Finally far enough south!

We finally made it to Florida. We will be here, mostly in the northern parts, until March of next year. However, this year instead of sitting in one place for 3 months, we plan to move around and spend about a month in 3 different spots. We are happy to be here, but the humidity is oppressive!

We paid a visit to the St. Marks Lighthouse. Built in 1829, its location was strategic in many ways. It stood on what locals refer to as the Big Bend – where the shoreline of the Gulf changes from primarily north/south to primarily east/west. Its position warned folks traveling north by water of this change. It also was strategic in the time of the Civil War. Raids on the lighthouse installation were frequent, and the lighthouse itself changed hands between the Confederacy and the Union many times.

It’s nice to be back in Trump country. With the general lack of TV, we haven’t really been able to keep up with the Impeachment Hearings and all the other shenanigans going on. So, to be back where confederate flags are honored is comforting.

The birding in Florida is just so much fun. It seems like all we have to do is watch the power lines and we will spot a Kingfisher chilling. Every small body of water along the side of the road has a Great Blue Heron, or a Little Blue Heron snacking. We have been reintroduced to the White Ibis, and particularly enjoy the Great and Snowy Egrets.

We headed to Yankeetown because the nearby Kings Bay on the Crystal River is a haven for Manatee. In the past, Manatee would spend the winter months in Kings Bay because the Gulf would become too cold for them to survive, and they would seek out the warm waters of the Bay.

Several years ago, the locals began planting the sea grasses that is the main source of food for the Manatee in Kings Bay, and the project was a great success. As a result, Manatee now will spend the entire year in the Bay as the water is clear and their food source secure. So, you can set out and be almost assured you will find them.

New moms particularly like the waters in Kings Bay. A newborn Manatee spends much of the first two years of its life with its mom, and the abundance of food as well as the protection afforded by the interested locals makes this a spot where they are inclined to stay. We hired a guide to take us out into the bay, and we weren’t disappointed.

We spent most of our time with a mom and her pup. We watched as they gobbled up the grasses off the floor of the Bay. It was funny to watch, and they seemed to have no fears of us – they pretty much just ignored us even when we were actually brushing up against them as they ate. I guess that might be because they outweighed us on the scale of 5 to 7 times.

I am not sure I could ever say that I had enough – interacting with these guys was an absolute treat. But eventually our 2 hours was up, and we had to head back to the docks. In my opinion, while swimming with Whale Sharks was a blast, swimming with Manatees was way cooler!

Talk to you soon.

Even further south

We left Atlanta thinking that we would see a couple of Whispering Giants on our way to Florida. But we stumbled on a couple of gems. Andersonville Georgia was the site of one of the largest of the Confederate war prisoner prisons. Of the more than 45,000 Union soldiers confined here, over ¼ of them died of disease and conditions. Andersonville National Historic Site commemorates those Union soldiers confined here during the Civil War, but is also a tribute to all prisoners of war, no matter where they were confined.

About 25 miles from Andersonville is Plains Georgia. Jimmy Carter was born and raised in Plains. We visited his boyhood home, which included the farm where his parents, Earl and Lillian Carter, eked out a living. James Earl Carter was born October 1, 1924 at the Wise Sanitarium (now the Lillian G Carter Nursing Center), which made him the first US president to actually be born in a hospital. We even got to see the room where he slept as a young child.

We visited Plains High School where Jimmy earned his high school degree. We visited many of the school rooms where Jimmy went for his high school education, and where is favorite teacher, Miss Julia, instilled in him the drive that eventually led him to the Oval Office. This classroom is one of Miss Julia’s classrooms where she helped shaped the future president.

Finally, we visited what ended up being the Jimmy Carter Campaign Office, the Plains Depot. Since the town of Plains only had a population of about 700 when Carter ran for office, the locals joke that the reason that the Depot was selected as Campaign Headquarters was that it was the only building in the town with a plumbed bathroom. He stumped much of his campaign by rail, attracting crowds wherever he went.

