Treats, No Tricks

Sunday night was a treat for me. The plan was to chat with Mikey and Heather on webcam, but Yahoo Messenger seemed to be having problems so we consoled ourselves with a phone conversation. It would have been fun to see them, but it was still nice to talk to them on the phone for a few minutes and hear their voices and my daughter's. I don't know how other people are, but I imagine it's the same for most people; it always makes me feel better to hear my kids' and grandkids' voices when I'm away from home. I slept like a baby Sunday night.

Monday night was another treat for me. Cindy's mom and dad stopped in Atlanta on their way back to Orlando from the mountains of North Carolina and we had a chance to visit when they invited me to dinner at...wait for it...wait for it...CRACKER BARREL. That was a surprise, wasn't it? We all love eating there. If that chain ever closes we'll probably just drift apart, lol.



I've said before I'm very fortunate to have the in-laws that I do. Most people just endure theirs but I enjoy mine and always look forward to an opportunity to spend time with them.

We caught up with each other over dinner and I was able to get photos from them that they had taken on Sunday of the cabin progress. I had brought my laptop and we put my father-in-law's camera memory stick in my reader and downloaded away, then enjoyed viewing them on the laptop screen. I'll have them uploaded soon. And my mother-in-law suggested that when we move to Maggie Valley that I write a blog about the adventures of a pair or flatlanders during their first year in the mountains. I'm kind of liking that idea. What do you think? Would you read such a blog?

Our time together was over much too quickly, but it brightened and lightened my spirits.

So far this Halloween week, it's been all treats and no tricks. Just the way I like it.

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Sheepback Mountain Cabin Progress

Last week, Cindy flew to Maggie Valley to spend a week with her friend Rebecca and look in on the progress of our Sheepback Mountain Cabin. It's difficult not to get excited when you see the street sign for the road you got to name and the walls going up on the first story above the basement. Not to mention the light dusting of snow that fell on Saturday and Sunday and what the view will be like from my future office window.

Here's one of the photos Cindy took and the others can be found here on Facebook or here on Flickr.



Monday I'll get some more photos from Cindy's mom and dad when we meet for dinner here in Atlanta and I believe Rebecca has some as well that she will be sending. I'll post those when they arrive.

Our cozy little cabin on Sheepback Mountain is slowly taking shape.

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Florida Exodus

This week's issue of Time Magazine has a small article about how the ongoing exodus of residents from Florida has resulted in the first negative net loss in state population in over 6 decades.


"...between 2008 and 2009...Florida as a whole lost 58,000. That's not exactly a mass exodus for a state of 18 million; but it's the first net outflow in 63 years..."

In a little less than 6 months, Cindy and I will add to that negative outflow when we move to our cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. Frankly, other than missing our family and friends, the move cannot come too soon for us. We both are looking SO forward to leaving the Sunscreen State and all its myriad problems to enjoy our lives in the mountains. No place is perfect and I know that a lot of our impressions of where we are going are based on our experiences as visitors, but even if that life turns out to be 10 times worse than we imagine, it will be 100 times better than living in the Suncrime State.

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Saying "Goodbye"

Well, not really, more like "See you later."

Tomorrow morning our friend Rebecca and her mom will be leaving Orlando and moving to Waynesville, NC. The movers came this morning and picked up all their furniture and belongings. Earlier this evening Cindy, Amber and I took pizza over for a farewell dinner. The house looked very different and empty with nothing in it, but Rebecca looked full of happiness and anticipation.

It's not Ireland, but it's damn close, lol.

Safe journey.

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And Then There Was One...

Last week while I was home for a few days, Cindy and I followed the next step in "The North Carolina Project" and did some car trading.

We knew, from painful experience, that we will need a 4WD vehicle to navigate the mountain roads. We also knew that we will need either a small truck or a small 4WD SUV so that Cindy will be able to cart her candles and incense around to various craft shows, farmer's markets and businesses in the mountains.

For a while now we have had a truck that I drive when I am home and a small, fuel-efficient car that Cindy drives back and forth to work every day. With me being gone more and more, the truck was just sitting in the driveway costing us insurance coverage money 6 days a week and the monthly loan payment. Cindy would use it on Sundays to take her wares to the Eola Market, but otherwise it would sit idle a great deal of the time.

We have also been taking steps to reduce our monthly expenditures so that we would be able to put money toward our cabin construction loan. Given the above facts, it seemed obvious that we could accomplish some savings by having just one vehicle loan payment and our insurance costs would be reduced as well.

