Day 1- February 7th – Roanoke, VA

Waking up to a cold rainy miserable day seemed to make sense with how we felt.

One of the major reasons we wanted to stop through Roanoke is because Deven grew up there. He has been longing to give me a tour of his town, visit old friends, visit family, and relive the nostalgia of 1985-2003. Though we didn’t feel up to visiting with anyone we thought it may be nice to drive around a little.

We had a late lunch at Macados. Deven’s mom used to work for the owner and Deven remembered eating here many times. It’s a 90s vibe write-your-name-on-the-wall type sandwich joint. Cluttered with infinite bizarre antique artifacts hanging from every wall and suspended from the ceiling. Most haunting was a large airplane and seated inside were statues of the three stooges each one looking more melted and wrong than the last.

We drove up and down the wasena neighborhood area and through old familiar places. Today the fog was lifting and we could periodically see the star peeking from behind clouds on the mountain.

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We told a lot of people about Rumple passing today. We cried a lot.

We weren’t sure what to do about Rumple but we had to decide quickly. I didn’t want to bury him in Roanoke as that wasn’t his home or ours and I may want to visit him. We debated turning back to Richmond but we didn’t have a Richmond spot in mind either. We decided to have him cremated. We could decide in our own time where we wanted to put him to rest.

We contacted and met with Oakeys pet funeral home. The staff there was incredible and took care of everything.