When Jimmy won the presidency, all the folks in town wanted to attend his inauguration in DC, so they rented the largest passenger train available – 18 passenger cars – and the whole town headed to DC. Because of the primary crop of the State of Georgia, this trek was fondly referred to as the Peanut Express.

Because our side trips took up so much time, we couldn’t actually fit in all the destinations we had planned with those we hadn’t. Luckily, the one time we hadn’t put down a nonrefundable deposit on a parking spot was tonight. So, we decided to spend the night in Dothan Alabama, but not before we visited Mus-Quioan, the 5^th Whispering Giant sculpted by Peter Wolf Toth. While it looks like it needs some TLC like we saw the artist delivering in Cherokee NC, it was still a blast to see.

Finally, before we got to Florida, we sought out the Whispering Giant in Colquitt Georgia. This had been the 4^th Whispering Giant carved by Peter Wolf Toth. But, as far too many of his wonderful sculptures have, it fell to the wrath of termites. It was later replaced by his 70^th Whispering Giant, lucky for us.

Talk to you soon.

Further south

Before we left the Smoky Mountains area, we travelled a fair bit of the Foothills Parkway – at least a fair bit of what has been completed. In 1944, Congress set aside funds to acquire the right of way for the Foothills Parkway, a route much like the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive we had been on for a bunch of our trip. However, the will must not have been as great – today, only about half of the right of way has been completed, with no definite ending date in sight. If ever completed, it will be a bit over 70 miles long, along the Tennessee River in the west, and the Pidgeon River in the east.

We did manage to get in just a glimpse of what the Woman had originally scheduled to come here for. While in most of the National Park where we hiked, there were some emerging yellows and oranges. However, on this section of the Foothills Parkway we saw fall colors on their way to their peak. Awesome!

It turned out that it was the Woman’s birthday today, and we were in driving distance of Gus’s. Nick had first introduced us to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken when we met up with he and Valerie in Memphis – the original site for Gus’s. Since Colectiva was parked only a half hour away, we had a special birthday dinner at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken.

On the way to Atlanta, we maneuvered a stop in Cleveland Tennessee. We headed to the Museum Center to see the Cherokee Chieftain, the 9^th Whispering Giant carved by Peter Wolf Toth, and dedicated to the city of Cleveland in 1974. We hadn’t seen the worry lines on the brow, or the bags under the eyes in any of the Whispering Giants we had witnessed to date.

We were heading to a suburb north of Atlanta to see the Woman’s uncle Fred Hodoval. We had arranged that we would have lunch at his assisted care center tomorrow, and also spend some time with the Woman’s cousins Scott and Jodi. However, we got a message that Fred passed this morning, so we won’t have the family gathering we were looking forward to. The Woman was still able to get together with Scott and Jodi, but the mood was a bit more somber than we had planned for.

Talk to you soon.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park II

Gatlinburg sucks! The National Park is awesome, but from where we are parked, we have to go through Gatlinburg to get in. Although the population of Gatlinburg is around 4,000, there is only really one road through town, so every time we set out to see anything in the Park, it’s at least a half hour just to get through town, then at least another half hour to get anywhere in the Park. Again, Gatlinburg sucks!

We have had a blast here, mostly hiking a couple of trails each day. We hiked some on top of the ridge, in the haze of the “Smoke” that the mountains are known for. We hiked along the Little River logging over 5 miles, a respectable hike for us. We were hoping to see some elk – we had heard the elk in the Park were rutting, and we listened intently for that magical bugling. However, we had to settle on some deer instead – bummer!

We headed into Cades Cove to take another shot at some elk. Once there, we headed out on the 11-mile scenic loop with our fingers crossed. Sadly, the crowds left the traffic on the loop traveling at under 10 MPH, and often less than half that. Not relishing over 2 hours just to make the 11-mile loop, we bailed out onto Rich Mountain Road, a gravel road that, while still a bit slow, was not nearly as slow at the scenic loop with all its traffic. Bonus! About half way up to the paved road that descends the other slope of Rich Mountain, we spotted this momma bear blocking our way to her two cubs!