So, last Friday we traded in both the truck and the car for a 2008 Kia Sportage. It has the 4WD power we need, as well as the cargo space Cindy will require, with the small environmental impact that we want.

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North Carolina Cabin

Cindy and I are finding it very difficult to balance what we want in our cabin with what we feel we can realistically afford. It would be easy if we were getting some of those AIG bonuses for ruining the economy, but we're not so we have to work within both our current budget and our projected budget in the foreseeable future.

There are some things that are "have-to's" for us such as a metal roof, a real, wood-burning fireplace, safe, non-toxic materials, a basement with room for Cindy's candle-making workshop, and either have 3 bedrooms, 2 bedrooms and a den or 2 bedrooms and a loft with the 3rd bedroom, den or loft serving as my office for writing. I'd prefer a den or 3rd bedroom, but would settle for the loft if it came down to a money issue.

We'd like to keep the actual cabin down to 1100 square feet or so, since it just be the two of us in it most of the time, either in a single-story or a 2-story layout. Plus the basement addition will provide ample room for the workshop and vehicle, thus leaving us plenty of living space in the cabin itself. We'd prefer the 2-story since it will allow us to have a smaller area footprint on the property, but if it's 2-story we need the second bedroom to be on the ground floor since it will more frequently serve as the bedroom for when Cindy's parents come to visit and we don't want them having to climb stairs any more than necessary. Same for when the grandkids come to visit, at least for the next few years while they're small.

If we choose a 2-story model, we'd like to have a wall of windows to enjoy the view from the comfort of our living room, however we're told more windows equals more cost. But then the metal roof and wood-burning fireplace also cost more, though at least they eventually pay for themselves. I guess you could say the windows would pay for themselves in terms of enjoyment and happiness, so we'll see.

I'm sure we're driving our contractor crazy, but as I shared with him, this will be the last place we live and we'd like to get it right. And be able to afford it. Other things we want to do like solar panels, gray water recycling and such can come later as we're able, but the cabin structure itself needs to be the way we want it from the start.

Anyway, that has been on our minds quite a bit lately as we have to start in May if we're going to stay on the schedule we have. It isn't always easy coordinating our schedules when I'm at home and it's even more problematic when I'm traveling. We were going to have a conference call with our builder today but he's out of town traveling, so we re-scheduled for next Saturday afternoon when I'll be back home and hopefully he will too.

If you click on the pictures it will take you to a link showing the floor plans for each of them, if you're interested in seeing what we're considering.

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Kentucky Autism Awareness License Tag

I was driving back to the office from lunch yesterday when I pulled up behind a car at a stop light. The familiar puzzle pieces design immediately caught my eye as I realized I was looking at the first Autism Awareness state-issued license tag I had ever seen.



I thought it was cool! I was so excited I immediately Twittered it. My state of current residence, Florida, doesn't have one. My state of future residence, North Carolina, does but I've never seen one during our visits there.

You go, Kentucky!

Yeah, I'm easily excited.

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Lake Junaluska, North Carolina

Above is my favorite of the 2 dozen or so photos I took of Lake Junaluska during our camping trip in North Carolina a few weeks ago. Click on the photo to see a larger version.

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New Flickr Uploads

As promised, I've uploaded photos of our visit to our property on Sheepback Mountain



and our wonderful visit to The Gathering Place B & B in Maggie Valley courtesy of hostess Laura.



You can check them out by clicking here and here, respectively.

More to come!

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Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead.

I meant to post this earlier last week when we were in North Carolina.

We stopped into The Chocolate Bear, a gourmet chocolate shoppe on Main Street in Waynesville, and were surprised to see that the sister of our friend Rebecca was also in the store.






"I'll get you, my pretty! And your little dog, too!"

C'mon, you can laugh. It's almost Halloween!

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The Taj Mahal Of Tents

As promised in this post, here are some photos of our new "Taj Mahal of Tents" that we camped in while on vacation in North Carolina.











Not shown in these photos is that the tent has a cool built-in light in the ceiling that is attached to an 8-D cell power pack that also comes with a...REMOTE CONTROL! Approaching the tent at night in the pitch black darkness, it was beyond cool to turn on the interior light with my little clicker. Yeah, I'm easily amused by electronic toys.

