Continued Sojourn

I won't be posting any pictures 'til after the 14th because of lack of internet bandwidth.    But I can tell you what's happened to us.

We had a grand week in Powell, TN, above Knoxville, where Tom went to work each day and I hiked or shopped or explored. 

The transmission on  our boat had not always been going into forward gear and it got worse on our last trip toward Folly Beach, SC.   So it has been pulled and determined that we need a new one.  We heard last Thursday that it won't be here 'til about Nov. 25 (yes, Thanksgiving!)      And while it's out another person is going to completely service the motor, putting rear seals on it and making sure it otherwise is in good working order.

Liveaboards are not allowed at the marina.  So here we are, with time on our hands in the mountains - not a bad place to be.  

Tom had promised to show me Ashville, NC so we went there straightaway.   That day was overcast and when we got there, traffic was everywhere and all the motels were full.   I didn't get a very good impression of the place.  We drove on toward Hendersonvillle where we found a motel and had dinner at a place where a man was playing a saxophone while we had very reasonable priced, very good food.  I talked a few times with a woman sitting alone who turned out to be the wife of the musician and who had lived in a nearby small town (600) in the mountains, Saluda, for a few years.  She said she had lived in small apartments and very large homes and is now very content in her 650 square foot cabin.    I could relate to that, having been living for a good part of this year in 360 or so square feet on the boat.     And Hendersonville is relatively flat and open with the downtown main street updated with very wide park-like setting where people can sit at tables or bicycle while cars go slowly down the street. Here there are greenways between towns and in parks for bicycle excursions.

We decided to take a cabin here for a week and last night was our first, in a cabin down a windy road, about a mile from Saluda, the little mountain town.  Yesterday, we drove up to a place called falling off rock where there was a wide view and we hiked trails below on the rocky crest.  Later, we went to Carl Sandberg's home here.  I will say more about that and show pictures when I can.  He is an inspiring man.

I have just read yesterday's blog entry by a woman who has left her farm in northwest Arkansas and spent many months looking for a similar small farmsite here in the North Carolina.  In Arkansas, she was disillusioned with the many draughts, freezes and untimely ice storm.  Her post yesterday described a place she finally found here  that will be just right.  

After this year on the boat, we may follow her path.  We'll have to see how we feel when the time comes.