In this

                      case the lens made it  appear that Dennis was

                                     taller than us.

these two small town visitors lived as we stood at the windows and took pictures of the track below.  

More like it, we all look the same size, Patti and Daniel.

     Every time we had went by the speedway we had seen the advertisement to join them for a "Speedway Christmas" with over three million (just an estimate I'm sure) lights.  We asked some of the people we met if it was worth seeing and know one seemed to know.  Why not?  We will never be this close, we figure a half hour most driving thru some pretty lights and back to Clarence and Maxine's home. 

  Saturday morning there was rain forecast for the entire day.  We packed and stopped by the Speedway for a tour that had been sold out yesterday. It was hard to believe the feeling when the van was sitting on the 24 degree incline on the speed way corners.   It was fun to see the four lane drag strip they had built across the street from the speedway.  Anxious to get on the road since the rain had not started it didn't take us long to mount up and leave.   A little over 200 pictures taken in three days, it must have been a special stop for us! 

  A special memory, thank you Dennis and friends! 

82 House Sitting

     It was Saturday December 7th and our week was over, time to pack up and move on.  Nice weather, the low last night was 65 today we had already seen the high for the day, rain and cold. Packed hurriedly, trying to load up before the rain got everything wet. Light mist, I wore my rain pants today, ( didn't want that mocking voice in my intercom.)  It was time for a zip lock freezer bag over our GPS looks like we were in for rain most of the day.  It was 55 by the time we left, another high for the day.   

It looks out of place without snow!

   We stopped by the resort office to turn in the keys.  As I hit the XM button and swung onto the road I mentioned the two songs on my Christmas Do Not Playlist.  Why did I do that, put a negative thought out there, I know better.  The very next song-- 
 

Hey! Chingedy ching,

(hee-haw, hee-haw)

It's Dominick the donkey.

Chingedy ching,

(hee-haw, hee-haw)

The Italian Christmas donkey.



(la la la-la la-la la la la la)




Either the tractor lights up or they can't move it!

     See if it stays in your head.  We had made this trip to Ocean Isle enough times that we made a note of some decadent decorations to get a picture of.  After a short time I realized I had made a mistake, I had not put on my heated jacket, I didn't say anything for a while fearing the mocking voices in my helmet would return.  When I did mention I was going to stop and suit up Ruthie was pretty nice about it more concern than mockery.  To save time I waited until a red light was stopping me and pulled into a gas station under the canopy to change, bad choice.  A sheriff pulled up to the intersection just as we pulled in.   As I took off my raincoat to put on my heated jacket I could see he hadn't moved.  When we were ready to pull out we found out why.  He


how many corvettes did you count?

closed the intersection to let a corvette group coming from the West cross and head for Camp Lejeune the Marine base.  We wondered if it might be part of the Marines "Toys for Tots" ride that many motorcycle groups participate in.  I wish we would have counted the cars, there were so many of them they started stacking up thru the intersection.  Finally we were on our way.  The rest of the ride was comfortable and in a couple of hours we were at our home for the week.  Ruthie had the key, so we walked in first to look around.  There was a letter from Wolfie on the table along with her treats.    We had left over chicken we had brought with us, one of roasters they have by the check outs, it will last us at least 3 days, pretty cheap meal.  We were a little chilled from the ride I remembered Mike had an electric blanket on the couch he liked to use when his shoulder was aching. Sure enough there it was. Sometimes you don't realize the depth of the chill until you start to warm up.

Pretty nice letter for a cat!

     Later I sat up a chair as my computer table and started to work on the blog.  I got up for something and when I returned the lady of the house (Wolfie) had taken over my chair.  No way was I going to ask her to move.  I had rubbed her treats in my hands, (works with horses) I want to get on her good side, she already bit Ruthie.  Wish cats were similar to horses we could have a session in the round pen and then we would get along.  No such luck. I moved to the other chair.   The next morning I was awake at 5:30 laid a blanket in front of the door crack to keep it quiet for Ruthie, donned my hooded sweat shirt, drink of water and to the computer,  Is this a game or what?  Wolfee is in my new chair.  Fine, back to the couch besides the electric blanket is there.  (I wonder if Mike will miss one little blanket?)  A few relaxing days followed, a your now our neighbor and thanks for helping with our move grilled steak dinner at Tom and Lindy's.  Fun time, and it was just a short chilly ride for a few blocks.   A phone call changed our plan for our next stop to Charlotte. 
Monday Dec 9,  We ran some errands with Tom and Lindy and they were kind enough to wait while Ruthie had a check up for her contact.   It had reached 61 degrees and we were back at our new residence we were prepared for a relaxing day.   