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Friday In Western North Carolina

Friday we drove to Maggie Valley with Cindy's parents to meet Art at Joey's Pancake House. Joey's is only open for breakfast, from 7am to noon, and is ALWAYS packed. When we had driven by on Wednesday morning at 9am the parking lot was overflowing, so we decided to arrive by 8am to hopefully beat the crowd, but that was to little avail. Every table was occupied and folks were waiting in the lobby area. When we left at 9am, the line was out into the parking lot on each side of the lobby and cars were parked in adjacent lots while their owners walked to the restaurant for breakfast.

Cindy's mom goes to a water aerobics class in Orlando and when she told one of her classmates that we were buying some property on Sheepback Mountain, the classmate told her that her son Art had recently purchased some property there also. Cindy's parents met Art a few months back, visited his property and wanted us to all get the chance to meet, so a breakfast at Joey's was arranged.

We had a great time at breakfast and afterward we drove up to see Art's property and what he was doing on it. I thought out property was steep as far as the layout is concerned, but Art's has us beat. He has cut out a road and had it graveled up to a certain point. We walked approximately a half a mile up the steep road from the base of the property, since he was the only one with a 4-wheel drive vehicle. At a more or less level area he has set up a lean-to and has been working on building a primitive log cabin using the trees he has cut down on his property. At this point he has the 10 foot by 15 foot area staked out and is drying the tree trunks he has cut down in preparation for erecting the walls and roof. There will be no electricity or running water, but the cabin will provide shelter as he continues to clear and level his land for the eventual construction of a more conventional cabin or house in a few years. I salute his initiative and told him that while I admire what he is doing, I don't think I would ever have the character to stick with such an undertaking. He has my utmost respect. I also took a couple of picture with my cell phone of the view he has from his planned primitive cabin site and of Art with some tree trunk logs behind him.



Afterward, Cindy and I drove to Sylva, Dillsboro and Bryson City to walk the downtown streets of each town and see what they had to offer for both tourists and locals. Suffice it to say that I still prefer nearby Waynesville.

Friday evening, Cindy's parents joined us for dinner at Bogart's in Waynesville. This was my first time dining at this restaurant (Cindy and her parents have been there previously) and it may well end up being one of my favorite places to eat when we move up here. This was another place that was packed; we waited about 45 minutes to get a table, but it was worth it in food quality, portions, prices and service.

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Balsam Mountain Inn

Thursday afternoon our tires arrived and we drove into Waynesville to have them put on the truck and then made our way to Blue Ridge Books & News, which you can read about here.

Cindy's mom and dad had made 5pm reservations for the four of us and Cindy's uncle and aunt to have dinner at the Seven Springs Restaurant inside the historic Balsam Mountain Inn, about 2 miles from Moonshine Creek Campground. However, we had been granted permission to arrive at 4pm and tour the hotel's three floors of rooms which weren't currently occupied that remain, for the most part, as they were when the hotel opened in 1905. It reminded all of us of the Grand Hotel in the movie "Somewhere in Time" starring the late Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.



The occasion for the dinner treat by my in-laws was to celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary. That anniversary was back in March, but since I had not been home any length of time since then to observe it, they were kind enough to make this meal in these very elegant surroundings an anniversary gift to Cindy and I. "Thanks, mom and dad."



The tour was a lot of fun and I have many photos that will be posted on Flickr. Each room has its own style of decor and every room is unique in its furnishings. A couple of rooms were very feminine and a couple were very masculine and the rest were gender neutral, but all were interesting in that they maintained the feel of the early 1900's. There is no air-conditioning (a sign, kept from the original opening of the hotel in a lobby display case, reads, "Air-Conditioned By Nature"), and no TV's, radios, DVD players or other electronic items, though each room does have electricity. Most bath accommodations are in-room, but bathtubs are the norm (except in the masculine rooms which had shower stalls) and all are in the old "Claw leg" style while sinks are the pedestal type and usually mounted in corners. It truly is as if you have stepped back in time.

No self-respecting inn would be without its ghosts and Balsam Mountain Inn is no exception. One room, 205, is supposedly haunted, but it was occupied by a guest so we did not get to go in it and see if we felt a "presence."

I did see a shelf of blinking wireless routers, so I assume they offer Wi-Fi, but I forgot to ask. They also have a wonderful reading room off the side of the expansive lobby that was stocked with a wide variety of reading materials and furnished with an equally wide variety of furnishings for sitting and relaxing. Front and back covered porches allowed for sitting quietly in rocking chairs while taking in the beauty of the grounds or enjoying conversation with companions.

