| Wed June 18 | ||||
 |
I left from Durham, NC after spending a nice evening with Aileen during
which she let me choose from her wide array of boxes. I picked a brass
one that's just the right size for my earrings. She sent me
on the road with a hearty breakfast and an excellent blossom from her
hibiscus. I didn't get a digital photo of her waving goodbye, but
I have one in grey-matter memory. Official initial odometer reading: 113,555 |
 | ||
 |
Had a good visit with Joellen in Greensboro: offloaded some items for
her to use and/or store for me; visited the house and dogs for whom she was sitting;
had very good lunch outdoors at (forgot the name); then she sent me on my way.
(Note: This photo shows the hibiscus and box from Aileen, and the traveling Hawaiian turtle from Heather.) |
 | ||
 |
Drove to Advance, NC to stay at Forest Lake RV Park, a 1000 Trails resort. They let me drive around and pick my own camp site, so I took one with a view of the lake and a short walk to the bathhouse. I set up camp (which means taking some Rubbermaid boxes out, pushing up the roof, turning the passenger seat around to make my living room chair, and plugging in the fridge) then walked around the lake, swam in the "adult" pool, and talked to folks about the club. Back home, I ate cottage cheese and blueberries for supper since I didn't want to figure out the propane stove ... yet. The moon was big, and playing hide-and-seek behind the clouds. I opened up the bed, put the bug net across the back-end of the camper, closed the blinds to keep out the lights (the one thing I didn't think about when I picked the site), and slept like the proverbial baby. | |||
| Thu June 19: The Sales Pitch | ||||
 |
After reading the manual twice (since I find propane to be a scary concept), I lit my stove and made my first breakfast on the road:
pecan pancakes with fresh blueberries and maple syrup on top. Yum. At 9:45 AM I was waiting at the door of the Sales Office, ready to listen to the obligatory sales pitch so I could get on down the road. Well, they convinced me. Ask me in a year if I made a good decision, but for a full-timer like me, the apparently high initial cost isn't unreasonable, given that I can stay for free (which really means "for no additional cost") at 90 or so parks, largely on the two coasts, for up to two weeks at a time. - and it's a lifetime membership (with an annual fee, of course :) And there are hundreds of other places I can stay for $10/night. So I bought in, which meant I was busy filling out paper work until after 2 PM. Lunch was leftover pancakes with peanut butter, more blueberries and an ice cold Dr. Pepper, proving that the fridge works great off of AC current. | |||
 |
On to the Mountains I was on the road by 3 PM to the Pisgah National Forest to stay at Lake Powhatan. Here I'd had to make reservations ahead of time (for $18/night) and picked a site from the map on the web. The sites are all well designed - lots of trees between (which was easier since they don't have power at the sites). What I didn't realize was just how close to the bathhouse my site was going to be. And that there was a parking space right next to me that folks from "far away" would be using (even late into the night) to get to the showers. |
 | ||
 |
I wanted to take a walk before bed but wasn't up to trying a trail at night, so I just walked the roads, down to the
Lake and around the other "loops". That was enough to help me sleep well. Note that the Hawaiian turtle lost a foot - but I found it and got Cheryl to glue it back on when I got to Alabama. |
 | ||
| Fri June 20 thru Sunday June 22 | ||||
| The Morning The plan was to take a short hike in my new hiking boots, but I got tempted by an unmarked trail and ended up walking a winding uphill path for about a mile before I gave up on finding out what was at the top. (Hence, no photos!) The good news: no blisters. The bad news: my right ankle got unhappy. Just tender, but still... The Afternoon: On to Warren Wilson. | ||||
| Fri June 20 thru Sunday June 22 | ||||
|
Summer Soiree is always wonderful. Beautiful setting, incredible bands and callers,
and graceful and joyful dancers. This year was special: the usual dance venue
was unavailable - since the roof had fallen in on the wonderful wooden floored gym.
It was amazing that no one was hurt: there was a dance scheduled to start in that building
just a few hours after the collapse. Rather than cancel Summer Soiree, the organizers
decided we could hold all of the dances in an outdoor pavilion. It took some work (adding
a raised "stage", for example) and it was a bit of a challenge, since the hexagon shape
made for some confused edge-lines... but it was actually pretty great, especially at
night. The band was (ack, I forget - something like Clew Bay? Full of well know musicians) and Barbara Groh and Keith Cornett did an excellent job of picking the right mix of dances, teaching them well, then letting us dance with joy. There are much better photos than mine (and I'll post a link later) and there are also some long clips on youtube.com (just search for "Summer Soiree 2008" but maybe you'll also enjoy mine . | ||||
| The rest of Sunday June 22 | ||||
I went back to Lake Powhatan after the dance. That gave me a chance to air out my dance clothes :) | ||||
| Monday June 23: Grey Eagle | ||||
 |
I drove into Asheville, located Julie's house and chatted with Margaret and her son (behind whose house
I'd be staying that night), then went on to the Grey Eagle.
It's a funky kind of place, with a bar in a third of the space and a dance floor in the rest. Old posters of events decorate the walls,
and I have to admit that I was impressed to see that Leo Kottke had played there, long enough ago that the posters were still clearly handmade.
The stage was on the "long side" of the room, so their contra lines run left-to-right instead of front-to-back, which wasn't as hard to get used to as I expected. The floor was a little rough - apparently they're in the middle of some renovations. Beth Molaro was calling and the band was local (I've forgotten their name - but "brothers" was in it.) The folks were friendly and there were lots of familiar faces, some from Summer Soiree. The floor was too crowded for my taste, but most folks were good enough dancers that it wasn't a problem. I found it interesting that the group has decided not to offer lessons. There were a few guys available before the dance to teach a few steps, but their philosophy is to just teach 'em as you go. Young new dancers seemed OK with that, but older new dancers were put off. It helped me to appreciate the work our beginning teachers do at TCD :) | |||
| Tuesday June 24: Heading Home | ||||
 |
The drive from Asheville, NC to Huntsville, AL is one I've done many times, but it's still a pretty one. I stopped to watch river runners of various types, from big soft inflatable rafts doing "wafting" to sleek kayaks going faster than I'd want to go. I stopped at the Cherokee National Forest to walk a bit and ask for a pointer to the nearest/best waterfall, which turned out to be Mingo Falls, not actually in the park, but nearby. A hundred-and-fifty step walk up some well maintained steps was well worth it. |  | ||
 |
I used my NCSSM binoculars for the first time. It was quite a learning
experience. At first, I kept getting partial blackouts, then realized it was because only one eye
was really "lined up". Then I had to figure out how to diddle the dials. But it was worth it -like being up at the top of the falls.
I miscalculated my arrival at Mom and Dad's house, so actually got there while they were still grocery shopping. That let me unload, start a load of clothes, say "hi" to Betty across the street, and be ready to visit when they arrived. |
 |
||