Day 13: THE DRIVING DAY...13 hours

Before our departure this morning, we had an amazing bagel and lox breakfast with Bob and Barb out on their back deck. As you'll see in the next 2 photos, the house is lovely...and it has been on the market for nearly a year. They would like to move closer to their grandchild, and so we need to pray for them. For those of you who understand the power of praying in the name of Jesus, let's lift up this house sale and ask that they would be greatly blessed with the timing and final sale price of this estate, and with their ultimate relocation. Thanks team...and Amen!

As we were preparing to leave out the front door, they received a phone call from their real estate agent with some new questions from a potential buyer...something could already be afoot.
The back yard, with fully landscaped pool and spa area is so peaceful...and will be greatly loved by a new owner...soon...
Knowing we had 13 hours of driving, and anticipating where we might be for dinner (Roanoke, Virginia) I searched the web for a possible dining location. Another website for food folks has now entered my bookmarks... Chowhound.com. There are a number of dialogues going on with great questions...like..'if you were driving down I 81 from New York to South Carolina, where would be a great place to stop for dinner?" One of the answers was "Local Roots" in Roanoke. Committed to the locavore theme of procuring and preparing locally grown foods, we hit a gem of a restaurant.
From the local olive oil and flat bread, to the apple cider...this starter was tasty
Moving on to the local beet and goat cheese salad, we were delighted.
The home made polenta with locally grown steamed vegetables was also excellent...
My locally raised lamb with fresh pappardelle and mustard greens was superb...(this dish reminds me of an heroic encounter with cingiale...but that's for another time...:)))
And Sam's locally caught, wild salmon grilled to perfection with avocado mousse tasted great...
But the winners were the desserts...enjoying the sampler of 3, we started with the creme caramel and the creme brulee with fresh bloobs...the creme caramel had crystallized so Sam had to chip away at the dish to release the final taste treats...
and then the absolutely unexpected third taste...a dark chocolate, liquid nitrogen frozen and fresh mint ice cream..what??? This one was over the top.
No Hubert Keller photo, but we had to get Peggy with chef Josh...
With 4 hours still remaining, we hustled out to follow the Blue Ridge Parkway during sunset...God is the most inspiring artist!
Having safely arrived in Greenville, and ready to pick up Sam's car and stuff, and to say goodbyes tomorrow morning, it's now 1:03 am and we are crashing fast...love to all!