Day 19 -- Morganton to Winston-Salem, North Carolina -- 92 Miles

TODAY was our lucky day -- times two! I'll tell you why shortly, but first, I'll recount a few more mundane aspects of the last 24 hours or so: I may not have mentioned yestersay that we stopped for lunch in a Lowe's parking lot in a town just off Interstate 40. While we were there, I went inside and bought a small stepstool made completely of molded plastic. We needed a stepstool because, you might recall, our automatic step on the rig quit working days ago when we somehow blew the fuse that controls the slide-out rooms and the step. Why the two things are connected is anyone's guess. And why the steps didn't come back to life when I replaced the fuse that fixed the slideouts is also anyone's guess.

So here we are, living in an RV that sits at least 28 inches off the ground, which makes it rather difficult to exit or enter the rig unless we use the front cab. So I decided that a stepstool of some sort might do the trick until we could get home and drop the rig off at the RV fix-it shop. The selection at Lowe's trended more to ladders than stepstools, but I finally found two that sort of fit the bill. One was all metal and was too tall, and the other was plastic and exactly the right height.

The only trouble with the plastic one, which I found out after I had purchased it, was that it had a tendency to fall apart when you attempted to fold it into its carrying shape. Okay, I decided, I can deal with that. I'll just leave it unfolded and locked in place and we'll just store it in the doorway when we're on the road. That is what we did today, and it worked out fine. Once parked, I retrieve the step, place it next to the door, and we're instantly back to convenient access to the rig.

If you've been reading the blog regularly, you know about the shredded tire in Tennessee and the purchase of two new tires in Dandridge. You also know that we tried to buy two more tires yesterday as we approached our camp in Morganton, but without success.

Adding to that lack of success, the camp in Morganton was a tad on the rustic side. We did notice that the camp was certainly on the quiet side, and most of the RVs might even have been vacant. We only saw a single tenant out walking his pet, and never saw anyone else. We did hear the occassional vehicle arrive or depart after we were in for the night, but that may have been our imagination.

Part of what made last night's camp "rustic" was the fact that I had to "construct" a new sewer line out of my spare parts because the camp's sewer outlet wouldn't fit my standard hose fitting. I've encountered a variety of sewer line difficulties in the nine years we've been traveling by RV, but last night was the first time I had to revise a connection fitting and use my extra hose to make it all work.

At any rate, we had a good night, got lots of sleep, and departed once more still without seeing a soul. Our intention was to continue our search for a tire dealer who might stock the proper tires for our rig. However, I told Concetta that I was not going to stop and meander through each and every town along Interstate 40 to find that dealer. I thought that when we saw a dealer from the freeway, we'd exit and drive there. That way we'd waste far less time.

And this is where the first part of today's good luck came into play. We had been traveling east on Route 40 for about ninety minutes when I caught sight of a tire dealer located across the Interstate from us. The sign on the side of the business proclaimed that they specialized in heavy-duty truck tires. Fortunately, we were just approaching the offramp, and I quickly turned on the blinker and moved in that direction just in time. At the bottom of the hill we crossed under the freeway, turned left on the frontage road, and we were soon pulling up in the parking lot for the Parrish Tire Company.

As we pulled up, I sensed that we had come to just the right place as the parking lot held a variety of trucks of all sizes just waiting their turn in one of the half dozen tire-changing bays. We quickly added our rig to the parking lot's collection, and I made my way toward what appeared to be the office.

Inside the office I found a young blond woman in glasses who greated me and offered to help me. When I told her what I needed -- a set of General Tires in size LT 225 SR75 16 she thought for a moment, checked her computer, then informed me that she didn't think they had that size or that brand at the moment. "Well," I said to her, "perhaps you could come look at the tires and make sure I'm telling you the right size." This she did and confirmed that I was right. Still, she didn't think they had any in stock.

When we got back to the young lady's office, she sat down at her computer and rechecked her supplies, and once again told me that there were no Gernerals at all in the size I needed. About that time the boss, Aaron, came in and agreed to see if they could solve the problem in some other fashion. He asked to see the rig, and with one look he said he could solve our problem. He didn't have Generals, but he could match the size and other specifications with a pair of Firestone Transforce LT2s.

I perked right up when Aaron said Transforce for those were the very tires we were running already; the very ones that had been recommended to us by a tow truck driver when he changed out a flat for us underneath a freeway overpass in Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in 2013. At the time I figured a guy who spends his working life rescuing folks who've bought the wrong tires for their RV should know what to recommend.

Aarron proved to be true to his word. Not only did he have the tires I needed -- and wish I could have purchased two days before -- but he moved us up in the work scheduling order so that his guys could tackle our rig directly after they finished putting tires on an ambulance that was in progress. I was just totally thrilled.

