On the Trail

On Wednesday July 27, 2011 Pepper Bear and party took route from North Platte, NE to Casper, WY. In some areas the route paralleled the path of the Oregon and California Trails in Western Nebraska.  After leaving North Platte, NE the country becomes dryer and the fields of corn give way to wheat fields and pasture lands.  On the route of the California and Oregon Trials Pepper's party passed Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff. 

As we started out from North Platte we visited a local tourist trap and snapped a picture of Pepper on a fiber glass Buffalo.

Pepper Bear on Buffalo at North Platte, NE

Chimney Rock pictures:

Pepper Bear at Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock Nebraska

Driving Through the Corn

On Tuesday July 26, 2011 Pepper Bear and party started a trip across Nebraska. We had stayed in Omaha and traveled on to North Platte, NE on I-80. The news reports have been reporting record heat so we expected to see a lot of stunted and swiveled brown corn like we had seen in Eastern North Carolina a week earlier where they are experiencing record heat and drought. But the corn in Nebraska was standing tall and green. Hot but there is no drought here so the corn is growing. Before leaving Omaha we visited a Trader Joe's to get provisions and trade goods (gifts for my sister and nephew), and the world famous Boy's Town.

Peppers Route on Tuesday July 26, 2011

Here is some photographic proof of our visit to Boy's Town.

Pepper, Father Flanagan, and the Boys Monument at Boy's Town

Pepper with Boy's Town Statue "He's not heavy he's my brother "

Catholic Chapel at Boy's Town

Omaha ha ha

On Sunday July 24, 2011 Pepper Bear, Mary Ellen and I stayed at one of the La Quinta Inns at the St Louis Airport in Hazelwood, MO. We were tired and had a hard time finding a place to eat. We finally broke down and ate at a Longhorn Steakhouse (chain restaurant) so there will be no description of the meal. I will comment is  that this was our second visit to this chain while traveling this year and both turned out to be very satisfactory. However both were little rich for our budget running about $60 tip included which I rate as $$$. There are no pictures from our travels to and in St Louis.

Pepper Bear's Route on July 24 and 25, 2011

On Monday July 25, 2011 we traveled from St Louis, MO to Omaha, NE.  It was a long day made longer by an unexpected detour. As we approached Omaha we were forced to leave our intended route by a Missouri River flood. Interstate 29 was flooded and at Rockport, MO we were forced to detour through Tarkio, MO and Council Bluffs, IA on US and State Highways to get to our destination.

Missouri River Flooding at Rockport, MO July 25,  2011

There were some very nice houses in Tarkio which made us wonder why.  An internet search later showed it was the home of Tarkio College from 1883 to 1992. Tarkio College suffered a bankruptcy in 1992. Sorry but we were hurrying and took no pictures.

Memphis, TN Headed West

Pepper at Corky's Bar B Q in East Memphis, TN

Pepper Bear made it to Memphis, TN at 6 PM on July 23, 2011. This was here second visit here. She visited Memphis in July 2010 so my daughter Amanda could visit Graceland. Amanda  described that visit to Memphis in her blog . This time Mary Ellen and I arrived late in Memphis and didn't have the energy to go out to Charles Vergos' Rendezvous Ribs in downtown Memphis so we went to Corky's Bar B Q .  This is a good place for carry out. This worked fine since it was too hot to leave Pepper in the car while we ate. We ordered a slab of ribs with set up for two. We had a choice of wet or dry ribs. Wet is basted with Bar B Q sauce while cooking.  This is how ribs are done at Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, AL.  Dry is rubbed with dry spices like Charles Vergos'. We ordered wet and took our feast back to the La Quinta to eat it. It was a good value costing roughly $ 23 and included a slab of ribs, two rolls, and two individual servings coleslaw and baked beans. 

Pepper's Route on  July 23, 2011

Getting to Sweet Home Alabama in Demopolis on the Way West

Pepper Bear rode with on the route below to Demopolis, AL from Charlotte, NC on Wednesday July 20, 2011.  We deviated from the usual route that follows I-85 to visit Lockhart, SC (flag B on Map). This side trip was to investigate a hydro electric power plant at this place. My interest in this place arises from my historical investigations of the Spaulding Fibre Company (aka J. Spaulding & Sons Company) and their engineer I. W. Jones of Milton, NH. The hydro electric plant was sited at Lockhart Shoals in SC on the Broad River to power a cotton mill there.  The design of a dam, canal, and turbine generator building was begun by I.W. Jones Engineers in 1909 and the project was completed in 1920. The cotton mill at Lockhart operated until 1980 when Milliken & Company, the owner then, shut the Lockhart mill down.

