Different world here...only in NC?

• 80+ year old woman sitting on the floor of the pick-up truck bed with an open tailgate
• Roadside stand sign: "Possum Seasoning Sold Here"

We are currently residing in Buncombe county.  I sometimes think it should be "Bumpkin" county.

Judy and I get a kick out of this school bus sign which we see everywhere.

 Maybe we've just not noticed, but I don't think Illinois has this same version.  The stop sign I get, but it is the paintball-like "star" that makes me wonder if we are supposed to be on the watch for people shooting at school buses.

Regardless, whenever we see one now, we immediately respond, "BLAMMO!"

Trip from the grocery store to the cottage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m5P7d2Qd5A&feature=em-upload_

Published Aug 13

Videos of Weaverville Main Street (with an unsteady hand):

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This video doesn't do justice to the way it looked in real life. It took your breath away. The water didn't look muddy and was so refreshing to just breathe and relax in Gods creation.  JP

Published Aug 6

Went out with a realtor today after much discussion  and refinement of what features were most important to us.  This is tougher than any requirements doc I ever put together.  The main reason, as the realtor aptly put it, is now is the time where dreams meet up with reality.

For example, both Judy and I always said we wanted to be in a relatively private, possibly remote setting, but the reality is over the next 20 years the need for proximity to shopping (e.g. groceries) and services (e.g. medical) will outweigh the desire to be out in the woods without immediate neighbors.

So, today was largely the first few steps of a lengthy discovery process.  We made progress, but are a long way from being ready to make decisions. Filter, filter, filter.

Here are a few pictures of what we saw today:

Hendersonville/Flat Rock (south of Asheville)--plenty of promise as a place to live;  will have to see if there is a community that fits us.  This is one lot in a community we viewed.

 

Flat Rock-Kenmure

At the end of the day we headed north towards Marshall.  The views here were gorgeous, but the community was just too remote for us.  Additionally driving the hills to get back to this area looked to be a challenge we might not want to deal with as our skills diminish.

View from Community Center at French Broad Crossing-Marshall NC

Published Aug 3 2016

Pictures from Al's "Cake Meeting" (Jul 14 2016).

Ken and Al Jonynas:

L to R: Kans; Ken; Shashanka; Ravi; Al

mmm...cake!

L to R: Mohit Chourasia; Chandana Vemaraju; Mary Trew; Ken Peters; Al Jonynas; Amol Patil

L to R: Mary Trew (bottom); Mark Cozine; Stephen Woods; Ken Peters; Cheryl Flack Barr; Dan Herman; Al Jonynas

L to R: Paul Kern; Ken Peters; Mike Schoenberger

L to R: Dan Herman; Ken Peters; Mike Schoenberger

Posted Aug 3:

Pictures from lunch @ Hot Woks Cool Sushi (Jul 14).  Thanks, Mary!

Aug 3 Update

 Wytheville VA--where we stayed Jul 31

 a very small church, indeed!

 Scenic Overlook at TN-NC border

  Scenic Overlook at TN-NC border

 our cottage in Weaverville NC--where we will be in Aug

  our cottage in Weaverville NC--where we will be in Aug

  our cottage in Weaverville NC--where we will be in Aug

  our cottage in Weaverville NC--where we will be in Aug

 our cottage in Weaverville NC--where we will be in Aug

Aug 3 2016

We left Ohio on Sunday July 31 and traveled 350 miles south on I-77 through West Virginia and Virginia to  Wytheville where we spent the night. Southern Ohio was scenic, WV was mountainous, forested and rugged looking while Virginia was just gorgeous, reminding me of the little bit of Europe I have seen.  Our I-Pass was accepted without a hitch on the WV Turnpike (a stretch of I-77 is a toll road) even though everything east and south of IL seems to be on the EZ-Pass system.  No incidents or problems with our fully packed vehicles on the hills.

Monday we drove another 160 miles west and south, mostly through Virginia, then briefly in Tennessee, and finally into North Carolina.  Our cottage is probably not more than 2-3 miles from the interstate, but it may as well be another world, entirely, as it doesn't take long to get to remote areas.  A twisty, hilly road lead to Pine Forest Drive, another hilly, gravel road.  Hot and humid was our first impression, as we spent the day unpacking and moving into the cottage.

We also realized that even though we would grab dinner in town we still needed to stock up on some essentials for the next day so we stopped to shop afterwards and didn't finish until well after sunset.  I was glad to make it back to the cottage, since we had not gotten our bearings and the GPS was not especially responsive to all the options presented by side roads and the like.  Not a lot of street lights here!

Yesterday was a settle in day and getting ourselves organized.

Today we met a realtor and have our homework in front of us for the next few days to start to visit areas that he believes may be a fit for us based on our discussion this morning.  No rest for the weary.

Published: August 2, 2016

We arrived in Weaverville, NC yesterday and are working on getting settled in.  Based on a comment from Sriram I thought it might make sense to publish our news to a blog rather than send mass emails to you at Northern Trust (or elsewhere).

This is really a test to see what happens if I try to publish content.  Below is the email I sent to you (y'all?) last week.

July 24, 2016

Thanks everyone for being part of my farewell gathering.  You are missed--the job , eh, not too much!

In answer to that burning question, "Has anyone heard from Ken?", now your collective response can be, "yes, we have"

The greatest accomplishment since leaving Northern was managing to pack all our belongings into the two vehicles without having to dispose of any essentials or even "nice-to-haves".  Yes, Melissa, we even managed to squeeze in the two boxes of North Carolina stuff (which I consolidated into one a few days prior). Older son, Bradley, was of great assistance in loading up everything, even though he insisted on repacking many of Judy's clothes and personal items simply because  he "didn't like how they were packed".  In the end, it all turned out great, as we both had unimpeded views of all windows and mirrors during the uneventful (yay!) drive to Ohio last weekend.

It has been very nice, getting up in the morning and realizing the most pressing question is, "cereal, waffles, or eggs?"  Judy's sister and brother-in-law have been most accommodating and have made sure we've had time to de-stress from the last several months' life events.  We have visited relatives and friends and have several more lined up for this week before we head off for Phase 2 of the Great Adventure to North Carolina.

Hope all is well with each of you and the days after fund launch have been hiccup free.