The next day we were on our way to Ashville. We had a pretty stressful day since it was raining buckets and Bobby was fighting for road space with big trucks. It rained all day except when we went through the Smokey Mountains. That was the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen! The fall colors were so amazing. Every twist and turn of the road had another view of gorgeous colors! We finally made it to our hotel and got our room. We changed clothes real quick since Bobby was in shorts and I had spilled my orange drink all over the front of me. Then we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Stone Ridge Tavern. The food was great but we had too much of it. We were starving so we ordered an appetizer. The Stone Ridge nachos was what it was called. When they brought the plate it was huge and piled with everything nacho! Then our salads came and shortly there after came our dinners. We took the nachos and Bobby's spagetti back to the hotel and put it in the refridgerator with plans to put it in the cooler before we left the next morning. When we tried to put it in the cooler it was too big. I think that is the first time I've ever seen Bobby deserting spagetti! He almost cried! LOL
The next morning we took off for Gastonia. You know what is there don't you? Mary Jo's!!! I was told I had an hour and that was it. Can you imagine...one hour in one of the biggest fabric shops on the planet! I found four backings, some border fabric for my bullseye top and a 20 1/2" ruler for squaring up my applique blocks. The backings I got were perfect for quilts for Annie(cats), Bo (skeletons for his camaflauge quilt), Brian (baseball, of course)and Bobby(an Airforce print).
We drove all the backroads to Jacksonville. I have seen enough cotton fields, manufactured homes and farm equipment to last me awhile. It was beautiful country though. We got to the Camp and got settled into our room in the TLQ (temporary living quarters). We went to a buffet for supper which wasn't all that great but Bobby did find the spagetti and had a big plate. The second night we went to Ruby Tuesday.
Today Bobby went to the skeet range and had a good time. I basically just rested all day. We did go out in the afternoon to the Beruit Memorial. It is in the piney woods and is so peaceful and calm. The memorial is a curved wall with the names of the deceased and a bronze statue of a marine. Someone had put their dogtags around his neck. There were alot of flowers laying around since the ceremony for the 23rd year since the attack had just been days ago. On one of the paths we found a tribute to the WTC attack. One of the steel I beams was displayed. It was very moving.
Tomorrow is the big day! Bo will be back on American soil. He comes in about 4pm on a bus with the 1/9 Battalion. They have been in Iraq for 7 months. Right now he should be on a plane from Kuwait headed for Ireland where they will make a stop and then it is on to Maine and then to North Carolina. They have to take a bus from the airport which is several hours away. A lot of families will be there to welcome them home. I'm going to be the Momma with tears in her eyes and pride in her heart holding my arms open for the son returning from war.
