Hello everyone:

It's the morning of November 12th and we're headed for Atlanta.  It seems like the best environment for us to craft our virtual postcards is a KOA campsite.  We're presently outside of Charlotte, NC and our plan is to be in Mobile, AL Friday evening.  We'll stop in Atlanta and then head for the Gulf Coast.

The stay in VA was spectacular. After our history tour of the president's homes, we had an extended visit with the Sanderson clan in the Richmond area.  Cousins Jocelyn and Alan were kind enough to let us camp out on the floor of their cozy downstairs family room (we took the foam mattresses from the Winnebagette). Dave had his Internet connection and fireplace, so the first few rainy days were to catch up on administrative
details and such.

Thursday we took a trip to Colonial Williamsburg:

There's so much to see, we'll have to make a more comprehensive return visit to appreciate it fully.

A weekend full of clan reunions followed.  Dave's Uncle John hosted our Saturday morning tour of his portion of the Sanderson farm.  It was quite an experience for us to see the 40 acres of pine trees that Dave planted 24 years before.  The seedlings had grown to better than 35 feet.  Talk about gettin' a perspective on Time!

After feeding the cows,

it was off to Richmond for dinner with aunts and uncles.  Sunday afternoon the cousins gathered at Jocelyn's house for pizza.  In some cases, 24 years had passed since we had seen each other.  Oh my, there was some catchin' up to do.

A highlight of the trip for Lois was the "cattle drive" with uncle Sandy. The Bronx city girl was given a taste of real farmin'.  Our objective was to simply move 12 head of cattle from one field to another.  What could have taken half an hour or so, ended up to be a 3
hour chase/battle of wills.  The cows won.  At one point in our desperation, they even conceded to let Dave try to herd them with the scooter.  Lois got a good bit on video tape ... it should bring a few laughs.

Our stay concluded with a visit to the Tally Ho Farm. Dave's cousin "Zeke" has done wonderful job at restoring the family home. It was built in the late 18th century and updated after a fire destroyed the upstairs portion of the house a few years ago. He was a gracious host, and gave us quite an insight on early Sanderson family history.

We looked at the calendar on Tuesday and realized there were only two weeks remaining for our tour.  Wednesday we headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The weather was in the 60's and the views were gorgeous. Here's a look Mabry Mill:

It's part of a restored Appalachian rural village which was still using water power for grain/saw milling as late as the early 1900's.

We expect to be back in sunny Arizona the weekend of November 21...a lot of miles to go. We'll keep you posted.
 

Dave, Lois and Leroy