This morning, Mom and I drove around downtown Murfreesboro to check it out. We walked around the town square. The courthouse is the oldest courthouse in the state of Tennessee. Then, we went to the mall near our hotel and wandered around the stores there. That particular mall reminded me of Muskegon's mall.
My aunt Charlene's friend moved to Murfreesboro from Grand Rapids about 20 years ago. Her name is Sharon Stevens. We met Sharon at her work inside the courthouse. She works as a GIS technician for Rutherford County. Sharon introduced us to one of her coworkers who had a brace on her leg. We asked what happened and she said it was an injury that occurred a year ago when she was chasing a chicken. I died laughing. Sharon said the lady lives in a subdivision and has about 20 chickens as she likes fresh eggs. That lady's neighbor has a mule. I am just picturing chickens in the backyard in a subdivision. It makes me laugh. I love the southern accent. I wish I had that accent.
Sharon took us to this delicious restaurant in Christiana, TN called Millers Restaurant. It used to be a grocery store. The food was good ole southern cooking. Sharon and I both got meatloaf and mom got the Millers Delight whicch was potato pancakes, chicken salad, frozen fruit, and these fried corn puff things. The food was delicious. Sharon said that their county also has the 80/20 percentage for how much the county and employee are responsible for with regards to health insurance. We had a nice time with Sharon. Wish we could have spent more time with her, as she seems like alot of fun. She thought I was only 28 yrs old. That made my day!
After lunch with Sharon, Sharon drove us back to the courthouse and then my mom and I left for Franklin. Franklin is a ritzy city abourt 20 miles outside of Nashville. It is where many of the country music stars have their homes.
Our first stop in Franklin was at Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University which is on Mallory Rd. It is a large brick building with alot of beautiful flowers outside. We went inside just thinking it was just a corporate office. We had no idea that was where Dave Ramsey did his live radio show. There were about 8 places to sit outside of the studio where you could sit and watch/listen to his show live. The bookstore behind us had his books and other things to buy. The lady who worked there gave us complimentary lemonade and delicious desserts. On Dave's break we were able to meet him in person and have our picture taken with him. I told him about me paying off my $28,000 debt and he gave me a high five. That was fantastic. He does his show from 1-4 p.m. He left about 10 minutes after 4 for the day. My mom told me to run by the door and see what kind of car he had. He had a grey little Lexus sportscar. After leaving Financial Peace University, we used our GPS to find where Dave lives. It is only about 2 miles from the studio. You have to take Cool Springs Rd to get to the Avalon subdivision. We drove down the tree lined road to the end, but there were big gates so we turned around. There is also another entrance about a mile behind the subdivision where the other gate is. His house is way up on a hill. I found the picture on the internet. It was about 10 million and he just moved into it last fall.
Then, we drove around downtown Franklin which has a bunch of quaint shops. The traffic was bad. There were several 2 lane roads around there. It was bumper to bumper traffic for several miles. Then, we went shopping at the mall called, Cool Springs Galleria.
This was one of our longest drives on this vacation. We drove over 500 miles today from Raleigh to Murfreesboro. I know some people drive straight through to FL all the time, but 500 miles seems like an eternity to me. We did make a couple of stops along the way. We stopped in Thomasville, NC which has the World's Largest Chair. We wanted to stop to find the largest coffee pot in Winston-Salem, but my mom was driving and the GPS was not cooperating so we just skipped that one.
We had a wonderful lunch at this bakery/cafe in Weaverville, which is just outside of Asheville. I wanted to see what stores were in Weaverville so drove around the area. We ended up taking highway 25 which went on the north end of Asheville around the mountains. It took forever. It was a beautiful drive, though. It took us into Newport, TN, where we started to see a bunch of junky trailers.
I think my medication hit me today, as I was quite tired so had my mom do alot of the highway driving. She was quite nervous driving especially around the traffic. I don't think moving is a good thing for her, as I am seeing how nervous she gets. I told her tonight that I think she really didn't want to move and that she is just wanting to stay in her comfort zone. It's frustrating to me, as I have wanted to move for so long. I finally have all of my debts paid off and almost have my 10 years in with the County of Muskegon and would like to move. However, when I see these places, I wonder if it is something I want to do on my own without my mother nearby. She has always said she would move near me, but I don't think she would if I moved away. My mother is the only immediate relative I have left. I do have aunts, uncles and cousins, but they all have their own lives. I have thought about moving to Ann Arbor, but my mom doesn't.
After seeing some of these other cities, I have seen that there is hardly any water. We do have a large asset with our Lake Michigan. I think I would miss living near water, as I have grown up by it. I hate the snow and always will complain about it. I would never move without a full time job lined up as it is much too risky.
