Sold out, sold out, and a new "friend"
Gregory Creek Homestead outside Statesville
Wednesday, and only one week
left of the vacation. After breakfast I tried to call Margaret to tell her about
my bed collapse problem but to no avail as for a change there was no phone
connection (and I mean it seriously, not sarcastically this time; the connection
was actually fine on this trip unlike in 2019, where there was only a connection
when I stood in a certain place on the path between the house and "the village".
Instead I chose to drive to her house and tell her in person, after which
Margaret told me that the double bed in the other room was much better, so I
changed into that when I got home in the evening. After explaining the situation
to Margaret, I headed for Statesville once again. Here I wanted to see two of
the "museums" in the city and surrounding area that I had not yet have visited,
namely the Gregory Creek Homestead, which is a reconstruction of an old farm and
part of Iredell Museums. Next place was Fort Dobbs, which is a
reconstruction of a fort from the French and Indian War from around 1760. I also
visited the latter place in 2015, when all there was to see, was just a hole in
the ground, in 2018 when the replica of the old blockhouse was being built, and
in 2019 when the blockhouse was finished but not yet open to the public.
I started at the former location where I parked the car and walked around
looking at the buildings from the outside. The buildings are only open when
there is some kind of event taking place on the site, and that was not the case
on this occasion, which I knew in advance, because the museum director, Emily
Baker, had told me so, when I visited her on Saturday (see the article Visiting
a museum and eating at Dooley's), but I found it interesting to look at both the
main building and the outbuildings, including an outhouse, which I grew up with
in my maternal grandmother's and grandfather's summer cottage. It took a number
of years before things were upgraded and my paternal grandmother's and
grandfather's allotment house was also arranged in the same way. Also the herb
garden, where historical herbs and vegetables had been planted, but not yet
sprouted. On site I filmed another video for my Glocal Explorer video channel.
Next stop was Fort Dobbs, but before I left, I contacted another acquaintance,
Rachel Anders, who lives near the fort, to see if she could meetwitrh me, either
that day or one of the days to come, but it turned out to be completely
impossible because of her job, so I just drove up to the fort. I had been told
that there were tours of the building only on Saturdays, but that turned out to
be a wrong. There were tours several times a week, including this Wednesday,
just not at that time, and I have to be honest, I didn't want to wait 1.5 hours
for the next one. Instead, I had a chat with one of the two gentlemen who looked
after the place that day, and then I just walked around and looked at things
from the outside, while I recorded another video for the YouTube channel. On a
sign I saw that there was a tour on Friday at 10 so I decided it might be a good
idea since I was going to Statesville on Friday anyway to meet my friends
Charlotte and Bill who would be driving up from their home in Matthews so we
could meet up with Steve Hill in his Historical Collection, and since that
meeting was arranged for 12 noon, there would be enough time for both.
When I was done with Fort Dobbs for this time, I pulled out onto Interstate
Highway 77, which I took north to the junction of US Highway 421, which I then
took 4 miles east to exit 267. Near this exit is Laurel Gray Vineyards, which I
have visited on all my trips to the area since 2004. Here you find good wine and
nice people, and the place is open from Wednesday to Sunday, so it fit like a
glove. On our first visit in 2004 (Dorte and I), the landlady of our B&B had
sent us out on a wine tour, but it would be hard to visit all the three places,
she had suggested. It was 4pm when we left the B&B and all the wineries closed
at 5pm. When we got to the first place we explained our problem to the young
lady who was in charge of the tastings. It didn't matter, she said, and grabbed
the phone and called the other two wineries that Madelyn (the B&B hostess) had
recommended. Soon after, she was able to inform us that now they were aware that
we would come, so they would simply stay open until we arrived. I'm pretty sure
that they hadn't done that in many places in Denmark. The last place on the list
was exactly Laurel Gray, and here we arrived at 18.45, so they should have
closed almost two hours earlier, but still we were received as if we were
visiting family. We tasted the wine and the owner, Kim, told us about herself
and the family who had lived in the area for 10 generations! She had been in the
advertising business and her husband in the tobacco industry, but now they were
making wine – and an excellent one at that. The winery has existed since 2000,
so it was quite new when we visited them in 2004, but the wine was good, even
then. After the tasting, we were introduced to Kim's husband, Benny, her sister
and a girlfriend, who were visiting, and while we chatted with them, another
local came by, and we also chatted with him a bit. All in all, a really cozy
winery, to which it is always a pleasure to return.
