Asheville's Interesting People, Tuesday April 10, 2018

It was an off day of travel today so I sought out to find a couple of interesting people to talk to during my wandering around Asheville, North Carolina.

The first was in my campground in the campsite across from where I was parked.  I first noticed his Airstream trailer when I pulled in yesterday and was hooking up my utilities.  On top of his rig was a series of solar panels normally used in what RV’ers call “Boondocking”.  Alaska had many people who boondock in the parking lots of Walmart or other public parking areas.  Boondocker’s find free places to park for the night or two or three, maybe even a week.  Walmart and Sam’s Club allow campers to use their parking lots all over the country and many people will stop in for the night, restock their groceries or other needed items before hitting the highway once again.  There are many full time RV people who do this all year long crisscrossing the country to stay where the weather is warm and there are new places to see.

Andy and his wife (mid-thirties) have been living in camping trailers for over four years now.  They started out in a little “Skamper” travel trailer and lived in it for three years before upgrading to an Airstream trailer.  They were also working on remodeling another Skamper trailer in this RV Park and hope to have it finished shortly and will move back into it and sell the Airstream.

They both work full time with their computers and use the 400 watt solar panels to power all of their computers, phones and several appliances.  They have a passion for rock climbing and travel all over to pursue that endeavor living and working out of the camper.  I think he also does photography as he had just returned from Spain. They work and play hard mixing their passions and free lifestyle not boxed into a “normal” office type setting.  He said they normally spend time in the southwest part of the country around Utah and Arizona but work brought them to the eastern part of the country right now.

Another interesting person today was my friend who lives just outside Asheville who came over to have lunch and spend the afternoon visiting.  Mike is one of my online gaming friends who I played with for several years before finally meeting at a gathering of friends in Orlando several years ago.  I came up to his house last year on our way to Kentucky to another annual gathering of gamers so it was great seeing him again.

Mike is what I would call a typical southerner, accent and all.  He has a great heart and spirit who has lived the American life.  He loves to cook BBQ and we made a batch of pulled pork last year that we took to Kentucky.  We slow cooked it for hours and it was tender, juicy, and the flavor could win contests if he wanted to enter.  Mike cooks for several places each week making BBQ meals for an elderly home and his lodge meetings.

Mike is from the old south and worked his life as a mechanic, whether it was cars or trucks he fixed them.  Back in his day he worked over twenty years as a mechanic in NASCAR for Junior Johnsons’ racing teams.  He has some interesting stories to tell back in the early days of NASCAR’s beginnings.  I think Mike can spin a story as well as I can and when we get together we can spend hours swapping lies, I mean stories about our lives and times past.  Those are the best days and I was glad we spent some time together while I was passing through Asheville.

The last person for today was a fellow named Steve who worked at the Biltmore Estate winery.  Originally from New York in the financial business he tired of the hustle and bustle of big city life and relocated to Asheville.  He took one of the Biltmore wine tours as a tourist and later on answered an ad and now gives the behind the scenes tour at the winery.  He has worked there for over a year and is getting ready to start learning to give tours at the main house.  He is cross-training to work in both locations. 

I am finding what I wanted on this trip, those real people that make up America, the hard workers, the creative workers who can combine their passions both in and out of the workplace. 

Hopefully during this adventure I become a better listener as everyone has their story to tell and I just need to put it to paper and share it with ya’ll.

From Asheville, North Carolina, goodnight.

A new day dawns

Monday, April 9, 2018

Crashing early last night around eleven after multiple long days of working on the RV it was easy to stop and pass out.  During the night I awakened to the soft sounds of popping corn as it had started to rain lightly.  I have always loved the sound of rain fall on a camper or RV as it gives a soothing feeling of calmness.

I rolled over and fell back asleep and woke up about seven to go outside for a short walk across the river.  The sounds of the water cascading off the rocks were ever present during the night as the river is just a few yards away from the RV.  No one in the campground is awake, a sleepy little village made up of about twenty campers.  The rain had stopped, only misting now and the clouds hung low over the mountain just past the treetops here.

It’s time to make coffee and relax a bit before breaking camp and heading into Cherokee to visit the Indian museum.  Coffee pot, check, thermos, check, coffee cup, check, coffee filters . . . now where did those get packed?   Pull out water from the refrigerator . . . it’s frozen, not a good start for morning coffee.  Digging through things while the coffee water boiled I cannot find the filters anywhere so I do not let it dampen things and move on to plan B, use a napkin to strain the coffee grounds.  It worked but the edges of the napkin wicked the fluid and it dripped on the counter top.  Easy cleanup on aisle 1.

