We’re now on the downward slope of the vacation hill, but that means we’re picking up speed and things are going pretty good.

 

Waking up in time for one more Atlantic sunrise, we pack everything up and clean out the beach house as described in the rental agreement. We’re good to go by 9AM, and I take the key back to the office while the last of the laundry is finishing up in the dryer. Time to say “so long” to the OBX... but it is certainly not goodbye. We shall return.

 

I get Dad to take the lead heading off the OBX as I capture the trip in time-lapse video. All too soon we’re back on the mainland and we make very good time all the way to Rocky Mount where we quickly get lost looking for a Subway. We eventually find our lunch stop and then get back on the highway, managing to circle the edges of Raleigh before rush hour and stop again for provisions at the Ultra Walmart in Siler City, only 25 miles or so from our final destination. I managed to find a decent pair of sandals, and also picked up a 12-pack of Yuengling lager in cans. I sure wish that Ontario Walmart’s could sell Yuengling.

 

 

As we left the Walmart it felt like I could already smell Hagan-Stone park in the air. And it smelled GOOD. We headed north on 421 and made good time getting to Hagan-Stone road. We pulled into the park around 4:30 PM and were a bit surprised to be the first Canadians on the scene. We set up the white sky and the side tent and popped a cold one to relax.

 

After about 10 minutes I’d had as much relaxing as I could take, so I set out to see who was there. Frank Condelli had been there since Monday. The outside ring was pretty full around the east side of the camp, with lots of space for the FMBC to arrive in the west. Ian Janes had turned back with Engine Trouble, and the Rivers and Schmitz’s carabus arrived about an hour after us.

 

There was a WAY COOL jam session on Thursday night with two guitars, a bass and a banjo, later on we lost the banjo player but soon found an accordianist sitting in. It was a lot of fun searching for songs that would work with the arrangements, and our bluegrass rendition of U2’s “Bullet the Blue Sky” will remain in my memory for quite some time to come.

 

Thursday night came to an end all too soon, but there were still two full days of EveryBus to come and I was determined to make the best of them.