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Archive for the ‘Journeys’ Category

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Travel, tagged , , on December 11, 2012| 4 Comments »

last sunset on the road

The rv park wasn’t all that great, but the sunset made everything perfect this last night on the road of this journey. — Photo by Pat Bean

            “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T.S. Eliot

Adventures with Pepper: Day 55 Continued

            Today’s plan was to drive to Memphis, stop at the Graceland RV Park, then spend a couple of days exploring the city, much like I had done in Nashville.

   

One of the many squirrels that delighted me and taunted Pepper during this journey. -- Photo by Pat Bean

One of the many squirrels that delighted me and taunted Pepper during this journey. — Photo by Pat Bean

         After my leisurely morning of birds, a walk with Pepper and a small pot of cream-laced African coffee, I set out on my short drive to the city Elvis called home.            As I neared Memphis, my quiet, peaceful morning turned into a cacophony of loud traffic and a tangled web of too crowded roads leading into the heart of chaos – and yet once again I changed my plans. .

            When I came to the turnoff I needed to take to carry out the plans that had been brewing in my head for the past week, I drove right on by. I knew that one big city in a week, away from Mother Nature, had been just right. An echo of that week would make me as sick as eating too much candy.

             I had decided to drive on for about another hour, and then stop at the first RV park that looked decent. I figured that wouldn’t be a problem, since for the first time in two months I was driving on an interstate and not a back-country road.

            It was over three hours later, after I had passed Little Rock, Arkansas, however before I found one. It was not very inviting but I stopped anyway because I didn’t want to continue driving after dark.

            Tomorrow would take me into Dallas, where my oldest daughter lived, and bring an end to this leg of my journeys. I’m glad you came along for the 6,000-mile, zigzagging ride from Idaho to Texas — past dinosaur bones, up and over the Rocky Mountains, sleeping among prairie dogs, winding through  the Appalachians on the Blue Ridge Parkway, through the Smoky Mountains and finally hooking up at the Grand Ole Opry.

            It was a fun trip. Where do you think we should go next?

            Book Report: Still slowly moving forward. Wish I was in a faster lane, but then I’d miss the flowers along the way. It’s hard being a writer when you always afraid you’re going to miss something.

         

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

   Bean’s Pat: Song for Today http://tinyurl.com/bm4tz9w It’s all about Pooh and Christopher Robin and feeling young again.   

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A Tennessee Warbler and a Bluebird

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Birds, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , on December 8, 2012| 3 Comments »

            “I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it. – Oscar Hammerstein II

Tennessee warbler -- Wikipedia photo by Jerry Oldenette

Tennessee warbler — Wikipedia photo by Jerry Oldenette

Adventures with Pepper: Day 55

            Natchez Trace State Resort Park was awesome, and I would have stayed much longer than one night except I had no phone or internet service, and I had a magazine writing deadline to meet.          

Eastern bluebird -- Photo by Pat Bean

Eastern bluebird — Photo by Pat Bean

   I didn’t rush to get off the next morning, however, because my plan was to just drive to Memphis, 120 miles away.

             After much debating with myself during the night, I had decided to skip the remainder of the Natchez Trace and take the quicker shorter route home to family. The decision was partly based on my desire to hug children and grandchildren and partly on budget concerns. Gypsy Lee’s furnace was acting up and I needed to get it checked out, and I thought what I saved on the trip would cover any needed repairs.

            Thankful that I had finally made the decision, I let myself enjoy a cup of coffee while I stared out at Pin Oak Lake and watched the sun come up. I’m learning that sometimes you need to just sit for a while without your hands on a keyboard or a book in your hand. It’s taken me way too many years to learn the reward of doing this, which most days is just renewed energy for a busy day ahead.

            This day I had a different reward. First there was the Tennessee warbler, about 10 of them merrily pecking in the grass right outside my RV. Thankfully they stayed around long enough for me to get out my field guide and identify them as the bird was a lifer for me, meaning the first one of its species that I had identified.

            It was the 703rd bird species to go on my list, and I watched them until they decided it was time to move on.

            The second reward was a colorful eastern bluebird that was using the mirror of the truck parked next to me to watch itself in the vehicle’s window. It kept turning around and around for a better look. And it was so interested in itself that I was able to slide my RV window open and get a good picture.

            What a great start to my day.

