Day 2: It will make you slap your mother.

Richard has grown up hearing that he was named after one of his dad's best friends, but it wasn't until this very day that he actually met his namesake.  Richard (I can't remember his last name) was a true southern gent!  He unloaded the hospitality by ditching work and taking us sailing on his very own sailboat.  Can you still call it sailing if the wind isn't blowing?  Well, it wasn't, but we were still on a sailboat so I say we went sailing. 

Sun block on & ready to go.

Wishing & hoping for some wind.

Never came.

Old buddies, catching up.

You'd be surprised how well they remembered each others' Christmas cards from over the years.

Rich & Rich.

Do you think this means we'll own a boat someday?

Eat your heart out.

Land-ho

See how happy Richard is now that he's not worried about being kicked out of the marina?

Richard the 1st's house was marvelous - a really old home that was so cute...except for the fact that it was a disastrous mess inside!  I was so sad, and kinda grossed out, that they don't take very good care of it.

Another house that Dale's family lived in when he was growing up in New Bern.

Richard is serenading Aunt Bela, the most gracious woman in the world.  We stayed with her our first two nights. 

Her ceilings were only 7 feet tall, and one of the ceiling fans nearly scalped Richard.

Meeting Dale's other best friend from back in the day, Terry Bland, was seriously one of the very best parts of our trip.  He is larger than life in lots of ways - not only is he super tall, but he's hilarious & had us cracking up the entire time we were with him. 

It was his daughter, Avery, who introduced us to hush puppies...my new all-time favorite food.

And when he was pleading his case trying to convince us that deep-fried turkey is the only way to go (which he didn't have to try hard to do), he said that "its so good, it will make you slap your mother!" 

He also took us to Moore's Bar-B-Que for dinner.  They hold the Guinness World Record for serving the world's largest BBQ pork sandwich, and they have the very best BBQ sauce I've ever tasted.

That sauce was the first souvenir we bought.

Terry is kind of a spiritual giant, too. 

We had great conversations about the gospel, and got to meet his mother.  Her mother was one of the first 4 members in North Carolina, and she had some unbelievable stories for us.

Guess how old she is...

Ninety-three!!!  Can you believe it?!  She lives on her own and totally takes care of herself!  Richard asked what her secret is, and she said:  1) she's always eaten out of her own garden, 2) she is active, and 3) she never drinks soda - she could fit all that she's had to drink throughout her entire life inside a 2 liter bottle and it wouldn't even be close to full.

There you have it, folks.  That's all we have to do.  Ha!



Stay tuned for Day 3:  Living the Notebook & Satan's Bed & Breakfast