B&T Sunshine Tour 2022 - Day 2

You never know how the day will go until well…the day goes. We started out looking for the Hatfield's in Pikeville but B was not really in the mood and we didn’t have a real plan so I didn’t complain. Later, in Tennessee though, we made a stop at a gas station and found a flier for a Hatfield-McCoy Self guided drive through that passes by grave yards and points of interest (killings?). If only we had had that the day before. It would have been a perfect tribute for a Pikeville visit. But we so loved the 23 South experience that we will be back and you gotta leave room to explore for the next time.

B was excited to get back on the road so off we went. Again taken by the beauty of 23 South, we traveled 3-½ hours to Ashville, NC. The cloudless blue skies were stunning against the Appalachian mountains. As I viewed the mountains to my right I kept seeing these stripes that waved along. I thought they were logs at first but turned out they were the tree’s shadows creating these flowing trails. It was gorgeous though trying to take pictures at 60 miles an hour wasn’t real successful.

I find that often I miss the best pictures because I’m in too much awe of what I see before me. This was particularly true of the blue ridge mountains so I downloaded a photo from the web taken by a Michael A Milton that does it justice.

Layers of blue shades lined the bright blue sky. The forests that cover these mountains are predominately made up of spruce and fir trees and they emit isoprene, a building block molecule for many compounds, into the atmosphere creating the blue hue! A moistness glistened my cheeks once again for the gorgeous sites of the world we have been blessed with to explore. I’ve missed it all for even longer than I thought. I flew from place to place for years to other wonderful places while missing so many glorious sites along the way. This trip was eyes open wide!

The Biltmore was a place we had hoped to hook up with B’s brother and his wife who live on their mountain in Vilas, NC. It didn’t work out this trip, but my husband was impressed by the estate layout so we planned to visit the house Day3. We shopped a bit and overheard a constant buzz of ‘You must come, We love to come for Christmas time at the Biltmore!” It was a full moon and a gorgeous night this night! I image it would be magical at Christmas.

Back in our room, we discovered that our nephew, Blake, and his wife, Kate, were only 90 minutes away. They were camping at a KOA in Blountville, TN off I-81. They had been traveling from upper California where they packed up their 6 cats, 1 dog and a snake in an RV to sojourn cross country to their new home in Maidens, VA! Unbeknownst to us, we must have crossed paths around Kingsport, TN earlier that day.

Smiles and sleep were coming much easier these days!

Power Policy Gone Astray

Some shopping trips are smooth sailing. Others just don’t flow as expected from the start. I hit a local Kroger late yesterday afternoon to buy sub fixin’s for movie night. It started with no French bread. Or was there? I saw the empty shelves but asked anyway in case there was someplace else to look. The reply was no and confirmation was that there was no more coming out of the oven.  Finally I picked up a loaf of Italian and headed over to the deli.

My next quest was to find salami with the peppercorns imbedded throughout. The guy behind the counter said Genoa. He sliced me some but when I looked, there were no peppercorns. I inquired why that might be. He didn’t know that there weren’t any peppercorns because he wasn’t paying any attention. Startled at this response, I decided he had pulled his answer out of thin air, though I did look on-line later to find he was actually correct. Since his Genoa salami was without, I walked away wondering if this was what I really wanted for dinner tonight when, lo and behold, I came upon a random table with several loaves of French bread. Okay…back on the menu.

I wanted to be done and out of there but it turned out I picked up an item that was buy 5, get an even bigger savings off of each of the 5 items. Most of the time I rationalize that I’ll spend a lot more on the other 4 items than I will save, but I had already passed a few products that I could use with that same offer. That being the case there was no need to leave money on the table. Retracing my steps through the store I now found too many buy 5 items which meant I either needed to find more items or prioritize my top 5 needs. It turned out more loss time was not one of my needs so I chucked the overage.

Mission finally accomplished and I was ready to check out. I went through the self-check-out minding my own business when a bit of an argument ensued behind me. I looked and saw a woman, probably around 30-35 and a clerk 50 plus years telling her she couldn’t buy the wine in her hand because she did not have her driver’s license with her. After a short exchange, he conceded to check with his supervisor who was within hearing and viewing range. The supervisor glanced up and shook her head ‘no’. I had to do a double take thinking I was mistaken on my original assessment of the woman’s age. Seriously? This woman was well over 21. The man shrugged his shoulders and had the audacity to tell her he believed he had seen her in the store before. Without saying it, the implication in my mind was that he had sold her or seen her buy alcohol before.

That was it. I told her to give me the bottle. I have my license and would be happy to make the purchase. I rang it up and the clerk came over. He refused…refused to sell the wine to a 64 year old woman because he was suspicious that she might give it to a 35 year old. Honestly….am I wrong to still be shaking my head?

I considered sending a complaint to the store but the last thing I want is to be bored with how it is protective policy and their associate was right in assuming the woman wasn’t old enough to buy liquor because he is not allowed the use of his own mind. Plus, I would not want to be the one responsible for this clerk and his supervisor attaining associate of the year awards for saving the store from the criminal activities of two plotting, mischievous women who have been able to drink alcohol well within their rights for years.

Sigh….