After the tour we made our way to the waiting area of the Seven Springs Restaurant to chat prior to our 5pm dinner reservation. Before we knew it, the hostess was escorting us to the hallowed alcove dining table, reserved for special parties. Our server, Lindsay, was a jewel; making recommendations and answering our questions. The food was absolutely exquisite. We all shared appetizers of Fried Green Tomatoes and Fried Brie (except for Cindy's dad who ordered a cup of Peanut Chicken Soup), before moving on to our excellent entrees. Cindy had the Coffee-Rubbed Ribeye with Garlic Mashed Potatoes; I had the Angus Filet with Mushrooms; Cindy's mom had the Coconut Crusted Salmon with Asparagus; her dad had Venison (Bambi's mom, we kept telling Cindy, to her great distress), as did her uncle and her aunt had the Pecan Crusted Catfish. For dessert I had the Bourbon Pecan Pie; Cindy had the Creme Brulee; her mom had the Chocolate Torte and her dad, aunt and uncle all had the Pumpkin Cheesecake. All of this wonderful food was washed down with glasses of wine.



It was, for Cindy and I, a wonderful anniversary gift of great food and drink, coupled with the enjoyment of excellent company. If you are ever in the area, I highly, highly recommend the Seven Springs Restaurant inside the historic Balsam Mountain Inn. Especially if your wonderful in-laws are treating, lol.

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The Gathering Place, Maggie Valley NC

I'm writing this on Friday, October 17th while sitting in the West Carolina Internet Cafe in Dillsboro, NC and using their free (if you bring your own laptop) Wi-Fi. I chose WCIF because they also offer printing and faxing services and I needed to use both in connection with my employer. Earlier today we took a stroll through downtown Sylva, which is about 15 miles west of our campground and then drove here to Dillsboro which is just a couple of miles beyond Sylva so I could use WCIF.

So, driving around on the "donut" spare was not something I wanted to do a lot of, but we had an opportunity we could not pass up. My in-laws have been telling us for a while about a very charming bed & breakfast in Maggie Valley called The Gathering Place and in fact Cindy's aunt and uncle were staying there on Wednesday, so we were invited to join them for breakfast at the B & B and meet the owner, Laura, who my father-in-law refers to as his second daughter.

We had a delightful time! Laura is a sweetheart who owns and runs the B & B as well as housing abused dogs and horses on the lodge property. She is one of those few folks that I've met and liked from the moment we were introduced. Enjoying breakfast with her, my in-laws, Cindy's parents and two other guests just reinforced that affection. Later, Laura took Cindy and I on a tour of the B & B and we talked a lot about what work had gone into the B & B and our upcoming cabin construction.

I took two pictures of Laura to use on the blog and somehow both came out with her eyes closed, which I couldn't see on the small viewscreen of my camera when I checked the photos. But here is one of the B & B from the small lake with Cindy and Laura standing on one of the decks talking.



And, I should have noted in earlier posts, all the photos will be posted to Flickr when I return to Orlando.

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Greetings From Maggie Valley, North Carolina

I'm writing this on Thursday, October 16th while sitting in the Blue Ridge Books & News in Waynesville, NC and using their free Wi-Fi. Waynesville is about halfway between Moonshine Creek Campground in Sylva (really Balsam, though) where we are camping in the Taj Mahal of Tents and our property in Maggie Valley, and is one of our favorite towns to visit.

We arrived Sunday afternoon around 4:30 after an 11-hour drive. It took us about an hour to get our new Taj Mahal of Tents (pictures later) pitched and camping gear unpacked and after a dinner of smoked chicken sandwiches we hit the sack.

Monday we had lunch with our realtor, Kelley Starnes (I highly recommended her if you need an excellent realtor in western North Carolina) and our building contractor Dennis Cook. We went over the building plans of our cabin, then later in the afternoon we met Dennis at the property to go over some placement details. That was a good thing as it turned out we needed to turn the cabin 90 degrees for optimum placement. Now our front porch faces the creek to the west, but we can still see some of the mountains to the south from the front porch and what will be my office.

Tuesday we decided (ok, Cindy decided) to have a picnic lunch on the property. That was a good idea. Then she suggested we drive down the access road to our property instead of walking. That was a bad idea. I realized it was a bad idea about 20 feet down the road when it occurred to me that our 2-wheel drive Frontier was NOT going to get us back up the steep incline. I stopped and tried to back out, but it was no-go. In the end I burned up half a tire's worth of rubber on both back tires, blew out one of the back tires and was almost run over by my wife trying to get the truck out. We finally had to call AAA to have a tow truck come winch us out and up the road. By the way, for everyone's future reference, AAA only covers state-maintained or blacktop roads, so we had to pay out of pocket for the service. By the time we got done with that and could drive back to the campsite, it was 6pm and all the tire stores were closed.