            Book Report: Back to working on Travels with Maggie more seriously. I’m almost back to where I decided to reread what I had already edited this second time around. I was mostly pleased with what I read, and made a format decision that should let me finish the last few chapters more quickly.

          

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

  Bean’s Pat: Serenity Spell http://tinyurl.com/a4gfcco Eyes of the Everglades. I love black-crowned night herons.

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Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , on December 6, 2012| 6 Comments »

The Road Not Taken — and Kudzu  

Kudzu taking over the landscape. Photo by Pat Bean ,

Kudzu taking over the landscape. Photo by Pat Bean ,

            “Everyone has to make their own decisions … You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.” – Grace Jones

Adventures with Pepper: Day: Day 53-54

After two sight-seeing filled days in Nashville, I stayed put at Nashville RV Park for an extra day so as to catch up on my journal, my writing, and some needed rest. I spent most of that day, however, replotting my route back to Texas.

Pin Oak Lake, Natchz Trace State Resort Park, Tennessee. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Pin Oak Lake, Natchz Trace State Resort Park, Tennessee. — Photo by Pat Bean

I had planned to drive the entire Natchez Trace but was now reconsidering. I had previously driven the lower end of the trace, and if I only spent one day on the historic old foot path, I could cut miles and days off my trip back to Texas.

Usually when I get into an argument with myself about which route to take, the longer, slower, less traveled one wins the day. But my slow, beit fantastic, drive through Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway had been tiring.

I was also eager to once again hook up with kids and grandkids that I hadn’t seen in over half a year. So this time, after a night of sleeplessly continuing to mull the decision, I didn’t take Robert Frost’s less-traveled road, but his road-not-taken instead.

It was

A bit of color could be seen through the trees, but today's drive was mostly a green one. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A bit of color could be seen through the trees, but today’s drive was mostly a green one. — Photo by Pat Bean

a slow pleasant 150-mile drive in which autumn’s fall colors had been replaced by trees buried beneath kudzu. If you’re not from the South, you might ask what is kudzu.

It’s an invasive plant that grows and spreads over the landscape like uncontrolled wild fires, beautiful but deadly to plants that it envelops in its viny arms.

I ended the day at Tennessee’s Natchez Trace State Resort Park, where I hooked Gypsy Lee up beside Pin Oak Lake, took Pepper for a long walk, then settled down with her outside to watch the sun set over the lake.

I went to be still thinking about my choice of routes because the options were still ahead of me.

Book Report: Worked on Travels with Maggie for only a half hour this morning, stopping for a dentist appointment.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

 

Bean’s Pat: Life out of the Box http://tinyurl.com/cptj25y The value of a notebook. This should give us all pause to be thankful for what we have.

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Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , on November 22, 2012| 8 Comments »

100 Things for which I’m Thankful – In No Particular Order

Every sunrise brings with it zest for a new day, for which I’m extremely thankful. — Photo by Pat Bean

