American Road Trip - Fayetteville to Richmond to our last stop - Part 15

source: midwesternbelle.com

 Up in the morning, and our host is gone; his wife returns from a run before nipping off to work and telling us to help ourself to bacon an biscuits from the freezer.  No, I won't do that, not fair if the food is not left out for us, but how lovely it is to be really trusted. We decide to re-visit the old part of town, and find a fab. cafe called Rude Awakening (pic above) where we have a lovely cup of Java coffee and sit outside with our breakfast croissants.  Pleasant start to the day. Before it starts to rain we spot this garbage truck/dustbin collector.  And when we "get" what it says on the side, we start to laugh!  After all, if you have to dig big holes in the ground for rubbish to be dumped into it, surely it was wildlife habitat before you dug the holes?  Wasn't it?  Anyway - doing their best!

     


 Doug had told us about the Airborne and Special Ops Museum in town and as it was grey and rainy, we decided to poke our heads in.  Tableaux plus sound effects tell you everything you want to know really, and they have great information boards each side of each set.  We spent about twenty minutes in the WW2 France section and by that time I knew why people come home from a Theatre of War with Post Traumatic Stress.  Each area has it's own sound effects, and it's incredible how that noise gets into your brain.  A really interesting museum, and worth a couple of hours if you are near Fayetteville.

On we go, getting ever nearer to Washington and the plane home (sigh).  We are headed now for Richmond where we have booked 2 nights in an apartment, rather than B and B.  No more "real" stops on this part of the journey - only at a rest station for a comfort break, a little walk around, and a look in the information centre for other places to go when we come back (and we are going to!).  We find ourselves approaching Richmond, where we stayed a night at the beginning of our trip, but this time in a different part - the old part of town, and we have to navigate a road system that would make Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham UK cry.  Phew!  And again we give thanks for our sweet-voiced GPS who eventually says those magic words "you have reached your destination".  We phone Raine, the owner of what we hope is a lovely little apartment.  She is on her way, and we stretch our legs, have a slug of water, and wait......

When she arrives, and shows us in - I can't stop saying "Oh!"  This is a tiny, tiny apartment.  It was the storage area for a corner store (which is now an office) and our entrance is at the side.  Inside is a double bed, a full size wardrobe, two nice chairs to sit with a beer or watch TV; a working kitchen, a laundry area with washer and dryer, full size; and one and a half bathrooms as they say in the US.  One is basin, shower and toilet, and the little one is toilet and...... the smallest basin I have ever seen in my life!  And it is just beautiful!  It's about 15 minutes walk from Carey Street in the "Fan" area of Richmond - full of restaurants, quirky shops, and lively people day and night.

front of building - was a corner shop

what you see as you step through the door

from bedroom to sitting area

 Raine, our host is lovely and chatty, and over an hour later we are still talking!  When she's gone, I load up the washer - this is the chance to go home with suitcases full of clean clothes.  We settle in, and decide we'll go out for dinner.  Because it's raining hard now, we take the car and park just off the the main street.  And we are confronted with so many different eating places we don't know where to go.  Ask a couple of college types in knitted beanie hats to recommend a place.  They then recommend at least three!  Well that's no good, how to choose from three in the pouring rain?  We find one that looks fun, and ask for a table for two.  The tiny blonde who shows us to our table says, "Plenty of room, but Karioke starts at 10.00pm", thus marking us as old biddies who who not be joining in!  Actually she was right, as we were knackered again, but we finished before they started, so we missed it.  Walk to the nearest 7 11 in the rain and get a small bottle of Tide for the washing.  On the way, a young lady with a big unbrella stops and asks us if she can walk us to our car as it is so wet!  Flabbergasted!  We thank her and say we are fine, but what a nice thought.  What we find out about Tide at a later date came as a surprise - and we'll tell you all about it.