Wednesday we called to get two new back tires for the truck, but of course no one in town had the size we needed and we had to wait for them to arrive from Asheville on Thursday, so we didn't do much driving on the "donut" spare. But we did do a little on Wednesday and I'll catch up with that later.

Thanks for reading.

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The Enchanted Forest

Here's a photo taken on our property from where our cabin will be built. Cindy has bestowed the title of "The Enchanted Forest" on our small piece of Sheepback Mountain in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.

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Paddle Faster, I Think I Hear Banjo Music III

Thursday we drove by Cold Mountain on the way to the Pisgah Inn, a beautiful lodge and restaurant at the base of Mount Pisgah, for lunch. We were able to get a table by the large window that looks out on several nearby mountains and valleys, and the view was spectacular. Some pictures are here. After lunch we drove into the Pisgah National Forest and hiked up to Slick Rock Falls. Even though it was a treacherous, strenuous and dangerous hike of one-tenth of a mile, we arrived at the falls safely and took pictures that are here. On the way out of the Forest, we stopped at Looking Glass Falls and pictures of that are here.

Friday we drove 32 miles from the campsite to the Biltmore Estate just outside of Asheville, touring the gardens, parts of the ancestral home and enjoying a delicious lunch at the Estate's Stable Cafe. Lots of pictures here from that delightful day trip, but unfortunately none from inside the house because they don't allow photography of the interior.

That evening, our new tent received its baptism of fire when we were hit by severe thunderstorms AND a hailstorm around 10pm and another severe thunderstorm around 11:30pm. The tent kept us warm and dry, though in the daylight of Saturday morning we could see where the rain fly fabric had been "dented" but not ripped by the hailstones, which were about the size of a dime and smaller.

Since Sunday would be another 11 hour day of driving to get back to Orlando, we spent Saturday just relaxing around the campsite. Cindy reading her Kindle and me reading, writing and going through our photos and deciding which ones would make it up to Flickr for your viewing pleasure. As night fell, we packed as much of our gear as possible into the truck so we'd have only the tent, sleeping bags and ground tarp to pack Sunday morning.

Around 3am Sunday morning severe thunderstorms arrived in the area and when the alarm went off at 6am it was still storming. We hoped to wait for it to end before exiting the tent, but you know how the sound of water running makes you have to go to the bathroom...? Yeah, so do we. At 6:30 we couldn't wait any longer so we had to try and get the bedding into the truck as quickly as possible to keep it from getting wet and then we worked in the rain to take down the tent and fold up the tarp. Can you say muddy mess?

After showering we stepped out of the building to find the rain had stopped, of course. As it turned out, we ended up leaving just 20 minutes after I had intended to leave, so that wasn't bad. We had a nice drive back to Orlando and arrived home safely about 7pm.

After not seeing each other for 6 months while I was on the road (we had about a week at Christmas time and 2 days at the end of January), Cindy and I truly enjoyed the time we were able to spend together in North Carolina. We have another week together at home and then I'll be on the "available" list to be sent back out on the road again. In the meantime I'll get to spend some time with our grandchildren, visit with friends and go to various medical appointments (three in one day!).

Oh, and the title of these last three posts? That came from a tee shirt we saw someone wearing while we were at a general store in Waynesville. It made Cindy and I both burst out laughing because the day before we had seen someone on our way to Cataloochee who looked like a "Deliverance" character and I had hummed the "Dueling Banjos" theme from the movie as we watched him.

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Paddle Faster, I Think I Hear Banjo Music II

After a day of driving, we had planned to spend Monday relaxing around the campsite, but a camping stove that refused to work (resulting in granola bars for breakfast) necessitated a trip into nearby Waynesville to replace said stove. I like Waynesville. It reminds me of Mayberry, from the old Andy Griffith TV show. I mentioned that to one shopkeeper and she gave me the hairy eyeball, so I guess they don't care for the comparison, but it evokes that "small town" quality that I always imagined when I thought of Mayberry.


We came back to the campsite, had lunch and a nap, and then spent the remainder of the afternoon hiking the trails in and around the campground. Pictures are here (not of lunch and the nap, but of the trails).