Did I happen to mention Gatlinburg sucks? We will be continuing on south tomorrow.

Talk to you soon.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

While we had been here before, the Woman always wanted to come back in the fall in order to see the colors. It appears because of the unusually warm weather that we might be a bit early for this year, but we will make the best of our time here. How can any time in the Great Smoky Mountains be bad!

It appears that we will get a chance to see first hand how this area was named. The weather forecast says to prepare ourselves for rain pretty much every day, even if only for part of the day. We wasted no time in driving to the center of the Park, on the way to its highest elevation at Clingman Dome. It was exceedingly clear to us just looking around how the Mountain got its name.

Since it wasn’t supposed to rain until the afternoon, we headed out on a hike somewhat under 3 miles that took us to Laurel Falls. While we got dripped on, we’re pretty sure that it was water dripping from the trees above us and not actual rain. The falls was pleasant and the hike as well. Since it started raining almost as soon as we got back to the car, we decided to head into town and see Joker. If there was any place in the US that might be safe to go into a dark movie theater to see Joker, we figured that Pidgeon Falls Tennessee at a theater right next to Dollywood would probably be it.

The Woman wanted to seek out the Appalachian Trail which passes through the Park in several areas. We headed out to Clingman Dome, the highest point within the Park. It turns out that it is also the highest point on the Appalachian Trail at 6,643 feet. The AT runs just past the base of the overlook tower, so we hiked up to the tower from our car, but then hiked back to our car, clicking off another mile and a half of the AT – bonus!

We also sought out the AT at Newfound Gap. We clicked off another 2 miles here – the AT actually crosses a popular overlook and parking lot. We managed to find where the AT dives into the trees on both ends of the parking area. Although the Trail gained a lot of elevation going one way, or losing a lot in the other direction, we still plunged ahead, deciding to spend our time on the section that went up first.

Interestingly, the AT manages to cross the border between Tennessee and North Carolina here. In fact, the border runs smack dab through the center of the overlook parking lot. We both straddled the line, having one leg in Tennessee and the other in North Carolina. What tourists!

Talk to you soon.

Once in a lifetime!

Many years ago, in Little Rock Arkansas, we stumbled across a mammoth wooden carving of a native American outside the Arkansas Art Center. We learned that the sculptor was Peter Wolf Toth, a Hungarian born (1947) who emigrated to the US. He set out on a mission to create a Whispering Giant in every US state, and ultimately has created 74 such sculptures, donating one or more for display in each state. Since that day, we have seen 21 Whispering Giants, but have also seen several empty pedestals where termites or other pests have destroyed these monuments. We had read that Mr. Toth had been doing some repair work lately in New Orleans and Johnson City Tennessee. To our great surprise, we drove up to the see Sequoya outside the Cherokee Indian Museum in Cherokee North Carolina, and there, doing some repair and refurbishing on Sequoya, was Peter Wolf Toth himself – triple bonus!

Not believing my eyes, I introduced myself and asked “Are you by chance Mr. Toth?” He said “No – my dad is Mr. Toth – I am Peter.” After being appropriately chastised, we spent the next half hour talking about his work, telling him about all of his work we had seen before, and just generally chatting in the shadow of Sequoya about his plans. His most current goal was to place one of his Whispering Giants along the Amazon. He had raised nearly all the money he needed to tackle this, and was now looking for the window of opportunity.

He asked where our travels would take us. We mentioned to him we were going to search out his work in New Orleans, and he gave us some directions to assist. We told him that our immediate plans were to drive today to Johnson City Tennessee to see Junaluska. When we asked, he confirmed that he had worked on this Whispering Giant last year, adding some feathers on a horizontal plane, and adding some color to the sculpture. When we got there, both the Woman and I were big fans of the improvements he had made. In the meantime, I had to head to a gas station to buy a Powerball ticket – if we can just bump into Peter Wolf Toth, we must be on a lucky streak!

Talk to you soon.

