Road Trip: Charlotte, NC
Day 7: Sunday, April 21, 2024 - End of Mind Games in Charlotte, NC, and Fuguay-Varina, NC
Day's statistics:
Weather: upper 60s, showers
Steps: Steve 6,202; Linda 4,220
Travel: 411 miles
Breakfast aagain was the same buffet as yesterday. This is essentially what we had each morning, Linda had bagels after she saw that they
existed while I usually had the eggs.
I only needed my ID this morning (and even that wasn't required).
The games giveaway started at 10:00, so after we ate, we returned to the room and I made my take-home list.
(At the end of Mind Games, all the games are given away to the judges in the a random order so those at the top get the
primo games. However, there are plenty of games to go and the list is completely covered - and when the announcer gets to
the bottom, she starts back up the list so those on the bottom may not get the best games, but they do get two.)
I rememberd to take pictures of the games that were ready for the give away.
I sat with the group I spent most of my time playing games with.
The first major order of business was the announcement of the Mensa Select games. In alphabetical order, they were:
- Abducktion: cute, and a quick play, and a game I liked - this was an additional game for me
- First In Flight: a bit challenging but not one I cared for - this was an additional game for me
- In the Footsteps of Darwin: required some strategy and was interesting, and a game I liked - this was an additional game for me
- The Veil of Eternity: acquiring card with certain powers used to acquire money, and a game I liked - this was required for me
- Wandering Towers: The only MS game I didn't get a chance to play
After the announcements, the games were given away. This year I was about number 10 - the highest I have ever been. I got a new sealed
game that I wanted.
By 11:45 we were all done. I returned to the room, we gathered the luggage and made our way down to the lobby. It was raining so I ran
to the car and pulled it up to the portico. We dropped in the luggage and left. Immediately outside the parking lot we punched the address
to our next stop into the GPS to make sure we got on the highway going in the right direction.
The hotel was on a large loop road. We drove around and found ourselves on line to turn left to go toward the road to the highway. As
we waited, I noticed a a Rolls Royce pass by in the other direction. It turns out that on the other side of RR was... a Ferarri dealer.
While I usually try to mentally keep track of the exotics we see, I don't count a dealership in that listing.
I tried to, as safely as I could, snag a shot of it. However, for all five pictures, the phone focused on the raindrops on the window instead.
We hopped on the highway, and started making our way to Fuguay-Varina to visit with Grace, Linda's former co-worker.
Our trek was about two and a half hours. We had to check to make sure we were going in the right direction when we saw this (it reads "Nashville").
We eventually arrived and Linda wanted to immediately take a selfie so that we wouldn't forget.
We visited for almost three hours and Linda (and I a little) and Grace caught up on life. Grace told Linda about her piece that was made with
what is called diamond artwork - they are tiny little crystals that get stuck to a background to make a design.
We had to get back on the road as we had another three-plus hour drive ahead of us still.
Down the road from Grace's house we stopped into a Harris Teeter to grab a nosh. We bought a package of cooked shrimp with cocktail sauce (on
sale for $5), a chef salad, and a bottle of wine (on sale for 11.99). We ate the shrimp in the parking lot to temper our hunger, and hung onto
the chef salad until later.
We eventually needed to get gas, so we went into the building to use facilities and when we came out, I pulled up to the pump. I got out to
fill up while Linda dug into her portion of the salad. After finishing pumping I got into the car and waited for Linda to finish her portion.
I then polished off the rest. We didn't move because there were many open pumps so we weren't causing any issues. I threw the empty container
away and we got back on the highway.
At about 7:45 we came across one of the last state lines we'll cross this trip.
The vibe of this room was very similar to the first one on our trip. But then again, that was a Sleep Inn too.
We had some wine and a cookie for dessert, then washed up, and went to sleep.