     Suddenly Ruthie was waking me with an urgency in her voice I don't oven hear.  Tom had called and Lindy had fallen thru the ceiling to the living room below, he needed our help. (We


Studs two foot on center.

were the only ones they knew within hundreds of miles.)   It will be a long time before I forget that picture, poor lindy laying on the floor amidst blown in insulation and cardboard boxes.  The ceiling drywall was hanging wide open.   Ruthie gave her comfort and tried to access her condition.  A pain in her back led us to call 911.  Great response time, about 3 minutes.   We stayed to clean up the mess and borrowing a cordless drill from the neighbor we tacked the ceiling back up as best we could.  Looking back one interesting side note.  The ambulance driver asked what hospital they wanted to use.  They told him they just moved here from New Jersey, he asked what exit? (another transplant)  Tom called, our fears were justified.  Lindy had shattered her  2nd lumbar.  They transferred her specialist in Wilmington for the repair.  We have been in contact with Tom and Lindy, the operation went well and she is back at home on the road to recovery.   I'm sure her great attitude is helping with the recovery.  

81 Estuary?

Dec 6 Friday,  Last day in the New Bern time share.  We had big plans plus we always find something while we are riding.  

Yup, we were here!

     At the welcome session they had suggested a ride to Washington NC to see the Estuarium.  Felt compelled to find out what the word meant.   Dressed for the ride we were comfortable and enjoying the scenery.  Washington, often called little Washington as it was the first American city named after George.  The town was burned during the civil war by the evacuating Union troops.  Should I cover my Minnesota plates?  Naw I think its all good here.  A small town, it was easy to find the Estuarium on the banks of the Pamlico sound.  The big question still remained, what the heck is a Estuary?   Paid the five dollars for the answer.  Sure, could have googled it but the tour and film was interesting.   Basically it is where the freshwater joins and mixes with saltwater from the ocean.  The salt concentration is constantly changing and provides a nursery for ocean creatures.  As usual, man is the biggest threat to it.  One of the featured displays was a large room sized living sculpture that showed the eco system of an estuary.  Interesting as the guide put a tennis ball (representing moisture) in play and it travel thru the sculpture across the ceiling thru the clouds and falling again in the form of rain.  Impressive but impossible to capture with the camera.
     After our education we headed to another suggested spot.  Bills Hot Dogs, since 1928 and easy to find.  We were told that the correct order should be "a dog all the way" the yellow sauce was to spicy for Ruthie, I ate hers and she went back to get two "not all the way" I'll deal with the heartburn later.  We sat on the bench outside eating our dogs as the customers filed by.  One young man came on a unique (at least to us) motorcycle.  It had a very long swing arm for the rear tire.  I had only observed these on hill climb bikes although he said they were quite common in the area.  Important facts, he got 6 dogs all the way, ate two and had the other 4 to go. 
     Next stop, Atlantic Beach.   During the ride this morning and now heading back past New Bern we had noticed several places along side the road where the trees were standing in water.  It made for some interesting pictures and at some point I wondered about our elevation.  Checking the GPS it varied between a few feet above to 8 feet below sea level.  (got to be a mistake).
     We arrived in Atlantic Beach around 1:30 and made our way to Fort Macon.  A strange 5 sided fort almost buried in the dunes.  It had a large court yard in the center, then a five sided Fort area surrounded by a large moat like area and finally more cells or rooms buried in the dunes.  The walls are over four feet thick.   As part of a coastal defense defending the coast from Black Beard to the British, Confederates used it to defend against the Union gunboats however it fell to the Unions ground assault.
     Realizing the obsolescence of the old Fort it was sold in 1923 as military surplus for one dollar to North Carolina as a park.   It was put back to use one more time during World War II when the Army leased it back.  Even used as a prison for a while it has certainly seen it all including being the last shot of the civil war in a most unusual way.   During the time the Army leased it back some soldiers rolled what they thought was iron shot into a fireplace, it wasn't, powder filled balls from the civil war exploded killing two of them.  It was 1946 the Confederacy had struck again.
     On the way back we stopped at New Bern to take the Christmas light tour, really wasn't anything we couldn't have seen from the trike.  The best part was a stop at  "The Aerie Bed and Breakfast, an Inn since 1882.  The host already very tall greeted us with tails and a top hat.  Looked like a giant to me.  Interesting because it was one of the B&B's we had walked past on the way to dinner the day before.
      A careful ride home in the dark, with an alert eye out for deer and bear. Tomorrow we leave, where too?  Our new friends from Ocean Isle (Thanksgiving) had asked us to house set and watch Wolfie (cat) while they made a trip back to New Jersey.  However I think they are helping us more than we are aiding them.  Nice people!

