Harvest Hosts: Justus Orchard

After our stop in South Carolina we headed into the mountains of North Carolina. Driving though mountains towing your house behind you is a little frighting. I think the signs along the road actually made it scarier than it really was: 'caution steep grade', 'no trucks in such and such lane', 'caution falling rocks'. Coming from Florida, where the roads are straight and flat, these signs were a little disconcerting. We were headed to Knoxville to see my sister Citabria and her husband Brett. We knew we needed to stop overnight somewhere in NC but we weren't sure how far we would get. That's how much of this trip has gone. We haven't really planned out our stops, we just find a campground when we feel like parking. This stop was a little more difficult, Eric was about ready to stop but we weren't anywhere near a campground. Luckily I had an ace up my sleeve... Harvest Hosts.

Harvest Hosts is the coolest program ever. I actually found Harvest Hosts on Pinterest before we found our Airstream. We pay $40/year to be members. This gives us a list of participating Farms, Wineries, Breweries, and other agribusiness that invite RVer's to stay overnight on their properties for free. In return we purchase some of their produce, wine etc. It's seriously so cool!

Parked for the night at our first Harvest Host, J

Okay so there we were in the NC mountains, tired of driving and ready to park for the night. With no campground in sight, I pulled up the HH membership directory and found Justus Apple Orchard about an hour up the road. I gave Don (the owner) a call. I was instantly charmed by the kind southern man on the other end of the phone. "Oh yeah Harvest Hosts, sure come on over... we're out in the Apple house so y'all just come on in when you get here. You can park where ever, it's a big drive so you should have no problem turning around. Now if you get here before 5 we should still be in the apple house... our season hasn't actually started yet but y'all come on in." He gave us directions to the orchard and with that we were off to Hendersonville.

From the moment we exited the highway I felt like we were in the pages of a story book. This part of North Carolina is absolutely magical. Rolling hills covered with orchards and farms, mountains in the background. The winding roads were lined with charming signs for this orchard and that farm, along with the occasional green John Deer tractor. We pulled in and headed over to the apple house where we were warmly greeted by Don. He told us to get settled and if we'd like we could take a walk through the orchard later. "Now just make yourselves at home, if you decide to, later on you can pick some blackberries over that a way. You can just pay me in the morning for whatever you get." "Oh and I almost forgot" He said as he handed us two big sacks of apple cider donuts "these are for you!"

Justus Orchard is absolutely picture perfect 

We took Don's advice and spent the evening walking through the apple orchard and picking blackberries. It was almost comical how perfect the evening was. Everything about this place was amazing. As we walked down the rows of blackberry bushes we were stopped suddenly (and I swear to God this happened) a family of ducks crossed directly in front of us in a perfect little line right across the row. I scrambled to get my camera but I wasn't fast enough. In the distance we could hear the goats, they sounded like this. The sun was setting over the mountains and all we could do was pinch ourself... is this real life? The night was capped off with Eric pair programing outside the Airstream in the orchard. Absolutely amazing.

Blackberries for a pie!

I'm so glad we stopped at Justus Orchard!

We absolutely LOVE Harvest Hosts!

Coding by the light of a coleman lantern...

If the previous evening hadn't been surreal enough, the next morning we woke up early and went for a jog on one of those amazing roads we drove in on. Have you ever seen the Discovery Channels documentary Sunrise Earth? (If not you totally should) This jog was exactly like an episode of it. The sun was just coming up, it was foggy with just the tiniest bit of misting rain. There were roosters crowing, some cows mooing, maybe a dog bark here and there, a tractor somewhere off in the distance. Now, I know what you're thinking, you're thinking I'm making this up... I know how ridiculously perfect this all seems. Its true though, this place totally exists, and it is as incredible as it sounds!

