Galax with a side trip!

July 18 – Neither of us slept very well!  The bed was very comfy as was my pillow but not the covers.  You either had a thin sheet or and VERY thick heavy comforter.  Bill said he felt like there was a weight on him all night.  It was too hot under it and too cold with just a sheet.  We finally got up at 8:30 and I got things packed up before we went down for breakfast.  The breakfast choices were awesome!  There were waffles with all kinds of toppings, bacon, eggs (ugh!), cereals, apples, bananas and fresh fruit compote, Danish, bagels, toast, yogurt and more!  There were 4 kinds of juice along with teas, coffees and milk.  Bill was probably most happy about having a morning newspaper!

Once sated, we went back to the room and I took the cart up and loaded everything but Bill and Molly.  I packed the car and then went back for them.  Molly loves hotel rooms and normally hides when it’s time to leave.  This time the beds were on platforms and she tried to get under but her tail stuck out under the bedskirt.  She didn’t know I could see her.  So much easier than using the crutch to nudge her out.  So we headed back on the road.  At least it was dry all day!

Andy's house with a squad car out front

Having a big late breakfast we weren’t hungry for a long time, but I finally did have to stop for a bathroom.  We didn’t stop again until we got to Mount Airy, NC.  This is where Andy Griffith was born and lived.  It’s the town he patterned Mayberry after.  If we hadn’t had Molly with us we would have taken a tour in a Mayberry period police car but I did get a map at the Visitor Center and we drove out to Andy’s house.  It’s very tiny and is now owned by Hampton Inns and you can rent it over night.  We visited the world’s largest open face granite quarry, the North Carolina Granite Quarry.  You can drive up and around to a viewing

Andy and Opie going fishing!

area but we decided you could actually see it better right at the quarry entrance.  They claim the granite it the hardest anywhere and was used for most of the monuments in Washington, DC and has been used all over the world.  The quarry is expected to have enough granite to mine for 200, yes, 200 more years.  We stopped at the statue of Andy and Opie headed off fishing.  It’s in front of the Andy Griffith Performing Arts Center.  It is really a nice town and there are so many places that Andy replicated for his show.  It would be a nice all day place.  The story is that Danny Thomas, after hearing so many stories about Mount Airy from Andy, he told him it would make a great TV show.  So once the show got off the ground Danny Thomas was paid some of the royalties from it.  Lots of the stories in the episodes were things that happened when Andy lived there.

The granite quarry

OK, by now we were hungry and we couldn’t find a park in town to get under a shade tree so we went to Sonic for lunch and then the 40 mile drive to Galax.  The first thing I did was get Bill’s scooter out and together so he could get around and off he went to see some of our friends.  The other Bill helped me unload the car and then he unhooked our power so I could move to an open lot on the river.  I leveled the RV and he hooked up the water and electric.  I think he did the sewer too, I didn’t look.

I got busy putting stuff away and cleaned my floors.  It takes time to get

Our view of the New River

reorganized.  Finally about 7:15 I heated up my leftover brisket and tamale and made a small waldorf salad and that was our dinner.  Later I found the last package of Girl Scout cookies in the freezer so we each had 2.  There is no cell service here so no internet and we have our TV hooked to Bill’s satellite but I need to have Directv refresh it and I either need to call or do it online.  Hummm!  I think I’ll leave the box on when we go to town tomorrow and go online at the library or McDonald’s and see if it gets refreshed and works.  If not we will survive as we have lots of books!