May 2019 – Adventures of Roy and Laurie

May 20, 2019May 20, 2019

The Appalachian Trail

Hiking the Appalachian Trail has been a dream/goal of mine since I was a teenager. Life and work has allowed us to visit many of the northern states on the trail over the long summer breaks afforded to an educator. As of March 30, 2019 we had covered around 1,300 of the 2,192 miles required to claim you have hiked the entire trail.

A brief history of the AT shows that it was devised/created back in the early 20th century as a way to provide most of our country’s urban citizens a playground in the woods somewhere within a short drive. At no time did the 2 key players (Myron Avery and Benton McKaye) in the creation of the AT have “thru hiking” or “section hiking” as a goal for any hiker. This came later after World War II when Earl Shafer decided to hike the entire trail from Georgia to Maine to decompress from the unthinkable stresses of war. Since then around 19,000 hardy hikers have completed the almost 2,200 mile trail in one extended “thru hike” or, like we are doing it, as a “section hike”.

Here is a synopsis of when we hiked different portions of the trail in the past:

Maine Summer 2014 281 miles New Hampshire Summer 2011 161 miles Vermont Summer 2007 150 miles Massachusetts Summer 2004 90 miles Connecticut Summer 2005 52 miles New York Summer 2005 89 miles New Jersey Winter 2008 72 miles Pennsylvania Summer 2012 230 miles Maryland Spring 2013 41 miles West Virginia Spring 2014 24 miles Virginia (part) Spring 2015, 2016 100 miles (of the 550 total miles) Tennessee Spring 2019 170 miles North Carolina Spring 2019 196 miles Georgia Spring 2019 84 miles

We are currently at the northern end of the North Carolina/Tennessee section walking toward the Virginia border. We should reach the border of Virginia by early June when we are flying out to Seattle to visit our grandchildren. We are debating whether or not to continue on into Southern Virginia upon our return. Temperatures will dictate that decision.

The Approach Trail is not a true part of the Appalachian Trail but it seemed like it should be part of our journey.

175 strenuous steps to get an awesome view of the falls.

A plaque at the summit of Springer Mountain, Georgia. This is where the Appalachian Trail officially starts

We still look energized after the 8 mile uphill walk to the START of the trail.

With no foliage yet, the views were amazing all day long. The mountains of northern Georgia really are pretty.

We thought this was interesting. We wondered if anyone on the trail was there to witness the crash?

With the hike on day 1 complete there were thoughts of the 100 or so more hikes to follow to get us to Central Virginia.

May 15, 2019May 15, 2019

The Carter Presidential Library And Museum

As we journeyed north toward the Appalachian Trail we stopped off at the Carter Library near Atlanta, GA. Neither of us were old enough to vote in 1980 during the Reagan-Carter election (I missed it by a week) nor do we remember our younger political affiliations enough to say whether we would have voted for Jimmy Carter or not but the library was awesome.

What a lovely Spring day it was for our visit. The flowers were in bloom and the trees were budding.

We have learned that the Presidential Libraries are really museums for the general public; but a vast amount of knowledge and history is recorded during each presidency and stored at each for scholarly use. Check out the small sample of documents being stored for public use.

As with the other libraries we have visited there is a life size replica of the Oval Office here. Each museum presents the office as it was decorated in the style of that president.

Just like Truman’s Little White House in Key West there is the “The Buck Stops Here” nameplate on this presidential desk.

We understand that when in a president’s own library we expect mostly the good side of things when looked at with 20-20 hindsight. Each president, Carter included here, has a very long and impressive laundry list of accomplishments credited to their administrations efforts.

To us, this lasting and ever morphing challenge of mental health is one of the most important issues dealt with in earnest by the Carter’s.

A fairly impressive guest list to say the least!!

Although this is from the 1976 election I can tell you that it would have swayed my vote as one of the all-time biggest Allman Brothers’ Band fans.

Carter had a background in Nuclear Physics and was stationed on a nuclear submarine while in the US Navy as an Ensign.

Something in the deep recesses of our minds says that to become Commander In Chief of our armed forces, maybe actual military service would be a good idea?

President or not, Carter has worked tirelessly to help other folks all over our country and, just as importantly, all over the world.

President Carter evidently has a voice good enough to win a Grammy Award too!

We still cannot believe that this was a part of our recent history.

From peanut farmer to President. Still pretty unbelievable!

We had a glorious spring day at the Carter Library and Museum.

May 12, 2019May 12, 2019

A Night Out With The Al Capone Gang!

While we were in Haines City, FL visiting my Aunt Hazel and Uncle Randy for the day we happened to meet up with our niece Niki and her beau Jack. They were down for a wedding and gave us a call to see if we had time for dinner if we were in the area. We all decided to try out the dinner theater called Capone’s Dinner & Show. The place was a riot! We were greeted at the door with someone asking for the password to this speak-easy. After a bit of pre-planned hassle they led us upstairs to the bar area where we had a drink and waited to be seated near the stage.

Quick decision not to smile for our mugshot!
Not sure how Laurie got to hold our “numbers”?

The cast had impeccably time appropriate costumes.

When the “coppers” were going to show up the audience waved white handkerchiefs.

Niki and Roy celebrate this wonderful chance meeting in Florida.

Earlier in the day we had a great time catching up with Aunt Hazel and Uncle Randy for lunch.

A good day was had seeing family while we are so far from home.

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019

A Walking Tour Of Charleston, South Carolina

For those of you waiting for another post we have found ourselves deep in the woods of Appalachia and rarely find internet, never mind cell service. We are currently walking the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to somewhere in Northern Virginia.

We found ourselves in Charleston, SC looking for some lessons in history and architecture. We found both and a few dead relatives to boot. We paid for a walking tour with a local historian and set out for 2 hours of fun and excitement.

This is Michael Trouche, our local historian and tour guide. He was very informative and entertaining. The red circles on the building are there to denote an establishment that serves alcohol. After all the questions we asked him, he needed a drink!

We have driven (cars and bicycles) on cobblestone roads before but these roads were ridiculously bumpy. Very pleasant to look at though as they wind their ways through quaint neighborhoods. Our guide described the roads as “cattywampus”. This means not lined up or not arranged properly.
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Many of the back alleyways were paved in red brick. Turns out that all these bricks were manufactured in the Catskill Mountains back near home in NY.

Michael stopped in to the local theater to show us how Charleston has a thriving arts community. He also told us a few stories regarding his own acting experiences in this theater.

We were indeed fascinated by the local architecture. Many of the older buildings were churches but there were many interesting structures to see. Almost all buildings were kept in pristine condition and in such a way that they are historically accurate. Michael said it was next to impossible to get a construction permit as everything you did to the outside of any building had to be researched and deemed historically accurate.

This church was the French Huguenot place of worship. The woman greeting us at the door said “Bonjour y’all”. As with many of the older congregations the church maintained its financial solvency by renting out boxes of pews to prominent families. The French Huguenots are a protestant group that was persecuted in Catholic France back in the 1600s and 1700s.

Check out the size of those doors as we entered the French Huguenot Church downtown.

Without much forethought we stumbled upon the graves of a few long lost relatives here in Charleston. Edward Rutledge was my great (many times over) grandfather according to family records. I have yet to verify this claim through geneological research but soon?…. Edward was the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence back in 1776 and was a prominent Charleston attorney. His brother John Rutledge was one of the architects and signers of the Constitution a few years later. He was also the nation’s second Chief Justice on the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately the grave site for Edward was closed for repair and maintenance but we did get to take pictures of John’s grave. John Calhoun, a non-relative, is also buried here. He was the 7th Vice President of the US way back in the day.