The tasting toom at Laurel Gray Vineyards
When I got there, it turned out
that it was Kim herself who was taking care of the tastings at that time - she
had only been present on a few of my previous visits, but now we had a long
pleasant chat, even though she didn't remember the episode, that had taken place
18 years earlier. Some people and their bad memories! Unfortunately Kim had to
go as she had a hairdresser appointment and so it was one of her staff who
completed the tasting and sold me the two bottles of their excellent viognier
which I bought on the occasion. I also wanted to buy some of their excellent
homemade BBQ sauce that they sell under the name Crazy 'Bout Butts (which I like
and which Tim loves), but it turned out they were sold out. Out of stock!! What
are they thinking of? But actually they haven't had them on any of my later
visits either, so they have probabbly stopped producing the sauce.
As I had to leave the place unsatisfied when it came to BBQ sauce, there would
be no gift for Tim from the vineyard. After the visit to Laurel Gray, I returned
to Wilkesboro and Walmart because there was something I had forgotten when I
shopped the day before, namely laundry detergent, which I always bring from home,
but which I had forgotten on this occasion. My plan was to do laundry on
Thursday afternoon when I got home from that day's trip.
After the visit to Walmart, I wanted to have dinner before driving back to the
house, which is somewhat remote and without any restaurants nearby. Instead of
eating in Wilkesboro, I chose to drive the 45 km to Lenoir because I wanted to
eat at the salad bar that had opened just before my last visit in 2019. Here you
could get soup and a salad buffet, and it had been excellent, and relatively
cheap, and now I wanted to go back. Unfortunately, it turned out that the place
was closed. It appeared to be not just a Wednesday closing, but a fairly
permanent one as the windows and door were boarded up. So no healthy salad. The
same year that the salad bar opened, a milkshake and hot dog bar, Shake'n Dogs
also opened close by, and as I hadn't visited that place before, I decided to
make up for it now. When I did not visit the place in 2019, it was because I was
there on a Tuesday and the newly opened hot dog bar had a Tuesday special, "a
dollar for a dog", and this offer had attracted a large crowd. Not only were all
the chairs and tables occupied, but there was simply a long line down the street
outside. Now, however, it was not Tuesday, but Wednesday, and when I turned the
corner there was not a single soul outside. There was nobody inside the room
either, not even employees. Instead, there was a cardboard sign in the window
saying that they had closed! Tuesday had simply been so good that EVERYTHING was
sold out, and they wouldn't get new supplies until Thursday morning. Out of
stock! I don't know if they still offer "A dollar for a dog" on Tuesdays, but it
was sold out, so this was the second time in the same day that I couldn't get
what I wanted. I may try once more on my next visit in July 2023, but I will not
try on a Tueay or Wednesday!
Instead, I hurled myself undaunted into the traffic on the completely deserted
street to the opposite side of the town square, to the Side Street Pour House
pub where I had eaten earlier. The place was actually open, so I treated myself
to one of their home-made burgers and another hard cider, and both were
excellent, even though it was neither salad nor sausages. After the meal, I
drove back to the house, where I relaxed with my new friend, who fortunately was
outside the house. The friend was a small cat that had come running the previous
day and now had returned. When I had told Margaret about the animal, she had
immediately bought several cans of cat food which I had brought with me in the
morning with instructions to feed the animal, so now I opened a can and put it
in front of the cat, who immediately pounced on it, before it came back to the
window and begged for more, but it didn't get any. I went to bed quite early, as
I had planned to drive a longer trip on Thursday and therefore wanted to get up
early, so for the first time on the trip I set the alarm clock - for 7 o'clock!