Repairing the hole in Lizzie’s radiator – $540.09
(much better than a new one @$3300.00 plus freight (and time) from Oregon)
Spending an extra night at Mike and Robyn’s – Wonderful
Getting back on the road just 48 hours after our breakdown – Priceless.

We had a beautiful drive down 81 (we decided to save the rest of the Skyline Drive for another (truck only) adventure!) through Virginia and the Carolinas and arrived safely at our November project – Toccoa Falls College. We haven’t seen much of the area yet, but it promises to have it’s own special beauty. And, we’ve worked with each of the other three couples here before so we know we’re looking forward to the fellowship.
Here are a couple of shots of that beautiful drive…..

This shot was taken from the top of a 7 mile hill. Spectacular – but I was a little white knuckled by the time we reached the bottom!

I’ll need some real training when we tackle the Rockies!!! Or sedatives!

The Good –The Skyline Drive is breathtaking! The weather was less than perfect, but the drive up to the Skyland Lodge – the highest point of the Skyline Drive at 3680 ft was spectacular. A camera cannot begin to take in the splendor of the mountains decked out in their fall color, but here are a couple of shots – but if you want more, go here!

The Bad –
When we started up Lizzie after our stop at Skyland, the gauges were all wacko. The gas gauge was at E, and the low coolant light was on. We had filled up just before we got on the Parkway so unless we somehow sprung a leak (and there wasn’t any evidence of that) we had to figure that was just a gauge glitch. But the puddle of coolant under the engine told us the “low coolant” light must be telling the truth. Gary checked for leaking hoses but everything looked intact. We filled up with water (it continued to leak out) and we headed back down the mountain. We got off at the first opportunity and called our Emergency Road Service guys. We limped to a Walmart and were then rescued by a BIG Tow Truck. Right now we’re in Broadway, VA waiting for the shop to open up tomorrow to diagnose (and correct!) the problem. Gary thinks there’s a hole in the radiator and it will probably need to be replaced. Yikes!
Here’s Lizzie taking a ride……

And The Ugly?
There’s a 30% chance of SNOW tomorrow. What’s up with that!!!!!

We left DC and wrapped up our DC touring with Mt. Vernon. I think my last trip to Mt. Vernon was when I was senior in high school! Although I’m sure the house is still pretty much the same, many other features have been added – gardens, a primitive farm, etc. The weather was gray and gloomy, but visit good. Plus they had plenty of room for us to park Lizzie!

And the, westward we go! Manassas here we come! We were able to combine touring the Manassas Battlefield and surrounding area with dinner with some dear Sower friends. It was great combo! These Civil War Battlefields are all so beautiful. It was hard to imagine that such a peaceful setting could have been home to so much death.

Tonight we’re wrapping up a sweet visit with family – my nephew Mike, wife Robyn and beautiful daughter Molly. Mike has just started with a medical practice here in Front Royal (they sure are making doctors young these days!) so it was a treat to be able to connect with them before we head south on the Skyline Drive.

This is a very beautiful area, especially dressed up in beautiful fall colors. We took in a couple of wine tastings, but the scenery was so spectacular it was hard to concentrate on the wine!

Want to see more Virginia pictures? Click here!

Tomorrow morning (Monday) we head down the Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway(hopefully the bumper to bumper traffic has all gone back to work!). Our final destination – Toccoa Falls College, Toccoa, Georgia. It will be our November project and we’ll be working with some dear friends. Gary is looking forward to doing something other than HVAC for a spell. And I am looking forward to getting some quilt projects worked on!

….Monday morning…..my phone charge died before I could get this posted last night. Ah, the joys of internet connections! Quick hugs to the Fitzpatricks and on to the Skyline Drive we go!

WOW – Washington, DC is quite the town! We’ve had a great couple of days playing the happy tourists. Tuesday was rainy and gray so we stayed mostly indoors, spending hours at the Holocaust Museum and then checked out the Museum of Natural History. The Holocaust Museum was so very sobering. It was well worth the 5 hours we spent there. We just did a quick stop at the Museum of Natural History – checked out the Hope Diamond and other amazing rocks! We were starving and tired, so we headed home via public transportation (hence the ding ding ding reference!).

Back on the Metro again today (ding, ding, ding), but the sun was shining and it promised to be a beautiful day. We splurged on one of those Trolley Tour buses, so we hopped off and on all day. We “took in” the Postal Museum, Arlington Cemetery, the National Cathedral, and Georgetown, and also just enjoyed the commentary while riding around in downtown and uptown DC. It was great. We easily could have spent several more days here, but we’re going to pack up in the morning and head out. We are going to stop at Mt. Vernon, so we’re not quite done with DC yet.
Here are a couple of pictures of our Tourist Time in Washington, DC – you can see how cooperative the weather was!
The view from one of the towers at the National Cathedral -

And a view OF the National Cathedral -

And here is one of Arlington Cemetery -

If you’d like to see a couple more, click here!

We’re pointed south tomorrow – by hook or by crook.
ding ding ding – step back, the doors are about to close!

Brrrr……
We’re in Ludlow, Vermont visiting our friends Lynne & Roger Croswell. It’s a cool (cold?) crisp morning – and the view is beautiful!

There is a fire going and Roger just fed us his famous (and very delicious) blueberry pancakes! What a lovely Saturday morning!

We’ve wrapped up our mini-project at Straight Ahead Ministries and will be heading south tomorrow morning. Our overnight here at the Croswell’s is a sweet break before we hit the road. We’ve enjoyed being in New England during the fall – God has such a beautiful color palette. But the weather is telling us to MOVE SOUTH!

One last picture – frost on the lamb’s ear – but the beautiful mountains in the distance.

Next week we’ll be “touristing” in Washington, DC. So watch out for pictures of monuments and museums! And hopefully, no snow!