{"id":1470,"date":"2016-04-19T22:38:20","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T22:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=1470"},"modified":"2016-04-26T14:51:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T14:51:58","slug":"seeing-more-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2016\/04\/19\/seeing-more-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing more friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are horrible guests while on this trip. \u00a0We don’t make plans very far in advance which means we don’t give people very much notice when we are coming into visiting range. \u00a0From South Carolina we headed to Fayetteville North Carolina to visit our friends the Staats. \u00a0They are stationed at Fort Bragg and were able to get us a spot at Smith Lake campground for our stay despite the short notice.
\n\"Smith<\/a><\/p>\n

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I stayed back at the rig to get some work done including filling the beast with DEF since the indicator was telling me I had about 300 miles left. \u00a0Both Caden and Dacen knew the Staats boys from when they lived in Longmont. \u00a0They spent all afternoon and evening together including dinner and some epic dessert that I only heard about.<\/p>\n

The next day we were heading to Kinston but were also able to set up some time to meet up with our friends Calvin and Melody who are both in grad school at University of North Carolina. \u00a0So after setting up home in Kinston we hustled off to Raleigh. \u00a0I’ve known Calvin since he was just a young lad and we were able to celebrate his marriage to Melody this summer in a beautiful ceremony in Rocky Mountain National Park. \u00a0We met them at Videri Chocolate in Raleigh just a few blocks from the capital. \u00a0We took the self guided tour, learned all about fine chocolate, tried some samples, drank sipping chocolate and bought some bars. \u00a0Then we went across the street and enjoyed dinner together. \u00a0It was so nice to see them and hear about school and married life. \u00a0They are quite an inspiration as they are battling some medical issues while pursuing their grad degrees, adjusting to a new home and married life.<\/p>\n

After dinner we said goodbye and went up to check out the capital building since we were so close. \u00a0We took a few pictures and just enjoyed the nice evening weather before making the haul back to Kinston. \u00a0I was able to work in the passenger seat while Steph did the driving. \u00a0It was a long day but so nice to be able to see some familiar faces.<\/p>\n

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Smith Lake<\/p><\/div>

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Staats<\/p><\/div>

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Dacen and Henry<\/p><\/div>

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Sunrise<\/p><\/div>

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Bean counting or sorting<\/p><\/div>

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Chocolate will be in heaven<\/p><\/div>

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Sipping chocolate<\/p><\/div>

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Chocolate<\/p><\/div>

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Videri with Calvin and Melody<\/p><\/div>

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Videri with Calvin and Melody<\/p><\/div>

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Presbyterian church<\/p><\/div>

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Confederate statue<\/p><\/div>

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Presidents from NC<\/p><\/div>

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Jump<\/p><\/div>

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Ladies of the Confederate<\/p><\/div>

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Fountain<\/p><\/div><\/div>