Moving on from Virginia to Tennessee

Since the Blue Ridge Parkway started where Skyline Drive ended, what else was there to do! We had been on many sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway years ago when we scoped out the Carolinas. Most of our time on the Blue Ridge was in the area around Ashville North Carolina. We explored another 50 or so miles of the north part of the Parkway.

In the north, the Appalachian Trail runs near the Parkway – in the southern part of the Parkway, the AT follows other ridges than the Blue Ridge. So, the Woman made sure that we took advantage of the opportunity. We managed to click off another 5 or 6 miles of the AT that we had not previously trekked. The Woman was clearly in her happy place while we took in the grandeur of the Blue Ridge.

Since both run the spine of the Blue Ridge, the views and scenery along the Blue Ridge Parkway is as awesome as we experienced on the Skyline Drive. Luckily, we had a few days that were quite clear – there is a reason they call them the Great Smoky Mountains – more often than not, the spine of the Blue Ridge is covered in a fog, or maybe more accurately, a cloud.

We got a double bonus at Virginia’s Natural Bridge State Park. This natural stone bridge is massive – 215 feet high, 40 feet thick, 100 feet wide, and a 90-foot span between the walls. Scientists believe that the bridge is more than 500 million years old. The Bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The double bonus is that we have evidence that we were standing in the founding father’s footsteps as we took in this magnificent natural feature. It turns out that actually surveyed the Bridge in 1750, and the land itself was acquired by Thomas Jefferson, being deeded to him on July 5, 1774. It turns out we could prove that George Washington was here – when he was there in 1750, he carved his initials into the wall of the Bridge, and they remain there today.

We learned that the Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin, was born in Austinville Virginia – as far as we can tell that may actually have been the name of the town when founded based on his family’s early homestead. His father, Moses, worked the local mines to make a living for the family. After being educated all over the southeast, he obtained an empresarial grant in Spanish Texas to move up to 300 families there. He proceeded to convince 300 other families to move to Texas, making it the first Anglo colony in Texas, and it formed the foundation for the eventual US annexing Texas from the Mexican government.

We learned quickly that when you are driving around out east, you cant exactly rely on the US road designations to give you any idea where you are headed. In the west, when you are on US 89 N, you are generally heading northbound. If you are on US 12 E, you are generally heading eastbound. Out here in the east, it’s you guess where you really are heading!

Talk to you soon.

Checking out Virginia while we're here

Virginia has so much history, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting some. In Staunton, we found the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum, which was actually in a building next to the home in which he was born. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born December 28, 1856 in the manse owned by the Presbyterian Church of Staunton. Woodrow’s father Joseph was the pastor at the church, accordingly lived in the church owned home. The manse was full of furniture and furnishings actually owned by the Wilson’s. It was really interesting to see the crib that baby Woodrow slept in.

In the Library we learned about how the future president grew to become the leader of the nation. His parents saw to it he had the education – in fact, he is still the only US president to have entered the office with a PHD. Before entering the political arena, he was a professor at Princeton University, and later became its president. He led the US in very troublesome times. Despite having run his election on the platform of keeping the US out of World War I, in his second term, US ships were being attacked at sea by the Germans, so Wilson pretty much had no choice but to join in. Apparently, his leadership team was slick, and the outcome hoped for was achieved.

Wilson did a number of other things of significance. While the Woman thought it was cool that during his presidency Wilson established the Federal Reserve Bank, the foundation of our economy today. But she was far more impressed that he led the momentum to the 19^th amendment that finally allowed women their inalienable right to the vote. As long as we were only a few blocks away, we visited the actual church where Joseph Wilson preached in the 1800’s.

In Wytheville Virginia we found the birthplace of Edith Boling Wilson. As a young man, Wilson married Ellen Axson, also the daughter of a minister. Sadly, she died of Bright’s disease while in the White House. While still in office, Wilson met Edith Boling Galt, fell in love, and they were married, making Wilson one of only 3 presidents to wed while in office. Her father was a circuit court judge in Wytheville, and while not initially in favor of Wilson’s advances to his daughter, he eventually conceded.