Our Route on Wednesday July 20, 2011 from Charlotte, NC to Demopolis, AL via Lockhart, SC

The hydro electric power station continued to operate supplying electricity to homes and business in the vicinity. Pictures from the visit follow:

Pepper Bear and Me at Lockhart Mill Gate in Lockhart, SC

Mill Smoke Stack at Site of Lockhart Mill on Broad River in SC

Lockhart Power Station with 1920 on Arch

Generators at Lockhart Power Company

Gate Through Which Lockhart Employees Entered the Mill by
Crossing the Power Canal on a Bridge 

Bridge that Connected the Mill Town of Lockhart to the Lockhart Mill

Art Shot of Lockhart Mill Smoke Stack Reflected in Power Plant Canal

Additional pictures can be found on the Lockhart Power Company web site.

Loaded Up and Headed West

Well today Pepper Bear's time in Bunyan, NC came to an end for now. Pepper headed west on the route shown below:

Before leaving a few pictures were taken. The first two are of Pepper on the side porch steps in Bunyan.

Closeup of Pepper Bear on side porch steps
at Eborn Mixon Simmons Snyder House
in Bunyan, NC

Pepper Bear on side porch steps
at Eborn Mixon Simmons Snyder House
in Bunyan, NC

Some pictures from around Bunyan and Washington, NC

The field behind Eborn Mixon Simmons Snyder House
in Bunyan, NC was planted in tobacco in 2011.
The white flowers of the tobacco were removed by
field hands shortly after this picture.

Washington, NC Service Station of Interesting Architecture
There is a similar one elsewhere in Washington but it has many
unflattering additions. This one has remained unused for the
last decade but seems to have architectural continuity.

Truck and Crane on Railroad Trestle across Tar River
at Washington, NC replacing track ties 

Well Pepper Bear didn't get to go but we wound up at Deadwood Restaurant / Dinner Theater in Bear Grass, NC for our 40th Wedding Anniversary celebratory dinner on July 17, 2011. We set out to have the celebration at the "Down on Main Street Restaurant" but they have begun closing on Sunday so we had to move the celebration. Well Deadwood is an interesting place. It has the restaurant, the dinner theater, and amusements that include a train, miniature golf, and various kiddie rides. It also has logging and farming artifacts from a hundred years ago. Its menu items are just OK, so I will not describe or recommend any of them. Among the fields of tobacco,  cotton, soy beans, pines, and corn, Deadwood at Bear Grass seems bizarre 

40th Wedding Anniversary Party at Deadwood
L to R Susan, Amanda, Deadwood Bear, Mary Ellen, and James 

Horse, Oxen, or Mule Drawn Log Skidder on
Display at Deadwood Restaurant in Bear Grass, NC 

On leaving Bunyan and on route to Charlotte, NC, Pepper Bear got to chance to visit Dupree Crossroads in  Pitt County, NC.  In this area James Dupree, an ancestor of Mary Ellen's, emigrated from Virginia circa 1760 and established a plantation. Five subsequent generations of Dupree's lived in this region working the land. The crossroads and a topographic feature on the Tar River known as Dupree Landing are ghostly remembrances of that 200 year old habitation. We returned to investigate a fine old house in the vicinity that had caught Mary Ellen's sense of deja vu during a prior visit made five or so years ago. A restoration of the old house has been in progress and it turned out to be the home of Elias Carr, governor of NC 1893- 1897. Pictures follow:  

Pepper Bear and Me at Dupree Crossroads, NC

Historic Place Marker for Bracebridge Hall 

Home of NC Governor 1893- 1897 Elias Carr

Home of 1893- 1897 NC Governor Elias Carr Bracebridge Hall
 

Historical Marker on Highway Falkland to Pinetops, NC

Kicking around Bunyan and Washington, NC

Bill's Hot Dogs
Washington, NC

Pepper Bear is just recuperating with Mary Ellen and me after our trip here. On Monday July 11, 2011 we hit Bill's Hot Dogs. The fare here is cheap, $ and simple. They serve hot dogs on a bun plain, or with your choice of mustard, onions, and Bill's "chili". No ketchup or catsup or pickles or pickle relish. The way to have your hot dog is "all the way," which means mustard, onions, and "chili". Now Bill's "chili" is more of a spicy pepper gravy; it is not a beef tomato chili. Mary Ellen and I had ours all the way. Pepper Bear had hers plain as onions are bad for dogs. Other items sold at Bill's Hot Dogs are chips from Tom's and Lay's and ice cold bottled beverages from Coke and Pepsi. I walked out of Bill's with seven hot dogs and three one ounce Lay's potato chips for less than $9.00. We brought drinks from home as the bottled drinks are as expensive as your typical convenience store (still cheaper than fast food place or restaurant). We ate the dogs parked on the water front where the Tar River widens out to become the Pamlico Sound. 

