Too Long at Atlanta Airport...

After Marc cooked us an incredible breakfast, it was time to hit the road for our final segment: driving back to Atlanta Airport. Since we’ve had bad experiences with traffic and trying to find a gas station near the rental car return before, we built in a very long cushion which ended up meaning that we had nearly five hours to hang out in the airport after security. Despite forking out the big bucks for cocktails and an upscale Japanese restaurant, I can attest that having that much time in the airport sucked. 

Luckily everything went smoothly with our flight...

…and we arrived back as planned in London on January 25.

 

Last Stop on Our Whirlwind US Tour...

Our final stop was even further west, in Asheville, North Carolina to stay overnight with Marc, a dear buddy from our years in the Triangle who visited us twice in Holland.  

Our walking tour of his neighborhood began at this eclectic bar...

…where we enjoyed some high octane jello shots.

On our way to dinner, Jimmy couldn’t resist doing a little bit of juggling outside of a hostel. 

Poor Nigel had surgery that day and would be stuck as a conehead for several weeks. 

Marc’s house was charming. It was funny for me to see this sculpture on the wall as the last time I saw it was at his apartment in Washington, DC in 2009. Ashlynn had strangely woken up in the middle of the night, sat up and said something about the angel falling. It was quite a creepy experience for me; she didn’t remember it in the morning. We ended our evening in the hot tub. 
 

Another Family Visit...

After our excellent visit with many friends in the Triangle, it was time to head west. Our next stop was Burlington, North Carolina. It had been many years since we had last seen Jimmy’s Uncle Joe and Aunt Ann, and they were still living in Jacksonville at the time. After Joe retired, they decided it was time to move closer to their cousins, whom Jimmy and I hadn’t seen in nearly 30 years. 

Joe and Ann was as hospitable as ever and it was great catching up with them and their cousins.

Their house was lovely, backing up to some woods with regular visitors in their yard.
 

Occoneechee Speedway...

The following day, we bundled up and Carolyn drove us out to Hillsborough for a short hike. 

Our destination was Occoneechee Speedway, one of two of NASCAR’s earliest racetracks, which was built in 1947 and closed in 1968. 

The historic 0.9-mile dirt track was being used that day for a relay race.  

Especially interesting were the rusty racecars scattered about. 

 

“Coldest Hash of the Year”....

That Saturday was full of reunions with lots of old friends. Before heading to the hash, we had a wonderful lunch at Erika and Michael’s. I was thrilled to get to see them, but also felt sad that our time with them was so short and that I didn’t take any photos. 

Somehow the title of Sir Walter’s H3’s trail when we were in town didn’t scare us away—it was aptly named as the temps were really frigid. It was cool that the trail was laid by old timers that we’d known for many years. And luckily there were ways around the wet spots in the woods, so we managed to keep our feet dry. We were really touched that several old timers who had opted to skip trail came out to see us, with one couple stopping by the start of trail and several others joining us at a sports bar in Apex afterwards.

We got lots of hugs but were pretty crappy at getting photos. Here’s Jim, whom Veronica and Ashlynn used to call Sticky Nicky...

…and Kristine, who ran with me.

 

Revisiting Our Old House...

Jimmy and I had several errands to run while in North Carolina, including closing our safety deposit box and visiting our tenants. Amazingly, they have lived in our house (2010 to 2024 = 14 years) for a lot longer than we did (1996 to 2005 = 9 years). 

We were thrilled to find it is still in good shape. Although our tastes have changed over the years, we both could still see ourselves living there once again.  

It’s funny to realize that we’ve never even used the master bathroom, which was remodeled after the flood damage in 2010. 

It was also incredible to see that their giant refrigerator fit in the space of our small one.

And it was sweet to see our names on the slab poured in 2003 when our screened-in porch was added.
 

Fun Times in Durham...

Our next stop on our whirlwind US tour was Durham, North Carolina, where Carolyn and Steve had settled when they downsized. Jimmy had visited them once before, but this was the first time I had seen their charming home.  

While Steve visited us twice in Holland while on business trips, this was the first time I had seen Carolyn since 2012 in Italy. It was great that Sam and Zach could join us for dinner; they were just teenagers when I saw them last and now they’re tax-paying responsible adults. 

When we first moved to North Carolina, downtown Durham was somewhere to avoid. Now it is vibrant with lots of cafés and small businesses plus some interesting signs. I was thrilled that the timing worked for Erika to come by so we could find one of those cafés to have lunch together.  

We took a variety of walks around their neighborhood, including around Duke University’s defunct satellite park, which is now Duke’s Art Annex.