People are always telling me I need to be back on my own in my own place. Sure, that would be nice, but it is expensive. I don't want to live in some crummy part of town just to say I am living on my own. Safety and my neighborhood are much too important to me. I wouldn't mind living in Grand Haven. Losing my dad and grandparents and other family things that have happened have left me not wanting to live in Muskegon, per se.
Please pray for me that God will show me the right way. I have always been a goal oriented person and wanted to make a move to a new place, but after the trip, wondering if the grass is greener on the other side. If you have any advice for me, please let me know, as I am more confused as ever. Thanks.
Mom and I set out to check out Cary. We drove around the west side of the city and went by some homes. We noticed that most of them were built right next to each other and hardly had a front or backyard. The homes were about $350,000. I have always liked the homes in Norton Shores in the Evergreen subdivision off of Pontaluna Rd. Those homes are big, with large front and back yards and trees all around. I have always said those are my dream homes. That was the first difference I saw in the homes in Cary vs Norton Shores.
We drove to the outlet stores in Smithfield which is about 30 minutes south of Raleigh to meet up with one of my high school friends, Lynn Goerl, whom I haven't seen since high school. It was so good to see her again. She is a sweetheart. She is married with 4 beautiful children. She has lived in St. Louis, Iowa, and Nebraska. Her mother still lives in Nebraska. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel and she showed us her family photos. I wish she lived closer to me, so I could hang out with her more often.
We went shopping at Chicos and both got something there. I love the fact I can wear a size 2 or 3 there.
Mom and I then drove to downtown Raleigh and found the Cupcake Shoppe. We split a velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and then a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. They were each $3 and so delicious. Then, we drove around downtown Raleigh and saw the Capital building.
Our next stop was at the Crabtree Mall which is one of the main malls in the Raleigh area. I would compare it to Twelve Oaks mall in Novi. I have done most of the city driving on this trip. I really don't get too nervous driving around it, as long as I have my GPS. Without the GPS, there is no way I could do a trip like this. That is like the navigational bible to me. I don't care for the traffic around the triangle and wouldn't want to deal with that for the next 30 years of my life working, but once in a while I could handle it.
We are staying at the Hamptons Inn in Cary which is quite nice. I would recommend staying at this chain, as they include a nice breakfast, nice rooms, and a snack in the evening. The rooms are not too expensive, either.
After our snack, I drove us to the Cary Senior Center and we took a tour of the facility. It was quite large with many activities for seniors.
It is quite a challenge trying to find a place that both my mom and I like. We are both in different stages of our lives. I know that as a single lady without children and only 1 living parent, it is important to have her nearby. We are a support system for each other. Yes, everyone says to just move without my mother, but when you are a single lady close to your parent, you may understand why it is important to have her nearby while I have her.
Again, I don't like Muskegon at all, but not sure yet where I will go. Perhaps, Grand Haven or Grand Rapids might be an alternative to moving out of state, but not sure. All I know is that I won't move without a job, as it is so important to have health insurance and a steady job. I just got out of credit card debt a few months ago and working on savings. I don't want to struggle like I have been for the past 6 years.
Please continue to pray for us that we figure out what is best for us.
We had a nice leisurely drive from Mt. Airy to about an hour west of Raleigh. We went through this city, High Point, which is now the furniture capital of the U.S. Every year, they have a large furniture convention. Near their downtown is the World's Largest Chest of drawers. It's funny how it is just sitting there next to a house. There is a giant sock hanging out of one of the drawers. Then, we continued driving and found one of the furniture offices with a chest of drawers built into the front of the building. It is quite a site to see.
We got to Durham in the afternoon. It took about 2 hours to get there. We checked into our hotel called the Millenium, which was next to Duke University. In fact, the Duke University Sleep Apnea tests were performed out of our hotel. We went to visit a childhood friend, Dan Morse, at his place of work in Cary and had a nice visit. He told us all about the area and how built up it is becoming.. Wake County is working on a toll road highway on the west end of town. It will be the only toll road in the state of North Carolina. We didn't like driving on I-40. It is very congested.
We drove around Chapel Hill and Durham and were not too impressed with it. We walked around the Duke University campus. I liked the gothic designed buildings.
I was quite surprised how much traffic was all over this area. Cary is about the size of Grand Rapids, but the traffic seemed much worse. I decided I won't move anywhere unless I have a job lined up. So many people on the forums are saying not to move without a job.
We spent the day in Mt. Airy. It was a small town north of Winston-Salem. It was best known as the town that Andy Griffith grew up in. The TV show, "Andy Griffith Show" was based on this town. We took the squad car tour that took us first to the huge granite producing site. This granite was used in building many of the buildings in Washington D.C. Granite weathers very well, so you don't have to clean or replace it.