Pepper Bear eyes my cheese biscuit
on the arm of the couch 

Tuesday morning July 12, 2011 Pepper Bear and I set out to bag some cheese biscuits. Cheese biscuits are country store fare.  So you must go to a country store. There aren't many of those anywhere, even in eastern NC. An endangered species those country stores are. But there is still one on Slatestone Road here in Beaufort County. It is about three miles distant from here and one gets there and back on Lizard Slick Road, Old Bath Highway, Cherry Road, and Slatestone Road. The establishment does business as the Slatestone Grocery. It sells gasoline, canned goods, bread, cookies, beverages, hunting dog accouterments, shot gun shells, ice cream, and lottery tickets and has a lunch counter. The lunch counter takes up about a third of the store and serves breakfast and lunch. Famous fare of this establishment that I have tried are cheese biscuits, Slatestone burgers, and Friday fish fry. Now the lunch counter is run by three ladies. They remind me of the lunch room ladies who ran the cafeteria at St Francis school in Tonawanda, NY.  Now the three ladies seem to work very efficiently as one takes orders and hands out the orders, one works the grill, and  one prepares the plates. The cooking activities are in plain view of the patrons if they care to watch the preparations. The cheese biscuit is made by wrapping fresh made biscuit dough around a pile of freshly grated cheddar cheese obtained from a cheese wheel that would have been found in most all country stores before World War II.  The patrons of this store are largely men, tradesmen, farmers, retired codgers (I guess that's where I fit) ,  high school students, and in season hunters. Very occasionally women show up, a coed from the high school grabbing a biscuit before school, or a wife with her husband for a plate lunch. So a little glimpse of men at the country store bragging about hunting, fishing, and farming and gossiping about life can still be found at the Slatestone Grocery. Pepper and I bagged three biscuits, one for Mary Ellen, one for Pepper, and one for me and headed to the house.

Charitable Brotherhood of North Carolina Lodge 1

Now on the way home Pepper and I stopped to make a long over due investigation. For eleven years on my forays to the Slatestone Grocery, I have passed a derelict meeting hall and adjacent obelisk  on Cherry Road. All the time the paint on the building was getting thinner and more windows were succumbing to the elements and vandalism. Now it can't be seen in the picture but on the three glass panes in the transom above the entry door were faded gold letters "CBH."  From the cornerstone and the obelisk, I found that "CBH" stood for Charitable Brotherhood and this was the home chapter for this fraternal organization.

Obelisk honoring founder of
Charitable Brotherhood of North Carolina

The obelisk honors the CBH founder. By googling "Charitable Brotherhood of North Carolina", I found that the organization was incorporated by the state of North Carolina legislature in 1901. The legislation  recognized a group of men from Beaufort County and their associates and successors as an incorporated body. The Beaufort lodge was established as the principal lodge with power to establish local lodges elsewhere in North Carolina.

Cornerstone of Charitable Brotherhood of North Carolina
Lodge 1 on Cherry Road in Beaufort County

Pepper Bear is in Washington, NC on Second Day

Pepper's Route on 7/10/11

Pepper traveled 400 more miles on our second day of travel to arrive at Washington, NC. Actually we are slightly east of Washington, NC on US highway 264 at a place known as Bunyan. No it is not the place where Paul Bunyan landed in North America after clearing the great Sahara forest in Africa.  It is the place where Mary Ellen's half sister's grandfather, father, and grandmother ran the Bunyan Supply Company which was a grocery and general store.  The house we stay in here is across the highway from the old store which has been incorporated as a meeting room into the Beaver Dam Church.

En-route we stopped for a steak dinner with Susan, Mark, and Liam at the house we rent to them in Durham, NC.  Pepper, who did not eat prime rib the night before, really liked the steak Mark cooked.  Fortunately for me Pepper wrangled all her steak from Mary Ellen.  I did have the feeling that my doctor would not like me having two red meat dinners in a row, what with my high ldl and all. I need to eat more chicken and fish.

Again there were no really great pictures to share.  So here is gratuitous one from the motel room in Greenville, SC.

Pepper Bear La Quinta Greenville, SC

In Greenville, SC

Pepper's Route on 07/09/2011

Peppers travel this first day didn't yield any photographs to share.  The distance covered to Washington, NC was disappointing. A late start and a traffic jam in Atlanta caused the distance covered to be about 410 miles.  The traffic jam in Atlanta was caused by paving at the junction of I85 and I75 on the south side and caused about an hours delay. We stayed at La Quinta Haywood in Greenville, SC. Dinner was at "City Range" (a steakhouse). Mary and I both had the 12 oz. prime rib. It was very good and I can recommend this place. But bring plenty of money as only one side comes with the entree and each additional side is $3.95. They rate their pricing at $$$, my rating is $$$$+.  

Where is Pepper Bear

Pepper Bear Contemplates Travel

Where is Pepper Bear?

A year ago Pepper Bear traveled from Washington, North Carolina to San Francisco, California and back. Pepper's travels were documented by my daughter Amanda in her blog:

 uponmytoes.blogspot.com/2010/06/heading-out.html.

Now Pepper Bear, Mary Ellen & I are considering taking another trip out west to Montana. Without Amanda I will try to blog Pepper's travels.