Tuesday was the day to visit our property on Sheepback Mountain in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. We spent about an hour and a half there at mid-morning, walking the property and taking pictures. Cindy collected a little of the water from the creek that runs along the western edge of the property to bring back home, and we envisioned where the log cabin home would be placed and how it would be oriented on the property. We finally settled on a placement that would put Cindy's candle workshop and my writing den on the side closest to the creek, with the front outside deck and inside living room facing toward a mountain peak a few miles away. During the Spring and Summer, trees will obscure the view of that mountain but in the Fall and Winter, when there are no leaves on the trees, it will be a gorgeous sight. Pictures of the property are here.

Afterward, we met our realtor, Kelley, and our contractor, Dennis, for lunch. We agreed to meet at Maggie Valley's famous Snappy's Restaurant, but discovered they no longer open for lunch. On Kelley's recommendation we drove down the road to Nico's Cafe and enjoyed a delicious lunch as well as a chance to catch up on each other's lives and to talk a little "shop" about the planned construction of Casa de Wetherington in about a year. After lunch we all drove to a couple of log cabins, one that Dennis had just finished and one that was about a quarter completed, to get an idea of what to expect. We also looked at various plans and settled on the one we think will suit us best as a place to live for the rest of our lives.

We said our goodbyes to Kelley and Dennis, then drove over to Cherokee, NC, about 20 miles west of Maggie Valley, to visit the Museum Of The Cherokee Indian. Pictures are here. I thought the roads through and over the mountains to Cherokee were winding, steep and narrow, until we left there to drive to Cataloochee Valley, about 20 miles north of Maggie Valley, to see the daily appearance of the wild elk (which were reintroduced into the park in 2001) at sunset in part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, THEN I discovered truly winding, steep and narrow mountain roads. You drive up and over the mountains on a single lane road with hairpin turns, drop offs that descend hundreds of feet and NO guardrails. Driving up is tough on the transmission, down is equally hard on the brakes and both will test your nerves. I would not want to drive an RV or even tow a trailer on those roads, like this guy did. But it was definitely worth the drive and pictures are here.

Wednesday was a day to relax some. We drove to Maggie Valley to mail out our Mother's Day cards because Cindy wanted them to have a Maggie Valley postmark, and stopped at a little used book store just outside of town (THAT is a story of its own) before returning to the campsite to read and rest the remainder of the day.

More to come, including the explanation for the title of the past two posts, in case you haven't guessed it yet.

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Paddle Faster, I Think I Hear Banjo Music

Well, I have some catching up to do, don't I?

I flew into OIA on Friday, May 2nd and Cindy picked me up from the airport around 4:30pm. We stopped to get some salads to go from Chili's and then went home to "get to know each other again", if you catch my drift.

Ten minutes later we were happily eating our salads and watching TV.

Saturday we spent the day getting our camping gear out of the attic, checking to see what we needed and then stopping in at various stores to buy those things we needed. Saturday night was Amber's birthday party and I got to see several family members at the party that I hadn't seen in months.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early at 4am and on the road an hour later. Three gas stops, two meal stops and eleven hours later, we arrived at the Moonshine Creek Campground in Balsam, North Carolina. This campground is about 30 minutes from our property in Maggie Valley and is very, very nice. It has sites for tenters like Cindy and I, RV's, and cabins, along with lots of trees, creeks and short hiking trails. Much more to our liking than the first one we looked at that, while closer to Maggie Valley, was like camping on the Wal-Mart parking lot. Flat, barren of trees and laid out like a military grid. Moonshine Creek is much more natural and what we prefer. Pictures are here from our first day at the campsite.


More to come, including the explanation for the title of this post.

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"In My Mind I'm Goin' To Carolina..."

Well, we are now the proud owners (along with the bank, lol) of a piece of North Carolina property. At 3:30 this afternoon the attorney in NC completed the closing process and at approximately 4pm, after a short walk across the town square (one of the plusses of small town living), the deed transfer was recorded at the local county courthouse.

This was the first (and most financially draining/straining) step in our 5 year plan. I hope the rest of the processes we'll be going through over the years will be as hassle-free as this one has been. Special thanks to our real estate agent, banker and attorney for doing everything possible to make this as painless as possible.

"Thanks" to my in-laws, who visited the property twice this week, for these photos.




Now, in the words of legendary musician James Taylor, "In My Mind I'm Goin' To Carolina..."

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