Feeling Better

We be considerably better than the last time we wrote. We (I should
probably say I) didn’t realize how banged up this old body was. It took
more than a week to get back on track. We are still driving with
conscious caution, and I am still occasionally setting off back spasms
by clenching at the intersections. Davey is being extremely patient
with my clenches and I’m trying to relax. wuh.

This little Foothills Family Campground is being so very kind to us,
letting us stay an extra long time. Our sales are slow and difficult,
this park has very little impact on the surrounding area, but we’re
still trying to get them a map. We’ve essentially cut prices so that we
won’t make much but will make it up next year. It’s hard to sell a map
when you are trying to get the first one together and don’t have
anything to show potential advertisers.

We love this area, tucked in under the eastern slope of the Smokies.
it’s so beautiful with rich pink-orange soil bright against green,
green grass and trees. Lots of leafy hardwoods, and climbing viney
kudzu. Both Carolinas have areas along their freeways sown with Shirley
Poppies, red, pink and orange. It’s just the happiest discovery to come
upon a huge stretch of this color; looks like an impressionist
painting! The area has a lot of little unincorporated communities, held
together by a church and the houses are spread out, mostly set back off
the road with a huge lawn in front. Oddly, people don’t landscape with
flowers, but with carefully trimmed shrubbery and always, the huge lawn
in front. No push mowers here! John Deere reigns!

The Magnolia trees are in bloom, along with roadside Amaryllis, lots of
bright yellow daylilies and azaleas. We drove closer to the mountains,
right under the Blue Ridge Parkway near Chimney Rock and found lots of
wild Rhodys. Lots of homes have hanging ferns on the porch. Our park
has a huge honeysuckle hedge that perfumes the night and I have a
couple of hanging baskets near the bird feeder. Our allergies are the
worst they have EVER been, for both of us, and I had to get some
treatment to get a sinus infection under control. Because there has
been so little rain, folks say the pollen count is off the chart.

I met a guy with 150 Studebakers. Be still my heart! When I was 17 I
dated a guy from Monroe, Oregon with a 1957 Studebaker Hawk. His name
was Keith Simons and I’ve been looking for him for 40 years, mainly
because I loved that car. Davey and I both like old cars and he
maintains that every old car is a Chevy to me, but he does admit that I
can spot a Studebaker a long ways away.

We’re eating fresh strawberries every day, picked down the road. Also
small cukes and squashes. The Carolina Cafe in Spindale features a
Livermush and egg sandwich for $1.99; we just couldn’t do it. We asked
the waitress what Livermush was, and she backed off a step and said
“Y’all aren’t from around here, are ya?” She was young and has probably
been eating Livermush all her life, and didn’t know what was in it.

We’re sending pictures of the car. We were just so bummed about losing
the little red car, and so dismayed by the entire car buying
experience. We met one salesman named Courteous Curtis Prufrock, who (I
swear to God) was a 350 pound black man wearing a gold suit, with an
orange tie and hankie and hat band to match. The suit coat hung below
his knees; the whole thing had a sweaty zoot suit effect! Curtis was
very courteous but couldn’t always tell us the model of cars, just the
color and price, and the price moved around a lot. I was horrified when
Dave actually asked him what he wore when he preached! Curtis took it
well and confided that he had an electric blue suit that he favored.

We were so relieved when we found Mark Parish, 100 miles away, but at a
VW dealership, and he actually had two GTIs. We ended up with a 2005,
not as fancy a model as what we had before, a Turbo rather than V6, but
it feels pretty much the same, nice and heavy. The other day we came
out of the grocery store and couldn’t find the car, then realized we
were both still looking for the little red car. How silly to get so
attached to a car.

We’ve taken up miniature golf. Thinking about getting our own clubs!

This area, this park, has been the most rewarding ever for my bird
watching. I’ve seen Carolina Chickadees, my favorite little Tufted
Titmouse, red Cardinals, eastern Bluebirds, American Goldfinches, real
Blue Jays, a Blue Grosbeak and the amazing little blue Indigo Bunting,
with his dowdy wife. Also we have Chipping Sparrows, a Northern
Mockingbird and I think it’s a Whip-poor-will we hear all night long.
The weather stays in the high 70s and the humidity is higher than we’re
used to, but nice.

Jason and Jamie have sold their business, the Swan girls are out of
school on June 2nd, and they will be moved into their North Carolina
home on June 8th. We plan to leave here in a week and find a park in
northern Virginia, as close as we can get to Washington, DC, so we can
take in the Capitol stuff and see friends. We’ll come back to the North
Carolina coast and park in Jason’s driveway and take care of Roxy, the
springer spaniel, while Jason flies to Utah and drives the U-haul back
to NC. After a good Grandkid fix we’ll head west to do our park at Ute
Lake, New Mexico, then north to Oregon and Washington.

Love to all,