The Wal-Mart alternative, Sam's Club! Right next
door to the Home Depot we have permission to stay
in the corner of the parking lot in Hiram, Georgia.

Yesterday was a looooonnng driving day, 425 miles from
St. Augustine to here, just outside of Atlanta.

We've stopped to see my friend and fellow copywriter,
Pam Marshall. We had a wonderful visit at her
lovely home.

This was quite a special occasion, because today I learned
that not only is Pam an ace copywriter...she is a former
Calf Scramble Queen!!

If you're like me, you are feeling overwhelmed with
emotion over this enticing detail. OK...so I don't know
what a "calf scramble" is...but royalty is royalty,
especially in the South! :-) And this is fuel for
considerable teasing and generally obnoxious comments
for a very long time, which is always a GOOD thing!

We had a fun visit with Pam and her family, and Rusty
had a blast with "Nyx", Pam's amazingly smart and charming
dog. They ran and cavorted together in the huge back
yard and had a grand time.

Here's the furry kids recovering from their play date...


Tomorrow we're heading north and slowing down (finally!) as
we approach our first trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We're
looking forward to it! The flowers are supposed to be blooming
by the first of next week.

We think we'll get to use our new vented catalytic heater for the first
time since the Parkway climbs to about 4,000 feet. We like having a
vented heater, since it is much safer and keeps me from worrying!

Ron did a beautiful job of installing it, as you can see.
We had a Mexican woodworker build the frame for us in
Yuma.

Ready to roll for the Blue Ridge Parkway! Stay tuned...