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.