80 The Palace

December 4th  Today rain was forecast but we didn't mind.  It gave us a chance to play some cribbage watch some movies on Netflix and enjoy our time share.  Ruthie let me win today so things were looking up.  

The original stable.

Dec 5,

   Today we have big plans, a lite breakfast and we are on the way.  Our first stop was at the museum accompanying the Tryon palace.  Although we don't seek out museums we have found that some of them give us a better picture of the area and provide some interesting stories.  We spent some time at Tyron Palace.  Originally build by the British, Tryon very unpopular partially due to the extra taxes imposed to fund the building of the palace only lived in it a year before he was relocated to New York.  During the American revolution it was taken over by the patriots.   Once the North Carolina state capital it deteriorated after the capital was moved to Raleigh.  Hay stored in the basement (can you believe it, who stores hay in a palace?) caught fire and it burned to the ground.  Only the stable remained.  In the 1930's a movement was started that took 29 years to complete.  Using the original plans, (explain to me how they can do that, find plans from 1765.  I can't find my Gold Wing magazine from last month.  That would be "H.O.G." to you Harley riders.) buildings were moved, highways rerouted and bridges build to enable reconstructing the Palace on the original
 foundation.   It was furnished the way it was during its heyday.  The tour guides were dressed in period costume's.   And I for one thank them, it was very interesting, living history, the best kind.   The gardens
were beautiful but of course I had to see the stable, their horses lived pretty good.  A tour of the kitchen area gave me a chance to finally see how a spinning wheel operates.  Ruthie was intrigued with the holiday decorations of fruit they way it would have been in that period. 
     We had been dodging a large group of children all day, in order to avoid being in the same house with them we took a walk downtown.  It was fun to walk by the historic buildings, some had been turned into bed and breakfasts or offices.  On the corner of the main street where we turned was the drug store where "Brads Drink" was invented in 1893.  In 1903 he moved to a rented warehouse for production, sold close to 8,000 gallons of the syrup and 19,000 gallons the next.  Advertised as healthful, what was it?  Winner gets a half dozen of it. 
     Just down the street we stopped at MJ’s Raw Bar for a bite to eat while the school group dispersed.  While there we received a call from daughter Michelle back home in Minnesota.  The wind chill was 25 below, made us feel even warmer. We returned to tour the Dixon and Stanley houses.  A couple of interesting tidbits,  at one time 1 out of 4 people in North Carolina was a slave and the constitution considered a slave as 3/5 of a person.  And that Mrs. Stanley was a shouting Methodist.  Never had heard that term before.  We had checked with a trolley company to do a narrated tour of the town and walked to the pick up point.  Climbing on the tour bus we waited for it to begin.  We were told that they had to have 6 to

Roni's ride, note the "air horn".