When we got back to the orchard we were able to chat with Don for a bit. We talked about family businesses (he's a 4th generation apple man) and travel. He told us about the different types of apples they grow. Some are good if you just need an apple fix, but the best (we're talking better than Honey Crisps) are the Mutsu. Unfortunately for us, the Mutsu's weren't ripe when we were there. After buying some Apple Jelly and local honey we said our goodbyes and reluctantly left Don's slice of heaven just as he was putting a batch of apple pies in the fryer.  

Two weeks in and making friends

Hey Y’all! We have made it through our first 2 weeks on the road. Here’s how its gone so far… 

Jacksonville Florida was our first stop. Jax wasn’t a very far drive for us (about 2.5 hrs) but my baby sister Piper was moving into her first apartment and we couldn’t miss that! We stayed at Hanna Park at Pipers recommendation. Monday was spent moving stuff in and unpacking so we pretty much just crashed when we got back to the park.

The next day Piper and her boyfriend Stephen showed us their favorite spots around town. First we went to this AMAZING breakfast place called Maple Street Biscuit Company! OMG if you are in Jacksonville you have got to check this place out. They have the most delicious biscuit combinations and the coffee was fantastic! After breakfast Eric and I headed to the beach at Hanna Park. It was so nice and very quiet. After the beach we went for a 2.5 mile hike through the woods. Later that night we met up with Piper and Stephen for “tapas tuesday’ at their favorite art museum The Cummer.

Getting a little sassy

We had a great time, Eric said the coolest part was having Piper as our tour guide. I’m so glad we were able to spend time with Piper and see her city before we left.

Proud to call her my legacy!

Wednesday morning we left Pipers and headed up the coast. We started to get hungry around Darien Georgia. Now I know what you're thinking... you're thinking I was gunning for the Darien outlets but I pinky promise that is not at all what I was up to. See, I have been using Garden and Gun and Southern Living as our tour guide through much of the South, choosing BBQ spots and sea food joints I wanted to visit along the way. So as we approached Darien I navigated us off the main highway and put us on a course for the darling town of Darien... which if I am completely honest I didn't even know existed outside of the outlets. Life lesson time y’all! When you tow your freaking house behind you… you can’t just stop in small historic towns and riverfront restaurants without some serious planning. Needless to say we were still hungry when we drove out of the little town of Darien.  

According to SL this is what Darien looks like...
I can't actually confirm that,  but it did seem lovely from the road!

Savannah was coming up and we were still hungry. Not to be deterred by the great Darien debacle I grabbed my iPhone and googled 'RV parking in Savannah’. I quickly discovered that the Savannah Visitor Center has an RV section, where you can leave you RV and explore the town. It worked out perfectly! We ditched our house in the parking lot, got Winston and headed down to River Street. As we walked down the cobble stone street I realized people were staring and smiling at us… ‘perhaps they know we have just started out on an adventure. We probably look like adventurers, maybe a little gypsy-like… its gotta be Eric’s beard everyone loves the beard, or maybe my bright blond pixie cut. Yeah they can tell, we totally look like adventurers!’ Looking back at it now, I’m pretty sure they were smiling at Winston. He is the cute one in our group, and everyone loves puppy.

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures in Savannah this trip,
so here is a photo of us in Savannah when we were much younger... awwww

We made our way down River Street and decided to stop at Huey’s. We got a couple of beers and had just ordered lunch when, out of nowhere, this older dude grabs onto a chair and asks if can join us. “ Yeah man, have a seat" I quickly say “we’d love for you to join us”. The man sat down and explained that he has had 4 hip replacements and he needed to rest for a bit. We ate our lunch while the former Army Airman drank bloody marys and told us the story of his life. How perfect was it, that we would meet someone like that. I have had it in my mind that this trip would be like that. I want to meet people, interesting people, people we would not have thought to talk to in our former lives back home. Savannah was perfect. I’m so glad we stopped, but we had to make a little more distance before the day was over so after lunch we hit the road again. 

Edisto Island was our next destination thanks to some advice our friend in Savannah gave us. Edisto beach is definitely not a touristy kind of beach. You really had to know where you were going to get there… we drove through the most lovely oak covered backroads and past beautiful marsh land.

