July 8th - Day 26
Most areas of the country are known for something. The Northeast is known for their fast pace of life. The West Coast is known for its laid back culture. And the South is known for its hospitality. While today we mostly drove (6+ hours and breaking the 5,000 mile mark on the trip), we reached the south and quickly experienced Southern hospitality.
A few highlights of the day.
After leaving Greensboro, our first stop was Ashville, NC, where we were hosted for a BBQ lunch by a friend and his family. They moved from Portland a couple years ago for work and landed in Ashville. When we were pinning down our route through the Carolinas, we certainly had to make a stop in Ashville. The kids had a great time playing together for a few hours and the adults enjoyed great conversation along with great food.
While we were driving through South Carolina, Becca made the observation and said, “It feels like all of the restaurants in the South are chicken restaurants”. I quickly sent this quote to a number of friends that I have who are from the South and they all agreed that this statement is true.
Continuing on from Ashville, our plan had been to camp at Lake Allatoona, just north of the Atlanta metro area. However, sometimes plans change because you are trying to either salvage the original plan or because you are trying to improve upon it. Fortunately, this time it was the latter. Friends of ours who moved to Atlanta this last year had been living in an apartment since their move and we were just planning on seeing them at some point while we were in the Atlanta area. A few weeks ago they moved into a new home on 10 acres, just outside of Atlanta. With all of their new open space, they were thrilled to host on their property for a couple of nights despite being amidst renovations on their new home. We appreciate their gracious hospitality and enjoyed spending the evening catching up and look forward to more tomorrow.
A few pictures from the day:
