North Carolina to Florida with lots of rain...and more rain...and more rain.

For those of you old enough to remember the Andy Griffith show, you will remember that Mayberry was near Raleigh.  Because I am a silly goose and pretty crappy at geography, I didn't bother checking how close the town of Mayberry (Mt. Airy) was, in actuality, to Raleigh.  As a result, we ended up in Selma, North Carolina. Thanks to our good friends Jon and Megan Sellers, we were able to find a great, novel local place to visit.  A couple nights before we left, they gave us a book "Off the Beaten Path".  The pictures below are from Vollis Simpson's Whirligigs.  I can't wait to check out more of the places from the book.

Vollis Simpson is 93 years old and built whirligigs in his yard, some over 30 feet tall.  Many are currently being refurbished to be presented in a park opening in November, but we caught sight of the ones remaining at Mr. Simpson's farm.  They are dilapidated currently, but still a marvel of engineering.  Very, very cool.

Jeff got both a quick road ride and a mountain bike ride, so it was still a fun stop.

We also went to Atkinson's Grist Mill. which has been in operation since 1757.  They still grind using the 48 inch millstones.  The grandson of the current owner, Andrew, gave us a tour.  Fun and informative and I came away with breading mix and hush puppy flour.  Yum, yum.

We stopped one night in Walterboro, South Carolina.  It rained most of the way there, all night long and started raining again almost immediately after we left.  The downpours were torrential!  Looking out the big from window from the RV was a little scary.  Glad I didn't have to drive.

The rain ended about halfway through Georgia and we could feel the temperature rise.  It was in the upper 30's when we left South Carolina.  When we crossed the state line into Florida, it was 78!  Yippee!

We are spending tonight in Jacksonville, Florida and heading to the Tampa area tomorrow.  We will stay there for a week.  Jeff will be riding the Alathia River IMBA mountain bike ride and we will find some sights to see.

And by the way, even though today was gorgeous, we did have torrential downpours again tonight!  Jeff managed to get in a 64 mile road ride (way too flat for him) and I got a good amount of work done.  I even walked a full mile around the lake here!

The storm that we drove through is the same system providing punishment to our beloved friends in NJ.  All I can say is I'm sorry, I hope winter ends soon and I wish you were all with us.