Gracious Hosts: Customsteve01 and Caroline

[picky]

My wife and I drove from Michigan down to Virginia last week and spent 5 days at Customsteve01's place. I've said this before and I will say it again; Caroline and Steve are two, real fine people! They had come up to our place for a few days last March and we had the time of our lives. Verna and I have really hit it off with these folks and when we all get together; it's as if we haven’t been apart. It's very hard to find friends like that and we have the Klipsch Forum to thank for bringing us all together. I met Steve at the Klipsch Pilgrimage in Indy 4 or 5 years ago and the girls were introduced to each other at the 60^th Anniversary Pilgrimage in Hope back in 2006. They have a beautiful ranch out in the hills of Virginia; an area rich with historic sites from our country's beginnings. I discovered that most of my ancestors, who first came over to this country from Europe, first settled just a short distance from their home. Some of their homes still exist and we were able to visit a tavern owned by one of them at also served as two different courthouses and a jail. The building is now a private residence owned by a doctor and his wife who asked up inside for a look. How exciting! We also took in some famous sights such as Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, we did a wine tasting at the Jefferson Vineyards, visited the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, the Richmond Main Street Train Station (awesomely restored) and the Jefferson Hotel, whose ornate lobby staircase is said to have inspired 'Gone with the Wind' author, Margaret Mitchell to include a similar staircase in "Tara" for the movie. I have never seen such an ornate hotel! We also visited a local Home Theater store (sorry, no Klipsch setup) and drove down the peninsula to visit my cousin and his family and take in the Historic Jamestown Settlement near Williamsburg. We did other things as well. We were SO busy that I didn’t even get to listen to Steve's Klipsch equipment; we were never home except to sleep!

Verna and I drove back home on Sunday, which happened to be my birthday and we decided to take the back roads in order to take in the real beauty of the area. The fall colors were so vivid and we made sure to drive a portion of the Blue Ridge Skyway along the way. What gorgeous views! We took US 250 from I-64 through Hanky Mountain pass and into West Virginia and OMG: What a challenging road! I am certainly no "flat-lander" having lived in Nevada and driven a lot of switchbacks in the western states (especially the Sierra Nevada's) but that US 250 had some 180-degree hairpins on steep inclines that could take some folks' breath away. It was a blast and a great way to spend my birthday. I felt like Michael Andretti. My only regret is that we had the Ford Freestyle instead of Verna's SVT Cobra. Still, despite AWD and traction control, we were still able to get the car into a few 4-wheel drifts around those corners. What an impressive road. And the best part; there were no other cars! No, I never crossed the double yellow, either! LOL It almost felt like a dang video game, except that, any mistakes would be met with a very bad outcome. LOL But we made it home in one piece in about 12 hours Sunday night. I took Monday off just to relax and I am back in the office today. We both wish we were still at Steve and Caroline's, though. Thank you both for your hospitality. We had a wonderful time and your place is absolutely beautiful! You made us both feel right at home. Thanks! – Glenn

Thomas Jefferson's "Monticello"

[dtel]

Well it sounds like alot of fun and it does not surprise me at all that Steve and Mrs C were fun to be with.

Sounds like a nice trip, next time take the Cobra, sliding around the corners would have been much more fun. []

[mark1101]

Sounds like one heck of a trrip. You guys went and saw a lot.

I thought CustomSteve moved to Texas a while ago.

[picky]

Mark: Yes, Steve got a new job in Texas and right now he is taking training. But they still have their ranch back in Virginia and haven't made a decision about selling it yet. So, Caroline is there working and taking care of the horse and the ranch. She is able to take care of things just fine.

[skonopa]

Verna and I drove back home on Sunday, which happened to be my birthday and we decided to take the back roads in order to take in the real beauty of the area. The fall colors were so vivid and we made sure to drive a portion of the Blue Ridge Skyway along the way. What gorgeous views! We took US 250 from I-64 through Hanky Mountain pass and into West Virginia and OMG: What a challenging road! I am certainly no "flat-lander" having lived in Nevada and driven a lot of switchbacks in the western states (especially the Sierra Nevada's) but that US 250 had some 180-degree hairpins on steep inclines that could take some folks' breath away. It was a blast and a great way to spend my birthday. I felt like Michael Andretti. My only regret is that we had the Ford Freestyle instead of Verna's SVT Cobra. Still, despite AWD and traction control, we were still able to get the car into a few 4-wheel drifts around those corners. What an impressive road. And the best part; there were no other cars! No, I never crossed the double yellow, either! LOL It almost felt like a dang video game, except that, any mistakes would be met with a very bad outcome. LOL But we made it home in one piece in about 12 hours Sunday night. I took Monday off just to relax and I am back in the office today. We both wish we were still at Steve and Caroline's, though. Thank you both for your hospitality. We had a wonderful time and your place is absolutely beautiful! You made us both feel right at home. Thanks! – Glenn

Well, happy belated birthday (mine is coming up on Sunday the 1st - yup the big 4-0 for me! [8-)]). Look at that, our birthdays are exactly a week apart. On top of that, my father just celebrated his birthday as well last week.

Darn shame that I did not get the chance to see you. Anyway, I was tied up with ski patrol refresher/re-certification training at Massanutten anyway, which, BTW, was out in the Shanandoah valley, so I know all to well what you are talking about with regards to the fall colors. Would've liked to have gotten a picture from the summit of the ski area.

Yeah, that Rt 250 can be brutal! Now, imagine what it would've been like to drive that in the winter, like I did once to get to Snowshoe to go skiing! I've driven some pretty nasty routes in PA through some pretty ugly weather when I lived up there, but that 250 can be a real white-knuckle ride! I damn near trashed what was at the time, a brand-new Saturn in the process on that god-for-saken road. At least the skiing was awesome at Snowshoe when I got there.

Glad you had a good time in Virginia. I've been over to Steve and Caroline's place before. Very gracious hosts, and in fact, she even made dinner for me. I really should try to get down there again for another visit sometime.