In Lexington Virginia, we found the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery. It wasn’t hard at all to find the gravesite of Stonewall Jackson – it was the only marker in the entire cemetery that was over 20 feet tall. Although we knew that only most of Jack son was here – we had already visited the gravesite of his arm – we were still somber (despite my bad humor) at being at the gravesite of the general. We also found the home where he lived before the Civil War which resulted in him living far from where he would rather have lived.

Lexington is also the site of the Virginia Military Institute. One of its many famous alum is General George C. Marshall. Other notable alumni include Stonewall Jackson and George Washington. While we all may recognize the name, we may not know all we should. In addition to a myriad leadership positions in the US government, including Secretary of State, he may be best known as seriously leading the successful end to World War II. But his real contribution may not have been in winning the war, but in winning the peace. He proposed the Marshall Plan, basically a US investment of $13 billion in Europe to rebuild their economy – he felt the best way to protect the US was to make sure Europe was stable. Perhaps that is why Marshall was the only military professional to ever received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1953.

Talk to you soon.

Shenandoah National Park

After the creation of all the National Parks in the west, support was strong for establishing one in the east, particularly near the Nation’s capital. One problem was that much of the land in the newly designated National Parks in the west was already owned by the Federal government. Ho
wever, such large tracts of Federally owned land did not exist in the east. So, much like what happened in Cuyahoga Velley in Ohio much later on, the Federal government coerced the state governments to seize the land from its citizens utilizing eminent domain. While supporters pretty much justified that the ends justified the means, I am not sure the families who passed down these lands through several generations would agree.

The park is long and narrow, running from Front Royal VA in the north to Waynesboro VA in the south. Skyline Drive runs 110 miles down the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains, essentially the length of the Park. It was created by the CCC in the post-Depression era, and was intended to be a road where folk would venture out on a Sunday drive, hence the maximum 35 MPH speed limit. At the southern end of the Skyline Drive, the CCC era roadbed continues as the Blue Ridge Parkway – a slightly higher speed limit at 45, but very similar in roadway and views. The Blue Ridge Parkway travels another 470 miles to the Great Smoky National Park near Cherokee NC.

We drove the length of the Skyline Drive, stopping at many of the overlooks to get an outstanding view into the Shenandoah Valley. We also sought out many of the approximate 30 times that the Appalachian Trail crosses the Drive. The Woman was in her happy place, generally clicking off at least 2 miles more of the Appalachian Trail each time we visited.

The Shenandoah Valley saw some of the most Civil War activity, especially the campaigns led by Stonewall Jackson. We found Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historic Park. The battlefields here were key to the success of the Union. Because of the fertile land, the Shenandoah Valley had become the breadbasket of the east coast, and when the Civil War broke out, the food was no longer sent north to feed the east coast towns in New England – instead it fed the Confederate Army. Knowing this, Grant identified it as one of his highest priorities. Grant ordered General Philip Sheridan to scorch this fertile valley in order to cut off the Confederate Army’s primary food source.

Jost Hite, a German immigrant, settled in the Valley on portions of 140,000 acres as part of 16 families who were a part of a land grant. Belle Grove Plantation was built in 1797 by Major Isaac Hite and his wife Nelly – daughter of President James Madison – on land given to him by his father as a wedding present. We toured this surviving plantation where General Sheridan had established his headquarters in the fall of 1864. In the early hours on October 19, 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early launched a surprise attack on Sheridan, which ended up being a pivotal battle, but in favor of the Union.

Literally dozens of battlefields lie in the Shenandoah Valley. We attended a Ranger Program called “The 1862 or 1864 Valley Campaign in a Box.” Using ropes to depict rivers and roadways, and large wooden blocks to depict towns and buildings, the Ranger gave us a visual overview of where all the major battles occurred, and where they took place in relation to all the landmarks still standing. It was very interesting, and gave you a complete visual idea of where it all went down. We also got to see a grandfather clock actually owned by Confederate General Jubal Early when we toured the Plantation.

Before we ended our exploration, we managed to hit both the lowest point as well as the highest point along the Skyline Drive. I have to admit, the views were better at 3,680 feet!

Talk to you soon.