  1. Belly laughs
  2. The sound  of rain pinging on my RV roof
  3. My large family.
  4. Pepper, my happy, friendly new canine traveling companion.
  5. Rich African  coffee heavily laced with cream
  6. The Blue Ridge Parkway
  7. Cool nights that let me snuggle beneath a soft quilt
  8. That this old broad is still reasonably healthy and still able to travel
  9. Hearty  hugs from people who mean it
  10. A good massage from a woman with magic fingers
  11. That I’m finally a great-grandmother
  12. My association with the women of Story Circle Network
  13. A good haircut
  14. Scenic  hiking trails
  15. Achievements  of my kids, grandkids and friends
  16. My zest  for life
  17. Walking  barefoot on a sandy beach
  18. Learning something new
  19. The flash  of sun illuminating the tail feathers of an overhead red-tailed hawk
  20. Waterfalls
  21. That after 134,000 miles, my RV, Gypsy Lee, still has go in her.
  22. Ibuprofen to relieve aches and pains
  23. Discovering a new author I like
  24. Taking a grandchild on their first roller coaster ride
  25. Watching fall redress the trees
  26. Van Gogh paintings
  27. Butterflies
  28. My  computer and the Internet
  29. My newly  gained voice as a writer
  30. Rainbows
  31. Living in  America where a woman can safely travel alone
  32. Sunrises  and sunsets
  33. Funky,  dangling earrings that belie my age
  34. Bra-less  days
  35. Summers  not spent in Texas
  36. Good memories of my mother
  37. Old  friends and new friends
  38. A field of wildflowers
  39. Reese”s  peanut butter cups
  40. The wind  blowing through my hair
  41. My daily walks with Pepper
  42. Hot soup  on a cold day
  43. A  wee-morning hours chatter with a long-time girlfriend over Jack Daniels  and Coke.
  44. A  daughter-in-law guardian angel who keeps track of my travels, forwards my      mail and supplies me with my favorite coffee
  45. The honking of geese as they fly overhead
  46. Lake reflections
  47. Family meals eaten around a table
  48. My curiosity
  49. Comfortable  shoes
  50. America,  the beautiful
  51. Clean  showers in RV parks
  52. Electricity
  53. My bicycle
  54. People who care deeply about something
  55. The wolf’s  return to Yellowstone
  56. The  journey between destinations
  57. A comfortable bed and a perfect pillow
  58. WordPress for hosting this blog
  59. New white  sox
  60. Water in  all its forms
  61. Scented candles
  62. A sky full of stars
  63. Glasses that allow me to read
  64. Pleasant  surprises
  65. An honest  politician
  66. Bird watching with my bird-watching son
  67. Evenings spent around a campfire
  68. Good Sam emergency services
  69. Good, real ice cream, chocolate milk shakes
  70. Nice and Easy, No. 99 – so I can forever be a blonde
  71. Coyote  howls
  72. Wrinkle-free clothing
  73. Gentle dentists
  74. My  independence
  75. The  fragrant scent of a blooming gardenia bush, which always reminds me of my      grandmother
  76. The diversity I find in people watching
  77. Large,  gnarly live oak trees
  78. Audible  books
  79. Maps
  80. A good editor
  81. Books with satisfying endings
  82. The strong women of the past who fought so I could vote
  83. A cup of  Earl Grey tea
  84. The color  turquoise
  85. Boat rides
  86. Antibiotics and vaccinations
  87. Smiles
  88. A frisky squirrel in a tree outside my RV
  89. Guided  trolley tours
  90. My new Canon pocket, zoom camera
  91. Washers and dryers
  92. Blank  journals to fill
  93. A shady RV  camp site beside a small lake
  94. A hearty  11 a.m. breakfast for lunch
  95. The music  of a humpback whale
  96. Stained  glass windows
  97. Birds
  98. National  parks
  99. The family  computer nerds who get the bugs out of my laptop
  100. Readers of my blog

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Gypsy Lee Stretches her Wheels

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on November 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“People who make no mistakes lack boldness and the spirit of adventure. They are the brakes on the wheels of progress.” – Dale Turner   

Just how many pictures of colorful leaves are you going to take, I finally started asking myself. — Photo by Pat Bean

 Adventures with Pepper: Day 49

After the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, Skyline Trail in Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina and Smoky Mountain National Park into Tennessee, where my RV was lucky to be able to get up to the 35 mph travel limit, Gypsy Lee needed to stretch her wheels.

The Hermitage, home of President Andrew Jackson in Nashville. — Wikipedia photo

So, because I planned a journey of about 210 miles this day, I reluctantly took to Interstate 40.  to Nashville.            The roadsides were autumn colorful, and the drive not too stressful, until the last fourth of the journey when I hit Nashville Traffic. All lackadaisical sight-seeing and journal notes went out the window at this point.

It got even worse when I got onto Highway 45, also known as Old Hickory Boulevard and which passed by the Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson’s former plantation. This home became a public museum honoring both Jackson and the antebellum South way back in 1869. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1860 and is the fourth most visited presidential home in the country today.

The structure escaped a near-disaster during a 1998 Nashville tornado outbreak. While the house escaped, many old trees, some of which might have been planted by Jackson himself, were blown down. Wood from these fallen trees was used by the Gibson guitar company to make 200 limited edition “Old Hickory” guitars.

A fitting use in a city that’s known for music, I thought.

Book Report: Spent an hour working on Travels with Maggie this morning. No word-count report because I’m doing what I probably shouldn’t be doing. The book is about 85 percent complete but I was suffering from a need to go back and reread everything up to this point. I felt I needed a refresher read before I tie everything up. I also wanted to make a few changes that I decided on a couple of week’s ago in the book’s structure.

Bean’s Pat: Palestine Rose http://tinyurl.com/bmptucc I avidly believe this is oh so true. How about you?

