Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day (35) Leaving Stone Mountain, Rest Area on I-85, Vietnam Memorial–Wal-Mart Sleep Over

 

We packed up to leave for our 500 mile drive to Charlottesville, VA. It was still raining intermittently and a little cooler. By the time we finally left the CG it was 11 am.

Ron was in a driving mood so we didn’t stop for the night until around 6 PM. Our original plan was to grab a CG but instead opted to stay at a rest area in North Carolina. At first it seemed like a good idea. The rest areas in NC are really beautiful and set up nicely.

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Driving into the rest area we noticed a sign for a Vietnam Memorial located within the rest area, so after dinner took a walk to check it out.

 

The path/road to the memorial was .7 miles from the parking lot.

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The walk through the forest was really pretty and we had to cross a bridge over a stream to get to the memorial. All this in a rest area!

 

 

 

 

The Vietnam Memorial is set up in a similar fashion to the one in Washington, DC. It is quite outstanding but in such an odd spot between the North and South bound rest areas on I-85.

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The names of the 1600 NC soldiers who lost their lives during that war are on individual plaques on the wall. The area surrounding the memorial is really beautiful and meticulously maintained.

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We were glad we stopped at this particular rest area – at least for the moment. Around 10 pm we were surrounded with really noisy trucks and Ron was feeling boxed in. I think he had flashbacks from our rest area event in January. A truck pulled up beside us on the left  in a non-parking area making it even tighter. The the truck to our right decided he needed to readjust his truck –pulling forward and backing up – certainly looking like he was going to take out our right front end.image

OK- that was it- we were leaving – but where to go. The nearest Flying –J was 60 miles away – oh wait – maybe a Wal -Mart?????

I found a Super Wal- Mart about 14 miles away in High Point so we headed there. It turned out to be a great move. The parking lot was huge, empty and quiet and they allowed RV parking. We had a nice quiet place under a light with security monitoring through the night.

Good move Ron!!!!

                               Our Quiet Wal-Mart Parking Spot

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We figured out that we no longer will be staying in Truck Stops or Rest Areas for the night. Our best options now Flying J’s with RV spaces, Wal-Mart's when allowed but most of all campgrounds. I guess we’re really getting old and finicky .

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