Lunch with "Crazy Bob"

This morning we went directly south from Wytheville, back up into the mountains and Sparta, VA. There we picked up the Blue Ridge Parkway once again and went about 50 miles down to Boone, NC. A feature of this part of VA and NC that we were not expecting is that Christmas trees is a major industry! Acres upon acres of nicely manicured tree farms. Who knew?

As we arrived in Boone, we discovered that today was the Homecoming football game for Appalachian State (they beat Elon 35-23). Anyway, the town was crawling with students and alum! We met our old college friend at a froufrou restaurant called Hob Nob Farm, right downtown. Some interesting southern menu items!

For our book group friends, our friend Bob is the uncle of the "world famous author" Tommy Zurhellen who wrote Nazareth, North Dakota, that we enjoyed so much. His new book has just come out, so we have the first copy of "Apostle Islands".

From Boone, we headed back north across two mountain ranges (at least that's what they call them here) to Bristol and on down to Knoxville. It was sunny and windy this morning, but by afternoon had turned dark and drizzly. But the foliage continues to be spectacular!