NORTH CAROLINA, TENNESSEE and VIRGINIA

4 - 6 June 2012: We left Asheville and backtracked a little to visit shuffleboard friends Ben and Sandy Jerome in Hendersonville, NC. They were there for the summer to get out of the Florida heat and to join in the active shuffleboard community there. As it happened, there was a "Draw Partners" tournament while we were there, so Thom and Sheila signed up. Thom's partner was drawn as Sue, and Sheila's partner was drawn as Sue's husband, Phil. Sandy was partnered with club president Jay. We each lost an early game (Thom and I had to get used to beaded courts), but then went on to place in consolation. Sheila's partner went home sick, and their game for 1st place was forfeited to Sandy and Jay.

Thom took 3rd place, Sheila 2nd, and Sandy Jerome won 1st place
in the Draw Partners tournament 5/6 June, 2012. 

The ladies' luck runs out for Pinochle: Thom, Sandy and Ben Jerome.

While in Hendersonville we got a call from Thom's running partner Bart Ferguson, with an invitation to join Bart and his wife Amy at their retreat home in Hayesville, NC, about two hours to the west. We drove through beautiful countryside to get there, including the Savannah River Basin.

The west edge of the Savannah River Water Basin.

Nature's car wash: Bridal Veil Falls on Route 64.

7 June 2012: The weather was cold in Hendersonville, but warming up in Hayesville. Still, it is cool at the beginning of the day. We took a walk along the dam, visited a glassblowing workshop, had lunch at a country cafe, then visited the world renowned John C. Campbell Folk School established in 1925 and modeled after Scandinavian folk schools. (Thom's dream destination if he could afford the classes; he pores over the catalog every year). We ended the day with a 5-mile bike ride through the nearby recreational area to the dam and back.

Sheila, Thom, Amy and Bart Ferguson; Chatuge Dam, NC

The glassblower has finished a beautiful colored vase.

Sheila and Thom at the John C. Campbell Folk School, NC

Thom sits on a bench made from garden supplies.

A bike ride through the recreational area to the dam.

Thom with Bart and Amy Ferguson in Hayesville, NC. We take leave of our gracious hosts.

8 June 2012: It is time to head north. This could have been Thom:

And this could have been Sheila:

But instead we opted for an exciting trip to the Urgent Care Clinic in Murphy, where Thom was diagnosed with bronchitis, close to pneumonia. He has been coughing since a couple of days before he ran the Boston Marathon on 16 April, and it has gradually got worse. He is now on the right medicine and is, and always has been, well enough to continue the trip and enjoy his adventures. 

The southern foothills of the Smokey Mountains took us through the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
Note the bilingual street signs in the town of Cherokee.

We visited a collection of buildings that represented a 1900 high country farm.

Sheila and Thom in the Smokey Mountains.

All is not well in the forests. Decades ago, America lost its chestnut trees;
now the hickory trees are dying.

After being in somewhat wilderness for days, at the northern end of the Smokey Mountains we find ourselves in Gatlinburg.

We drive further north and reach Rural Retreat, Virginia, before setting up camp.

We met the Schroeder and Halverson families, who are cycling 4,000 miles from Yorktown, VA, to Washington state, promoting Christian values as they ride. They are on six tandom bikes, with the four older children paired up on two. The children range in age from 8 to 16 years. The retired Navy families have been saving money for the trip for over six years. If you would like to check up on them, give them some time to set it up, but they will be on Facebook at www.facebook/christacrossamerica2012. We wish them well; they have put their safety and strength in the Lord's hands and wish only to influence for good all they may meet along the way.

9 June 2012: This morning we drove north to Buena Vista and visited with our friends from Boston/Connecticut Jeff and Lydia. They have two sons and two daughters, and it was the girls who gave us a delightful tour of their little farm. Maggie May and Clara Belle showed us the vegetable gardens, the pond, and allowed us to help them check on the chickens and guinea hens. We helped feed and water them, and learned the fine art of shooing an escaped guinea hen back over the fence.

Clara B clutches a fresh egg, and Maggie May shows off the strawberries they have just picked.

Clara B feeds a few of the hens.

Maggie M shows Thom how to hang the water up for the big chicks,
which are kept in a separate run.

This is what a guinea hen looks like.

From Buena Vista we drove to Monticello, the home that took Thomas Jefferson 40 years to build, partly because he was away a lot on other business, and partly because he kept changing his mind about how he wanted it to be. Our favorite part of the tour was the gardens. His vegetable garden, re-created, is 80 ft by 1,000 ft. It took two years and his and loaned slaves to terrace up a flat part of land on the side of his hilltop home. The vegetables grown there now are served in the restaurant and also boxed up and put in the staffroom, where employees can take their pick to take home.

Thom at Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Beans will grow up and over the walkway frame to make a cool summer path, and the rocks holding up the terrace, to the right of the walkway, keep the temperature 10 degrees warmer and allow fig trees to grow there.

At one time, Jefferson had 200 types of vegetables in his garden.
We saw lots of asparagus, beets, onions, herbs, cabbage, beans, artichoke, etc.

After leaving Monticello, we headed north on the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, built in the 1930s and recently designated as an historical site. It is 105 miles long,  much shorter than the Blue Ridge Parkway, and was different in the fact that you could see towns in the  Shenandoah Valley below. We camped for the night in the Park.

From the Skyline Driveway, Virginia.

Thom and Sheila making a skyline of their own.

Beautiful big white "weeds" along the road.

The delicate Mountain Laurel is in full bloom here.

10 June 2012: We descended from the mountains and headed east to Manassas National Battlefield Park, where the Battle of Manassas I and II took place in the Civil War. After seeing films and hearing about the mass destruction that took place here, we both agree that anyone we know and love have our permission to seek the nearest tree should they find themselves in such a situation.

Jackson earned the name "Stonewall" Jackson for the stand he took at the first battle of Manassas. If you look closely, he does look something of a Superman.

This is a reconstruction of the farm house that was in the middle of the battlefield, where an 84 year old woman who refused to evacuate became the first civilian casualty of the war. She was mortally wounded when the house was hit by cannon fire. The memorial in the background honors the thousands of men who were killed on these now hallowed slopes. On the day, 21 July 1861, spectators from both Washington DC and Virginia came out to the hills above with their picnic baskets to watch what they thought would be a decisive one day event.

Thom and Sheila on the bridge over which the Union troops retreated to Washington DC. The Confederates blew it up to stop Union access to Richmond. It was replaced by a wooden bridge, and after the war was rebuilt as it originally stood.

After a very hot and sombre afternoon at the Manassas battlefield, we drove an hour north to Lovettsville, VA, to the home of Randy and Kate, our friends who moved from Melbourne last July. We were pleased to arrive in time to celebrate their son Nathan's 7th birthday, and to have some of Kate's family recipe favorite, the famous Mud Pie.

Thom with Samantha, Kate, Nathan, Kate's brother Mike, Ammon, and Randy,
and the famous Mud Pie.

11 June 2012: We decided to have a rest day today, in particular to give Thom a chance to rid himself of his cough and congestion. Laundry and haircuts. After no or very sporadic cell and internet service in the mountains, we caught up with phone calls, e-mails and updated the blog. Thom labeled his photos on the computer, and had a good long afternoon nap. Sheila made Welsh cakes for the Pierces for them to try something specifically from Wales. We taught the boys to play the British card game "Queenie."