Catching Up: Travelogue

I am almost myself again, but have no voice from all the coughing. I was actually supposed to have a breakfast date this morning, which I was really looking forward to, but he had a bad reaction to something he ate last night and called at 7:30 this morning to ask for a rain check. From his profile and from a number of e-mails and a couple of brief phone conversations, we seem very compatible. More to follow on this topic.

Back to the travelogue:

Sunday morning we got to Mother's about 8:30, then took off to go up to the mountain cottage. We were in two cars, with Jim in the lead and Mother navigating—after all, she drives this route probably ten times a summer. As we were turning onto Route 64 near Hendersonville, my GPS was telling me we were going the wrong way. But she knew her way, right? And my HandsFreeLink has been giving me some problems lately, so I figured this was part of the problem. After about 20 minutes of driving, and seeing sights I had never seen on this trip with her, I noticed Jim pulling over. They had realized there was a problem, and Molly had pulled up the GPS on her Blackberry. We had gone about 10 miles out of our way and added about half an hour to the trip. This is why Mother doesn't belong behind the wheel of a car any more! We finally arrived at Jerry's around 10:45, spent a few minutes admiring his view, then went back down to Cashier's to the Cornucopia for lunch before Jerry had to leave for the Atlanta airport.

To orient you: The three white dots in the upper middle of the photo are Mother's house, garage, and pump house. The green mark is my 1.6 acre lot, and if you look immediately to the left of my lot, across the trees, you'll see a curved driveway that leads to Jerry's house. In reality, Jerry's house is on top of a mountain. My lot and Mother's house are at about the same elevation. Jerry's house is another 800-1000' in elevation. The view from these properties is absolutely exquisite—down to Lake Glenville/Thorpe Lake (depending on which map you draw the name from) and out across the Smoky Mountains toward Asheville.

I am passionately in love with this property, and Tyler has inherited my love. The original parcel was 150 acres which Daddy and two of his business acquaintances purchased from Mr. Youngblood of the Youngblood Trucking Lines in 1960. When all was said and done, Daddy had 55 acres. Now Jerry has developed much of it into beautiful lots with lakeshore or lake access. Mother has the original one bedroom, one bath cottage, built in the 40s, to which has been added a large master bedroom and bath and a wonderful front porch, perfect for watching the waterskiers go by down below.

I spent many summer hours on that property from age ten on. Once I married and had children, the trips were fewer. I've only been once or twice in the past fifteen years, what with John's illness and then the move to Tucson. But I love this place with a passion that's deeply ingrained and not soon to vanish. I placed my lot on the market when I figured I'd be spending the rest of my life in Tucson and wanted someplace easier to get to for spending summers with my grandchildren. Now I'm back east and wondering what to do next.

Our summer activities consisted of long walks, playing around the waterfall at the far end of the property, picking vegetables from the large garden the caretaker would plant each year, picking wild berries along the road and making pies, driving to Cherokee or Gatlinburg to do a little touristing, lunching in Highlands or Cashiers, and so on. I've always been a bit solitary, so for me there were many, many hours spent under a rhododendron with a book or, simply, with my wishes and dreams. When Boston walked down to the water's edge and balanced on a log under the rhododendron, it was too sweet a memory to not snap a pic.

After a couple of games of Upwords and a walk and a few games of Dominoes, we started back to Asheville. Ridley very quickly fell asleep, only to wake about ten minutes later saying, "I've got to throw up." Before Boston could grab a plastic grocery bag to give her, the deed was done, in a projectile manner encompassing both the back seat and the front. Yuck. And I was on a two-lane winding road with no way to pull over to help her out. I had no water in the car, so she just had to live with the horrible taste in her mouth and the stench in the car. We were supposed to meet Jim, Molly and Mother for dinner, and I had to call them and tell them we were just going back to the hotel and would see them in the morning. Not a very pleasant ending to a wonderful day.

We got back to the hotel with no further vomiting, found a little something tummy-soothing at the cafeteria next door, then settled down for the evening. Fortunately, no more croup attacks or vomiting occurred all night long. Yea!

The next morning we were up early and got to Mother's by 8:15 so we could say goodbye to Jim and Molly, and then to Mother. The trip home was uneventful, 8:45 hours of driving on an 11-hour journey. I found a McD's for lunch, with a small play area and cool video games at several of the tables. While the babes played, I spent lots of time on the phone with USAA, trying to find the funds I need to close on the Continental Ranch house. It wasn't easy, but I'll divulge that I do not own my car "free and clear" any more. All together now: "it's only money."

One thing I noticed along the way, which helps explain why the rest stops were so time-consuming. These babies have been taught how to properly wash their hands, and they're religious about it. After the normal rubbing the hands together and getting soap on the backs of their hands, they scrub their palms with their fingernails and then make sure the soap is under their fingernails. These kids could walk into an operating room after their handwashing ritual! I salute their parents. However, when I'm traveling alone, my nature breaks take approximately 6.5 minutes. Each nature break on this drive home took half an hour. It's a darned good thing I like my car so much, wouldn't ya say?


So that was my trip. Mother was thrilled to have us all there. My brothers and sister-in-law were happy to meet their great-niece and -nephew. I was so glad to see Aunt Louise again, as I'm not sure how much life is left to her. And I was ecstatic to have my babes walk the Smoky Mountain land I love so much. (Oooh, sounds like a John Denver song, doncha think?) If I had more vacation time or more money, I would take time off from work this summer and take the babes down a couple of times to spend a week traipsing around those mountains.

And in the meantime, I'm seriously rethinking the plan to sell the piece of property.