The Sheriff took us down Main St. We saw the barber shop that Andy Griffith got his haircuts at. Saw the famous restaurant "Snappy Lunch" which is the only restaurant mentioned in the TV show. Again, we went by the childhood home of Andy Griffith.
It was fun to take this tour around town. Then, mom and I went inside the courthouse which was based in the show. We went to the Andy Griffith Museum. Andy's good friend in town is the person responsible for getting this museum started. They are still friends to this day.
Andy Griffith started out his career in gospel music. He performed in some plays in school. He attended the University of North Carolina near Raleigh. He has been married 3 times. He adopted a son who died of alcoholism and has 1 daughter. He has been married to his last wife, Cindy, since 1983.
Andy currently lives in a North Carolina coastal city.
We had lunch at the Snappy Lunch. The breaded cheeseburgers were delicious. Andy used to come to this restaurant at lunch as a kid, as the school didn't have a cafeteria.
We stopped by the Floyd's barber and met the barber who has cut Andy's hair many times. In fact, he works from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has cut hair for almost 64 years.
He took a picture of us and will put it on his wall collage. He has over 18,000 photos of people who have met him. They are all over the walls in the barber shop. Each haircut is still $8.
We went on a tour of this Gertrude's home. The lady conducting the tour was very hospitable. She invited us to sit down and chat and have us some water. She gave us hugs on the way out. I sure love this southern charm and friendliness. It is nice to see people not in such a hurry, too. I prefer not to be rushed anymore with things. I don't think I could live in a city like Chicago again, as I enjoy medium to smaller cities.
I was super excited about going to see Jerry (Jay) Depoy's new church, Exodus, which was in the Asheville Community Theater in downtown Asheville. We got to the church around 9 a.m. and had a nice chat with him. His family new a pastor in Asheville, who provided them with a beautiful home in Mars Hill, which is north east of the city. When Jerry first moved to Asheville in Sept. 2009, he worked in the men's department at Dillards and then waited tables. I am sure I will have to work retail when I first move somewhere, until I can find a full-time job. The best case scenario would be to have something already lined up before going, but we will see. Jerry and I hugged and so did Jamie and I. It was so good to see both of them. I used to attend Jerry's church in Muskegon 3 years ago. It was called Lakeshore Community Church which was in the Harbor Theater.
Exodus Church is similar to Lakeshore Community Church. It was so good to hear one of Jerry's wonderful sermons. He truly has a gift for reaching out to people through his sermons. My mom enjoys his messages, too.
I talked with a couple of gals after the service. One of them, Mandy, was from South Florida. She works at the local health department as a health educator for reproductive health. The other gal was from Grand Rapids. Mandy said she came to Asheville without a job and was able to find one within 2 months, so I felt a little better about that.
After church, mom and I headed east towards Winston-Salem. We saw the city, Rutherfordton, and decided to go to it, as my mom's friend's brother lives there. Then, I looked at a map and noticed that Charlotte was only about an hour away, so decided to drive around there. Charlotte's traffic was horrible. There were about 4 lanes of traffic all through there. Today was Sunday and the traffic was bad. Imagine what it would be like during the weekday? I think I can scratch Charlotte off my list.
We did find Billy Graham's library in Charlotte. Unfortunately, it was closed as it was a Sunday. Then, I drove around downtown Charlottte. The highways getting to downtown were horrible, but once I got downtown, there were hardly any cars, so I could drive slow through there and look at the surroundings.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Mt. Airy tonight. Mt. Airy is the home town of Andy Griffith. We found the home he lived in from 1935-1966. Our hotel has a deal where you can spend the night at Andy Griffith's house for $175. I tried to convince my mom we had to do that, but she didn't go for it. That is too bad as that would have been cool.
Mom and I left the hotel a little after 9 a.m. and spent the entire day exploring Asheville. First, we went to check out this apartment on the north side of town. It was alled the Springs of Asheville. The apartments were built in 2009 and way up in the mountains. They were similar to the apartment we are currently living in, in Norton Shores. I thought they were gorgeous. The view of the mountains was spectacular. It was about 1 mile from the nearest grocery store.
Then, we went to the Asheville Mall to check that out. Of course, we had to stop at the Barnes & Noble store. Neither one of us was impressed with the mall. If you know the two of us, you know that whereever we live, there has to be a nice mall and a Barnes & Noble nearby. We thought the mall seemed dark and gloomy inside. It had a Dillards, but didn't have the Ralph Lauren and Jones New York brands in the petite section, which is what my mom likes.
After the mall, we drove to Biltmore Village and did a little shopping. We had a bite to eat at the Biltmore McDonalds, which was featured on the Travel channel a few years ago. It is supposed to be the fanciest McDonalds.
