D-day has arrived! Even though it's officially spring, we had a surprise snow/sleet storm last night that dropped a few inches on us. This was the view out our bedroom window this morning. We decided to sleep in a little bit and wait for it to melt!

We finished packing the RoadTrek and finally started off about 2 pm, headed for Boone, NC to visit our niece Christin at Appalachian State University for a couple of days.

We detoured a little bit to Salem, VA to fill up the tank at Kroger's, since we get a discount there. We paid $3.12/gal. It's a big tank: total was $83. I insisted on taking our photos for this blog and in the process of both of us being out of the van, with keys still inside, the RoadTrek decided to lock us out. So there we were, starting out on our Epic Journey, parked at the gas tank at Kroger's with keys locked securely inside. I (Carol) couldn't get to my phone or purse; after both of us jumping up and down and saying a few choice words (Jack), we realized that Jack did have his phone and wallet in his pocket and we could call AAA. So we did that, and a tow truck showed up almost immediately (literally about 2 minutes after I made the call) with a personable young man. He jumped out of his tow truck with a couple of little tools, stuck a blade through the passenger window and had the door open in 5 seconds Shook our hands and sped off into the sunset, which was getting closer by the minute. FINALLY we were ready to start the real drive. The rest of today went smoothly: beautiful mountain scenery all the way to Boone. 

We're now ensconced in Flintlock Family Campground by a pretty little stream with waterfalls. We had italian veggie soup and salad for supper; the soup was left over from a program at our church last night and we heated it all during the drive in a little 12V crockpot that plugs into the cigarette lighter (it's not really a cigarette lighter any more--what do you call those plugs now??). At any rate, it did the job--we pulled into the campsite, plugged in to the electricity, and I ladled out the hot soup immediately, as we were starving by that time. Ahhh, life's little pleasures. We phoned Christin and made arrangements to meet up at her school tomorrow morning. The weather's supposed to be lovely, so should be a good time for touring around. We're going with her to Blowing Rock...

Now for a movie and bedtime! Sayonara!