I love love love a marsh, its like a preppy swamp. It’s so Southern and calm. That is how I would describe our quick overnight stay in Edisto Beach State Park, calm. We only stayed the one night but it was so relaxing and peaceful.

We talked about staying another night but decided against it. We wanted to make it to Knoxville to see my sister Citabria by the weekend. So the next morning after we packed up camp and headed down to the beach for breakfast. We found a little place called "The Sea Cow". Eric liked the name and they had outdoor seating so Winston could join us. Shortly after we sat down a man walked up and began to chat with us. He was a local and came to the Sea Cow often. He told us about the menu and even included a few jokes. I asked him about where he was from. He told us he lived up the road a bit but he doesn’t have too many people over to his house. See, he owns a junk yard, he’s got a dog and the whole bit. He said he really likes old cars and enjoys just sitting in them remembering. The man said a lot of people don’t understand and think its just a mess. He doesn’t like to mow because he’s got about 12 feral cats on his 10 acres… the taller grass is good for them to hunt. The man defended his lifestyle to us several times, saying 'its not weird’. I told him I liked weird. He smiled and then our breakfast came. 

I'll get y'all caught up on our adventures in my next posts... I'm really going to make an effort to post more often. Eric says people like content so I gotta up my blogging game! There is still a lot to tell you about, like the winery we stayed at in Missouri, the flat tire incident, the evening we spent in the North Carolina apple orchard and the time our shore power cord melted... so y'all stay tuned!

Here we go!

This is it, we are actually doing this. We have already said our good byes to Eric's family and most of our friends. We will do more visiting tonight and come Monday morning we officially hit the road. As I sit here with a hangover from last nights farewell festivities, I am probably a mixture of emotions. I think I feel excited, sad, anxious, hopeful, and straight up terrified. I am careful to say 'I think' I feel these things, because if I am completely honest, I am working hard to block out all of these emotions. Sometimes I don't have to try very hard at all to block out what I'm feeling. Completely changing your life is a very busy kind of work. You have very little time to actually think about what you're doing, you just do it.  This is lucky, we have been so busy getting thing done for the most part we haven't had time to get scared.

We've done a lot so far

I keep thinking its like that time I jumped into the ocean off at 30ft rocky cliff... actually I did it like 6 times. They don't call it a leap of faith for nothing. You just have to jump. You can't sit there thinking about how scared you are.

I was mid air before my brain realized my legs had taken the leap.

Or maybe its like what my fathers says about adventure and life. He used to fly aerobatic airplanes, and says to be a good pilot you can't think about your fear.  You have to keep flying no matter what. You can't take your hands off the controls when things get scary. You can be scared later. Like when its over you can think "damn that was close".

The Citabria is the type of plane my dad flew,  also what my oldest sister is named after. 

There have been times my emotions have crept up on me though. Sometimes in the quiet as I'm trying to fall asleep or in that moment of stillness just after I've completed a task. Then I'll spend hours making notes and lists. The other day I worked myself into a tizzy adding up exactly how much money I expect to have left once we get to San Francisco. That's when I had to remind myself... Whats actually the worst that can happen? We run out of money? We are capable, we can make more. We get a flat tire, break down, get lost? We are capable, we can fix it. (Plus think of the great stories/blog material that will be ;)

Blonde and Breado can do it!  ;)

Yes, I am probably scared and I could probably be worrying about a lot of things right now. I could worry about money. I could worry about leaving my family and our business. I could worry about life on the road or how I'm going stay fit while we travel. But in the words of Miss Scarlett O'Hara "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."

So my friends, we're off! We love you and we cannot wait to share this experience with you all. If you haven't checked it out in a while, go take a look at our map! We've updated our route (Texas is out, but GA and TN are in). It's still just a rough estimate of where we will go, so if y'all have suggestions post them!

First stop... Jacksonville, FL!  We're going to help my baby sister move into her first apartment!