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05/07/03; Ashville, North Carolina
Hello, Again!
Here we are in the same place! Not much progress! We had our morning powwow and decided that “discretion was the better part of valor.” The rain was still coming down, but even worse, the Weather Channel showed severe storm warnings for Eastern Tennessee and southern Kentucky – right where we planned to go! Also shown on TV, were pictures of flooding in the county in Tennessee that we would pass through. The predictions for Thursday were for improved weather for our route. We decided that we would catch up on laundry and other chores that could be done on a rainy day.
Shortly after 0900, we loaded our dirty clothing into the cars and drove in the rain to a Laundromat about 3 miles away. The photos show our activities there.
Left to right: Ashville laundromat; Dennis plays the slots; Joann & Joan figure out the washer; Management (?!)
By the time the laundry was mostly dry, the sun was shinning brightly. Dennis decided to dry his car. Keith figured his was going to get wet right away and loafed. Later, Keith was able to get online and check his finances; downloading his checking account and credit card accounts to verify the Smith’s expenses. Wow! There were 107 transactions in April!
When we returned from the laundry, we examined the electric coolers we both carry in the cars. (These coolers run on 12 volts dc in the cars and, using a converter they can run on 120 volts ac in our rooms. We only use them in the ac mode in places where we do not have refrigerators – that’s about one-half the time. Both couples have prescriptions that need refrigeration, so they work well for us. In addition, they will hold a couple of soft drinks or a beer and a pint of milk, plus some luncheon meat and mayonnaise, etc. The coolers will maintain a temperature about 30 degrees below the temperature of the surrounding area. Thus if inside car is 70 degrees, the cooler will be at 40. Sometimes in our rooms, ice will form on the inside walls of the cooler!) We dug out the makings of another picnic, which was held in the Olson’s room.
Electric cooler and goodies inside
After lunch, since the sun was still shinning, we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway to the village of Black Mountain – about 15 miles away. The Olsons had a friend living there. They tried to call him, but got a “number out of service” message. They thought that he might have moved, but since we had the opportunity, they thought it worth the trip, just to be certain. It was a lovely drive on a well paved “Model A road.” The greenery was beautiful. Too bad that Keith forgot his camera, or we could show you some scenes. The friend had moved, but we were glad we had the experience. We only wished that the Parkway went our way so that we could drive on it more. By the time we returned to our motel, the sky was beginning to turn ominous. Sixty-percent rain is forecast tonight. Our cars are by this time pretty well “leak proof.” Therefore, we are not covering them tonight so that we will not have to uncover them in the rain in the morning and put the wet covers in our trunks. (One of our rationales for using the covers is to improve the security for the cars – out of sight, out of mind – we hope. Where we are parked is reasonably secure and well lighted. Then, too, only a fool would be out in the rains we have been having!) We will keep our finger crossed for tomorrow!
Regards,
The Still Soggy, but Undaunted Four
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