Day 1 / Travels with Pee Wee 2011

I-85 North won the flip so we entered S. Carolina before 10:00 a.m. Our first stop was in Anderson, S.C. to view the statue of "Radio" from the movie named in his honor. The statue is missing, so our first stop was a dud. From there we went to the Kings Mountain National Battlefield on the S.C. / N.C. border to try to learn about an important Civil War battle. We gained no Civil War knowledge - we were a little embarrassed to learn that the battles fought there were almost 100 years earlier in the Revolutionary War. I take solace in knowing that some of you who may be reading this would probably make the same mistake. Our next stop was Mt. Airy near the Virginia border. Mt. Airy is the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the residents of Mt. Airy do the best they can to profit from that fact. We went to the Andy Griffith Museum which was a fun stop for us. Pee Wee thought he was real funny calling me Goober in front of everyone. We spent most of the evening hours on the Blue Ridge Parkway in southern Virginia. We are ashamed to admit that this was our first time on the beautiful highway, and we did not know what we were missing. If any of you have never taken at least a partial tour on the B.R. Parkway - please do. We have one of God's more creative gifts not that far away - you will be amazed.

Two good deeds today. That's kind of normal for the first day since we spend a lot of time getting organized and getting away from Georgia. We had an attempted good deed within an hour of our morning departure. We saw a car on the I-85 shoulder, hazard lights flashing, and two young guys sitting on the trunk. We pulled over and asked if they needed help. They said they had run out of gas but help was on the way. It was neat to see how appreciative they were though. Then at the Andy Griffith Museum, we noticed how dirty the glass doors were from the ticket area leading to the museum. The lady at the ticket counter said that happens after a day of young kids and old kids smudging the glass. So we asked her for some Windex and some paper towels and went to work. She was very kind and the deed kind of brightened other patrons up as well. Tonight we are staying in a LaQuinta Inn near Roanoke, VA and ate at a Mexican restaurant. The place was having a huge party for around 40 teenage baseball players and their families. There must have been an earlier party at the outside tables because those tables and chairs were all over the place. The waiters and other employees looked really frazzled due to the late night party, but at least they won't have to worry about the outside area - when Pee Wee and I were leaving we spent a few minutes straightening everything up, throwing away trash, etc. If they look close, they might find one of our "You've Been Struck by the Good Deed Doers" cards when they go out to clean up. That's it for Day One - thanks for your support and please spread the word about donating per good deed to the Lawrenceville Co-Op.