June 6th - Charleston, SC, to Locust, NC

​We anticipated a short drive, so we spent a couple of hours in the base food court using the WiFi to work on our itinerary planning and blog updates. We underestimated the drive, though, and arrived about an hour late to Locust to visit my second-oldest brother, Roger and his wife, Rose. We had intended to park in their driveway, but found it to be impractical given a combination of challenges:
- narrow width of driveway
- narrow street in front of the house
- heavy neighborhood traffic
But my resourceful brother found an excellent alternative - he got permission from a neighbor to use their gravel driveway and hard-packed yard to access an easement along the fence behind Roger's house. He threw an extension cord over the fence to keep our fridge and freezer running overnight, while Angie and I enjoyed the comfortable hospitality of their home.

The dogs stayed in the trailer. It appears one of them tried to make an overnight exit through a window, because we found a torn window screen in the morning. We will add a new screen to our growing list of maintenance items, which now includes better cabinet hinge fasteners (the small screws keep falling out of the narrow press-board frame), levelling of our cantilvered dining table and replumbing of our outdoor shower connection, which leaks like a sieve everytime we try to use it.

Roger and Rose were gracious in their patience with our late arrival. We enjoyed a hearty meal of lasagna and salad before embarking on an auto tour of their town and surrounding communities. Roger is especially proud of his hometown of 17 years where he has been a city councilman for many years. Locust is experiencing explosive growth as a bedroom community for nearby Charlotte. Yet it is surrounded by rural farmland which is remiscent of Southcentral Pennsylvania.

Roger has been the driving force behind our family reunion (on my mother's side), which will celebrate it's 30th anniversary on June 25th. To Hank, this reunion represents a commemoration of God's miraculous healing of his mother Nettie's life-long alcoholism. As a result of Nettie's healing, relationships between Nettie and three of her estranged children were healed. And bonds have been formed between all seven of her children, from three different marriages and three different foster homes. We are so grateful for the love and inspiration that these new sibling relationships have added to Hank's life.