A River Runs Through It

The Hiwassee River and the Valley River merge here in town, along the banks of which I walk when I mention the river walk. If you are of a certain age, you might be somewhat familiar with the Tennessee Valley Authority and how they changed the lives of the people of Appalachia. Most of the time for the better because they controlled flooding and brought power to one of the nation's poorest regions. On the other hand, those folks whose towns were buried under water might have felt differently. In any case, there are many dams in the region and to date we have visited three of them. Mostly on the days when we wake up and it is raining, making pickleball out of the question. So far they have been 25 miles or less from our cozy home away from home. There are so few cars on the road that traveling, unless it is super steep or crazy winding is pretty darn nice. At least it is from where I sit in the passenger seat!

I suppose that I've told you very little about Murphy, perhaps because I know so little? I still don't know a whole lot, but we have begun picking up the weekly newspaper that serves both Murphy and Andrews, well actually all of Cherokee County, including news from those two towns along with some smaller villages. Get this---they include the arrest report! Mostly drugs or domestic violence, both of which are regrettable. The latest census shows that Murphy is smaller than most high schools in Orlando, well maybe even smaller than some middle schools. Closing in on, ready? 1,700 people! Certainly that does not count the "summer people" of which there are plenty of those. Mostly from Florida from the looks of the license plates in the WalMart parking lot which we frequent, well frequently because we are still stocking up with staples. We have been blessed to have supplies here, but every once in a while we discover something that is a wee bit out of date. I went looking for bay leaves in the spice cupboard and pulled this one down. How long do you think it has been since a jar of McCormick spice was 39 cents??

I received permission to throw it out! After a little sleuthing, I came across this article that at least gave me a ballpark figure. Should you be curious, well, you know what to do!

The first damn we visited was the Nottely Dam. In the picture we are approaching and will soon be crossing said dam located in Blairsville, GA, not far from the North Carolina border.

Look at how dreary the weather is!!! As I am no expert on dams, Bruce has done his best to explain the concept. Maybe, just maybe, by the time we leave I will get it, but for now, I am still learning. This is maybe what you would call the underside of where we were driving?

After parking, we walked alongside the river which included a tiny waterfall.

Should you be a fan of the color green you are in the right place today because there will be plenty of shades of your favorite color. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that, when it rains a lot in the summer, it is going to be GREEN. 

And when you are in Western North Carolina there is going to be steam on the water, as well as plenty of rocks.

Would you look at that? More green.

One purchase we made before leaving was our hiking shoes, both pairs made by Merrill. They have proved to be Invaluable on the  muddy trails.

I am puzzling about the soil which contains lots of clay, that sticks to your shoes btw. Anyway, I wonder how far is clay present from Georgia? Isn't that the state that you most associate with clay soil?

The above is a nearby trail that we hiked in the drizzle. One thing that is especially interesting to me is the prevalence of mushrooms to be found on so many damp, fallen trees. My photo library now has a compilation of all of the mushrooms I've seen and I will add to it as more present themselves.

This is usually how it goes...Bruce way out in front as I am a slow poke, in part because I walk slowly and in part because I dawdle, taking photographs of everything I see that interests me, a description that will surprise no one. 

Wait...no Bruce! Let's go back to my library and find him. Stands out because he is in blue, right? Something else that has been invaluable are the walking sticks. Oh my yes! This was a pretty steep incline that would have been impossible for me without one.

So frilly and green!

Aren't they cute?  So that is one dam trip, but there are more to come!

Tomorrow marks four weeks since we've been here and so far the blogs are running way behind. Here's a little rundown in list fashion which I plan on returning to as time permits.

Since we have been here we have:

• Seen fireflies, although it doesn't get dark here till so late.
• I've read a signed copy of a novel that I found on the bookshelf here by Ron Rash, one of my favorites who hails from these parts. Perhaps you remember the novel, and later the film, named Serena? That is him. 
• Had a scorpion in the bathroom sink!! Thankfully found by the man of the house and captured. 
• Loving the sound of rain on a tin roof.
• Been to a downtown art walk, an art festival and a movie at the tiny theater downtown. The movie, the latest Indiana Jones movie which I absolutely hated, cost for admission was $5.50! In the evening no less.
• Made friends with the owners of a new wine bar.
• Continue running into someone we have met just about everywhere we go.
• Seen people whitewater rafting.
• Gone to an art gallery
• Seen two fawns!! Second one pictured below.
• 
  Hiked almost to the top of a waterfall. Almost being the operative word.
• Played pickleball far less than we imagined, but we are meeting folks, so that's good.
• Began attending the tiny, and I mean tiny, Episcopal church with windows made by the Tiffany company and built with wood from the congregants land. Everyone is old, including the priest!

Before you correct me on that, after seeing the very young organist, she is leaving in two weeks time! 

So there's a recap for now. I have loads of photos to share but for now my list will have to suffice lest I forget what we have been up to. 

Lastly, I took the photo below of the river running through Murphy and when I mentioned the location to John, formerly our landlord (still is really!) who now wants us to call him our neighbor, told me that this is called Lover's Leap according to Cherokee Indian legend. Think Romeo and Juliet and you probably can put two and two together. We have yet to visit the museum downtown that explains in more detail the history of the Cherokee Indians in this area, mostly that, as far as I currently know, were interred here before moving on to the Trail of Tears towards Oklahoma. But don't quote me on that just yet. 

