KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina – Our travelogue from last week continues, as we drove from Gatlinburg, Tenn., to my sister-in-law’s house near Galax, Va. – a quaint little town in the southern part of the commonwealth. We only spent one night there, so not much to write about.

From there we continued on to Kannapolis, N.C., for our annual visit with my mother-in-law.

On Saturday, I drove alone to Greenville, N.C., over three hours away, as I was invited to play my trumpet and speak at a church there on Sunday morning.

On the way, I stopped at a friend’s house in Raleigh, for dinner. This was a real special visit, as I hadn’t seen my buddy Tim Giambra since we were in junior college. We grew up together on the same side of town. We had the same kindergarten class and remained friends all the way through graduating from high school.

When my father offered to take me to my first Major League Baseball game in Pittsburgh, it was Tim who I invited to go with us. As we reminisced during this visit, that baseball trip was to see our Montreal Expos play a double-header against the Pirates, however, the games got rained out.

We were very disappointed, but were able to cash our tickets in for a double-header later in the season against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Tim had not attended any of our class reunions over the years, so it was great to spend a couple hours with him and his wife Beth, reconnecting.

The service on Sunday went very well. There was an emphasis on missions, because a group from the church is heading to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip this summer, so the pastor asked me to speak about my experience of having gone on several mission trips, including twice to the Dominican Republic.

We had intended to spend more time in North Carolina, but we had to cut our trip a couple days short. Hopefully next time, I’ll get to see a Kannapolis Cannon Ballers game in their new ballpark. The schedule didn’t work out for us this time.

Observations From The Road

This might have been the first time in over 25 years of driving back and forth to North Carolina, that I-40 in Arkansas wasn’t under construction for miles. There were a couple minor spots, but no major delays.

The road is still a pothole nightmare through Memphis, that hasn’t changed. Plus, it’s still really cool to drive past the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and see Danny Thomas’ name on the side of the building. I was a big fan of the comedian and his sitcom, Make Room for Daddy.

He left a great legacy, in a hospital that caters to children and doesn’t charge them a dime for being treated there.

Nashville traffic is about as bad as Atlanta and Dallas. It almost doesn’t matter what time of the day or night you drive on I-40 through Nashville, there’s always going to be a slowdown. On the drive east, we ran into a huge thunder storm and torrential downpour in Nashville while trying to navigate post-rush hour traffic.

The Smoky Mountains really are, sometimes. It is such a neat thing to see as the tops of the mountains are covered in clouds or fog.

There is a well-known speed trap along I-77 between Galax, Va., and the North Carolina state line. If you’re not from around there, and if the locals haven’t told you about it, be prepared to share some of your hard-earned dollars with the local government. Thanks to my in-laws giving me the warning, I’ve never been stopped in that area, however, I have seen numerous Virginia State Police cars along about a ten-mile stretch.

There are three Wegmans supermarkets in the Raleigh area now. If you’re not from Western New York, that means nothing to you, but for the tens of thousands of transplants in North Carolina, it’s a big deal. The Gates, New York-based grocery stores are very similar to the newer, larger Reasor’s stores here in Oklahoma.

My friend Tim no longer has to load up a cooler in his car when he goes back home to Jamestown to visit. Now all he has to do is drive a couple miles from his house to get his favorite New York staples.