airy blueberry?

That didn't get your attention did it?

You try putting together: blue berry mount ridge way park may airy

Anyway, this probably is for the older folks out there. Andy Griffith's Mayberry was Mount Airy near the Blue Ridge Parkway. So much of that long running wonderful TV show came from real people and places in the Mt Airy area. From Floyd the Barber to Sheriff Taylor himself, the roots are showing everywhere.

Here's some pictures and a few words to go with them.

This barber, whose habit of talking way more than cutting (at least sometimes) was incorporated into Floyd the Barber's character, cut Andy's hair in real life in the very same 1929 barber's chair that Mike got his trim in. He is really a terrific man nearing 90 named Russell Hiatt. There are roughly 30,000 photos on his wall of people whose hair he cut or who just walked in to say hello ... as did about a dozen while we were there.

Not one of the police cars from the TV show, but one that we road around in for a tour of Mayberry.

Oops! Make that Mt. Airy.

The house that Andy grew up in. His father was a supervisor at a furniture making factory. You can rent the whole house for $179 a night.

Sheriff Mike at his desk in a recreation of the show's jailhouse.

A section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Last year we saw a lot of it north of Roanoke, VA. This year we covered a lot from Asheville, NC, to Roanoke. It is a lovely drive.

Important note: last year, staying at maybe 60 motels, never did we reach for a motel tissue and find the box empty. This year, it's a running joke between us. Maybe a third of the motels had four tissues or less left in the box. Last night, I grabbed for some. Two popped out together. No more after that.

We think that all the motels in the US are tracking our travels and as shown as we show up and are assigned a room, they send a runner to the room to empty all but a few tissues.

I'm pretty sure this is what's happening.