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Published: April 14th 2013
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What a treat I have for you!! Hold on to your seats....it will be a ride you will enjoy and we won't forget. But first things first: the Good & the Bad. First, the Good. To all of our blog followers that receive notification via the travel blog site about my published epistles. Perhaps you have already noted the highlighted statement: Create Your Own Travel Blog then the URL. You don't have to create your own blog but you can click on different sites on this page (mainly the photo spot listed above the Travel Blog logo title) that will open a magnificent collection of photos from all over the world. You can travel the world right from your seat at home without even moving an inch....just your eyes. So much glory to behold. Try it, you'll like it. OK...now for the Bad. After settling into an RV park last evening, Cory had disconnected the car so we could travel into the neighboring small town (just wait until you hear WHAT town...). I opened the car door and Yeeeeekk - inside on my seat was a small lizard looking at me! Now we can relate to what "Leaping Lizards" 3 Joys
JR's, Halifax, Sunset really means. I screamed and it leaped! ....to parts unknown inside our new car. Remember, it is packed to the hilt with all our precious belongings: my shopping carts, etc. It must have stowed away in something we had packed. The car still has the "new car" smell but not for long. Soon, it will reek of the decomposing corpse of this speedy little varmint. Oh, God! That is unless it seeks warmth up Cory's pant leg....tickle me, Elmo: our new pet, the Leaping Lizard! When I say " The More, The Merrier", I was not including this devious hitch-hiker.
Finally...to the topmost, ultimate prize of all. I know the wait has been long but it is all worth it. Just like at Manny's....well worth every minute. At least, that's my opinion but I am biased. Our travel day yesterday was uneventful except for two treats: One big, the other bigger and better. The first was our visit to JR's in Selma, North Carolina. This is the similar shop we stopped at on the way down on Route 77...the place that sells everything from brassieres to chandeliers. My dream-come-true store. My paradise. My Gloryland. An hour and a half Leaping Lizard
Our new pet... later, we exited this wonderland with 3 full bags, none with bras or lamps. It's advertised as a cigar store. It has mega tobacco products but oh, so much more and then some. Time to start thinking as to where to drop anchor. Whoa, Big Fella....where is this you have found? An RV park at the Halifax, North Carolina exit (in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.). Be still my heart....how can this be? If you read my bog #780528 (49th Anniversary) you know why I am so excited and in a dither. We have returned to the location where our life together all began....49 years ago! -- Halifax, North Carolina. We are going back; walking the same walk, talking the same talk. I am so star struck...I am speechless. But not for long. There's the hysterical scream when finding the lizard but that subsides as we drive a short distance into the historic town of Halifax. I am so preoccupied with happiness, I barely ponder that reptilian rascal hiding somewhere close by inside the car. I ride with my legs raised, though. It all looks so different not peering out of the sports car windshield with smelly blanket side curtains. My eyes
are more rested because we haven't driven the whole night through but no less filled with equal and utter excitement and anticipation. Cory's poor hand is healthy and all intact this time: no blood, no glove, no pain. Forty-nine years have changed our appearance as well the town's. The Main Street has been paved....no more dirt and tobaccy. The stoops are still there but it looks like the men are gone because the stores have mostly closed up. It gives the haunting appearance of a ghost town. Nothing to see as we walked this mall except for the visions we had from our first ride through. The courthouse, where we finally got our marriage license, still looms high and impressive adjacent to the decaying "downtown". A couple vehicles are in front so there must still be a few souls left. We walked the steps to the door and held onto the door handle as we embraced it 49 years ago. It didn't open this time....it was closed for the day. No matter - it opened a lifetime of happiness for us when we were here before. Trolling the side streets, we searched for the little white bungalow where the fine
Main Street
Only one man on the street....but the most important man! Justice of the Peace married us. No one-arm Jake to guide us now. Several shanties resembled it. Then we finally came upon our little wedding chapel. How could we not recognize it! It didn't look quite as we remembered. It was abandoned and had yellow police tape around it. It had been vacated for a very long time...but not 49 years I doubt. Granted, we didn't, or couldn't, help out the financial needs of the JP but I can't believe that forced his foreclosure. It was still kind of white but the vines, bushes and weeds had encompassed it like something out of "The Little Shop of Horrors". The roof and supports were rotted and falling down. The flowered covered trellis had disappeared and all that remained were two cracked and broken stone pillars standing at the shattered sidewalk entrance. None of this could shatter our memories of it, though. We had skipped a happy love dance through those pillars and on to that sidewalk and in & out of this house 49 years ago. Love Reins Supreme! We looked for the segregated Doctor's office and the "changing room" gas station. Neither seemed to exist anymore. Life does not stand
Courthouse Sign
Lulu is included still. If it did, we would never get to see the beautiful sunsets that warm and enlighten our hearts. And even better is being able to share that vision with the one you love. Thanks for the memories, Cory. I love you!
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