I was born and grew up in NLR until '73, then moved up to Mtn Home where I graduated HS -- Deb and I both have our undergrads from ASU (Jonesboro). Have family both in NLR & Hot Springs Village.

Cool. I know the area well. I did my research in the ozark national forest south of there. I would stay in a town called mountain view (To this day I still want to go back and eat there at a little restaurant called "the dogwood hollow" - where I ate dinner every single night when out in the field). My days were usually spent around a tiny little town called "Fifty Six". When not out doing research, I was in Fayetteville.

OK there BoyZ and GirlZ -- the FitzGerald's are packed and hitting the rack -- if you ain't in bed yet, get there soon -- see ya'll in the morning!!!

Over.........:driving:

See ya! I am mostly packed. Trying to get to bed by 11.

OBTW -- don't forget to pack some "wet weather" gear -- last look at the NOAA weather for Bryson City, NC was NOT encouraging for Friday or Saturday. Maybe someone should bring a deck of cards......:icon17:

Out.....

You didn't say Over....

Over.....

Got my poncho!!! :tup:

OK, I think I'm 99% packed. See you guys tomorrow.

getting ready to head over to Starbucks! See you there!

Made It Back in One Piece....
 

Made it back to the house around 5 PM -- I've NEVER seen so many State Troopers on I-81. We think the count was about 28 total (including the two on I-26), and only a few were without customers. It was amazing -- figured they are either catching up with lost revenue, or ramping up for the holiday weekend.

Thanks all -- we had a great time!!


Steve & Deb

Back home and safe as well....however I did decide to donate 140 dollars to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

OUCH? Must not of been TOO much over if it was only a buck-forty -- but I'm sure it sucked none the less. Sorry to hear about the ticket, but glad you made it home safely.

He clocked me at 73 in a 55. These two trucks were side by side going slow down this huge hill....and they were closing in on an RV (3 lanes) which would have pinched me off....so I speed up to pass them and the instant I cleared them coming around a bend he was sitting there. Looked down...knew I was ******...he pulled out...I started pulling over before the blues even went on lol. He was really nice about it though, he dropped it to 64 in a 55....which is just a 15 dollar fine but like 130 in court costs..so he helped me out a bit.


I should also mention it's a speed trap....the speed limit went from 70 (maybe 65) to 55 just for this hill. So it was a double whammy.

Edit: Ticket says R 73 S for speed...so assuming that radar 73...something.

Awesome time guys! I got pulled over by one of those troopers and you know why he pulled me over... my TINT! I wasn't even speeding! He checked it and it came out to 27% with a 7 percent margin of error. With the margin of error, I am pretty much legal in Maryland and he was cool about it. He said he wasn't going to mess with me for that and then talked to me for a couple minutes about my car, LOL!

That's crazy -- have you every seen so many cops on that long a stretch of road in a single day? Must of been a weekend special "surge"......

27% huh? Interesting.....

We had a great time too......so you guys must of made it out not TOO long after we did? (we departed just a hair before 06:30). Was Tony with you?