In the meantime, Aaron was holding an open house which gave as some time to just chat. Turned out we hit it off like we'd been friends for years, and I just can't say enough about the friendliness, the efficiency, and the professionalism of everyone I met at Parrish Tire. I certainly would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone who might be headed through North Carolina west of Winston-Salem and needs tires for their rig. Aaron and his crew would be the ones to see.

So far I hadn't mentioned that as we crossed under the freeway to get to the frontage road where Parrish Tire was located, we noticed a sign for a historic site called "Fort Dobbs." When we were ready to leave the tire shop, I asked some of the guys if they knew how far away Fort Dobbs might be and whether they could accommodate a 32-foot rig in the parking lot.

One of Aaron's folks spoke up and said that it was quite nearby, and we could just go back to where we had turned onto the frontage road and turn left there. After that we should go to the second traffic light, turn right, and then just a couple of miles later we'd arrive at the Fort. Turns out the guy left off one right turn, but the necessary brown historic sign was there, and we made the turn, found the Fort, and were easily able to park with lots of room to spare.

This is where the second half of our lucky day began. Where I thought Concetta and I would just be taking a few minutes to stroll the grounds, shoot a few photos, and then be off. What happened was we were met at the Fort's log cabin office by Andrew, dressed appropriately as an 18th century soldier. He took us under his wing, and proceeded to conduct us on a private tour of the fort.

Let me just say that Concetta and I just had the greatest time we've had in many years touring Fort Dobbs. We learned that the present fort is a reconstruction of one built in 1755 in response to rising problems with local Native American tribes, notably the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Catawba. Soon the fort and its soldiers would play a small part in the bigger conflict known as the "Seven Years War," which raged internationally, but was known in America as the "French and Indian War." Fort Dobbs, I should mention, is named for the then Governor of North Carolina.

The original fort was in use for a fairly short time, our guide Andrew told us, and had been abandoned by 1761. But archeological digs on the site in modern times revealed the original footprint and thus an exact replica could be accomplished. Amazingly, the replica was constructed in 2019 and contained some of the largest, most robust white oak timbers we had ever seen.

The log walls of the Fort, which had been saw cut into rectangles but finished with an adz to make them look authentic, appeared to be perhaps 14 inches in height and ten inches in depth. All the corner joints were dove-tailed to shed water, just as the original ones would have been. Once inside the three-story fort, the interior was divided into two basic rooms on each floor. There was also a cellar, but that room was not part of the tour. Though I didn't think to ask the fort's dimensions, I suspect that the main part of the building measured about forty feet by seventy feet. Two smaller bumped-out additions added to that square footage.

On the left side of the lower floor was the enlisted men's bunk room where the bunk beds were designed for two soldiers at one time. The right side of the lower floor was used as a work room for indoor tasks and the storeroom for dry goods. There was a chimney constructed dead center in the building which provided a fireplace opening that faced both the lefthand room and the righthand room on each floor.

On the second floor left was the officers' quarters. There the men had their own bed and a common table for eating. On the second floor right there were more enlisted mens' bunks. Once again each space had its own fireplace for warmth.

The third floor was not on the tour as it was used for park business and storage. Still, from what I could see from the outside, all three floors contained a truly amazing number of square-cut "loopholes" used for the firing of muskets at hostile attackers. I was amazed to see that each loophold came with a carved, wedge-shaped block of wood with a short piece of rope attached which allowed the fort's defenders to block the loophole to preserve warmth, or to thwart incoming bullets or arrows.

Once our tour was over, Andrew, Concetta, and I walked back to the office and gift shop. At the beginning of our visit I had seen a great t-shirt for my collection as well as some interesting books that I wanted to consider. Andrew gave us some literature for the blog, rang up our purchases, and regrettfully we were off. I thought we were pretty much done for the day, but while grabbing a couple of exterior shots for the blog, I noticed that Andrew had left the office and had gone back to his earlier job of using period tools to split shingles out of white oak for a project he and the other guide, Scott, wanted to complete.

Naturally, photographing someone splitting shingles is not something you get to capture every day, so I immediately grabbed the opportunity and fired off a few more photos. I would like to have spent even longer as seeing someone use a splitting froe is really uncommon. But it was by then getting really late in the afternoon, and we needed to put on a few more miles before dinnertime.

But just in case Andrew gets to read this blog, I want him to know that he showed us the very best time we've had so far on this vacation. Andrew, you knew your job and you did it well. We talked about our time with you all the way to Winston-Salem this afternoon. Please keep up the great work and maybe we'll drop by again one day.

For everyone else reading this blog, Andrew has a wonderful selection of reading material in the Fort Dobbs cabin office, and a selection of other interesting things to see and purhase as well. And if you're into 18th century history, especially that of the conflicts between settlers and Native Americans, the fort is a must see for you.

Well, that's it for now. Concetta and I wish you many exciting adventures of your own in your RV! Ciao!