complete the tour.  I tried to help them with the count, lets see there are two of us, a lady from New Zealand, the driver and the narrator that's 5 should be close enough.  No deal the wheels aren't turning.  When will they learn?  It's better to break even or lose a little in the interest of future business. 
     Disappointed that we couldn't take the tour we rode a stretch golf cart back to where we had parked the trike this morning.  Bad choice, right in front of a sea food restaurant.   Not much at home to eat, (excuse) the resort had recommended it (excuse) might as well go in and check it out.   The Sting ray café turned into another fond memory for the day. 
     Nice meal and our waitress Ava  kept calling us "baby" I'm thinking I like it.   I went up to the register  to pay our bill and the clerk asked if we had the trike outside.  The next thing I knew I was telling Ruthie I was taking her for a short ride, initially it was to the end of the street, then around the block, then Roni said "we have to take this on the freeway".  She directed me to the flyover and out to the freeway, a couple of bursts of speed a U-turn and back to the restaurant.  Didn't seem long but Ruthie said it must have been half an hour.  I was thinking she must be the manager or owner to leave like that then she said "I don't care if I do lose my job, this was worth it". 
Guess that answers that.  Another trike admirer in New Bern, an email from her later invited us to stop by next time we are in the area.  
We had received a phone call from Desk services that a package had been received for us.  We had been expecting a set of rain pants so it was not unexpected.  Stopping at the resort office I was greeted by two friendly ladies while Ruthie waited on the trike.  How do I know your Mr. Jeremy Chromer one of them asked?  "Well that will be hard for me to prove" showing my license and blog card, "I believe that is from Cromer LLC to me,  four names cool.  I could have been  a wise guy and mention that the recipient is usually in the center and not the upper left, but that's not like me.  (Ruthie says, it is so like you)  The receptionist had a personal question she wanted to ask me. (probably the reason for the mistake, get a little nervous when asked if they can ask a personal question). She said, "I’m recently divorced, is this your first or second marriage?"  Where is this going anyway?   Evidently she had heard we were riding on the trike for an extended period of time and wondered if we had grown to love to travel the way we do.  Or had we both already liked traveling this way and found each other later in life?  Good question, married for almost 50 years we had always had motorcycles, we had always loved to travel just never had the opportunity.  Then around 2000 we discovered the touring motorcycles.  A couple of years later we converted our bike to a trike and the riding increased.  And now with retirement (the time) and traveling on a budget we have been able to combine the two for this extended winter trip.  I hope she is able to find someone to enjoy her passion with, nice person.      

79 Cotton

Always a bow, grandma says.

     It took a little doing however we managed to increase our drive time going back to New Bern by four hours.  Not wanting to travel back on the same road we turned west on the first black top road.  It took some time before the GPS generated a path that didn't go back thru Jacksonville.  We wandered and took a lunch break at a fifty's style cafe in Wallace NC.   I noticed a young lady in the booth behind us with a cool lunch basket, it was a 66 ford pickup complete with customizing decals.  Her name was Windsor and she has her own blog. ( how did I get such a late start.)    We had a great chicken cheese steak sandwich and fries.  As she left Windsor presented us with the Ford basket we had been admiring, what a sweetheart!  Before we left we purchased some more for our grandchildren (I'm thinking Christmas presents). We had a great waitress named Tiffany, she had the characteristics of a southern Belle and of course the accent, I'm loving this area.  I wish someone would have tried the 50 ounce burger challenge , it has to be eaten at the counter with a side order of fries in 30 minutes.
      As we exited an elderly gentleman parked beside the trike. "Its to hot to ride that thing isn't it?  He asked, what a smart    ------   Ruthie showed him the cords from our heated jackets and he understood.  "Where y'all from anyway?   "Minnesota!  "Oh my god! As he spun to walk away.  We noticed his car had some front end damage,  I suggest not buying a grey car or following this guy.  His 2010 car had five deer hits! 
     As we left we seen that  a man was waiting to talk to us.  ( avoid eye contact) Love the ride he said, I used to have an Interstate! (an older model of our gold wing) "A branch the size of that banner (about  5 feet long) fell on my head the day before thanksgiving!  The back of my head was swollen the size of a baseball, soaked it in the bathtub and went to work on thanksgiving.  Ride safe."  All this information in seconds.  Avoid eye contact

Strange guy picking cotton!

