Mount Airy, North Carolina

We got to Mt Airy, North Carolina early on Friday evening.  Mount Airy is the childhood home of Andy Griffith,  the long time tv actor and star of many tv shows.  We heard about Mount Airy from others we have met in our travels who said this place was very quaint and a very nice place to visit.  Mt Airy is located in the Blue Ridge mountains which are very beautiful and visible from our rv site.  The town is kind of like where you would think the Andy Griffith show would have taken place and they have done their best to leave you with that impression.  Every where you look in town you see the word Mayberry. As we all know that was the name of the TV town where Andy Griffith lived. In addition to this being Andy's home there are other things going on around the town that attract visitors to the area.  For example, a fiddlers convention, which started in 1972, was being held at the Veterans Memorial Park this weekend.  If you are into Blue Grass music you would have been in heaven in this town this weekend.  Janet and I spent a few hours hanging around many of the musicians and were  amazed at the talent that was on display.  People from all over the country came to this little town with many camping out in the park just so they could play the music they love with others who share their passion.  There were cash prizes awarded for a number of different categories but the amount of money was not enough to in cent anyone to come to this event.  We really enjoyed watching six or eight musicians sit around in a circle with only one person knowing the song and the others picking it up as they played by watching the one person who knew the song.  To two non musicians this was just incredible for us to watch.   The people could not have been nicer especially since it had been raining for the last few days and the park grounds were wet and muddy in many areas. 

Mt Airy is also surrounded by many vineyards.  Driving out of town in just about any direction you run into a vineyard and winery.  Later in the day today Janet and I went to Pilot Mountain which is about 10 miles away and I believe one of the highest peaks in the area.  The view from the top of the mountain was outstanding.  One thing we didn't do this trip that we will save for another time is to visit Monroeville, North Carolina which is about 60 miles south of Mt Airy on hwy 77.  Monroeville is between Mt Airy and Charlotte and is the home of Dale Earnhart Jr and several other NASCAR teams.  I would have liked to have stopped on our way to Mt Airy but we were dealing with a low fuel situation so we passed Monroeville on this trip.

In addition, Mt Airy is also known for having the world's first set of Siamese twins being residents.  Their names were Eng and Chang Bunker.  These two male Siamese twins married sisters and fathered 21 kids between them.  Today they would have more than likely been separated since they were only connected by a four by three inch area on their chest.  These twins were born in Siam and were sold to a British merchant who brought them to America as a circus freak show back in the 1800's.  They gained their independence from the merchant when they turned 21 and went out on their own and became financially wealthy independent of one another.  There lives were extremely interesting, including their deaths and really is worth a Google and a read. 

Below are a few pictures we took of the area.

The rv park was on a slope that was terraced with about five different levels for rvs.

Here is our motorhome and car.  No issues other than the low fuel light came on during our trip to Mount Airy.  The gas gauge said we had over an eighth of a tank left but the low fuel warning light was flashing so we made a pit stop at a gas station not made for motorhomes on a very busy street.  I ended up taking up about four pumps and had to enter the debit card four times before filling up since the station had a dollar limit on the pumps.  After filling up I discovered what I thought and that was we had 16 gallons of diesel remaining and we could have waited for an easier access station but oh well it's good practice.  The next time the warning light comes on I will know.  With this motorhome you are suppose to be able to drive it with as little as two gallons of fuel on a level surface not that I want to see if this is true.

Andy Griffith and Opie played by Ron Howard

Anyone in the market for a new violin/fiddle?

 

This is what Janet and I had for lunch at the Snappy Diner.  The next picture describes what it is.

We waited in line about 20 minutes and when we left there was a longer line than the one we waited in.  It is a no frills kind of place with a lunch menu with about 10 items.  If you don't like the pork chop sandwich there is always the fried bologna sandwich.

At Memorial Park there were people playing on the stage the entire day but the more interesting music was heard up close and personal at the camp site of the musicians.  That is where we spent most of our time.

The musicians in these next two pictures were fantastic and Janet and I being two non musical instrument players could figure that out but it was confirmed to us by several accomplished musicians.   The crowd continued to grow while we were there even though other people were playing on the stage not too far away. 

Our destination after leaving the music festival and picking up the dogs at the rv was Pilot Mountain which is about 10 miles or so south of Mt Airy.  After a short drive and a hike we were there.