North Carolina

Seven years ago we drove through the Blue Ridge Parkway - a narrow road along the top of the mountains - which starts in Virginia and ends in North Carolina. Back then I enjoyed the layers of mountains and their 50 shades of blue. This time, my feelings transformed from simple admiration to midnight blue love.

First thing I noticed here were the numerous churches. Sharp-pointed white towers with tiny crosses on the top are spreading the truth of locals - IN GOD WE TRUST. On every corner, for every block, serving the couple of houses in the area it seemed to be the source of common sense. While radio was mostly playing country music, broadcasting holy speeches or offering financial services, it was interesting to discuss a comment online from a random tax attorney, who said that people earning $50k and less per year manage to donate $5k per year to the church. It definitely takes a lot of faith to survive with the money they are left.

Deep in the mountains we stopped at an RV park, which brought new winds into our lives. Winds that originate from new connections are the best reason to keep travelling after you have seen everything. So this time please welcome Ashley-Rae, Kyle, Sedona-James and Cave-Outlaw into our journey.

I was standing in the playground and watching Vėjas play when we started exchanging words with a guy who was bouncing his baby. The playground is an excellent place to chit chat when you are a parent since you lose access to bars and clubs. The conversation took its twists, included Lukas, the kids, the stories behind our names and tips and tricks of living on the road. When we were about to leave, Ashley-Rae appeared out of the blue (everything looked blue in NC anyway), looked me in the eyes and said: “Do you want to go to the mountains with me and explore the local springs?”. I was so stunned by this unusual offer that “YES” just rolled out of my mouth without any deeper contemplation. And this is how a friendship began with family dinners, a guitar lesson, girls date, night session of “Captain Fantastic” under the stars, bonfires, kids hugs and laughs. I cannot wait till our nomad wagons meet again on the road.

Besides that, we are starting to pause our journey across the US, but about that - next time, when we are in the Smoky Mountains.