Before leaving Greensboro at the end of last week, we were visited a couple times by Greensboro News & Record columnist Jeri Rowe. He did a story on our trip which ran in yesterday’s Sunday paper.
Amy with her Greensboro running buddies after their last run together. Amy really enjoyed getting connected with such a fun group of fellow early-morning runners.
Just like getting into my sister’s driveway, getting out was a little tricky. Amy backed up the RV while my brother-in-law Chris and I rode up top to manage the low-hanging branches:
Once out in the street, we were able to finish packing, hook up the car and get pointed in the right direction:
Our sad goodbyes:
Emily left a dozen or so strategically-placed mementos around the house:
It was dark by the time we got to my former-college-roommate Justin and his wife Tina’s house/farm on Thursday evening (here’s the view the next morning:)
Justin and Tina were at work and their 4 kids were at school all day Friday, so we made ourselves at home and enjoyed their very spacious house:
That evening, we suited up for some coon hunting. Yes, I said coon hunting.
Not pictured above is Stanley, Justin’s Treeing Walker Coonhound who is sort of the star of the show. It works like this: you take Stanley into the woods, release him from his leash, and after a little while Stanley’s mournful howls reverberate through the woods indicating he has found the scent of a raccoon. When Stanley locates and trees said raccoon, he does what he has been bred to do: totally flip out. We didn’t get a ‘coon this night, and a subsequent effort the following evening came up ‘coon-less, but I at least got to see Stanley do his thing, and it was very impressive. Here’s the sound of Stanley barking up the tree of where a raccoon had recently been: Stanley-treeing-walker-hound (mp3)
My girls enjoyed being around the animals:
On Saturday morning, this calf got it’s head stuck in the rungs of a fence, and it took lubricating her neck with soap to get her free.
…Natalie got to help wash off the soap:
Justin took the time to give Natalie a few pointers on how to show farm animals in front of judges:
We all took a turn walking the calf:
Of course, we made time for some shootin’:
Emily about to snipe a pumpkin:
The only thing more awesome than Amy is Amy with a 12-gauge shotgun:
Emily can now say she shot a 20-gauge shotgun:
The effects of administering some shotgun justice from ~4 feet away:
Just hanging out that evening:
Justin has 7 pregnant cows in his field, so we were hoping to witness the birth of a calf. The earliest birth from this group, however, won’t likely happen until next week. Justin promised to send us some video.
[UPDATE 12/6/2012: Justin called to let us know that this calf was born this morning. He named it Natalie.]
We camped one more night in Justin and Tina’s driveway last night and did work and school today at their house. Now we’re heading to the Outer Banks of NC for the rest of the week.
We’re looking forward to seeing the ocean again!