Finally fresh coffee to drink as I ponder where the filters are, it’s always those little things to work out when you start a new adventure that makes you crazy.  Planning for the food, the cleaning supplies, the clothing for all kinds of weather conditions on a trip like this there is always something to forget or you did not think of.  I planned well and things are here in the RV it’s just which nook or cranny is it placed until I learn the location of things.  Things under benches you do not want to have to dig through everyday so placing things that you use for easy access and cold weather jackets in the not used much areas is the way to do it.

Anyway, that’s how the morning went but with coffee and a bowl of cereal it is off to a damp but great start to this new dawn.  More later today . . . !    

Cherokee, North Carolina – Museum of Cherokee Indians

The first stop on this journey is in the town of Cherokee, North Carolina.  It is on the reservation home of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.  At Oconaluftee Indian Village, the 18th-century Cherokee lifestyle is preserved via live demonstrations in the summertime at the outdoor Mountainside Theater, the drama "Unto These Hills" tells the tribal story.  Cherokee is the southern gateway to the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park features campgrounds and Appalachian hiking trails.  It is also the southern start (or end) of the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

After a stop at the Cherokee Veterans Park it was time for a visit to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian which was really informative about the history of the seven clans which make up the Cherokee nation.  They are: Long Hair, Blue, Wolf, Wild Potato, Deer, Bird, and Paint. 

There were displays on basket weaving, pottery, wood carving and bead work.  The information about the “Trail of Tears” was informative and heart breaking seeing the visuals in this museum of how this tribe was forced westward from their native lands.

Maggie's Dream (Joy in the morning)

I met a woman in the campground in Cherokee, North Carolina named Joy who reminded me of the Don Williams song “Maggie’s Dream” since there were similarities between the two women.

In Maggie’s Dream the elderly woman in the song is a waitress who has never ventured outside her little area around Asheville, North Carolina. Has the same customers, knows what they will order from the menu and dreams of finding a man someday but as she ages is content with her situation.

Joy was a Cherokee native who has lived in that town all of her life and she told me she had never ventured away further than Sylva about thirty miles away.  I guess she was in her late forties, a small frame woman with a nice smile and bright eyes.  She said she had worked in different jobs around their town all her life and had no desire to travel or venture away from what she knew to be familiar and safe.

It was an interesting conversation in the few minutes I was checking out of the campground.  She gave me a big hug as I left.

Day before departure, my birthday, 4/07/2018

This was not a typical birthday for me as I am normally off doing something or being with lots of friends but this year all day was spent preparing for departure the next day.  I started working on things about seven thirty in the morning barely having a cup of coffee as I knew there was much work to do to finish up the remodel on the RV and then to stock it with everything.

I worked on building a new cup holder and place to store items in the cab as the plastic one did not hold a cup well and I spilled a drink driving it to the house so I knew I needed to remove the original one and build a wooden one that suited my needs.  That took several hours of the morning and there was a misty rain falling so going back and forth from the saw to the RV reminded me of the song, “Raindrops keep falling on my head.”

Finishing up the RV took a lot of work and with that the usual complications found on any project.  I have had a new toilet for a couple of months sitting nicely inside its shipping box.  When I ordered it there were pretty pictures of the front and the water and waste controls but none with the position of the water supply.  The old one’s supply line came up vertically from the floor straight into the inlet adapter but the new inlet was pointed horizontally out the back with no way to make a conversion to the water line.  Frustration was starting but I quickly went to plan B and cleaned up the old one and re-installed it.  It was now about two in the afternoon as I started finishing the trim in the bedroom.

I worked on trim, stocking, and ran into the next hurdle, the water heater.  I tore out the old six gallon heater and replaced it with a new propane tank-less heater I installed in a cabinet in the bedroom.  I ran water and a gas line to the location of the old heater’s plumbing.  Naturally no leaks but for some reason the igniter didn’t fire off so no hot water.  I fooled around with that for several hours trying to get the batteries combination the right way as I could not tell on the appliance.  I tried several things but will have to wait and call the factory support on Monday.

Packing, stocking and trying to arrange things blew through the rest of my birthday falling to sleep around two thirty in the morning.  I’m hoping to finish up in the morning and depart by around noon.

Departure Day 4/08/2018

It was early to rise with a quick cup of coffee and back to work just after seven am.  Stocking and arranging things took most of the morning and my sister wanted to meet and grab a quick lunch before both of us headed out in different directions.  The morning and early afternoon was misting rain with the occasional wind gust leaving one damp running back and forth stocking things.  The last of the work was done installing the dinette table, securing the two gas cans and cooler to the rear luggage rack and it was time to go.  Not exactly as I had planned but luckily the drive to the first stop in Cherokee North Carolina was only about an hour and a half away.

