As the trip got closer, we started to make arrangements with our friends for our visits. Everything seemed super simple. And we haven't headed south for such a long time so we were not even thinking about weather.
But wouldn't you know we are now missing what is predicted to be one of the biggest snowstorms in memory. We have been home for the last big three -- most recently in 2010. In 2010 we didn't lose power but we spent a lot of energy knocking snow off the hoop houses, with the help of our Blueberry Hill neighbors. In 2003 the greenhouse collapsed under the snow. It is really fun to be home in our neighborhood during big weather events, actually. One of the high points of living there.
So for the last few days before we headed out, Jon did all that he could to get things ready. He added anti-gel stuff to the greenhouse oil tank, put away all the golf carts (which included fixing a flat tire that was so frozen that he had to bring it into our living room to thaw for a day), he purchased and pounded in reflectors to keep the snow plows from damaging the brand new walkway that is still unfinished, he wrestled the snow blade onto the loader (although this snow may be too big for that blade and Jim may need to put the bucket back on instead) and he cut and split a lot of firewood, both for us and for Paul and Cookie. We also stopped grocery shopping a while ago and tried to leave our refrigerator full of nothing but condiments. I stocked up the egg refrigerator on our porch and left some instructions for Anna and Betsy to keep track of my little food providing tasks for the neighborhood. We left home regretfully. But it didn't seem sensible to stay home just to be part of the storm.
Our plan was to go first to a cabin/house in North Carolina that Jon's friend Ed owns. We have been meaning to go there for a long time. It seemed like the perfect opportunity. Gradually it became clear that the snow would get there while we were sleeping, and we might not have such an easy time getting back down off the mountain. We gave up on that plan.
Plan B was to spend the night at Dave and Bernice's in Asheville, and to get out of town before the snow hit there. But Dave and Bernice are serious weather-watchers and they called us while we were on the road to tell us that there would be four inches on the ground by 7 AM when we woke up at their house, and it would be snowing hard all day. They said that we might consider a different route, and we could come see them a different time. I told them we would call them back after we talked about it.
All along the highway, there were big signs alerting us: "Winter storm alert. Check local media for details." No one could miss that there was a storm coming, even though the roads were dry and the sky was pretty clear.
We decided that we could still go visit them if we didn't spend the night, since the snow was supposed to start at midnight. So we had a lovely two hour stop-over, with a full tour of the yard and all the gardens and improvements. We got caught up, and we had the most delicious chicken stew soup plus Dave's blueberry pancakes for dessert (since we couldn't stay for breakfast).
When you visit friends or relatives who you have lived with, there is always so much to talk about. Even if you haven't seen each other lately, the news and stories flow very easily. On this trip, every house we visit will be in that category. SO different from traveling in Europe or anywhere that requires research.
We drove until we felt pretty sure we were outside of the snow path, and we stopped at a motel that is in the vicinity of Clemson. When we woke up this morning, we looked at the google map and saw that the roads in Asheville are all clogged up, red red red. In fact, the highway that we left about twenty minutes before we stopped last night was red on the map. It seems that we are having our usual good fortune with weather, so far.
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