Lexington, NC

November 1-4, 2010

Thousand Trails - Forest Lake

Lexington-Advance, NC

Had a great trip here from home...stayed two nights at one of our most favorite stops, the Walmart campgrounds; one in Boonton, NJ and the other in Lexington, VA. Both are highly recommended to all you RVers out there!

Now here we are at our first stop, Thousand Trails - Forest Lake just over the border from Lexington, North Carolina in Advance. Like most Thousand Trails, this one is not in an area where things are really happening; however, the campground itself is very nice with large sites and an amenity that I really like...firepits.

We made a trip to Childress Vineyards just down the road. This winery is the brainchild of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, whose passion for wine is equalled only by his passion for auto racing.

We, of course, participated in the wine tasting and chose a bottle of their Signature Merlot which we're saving for our anniversary toast in December. Notice I dressed appropriately in purple for the trip!

Lexington, North Carolina calls itself the "Barbecue Capital of the World". Since 1984, the city has hosted the Lexington Barbecue Festival, one of the largest street festivals in North Carolina. We just missed the 2010 Festival by a week.

Lexington-style barbecue is made with pork shoulder cooked slowly over a hardwood fire, usually hickory wood. It is basted in a sauce (called "dip" locally) made with vinegar, ketchup, water, salt, pepper and other spices. The actual ingredients will vary from restaurant to restaurant, with each restaurant's recipe being a closely guarded secret. We've been told the taste varies widely from tangy to slightly sweet or spicy. The most distinguishing feature of the "Lexington Barbecue Sandwich" is the inclusion of red slaw (sometimes called barbecue slaw). Red slaw is a combination of cabbage, vinegar, ketchup and crushed/ground black pepper. Red slaw is distinguishable from coleslaw because red slaw contains no mayonnaise.

Since we're only here for a short time, we only had a chance to visit one of the area barbecue restaurants, Lexington Barbecue on Lookout Drive. We found out "chopped" barbecue is shredded, "coarse chopped" is shredded with large chunks, and "sliced" is, of course, sliced. The pork shoulder is cooked for over 9 hours. I wish we had the camera because as we left we saw seven chimneys on the roof over the kitchen, smoking away!!! Anyway, our dinner was chopped barbecue, red slaw and hush puppies. For dessert Ken had pecan pie and I had peach cobbler. Could it be any more southern?????

I have just "updated" my blogger and went back to my previous post and I can only say, sorry...the format is all mixed up. Hopefully now that I'm in the new mode, things will look a bit better. Bear with me

We have had a couple of beautiful days while here at Forest Lake; however, the temps are still a bit too chilly for our liking. Hopefully when we get to Myrtle Beach we'll find it a bit warmer. See you there!