Then, we drove on the south end of town to Hendersonville, which is about 18 miles south of Asheville. We didn't like Hendersonville at all. We both thought it was too much of a hick town for us. It had a pretty courthouse, though.
My friends, Jerry and Jamie Depoy, who were from Muskegon, moved to Asheville almost 2 years ago. They live in Mars Hill which is about 16 miles northeast of Asheville. I thought that area was gorgeous. It is way up in the mountains and the most beautiful area. There is a liberal arts college there that had a beautiful campus. We drove all around it. We found the elementary school which overlooked the hills.
Then, we went back to downtown Asheville and walked around. We stopped at the Chocolate Fetish store and got a piece of their chocolate. We went to the Grove Arcade. Unfortunately, the stores closed at 6 p.m. which was disappointing.
We found where Jerry Depoy's new church is located (inside the Asheville Community Theater). Tomorrow, we plan to attend his service, which I am excited about.
For dinner, we went to the Olive Garden.
I talked with several people today about the job situation in Asheville. Most of them said finding a job here is either tricky or challenging. I have done alot of research online which said the same thing. The city is great to visit as a tourist, but different if you live here. There are a lot of hippies and artists here. It is great for people watching. I am just not sure it is the place I want to live. Hoping I can find my new home soon. I don't want to stay in Muskegon after next year. I had planned to only live there a few years after living in Chicago, but ended up there 10 years now. I need a new place to live, so could use some prayers in finding that place.
Mom and I got up around 7 a.m. today, as we knew we had quite a bit of driving to do. After breakfast, we packed up and drove through the rolling hills in Lexington, KY to a small town called Paris. We were't too impressed with this city. I did think they had a beautiful courthouse. I wish the court house in Muskegon was not so ugly.
Then, we drove to the city of Georgetown, which we had driven around 2 years go. The traffic was worse this time around. It was very charming 2 years ago, but then again, that was in the fall and not during the summer vacation season. We drove through downtown Lexington, then headed toward London, KY.
Colonel Sanders had his first kitchen in London where he came up with the spices for his fried chicken. Then, we went to the Original Kentucky Fried Chicken, located in Corbin, KY. We had a nice chicken dinner there. They have a museum there, with a replica of his first kitchen. He started the business as a place for travelers to dine, get gas, and spend the night. There was a courtyard motel hooked onto the restaurant back in the day. Actually, he was known for his country ham. People would stop here to gas up, spend the night, and then get a nice dinner.
I had mom do some of the highway driving, as I had done alot of driving already. The mountains through Tennessee and North Carolina are gorgeous. I made my mom stop on the side of the road by the North Carolina sign, as I wanted her to take a picture of me next to it. I don't think she was happy about it, as she is a nervous driver, but glad she did.
Thank goodness we have our GPS as that has helped us out on all of these driving trips. I did have a few problems around Asheville. The exits seemed to come too fast so I kept missing them. The GPS just re-calculated and got us to our hotel off of Tunnel Road.
We had a delicious pizza at the chain restaurant, Mellow Mushroom on Broadway St in downtown Asheville.
I was glad to get back to the hotel before it got too dark. I hate to drive in unfamiliar areas when it is dark.
We met Jeanne and her husband, Kevin in Nunica and drove in my mom's new car to Frankenmueth to pick up their car that was being fixed. I had a great time chatting with them. Jeanne and Kevin would be great companions on a road trip. They are so funny. They treated us to breakfast at IHOP.
After we dropped them off in Frankenmueth, we took US 23 South to I-75 toward Lexington, Kentucky. Mom did the driving around Dayton, OH which was a mess, as they were doing so much road construction. I took over driving outside of Dayton and drove around Cincinnati, which was absolutely a nightmare. I have been through Cincinnati before, but never this bad. Once we got into Kentucky, the traffic was so much nicer. I love the rolling hills. Tonight, we are staying at the Fairfield Inn at exit 115. We split a turkey and dressing dinner at Cracker Barrel. I asked the waiter about the job outlook in Lexington. He said there are alot of jobs. He said that Louisville had alot of crime, so he didn't recommend that city. We talked to the clerk at the hotel, who said she loves Asheville.
Both my mom and I loved Asheville when we went there 2 years ago. I have heard that isn't as easy to find jobs in Asheville, as it is in the Raleigh area. I have researched online and both show about an 8% unemployment rate. I have been researching all of this for about 3 years now. It will be nice to check out these areas in person and see if this is a place we want to move.
My mom has Sirius satellite in her car, so we were listening to the Casey Anthony case on Headline News. I thought it would be so funny if we were down in Orlando and got in line at 3 am at the Orange County Courthouse to be one of the lucky 60 peolple to get to sit in the courtroom and listen to the procedure. That is the type of crazy stuff I like to do on a vacation.
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