Well this day really was crazy. First of all Kendall Stempel spent 39 hours travelling from Thailand/Malaysia to Chapel Hill. She missed her flight and was stranded with no cell phone or credit card in LAX to finally got to Atlanta at 4am caught her connecting flight and arrived in Durham in time for our 10am UNC visit. Needless to say it was a pretty tough time for her, but God was very good and got her here safely. Next I had to get our flat tire fixed and after what looked like was going to be a very expensive bill turned out to be minor as the guys at Chapel Hill tire really helped me out replacing the cut tire.Our visit to UNC was very nice. They have 27,000 students and offer many of the same types of programs that we have already seen, but they rank very high in many of their programs. We also found out that the tri-city area of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill has the most number of Doctors/PhDs in the country for an area. They really stressed student involvement in the community and volunteering and even offer overseas programs to foster that vision.
Next we headed to Cluck-U Chicken. This is a chicken wing restaurant that was recently opened by Mr. Jominy's daugher's , Rachel WA '90, boyfriend. We were greeted by Norm and persuaded to avoid the 911 hot wings, but Joe Lee couldn't resist. He also persuaded Jordan Farmer and the biggest sucker of them all, myself, to try one. Let me tell you that being from New Orleans and eating hot stuff all my life in no way could have prepared me for this. This was the hottest thing ever. I literally drank 3 glasses of sweet tea within 5 minutes of eating the chicken. We were all red in the face, eyes watering, sweating and shaking!!!! It was pretty stupid, but nonetheless worth it. To make thing even sillier, Alex Boe couldn't resist and tried it too after seeing us go through this. He too concurred that it was insanely hot. Norm later informed us that the chemical used to make MACE is used in the hot sauce.
Duke University
Jordan Farmer wearing Tar Heel Blue in Blue Devil Country
After surviving Cluck-U Chicken we headed to Duke University. As we sat through the information session we began to understand just how prestigious it is. There were people from all over the country visiting and even a girl from England. Needless to say admission is extremely tough, but one to use as a great motivator for everything you do. The campus was Gothic in style and very beautiful. We also visited the chapel on campus and the other house of worship, Cameron Indoor Stadium, home to Coach K's basketball team. You find it hard to imagine with all the studying being done the students even have time for a basketball game, but we found out that camping out in line for tickets is a way of passage. Many students, working in shifts, camp out weeks in advance for tickets to games, especially against cross town rival UNC.
After that we began our long trek to Charlottesville for the night. But we could not get their without another great learning opportunity. As we left Lynchburg after dinner and began down the beautiful rolling hills our white van caught the eye of one of Virginia's finest, the VA State Police. Turns out my lack of driving experience on hilly road caught up with me as she clocked me going over the 60mph speed limit as we headed down the huge hill. She showed me no remorse and issued me a souvenir to take home. It was quite a moment, but one to remind us there are no excuses when it comes to speeding.
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