Day 1 -- Roswell to Cashiers, NC

Got a late start. Rounded up the dogs and dropped off at Eunice and Ronnie’s. They are a delightful couple.

Jim and Jackie first’s argument of the car portion of the trip= which Quik Trip to go to for the cheapest gas. SCORE: Jackie 1; Jim 0. Feeling bad that she was winning, she let him choose lunch. Yes, folks that’s right. As we begin our search for gastronomical fulfillment, Jim opted to dine with royalty. He wanted a meal with the King. Burger King that is. French fries, diet coke, amercian cheese. Gotta keep those cholesterol numbers up in the event we run across one of those pesky French cholesterol and trans-fat shortages.

Uneventful but SPECTACULAR drive to Cashiers. Jim can turn a normally short day trip into a marathon day of snapshots and meter, meter, meter. Really it was a beautiful ride. The colors were breathtaking.
Arrived at Nora’s just in time for a long walk on the golf course with her sweet little dogs, Buddy and Quincy. Cocktails and dinner at a great little night spot called the Library. Driving to dinner guess what we saw?? Go ahead guess. I’ll wait for you. Unicorn? No. They’re not real. Troll? I don’t think they’re real either…But bears are real. And we saw one…in fact we actually stalked it for a few yards down Nora's street, but sure enough just as we got close we heard the tell-tale whup, whup, whup from overhead that could only mean one thing. DAMN, it was an Army Blackhawk helicopter and we were just able to make out the door gunner’s identity. Night vision goggles, face paint camo and Manolo Blahniks!! Yup, you guessed it was Sarah!! Moose rifle and all. Turns out she doesn’t have to give back the shoes or the helicopter back until the end of the month. So, no, really we didn’t see Sarah Palin, but we did see a cute little black bear.

Thanks to Nora for a very nice stay at her inn. Pancake breakfast and all.