I think it's Tuesday. And, again, the weather is awesome.

Leaving Richmond, we headed southeast toward Rocky Mount. The first objective of the day is to see a bit of the coastal area. What can I say, we have to compare coasts, don't we?? The coastal plain that one crosses on the way to the ocean is flat, dry and sort of scrubby. There are an amazing number of farms growing tobacco and soybeans (I think). And North Carolina wins the prize so far for the most number of miles of road under construction.

Our first stop was New Bern which is at the mouth of Pamlico Sound. A terrific little place! We had a yummy seafood lunch and a little walk before turning inland again. This is an area we will definately have to return to on some future prolonged visit. We'd like to explore more!

Heading west, we drove through Raleigh and the surrounding rolling hills. If you don't look closely at the plants or the color of the soil, it looks alot like New England. At least it reminded me of the Berkshires where I grew up. Raleigh is a beautiful city and its easy to see why there are so many great colleges in the Raleigh/Durham/Greensboro area. Business development is flourishing around here too so if you've been wondering just where all the jobs are, I think it's here.

We wanted to check out a community called Cary and it, too, seems like a great place. We have been able to cover alot of NC today, even if in a cursory way. Our hope is to see the western most parts on our return trip. Rich is in love with the clumps of pampas grass that grow everywhere. I like what I assume is crape myrtle blooming everywhere you look. What can I say? We are easily impressed by roadside plants??!

Tonight is was Bojangles chicken in our hotel room (Katie, forgive us) and hopefully getting to bed earlier. Tomorrow we will be driving more and stopping less, in an effort to get across SC and GA. We will see how we do. Gotta have those pee stops, sorry.

Tonight we saw a pick up with three labs in it-one each of yellow, black and chocolate. Made us miss our babies a bit but we know they are in great hands and probably getting away with all sorts of things. I hope the weather in Maine continues to be beautiful so you can soak up every last minute of summertime. We are hoping to arrive in NOLA by late Thurs afternoon so we can catch the Saints game with people who love those Saints! Who Dat Nation!

Each day is bringing us more questions......