Gosh it looks pretty doesn't it? Oh yea, it's been plenty hot but not nearly as hot as Florida!!

your friend,

Gail 

The Journey Begins

In the end, I packed like ten pairs of shoes. There are the pickleball shoes, several pairs of sandals in various colors, while the same holds true for my Sketchers casual shoes. One blue and one black. Water shoes along with water sandals. Hiking shoes which I broke in yesterday. Yup, just counted them in the closet as I did not want to be exaggerating.  Looks like ten to me.

It is no exaggeration to say that it is darn pleasant outside. In fact, as I type, the bedroom windows are open, as is the door to the screened porch. We played a whole lot of pickleball this morning and were barely tired, which at first I did not get and then on second thought, duh....I am not dying of heatstroke!

My space planning husband decided that instead of the desk being parallel with the wall, let's go perpendicular allowing both of our computers to fit.  So far, so good!! 

I'm getting ahead of myself though, so let's go back to Orlando and do a quick run-through on the journey to arrive at this point. We began by setting things on the bed in the second bedroom. Not a whole lot because for the most part we needed to wait and pack at the last minute. Clean laundry for one thing.

For Christmas Fallon gave us the game you see called "I should have known that" which we played on the way up while driving on familiar roads. Honestly, that kind of game can make a person feel very DUMB! Every now and again, together we would get all four answers correct on the card, although not often enough that's for sure! Still we carried on because if you can't look dumb with the one you love there could be larger problems involved. :)

We packed the car on Saturday evening,

The largest box had all manner of kitchen items, including the air fryer, some groceries and my saute pan which I cannot live without. I did bring my OXO brand potato peeler as well as hand can opener because those too, are kitchen items I cannot do without. Santoku knife, pretty much the only knife I use aside from a bread knife. A sharpener for said knife was packed as well. The kettle made the cut although the toaster was left behind. Once one uses an electric kettle, nothing else will do. Thanks to our son-in-law Tom who introduced me to the wonders of that fantastic appliance.

And here we are all ready to go. We left our bikes behind as well as the kayak. I figured riding with any elevation was not happening and there are kayaks here at Charlotte's Cottage to use.

Driving early on a Sunday works very well should you need to store that information away. Barely any traffic and because we have now done this drive three times, we've got it down. This time though, we did take a slightly different route which took us through a town in Georgia where I saw this mural,

and some of fluffiest, chock FULL of blooms, Crepe Myrtle trees that I have ever had the pleasure to observe. Really, they can get this full?

Interrupting a photo shoot..what can I say? 

Turns out it was Nichols, GA, home to the nearby General Coffee State Park.

I'd looked into that park for camping in the past; for some reason it was not a go however we did decide to go out of our way to visit there because we were so close. They've got farm animals,

as well as birds galore! Speaking of which, here's one that got away!

I was so bummed because one moment it was there and the next it had disappeared into the grasses. I can't be sure, but having used my Merlin app earlier, it claimed that there were Bob Whites within hearing and I was so hoping to see one. We had some leftover pizza in our cooler which is what we ate at a lakeside picnic table and while I roamed around Bruce put his phone on the sound identification and there were a whopping 17 types of birds! Oh yeah baby!!

We carried on until we arrived at The Rockwell House again. Why mess with a good thing, right? Bruce caught a few fish, we watched the Championship Sunday and did a little property roaming. Unfortunately the lighting was not as favorable on this visit, not to mention lots more leaves on the trees, making bird sightings more difficult. One thing I noticed this time was, whereas before I thought this design was painted on, I discovered they were individually cut out which makes them even more interesting.

Once again we had the whole house to ourselves. For $160 a night, it is a real bargain! 

After an early start, we stopped in one of the cutest towns in the state, Madison, GA is a place we have been through before and I wanted to make sure and see it again. This time we went in search of a late breakfast and actually came up short. Instead we had a super early lunch here:

Chili was one of the sides! My Italian sub lasted us for the next day or so it was so big. Thank God for the cooler! Really yummy as were the baked goods I got from this amazing pastry shop. 

Please note the awesome bird wallpaper!

Onward on mostly empty roads, 

and look what I see!

It makes me giddy with gladness when the mountains come into view. Turning onto the nearly final stretch on US 19, we stopped at a winery for Bruce to take a little siesta. Your roving blogger roved. Camera in hand of course.

Getting closer...

And here we are again!

It took us about three hours to get things to our liking including the desk arrangement. I wasted no time putting our things around.

Yahtzee, Canasta set, a jigsaw puzzle and cards, several decks worth. Before leaving we'd been playing a marathon game of Canasta using my vintage set from 1954.

Now that we are settled, I will have to see what I can do to catch up!

Our landlords seem to be so friendly as is the resident cat, Huckleberry. 

As to the deer that Laura promised we would see, it is happening in a big way. It happened on the first night when I was looking out from the screen porch and what to my wondering eyes should I see? At least five of them!

It is all shaping up very nicely indeed. We very much miss our friends and family already but I'm not going to lie, we are liking this place a lot already. More adventures to recount but for now I will bid you a fond adieu. 

your friend, 

Gail