We made it to Cousin Russell's in Rougemont, NC. Russell and Jean are an amazing couple. They have reduced their carbon footprint to almost zero. They have a garden which produces all kinds of vegetables which they freeze or can for the winter. They have a hot water wood fired furnace in a out building that Russell has piped into his house and through heater exchangers uses it to heat his hot water and forced hot air home heat. I pity the plumber that has to figure out his piping and electronic controls that he has put together to run this system. Of course he has solar panels on his roof to produce his electricity and is talking of putting some more on the barn to make him completely sufficient. He has a great woodworking shop where he has made almost all the furniture in his house and is rapidly running out of furniture to make for his kids. And the pieces he makes are beautiful with wood inlays and polished finishes and specially picked wood burl patterns. For dinner we had barbecued venison (you cut it with your fork) from the deer he shot on a 100 acre wood lot he has back North in the Catskills. Now in his spare time he's an avid letter writer. Letters to the editor, letters to government officials, letters to relatives and old friends. He recently wrote one to President Obama and actually got a return letter from him. What did I miss - oh, he raises grain feed beef, cuts his own logs, then cuts them into boards on his saw mill and drys them in his solar heated kiln before he turns them into furniture.

Question - Is this Connecticut or is this North Carolina? It's Rougemont, NC. When we left Connecticut there wasn't any snow on the ground and here we are 1000 miles south and they have 6 inches.