Paying my respects in Colfax, and onward to "pig out" in Virginia

I did my laundry yesterday afternoon. This morning I organized my things and packed them into the car. 

My original plan for the day was to drive to the LDS  church in Colfax, NC, where the Abe family has plots in the cemetery behind the church; then drive to the Checkered Pig BBQ in Martinsville, Virginia, for lunch; then drive to Appomattox Court House, VA, where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to end the Civil War; then end up somewhere near Charlottesville, VA, where I'll visit Monticello tomorrow.

Well, some of those plans worked out. I got to Colfax  and Martinsville, but wouldn't have made it to Appomattox before the visitor center closed, so I went to Roanoke and tried out some new exercises and updated my blog at Planet Fitness instead.

My right shoulder and left leg have been bothering me since my kayaking trip two weeks ago. I called my sister Claudia last night and described my symptoms to her husband Richard, who is a family physician.  Based on my symptoms, my hip injury is trochanteric hip bursitis, and the pain in my right shoulder is tendonitis. My shoulder was  sore even before the kayak trip, but the paddling aggrivated it.

The recommended treatment is ibuprofen and shoulder/hip exercises. I found exercises designed to help with those injuries on the Internet and did some of them tonight at Planet Fitness.

I added silk flowers to the front of the Abe parents' grave, their daughter Kathy's grave, and their son Mike's  grave. I have good memories of all of them.

On Dan's recommendation, I drove to the Checkered Pig in Martinsville, Virginia, and ordered  ribs.

I ordered a half slab of the St louis style ribs, with sides of green beans, coleslaw and hushpuppies. The ribs and hushpuppies were good, but the green beans were overcooked and the coleslaw was bland. I polished off the meat and  the hush puppies -- even though it was too much food!

Despite being full, the waitress tempted me with blackberry cobbler ala mode, and I succumbed! It was delicious!

After first seating me at a table, the waitress had forgotten to come back and take my order until I flagged her down. She surprised me when she brought the bill and told me she wasn't charging  me for the cobbler because she had taken so long to get my order. That was a nice surprise!

I had told her I had driven all the way from California, have been visiting friends in North Carolina, and was now heading towards Charlottesville. She was pleased to have a visitor from so far, and brought me a complementary bag of pork rinds to snack on while I travel!

The waitress was really nice! She even told me a scenic route to take out of town. Too bad I don't care for the pork rinds. I tasted one and don't like them. I'll have to give them away to someone who likes pork rinds!

My seat repair from yesterday isn't perfect, but the flexible glue should keep the damage from spreading. Hopefully it won't peel off.

I looked on the Internet for campgrounds, but it's already dark, so I'll just spend the night in one of the walmart parking lots in Roanoke tonight. Tomorrow night I'll be staying with my niece Carolyn in Charlottesville.

UPDATE: I spent the night in the Sam's Club parking lot next to the regional Roanoke airport. The temperature was great and it wasn't humid, so it was good sleeping weather! I heard truck noises off and on during the night -- such as the beeping noises when they back up -- so maybe it wasn’t the best location, but I got a good night's sleep.