Days 8 & 9: Friends in Chapel Hill

Alpine at the Johnson's

I like Chapel Hill, where our friends, Scott and Carol, live.  The area is very pretty and lush.  I noticed how forested it is with varieties of deciduous trees, now beginning to turn into their vibrant fall hues.

a sorority home

Chapel Hill is primarily a university town with a great atmosphere and vibrancy about it.  I love the way the town is absorbed into the university and part of it.  The wide tree- lined avenues with their grand immaculately maintained homes are impressive.

tree lined avenues 

one of the many university medical centers

We also drove to Duke University, an impressive campus emulating European architecture of old stone buildings and Gothic cathedrals, in a sprawling, woodsy setting. 

the approach to the focal point, the cathedral building

Karen, a neighbor, stopped by with her dog, who is surprisingly tolerant towards Carol's frisky puppy.   Karen's husband, Dave, joined us later and we all had dinner together.

Dave on the banjo, with Pete Seeger's autograph in the lower
left-hand corner

The highlight of the evening, totally spontaneous, was our first get-together in our home on wheels.
Alpine is pretty hard to miss when you park it outside someone's home.  So, later that evening, after dinner, we gave curious friends and neighbors a tour and in the process ended up having a concert.
It turns out that Dave, a cardiologist by day, is also a musician.  He brought his banjo and played us a couple of tunes.  
We now feel like Alpine is officially christened after our first "party" on board.  It will remain a special memory of our time with our friends and their neighbors, Dave and Karen.

The next morning, Scott took us and Finn for a walk along Morgan Creek Trail adjoining their neighborhood.  Carol, when she worked at the hospital, used to walk this trail all the way to town.  The paved trail connects several neighborhoods with the downtown area.

We made our way back through one of the neighborhoods.  While Scott and Michael, who were business colleagues, chatted, I enjoyed looking at the style of houses, many of which were decorated for Trick or Treat night today.

 On this sunny, bright morning, several trees were aglow.  

I was amused by a couple of road signs posted in the neighborhood  - Southern courtesy and politeness, it appears, also extends to traffic warnings.

We said our goodbyes and were off on the next leg, to Asheville, North Carolina, for the night.

Another amusing sign caught my eye along this road.  I am familiar with deer crossing warnings but this is a first:

Back on the highway, it was a clear run on I-40 westbound.  The clouds began to gather exchanging blue skies for gray.  The trees along this stretch were wearing their fall garb.

Mountain tops began appearing in the far distance.  The Great Smoky Mountain range was ahead of us and we began a slow gentle climb to higher elevations. 

At one point we drove through a patch of gentle rain.

 We found our spot at the Bear Creek Campground and hunkered down for the night.  We arrived early enough for me to make dinner (turkey barley stew with vegetables), have showers, and catch up with emails.  There was an off-chance for a dusting of snow at higher elevations as a cold front began to move through, but no one seemed to think much about it.  The overnight temperatures were forecast to dip down to around freezing, so Michael decided not to hook up the water.  Alpine's water tanks are huge so even with a quarter tank we had plenty on board.  And between the gas furnace and the heat pumps, we knew we would be cozy.