     Just across the road from the parking lot was a mansion enclosed in overgrowth, it would have been great to see it in its grand days.
     We continued on our way, today we were just wandering on the way to our current landing spot.  Our farm backgrounds led our interest to the cotton fields, stopping at a field that had been picked.  Ruthie wanted to see the cotton up close.  I dismounted, crossed the blacktop and the drainage ditch on the other side.  I picked up some of the pods and dropped cotton.     Interesting, it feels just like a cotton ball, there seems to be lots of waste from the combine.  The stop created a problem.  Ruthie was of the opinion that the field had not been harvested until all the stalks were flat to the ground, mine was that the majority were still standing when harvested.  Sometimes it is just better to keep your opinion to yourself.  The voices started in my head,  What are you smoking?  How do you think the combine can pass thru the field and leave the stalks up?  Where did you go to school?  (its getting personal now.) And on and on, where's the mute button.  How are we going to settle this?      We were enjoying the scenery on these rural roads.  Taking some pictures as we traveled along.   Every time we seen a cotton field the voices would repeat in my head.  At one time we thought we seen a field being harvested but it turned out to be a bean field.  And then good fortune shone on "me" that's right me, you will see why.  At an intersection not to far from Trenton North Carolina I noticed a lot of activity in the cotton fields on the South East corner.  I turned around in a church parking lot and parked between the chain gate and road surface.  We were going to settle this argument once and for all.  Little did we know that the local authority on cotton was exiting the church.  He pulled up beside us and went back to lock the chain gate.  The mysteries of cotton were about to be revealed to us.

     Virgil had been raised in the area on a farm.  As a young lad they used mules to farm and had actually picked cotton, a very hard job as the pods don't give up there fruit easily.  Now on to the important question, who will win this controversy.  As you can see in the picture when the combine passes thru the field it does pick the majority of the cotton however it leaves most of the stocks standing.  Vern 1, Ruthie 0.  (today) At some point before fall a mower comes thru and finishes the job, Virgil said the stock is like a small tree and if we drove our trike out there now it would probably puncture the tires.  When the hopper is full a transfer wagon comes and dumps it in a machine that compresses it into a very large (huge)  bail   The next step for this cotton is to a cotton gin where the seeds are removed.  Evidently they are intertwined in the ball and very difficult to remove.  Poor Ely Whitney's little invention is even blamed for the increase of slavery and a contributor to the civil war. 
     Virgil would have made a wonderful tour guide.  We walked to a field a few yards away and showed us a collard patch.  I still don't think I will be eating many of them.  Found out he likes grits also.  And then he took us to tour his church.   The pride in the history of the building and acquisition of the necessary building materials is obvious.  There is a lot of love for this church.  The original church building was built in the 1940's as a dance hall, its checkered past continued from country store, pool room, a questionable social gathering site and finally a warehouse before it became The Calvary Memorial Church.   Certainly proof of the old saying even a cracked vessel can carry water.  The original church now an annex to the beautiful Chapel we were touring.  Many of the details of the acquisition and building is a testament to faith.  The rafters themselves were supplied by a company that had just build the same size for another church, had the jig already set and gave them a discount.  Because it is light, strong insect resistant and beautiful Cypress lumber was the desired material for the ceiling however due to the budget they had to settle for pine.  While scouring the area for pine they stopped by the Cove City Lumber Co.  Back on a rack an order of the cypress they needed lay covered on the shelf.  Twelve years prior a deposit had been paid, lumber cut and stocked, then forgotten.  When contacted the original buyer didn't need it anymore.  At a discounted price the lumber yard ripped, planed, and tonged and grooved it.   A beautiful place to worship.  Bless all who gather here!
   Soon it would be dusk and we would rather not be on the road in the dark.  One more question before we leave.  We had noticed what we thought were old tobacco curing sheds on our ride.  Virgil confirmed that they were and mentioned the ones we seen were smaller than the ones we had seen in Kentucky, these were heated with oil.  He had purchased one, placed it close to his home and finished the upstairs as a prophets room.  Not familiar with the term he explained it is a room set aside for traveling ministers or missionary's.
     We wished Virgil well, set the GPS on fastest route and headed to New Bern.  We entered a freeway and the first warning sign was to watch out for bears on the road, first time we had seen this one.  As we rode we scanned for the tell tale glow of eyes in the ditch, didn't want this ride to end badly.  Safe and sound back at the timeshare I think we will rest tomorrow.  It had been a busy couple of days.