Official departure time was 5:15 pm.

Leaving Helen the sky brightened with clouds and bits of blue sky as the drive north through the foothills in Clayton Georgia crossing into North Carolina just after six.  It has been years since I played in this area spending several years here when I worked and flew hang gliders for Tut Woodruff who owned Hang Glider Heaven in Clayton and lived on Lake Burton.  We flew there and several places in North Carolina during that time so these roads and fields were like seeing an old friend.

The police were out in all the small towns, Clayton, Dillard, and Sylvia along the way just like years ago earning their town money from people in a hurry.  It was a steady climb up and over the mountain and the beauty of the river outside Sylva was breathtaking with the dogwoods, cherry trees and other blooming along the roadway.  Arriving in Cherokee around seven the place was pretty quiet with just a few people milling around driving past the casino and along the river to the campground.

The campsite sits along a river where you can hear the sounds of water crashing along the rocky bottom.  This is about eight miles out of town in the surrounding mountains.  The camp host left a note on the office door with the site number so there was no one around.  The camper next to this one was just coming back when I backed into the slot and he started a campfire.  I made the hookups and settled in for the night after the long last couple of days leading up to hitting the road.

First “meal” on the road, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, lol.  Too tired to cook and not sure where everything is yet so cooking will have to wait until this trip progresses.  Hopefully a much needed good night's sleep and visit the Indian museum tomorrow before hitting the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway toward Asheville, North Carolina.

Why Travel?

Traveling Life’s Highways is the website created so you can follow along and participate on this journey across America. 

The website is: travelinglifeshighways.com  

“A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.”

Join me as I wander and write about the places traveled.  Good Friends make the time and experience whole and sharing the places and stories along the way keeps everyone involved and hopefully amused by what is seen and the people met Traveling Life’s Highways.

“I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way”

For many years now I’ve wanted to travel the country, write about it and give you a point of view “seeing America through the eyes of a veteran”.  Much has happened in our lives and I think we have all lost a little of the feeling we had so many years ago when things were simpler, the roads before us were not filled with so many potholes to avoid, and we looked for the good in everyone.  Maybe it wasn’t Mayberry but we thought of America once in that way and I want to find it once again and show everyone it still exists during this conflicted times. 

Most of life is about attitudes and how you act and react to things happening to you and around you.  Often we judge things and cynically look at thing with a skewed perspective.

“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”   — Kahlil Gibran

During these travels I will be showing photos, blog posts, and other things (possibly a weekly podcast) so you can follow along, comment and share your stories of your travels.  I will be using multiple platforms on social media; the Traveling Life’s Highways website, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Youtube (pod cast).

“All you need to know is that it’s possible.” – Wolf, an Appalachian Trail Hiker

 I have felt this way for years and Mark Twain expresses it beautifully:

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream!  Discover.”

 Please hit the Like button on the pages so you will be alerted to the next photo, blog post or funny experience Traveling Life’s Highways!  (Yes Placido Flamingo will be on this trip)

D. Whittington

It's Here!

Something great is about to happen.

For the last several months, I have been working on a new project . . . Traveling Life’s Highways, planning and preparing to take to the highways to flood the Internet with good stories about places and people, “Seeing America through the eyes of a veteran.”

I have been rebuilding a Coachmen Class C motor home to travel the country and write about the good I find in America!

On April 8, 2018, Traveling Life’s Highways will depart and bring you the “feel good” stories and other things the mass media can’t seem to share with America in today’s trying times.

Why?

Read the headlines.  Look out your window.  Walk down the street.  You already know why.  I don’t have to list and link the stories here.  You already know.  Far too many days I see the news and find myself wondering, “What is wrong with people?”

We can sit and try to answer that or we can prove that there is so much right with people.  It’s out there.  Compassion, kindness . . . it still exists.

So join, won’t you?  Help spread the word.  The website is now live so visit the Traveling Life’s Highways web page.  Sign up to add your email to follow along and be notified to new stories, photos and things discovered along the way.  Join the Facebook Page Traveling Life's Highways .  Use the hashtag #travelinglifeshighways to promote this event.

There is still time . . . it is never too late to find the good in America once again.

It is never too late to share the good news!

Help make the message heard, share on your social media sites, like the pages to stay up to date on where I am writing from and about the places and people met along the way.

The website, new Facebook page, Instagram, and Tumblr are all now live so please like the pages; look for new content along this journey discovering America once again.

D. Whittington

Thanks George and John for help in setting up the website, It looks great!