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Good-Bye Dolly, Hello Smokies

Posted in Dogs, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on November 13, 2012| 4 Comments »

    

Gaping at sights like King Kong as I drove through Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is probably one of the reasons I missed my turn. I shot this photo out my RV window while stopped at a traffic light. — Photo by Pat Bean

        “Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness.” – Ray Bradbury

Adventures with Pepper: Day 46-47

After a week’s layover at Yogi’s in the Smokies Campground, I finally decided it was time for me to get back on the road again.

I came across this scene on my way down Big Cove Road just outside of Yogi’s in the Smokies. It stopped me and my camera in its tracks. — Photo by Pat Bean

First I said my good-byes to Dolly, the matriarch of the family group that adopted me and Pepper and fed us campfire steaks. Dolly was 75, the mother of seven children and lots of grandchildren, but she told me she still had plenty of get-up-and-go.            I left her with the encouragement to get up and go often. And she promised she would take my example and do so

My goal for the day was to drive through Smoky Mountain National Park. It was steep, which by now I had become used to, but it was also crowded.  I only stopped a few times and left the park early so I could go through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Pepper and I had lunch by this small gurgling stream in Smoky Mountain National Park.

They were crowded, too, but full of interesting sights. I guess I gawked too much because I missed my turn, a mistake that added several hours to what was only going to be a short day’s drive.

I drove one section of Highway 441 twice because I got wrong directions – most likely because I asked the wrong question.

I ended up taking Highway 411 to Marysville and back-tracking a few miles on Highway 321, the road I had missed.

I ended the day at Mystic River, which turned out to be a Passport America campground, which was good because the full price was $45. As a passport member, I paid only half of that. It was a very nice campground and I stuck around the next day. .

Book Report: I drove the 300 miles back to Dallas from Lake Jackson yesterday and never got to Travels with Maggie. Hopefully I’ll get an hour’s worth of writing in later today.

Bean’s Pat: A Trip to Antarctica http://tinyurl.com/c6te3yc This sounds like an awesome arm-chair traveling event.

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Last Day on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , on November 8, 2012| 6 Comments »

The many interpretive and information signs along the parkway enhanced my experience of the parkway. It was also great to drive a road where Mother Nature was the focus of all the attention. — Photo by Pat Bean

            “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T.S Elliot

Adventures with Pepper: Days 37

            It was a cold morning in Ashville but it warmed up quickly. This last day’s drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway was the steepest, the road traveling up to 6,047 feet, just slightly less than half the altitude of the highest point of 12,183 feet on Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park, which I drove near the start of this meandering journey to Texas.

While I didn’t stop at every overlook I know I got over half of them. — Photo by Pat Bean

In addition to being the steepest, today’s colors were among the most brilliant, meeting all my expectations of catching Miss Appalachian in her finest autumn dress.I stopped for lunch at the 3,570 Stony Bald Overlook at the 402 mile marker, and looked out at layer upon layer of color and mountain ridges.

“Wow!” I said to Pepper as she chewed her pork-skin bone while I ate a peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwich.

Thirty-point-four miles, half a dozen stops and  two hours later, Pepper and I were standing at the Richard Balsam overlook at that 6,047 feet for a zillionth replay of beauty and color.

Ponds always stopped me for a closer look, and this one had a great short hiking trail to go with it. Ahhhh. Blue Ridge Parkway I’ll miss you. — Photo by Pat Bean

“Where in Texas you from?” I heard a voice say from behind me.  Because of my Texas license plates I heard those same words at least once a day on the parkway. Many of the speakers were Texans themselves.

I suspected the speaker probably wasn’t really interested in the answer. The question was just the icebreaker for sharing a few minutes of conversation with a stranger. It’s one of the rituals of traveling – a ritual I love.

Book Report: I wanted to skip reporting about Travels with Maggie today. I’m sure you know why. And today, after posting this, I have a 300-mile road trip to make, from Dallas to the Texas Gulf Coast via Interstate 45. I think I’ll be listening to an audible book as I hate freeways, but I have loved ones waiting for me at the end of the trip so the drive will be worth it.           

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Beans Pat: http://tinyurl.com/bzttg42 This one just seemed appropriate for today. My wish is that this time around the losers will help the winners do what is in the best interests of the country, and that the winners will put the interests of the country above personal ambitions or gain. OK. I’m a dreamer.

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Dark Night, Gray Morning and Then Came the Light

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Hikes, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on November 2, 2012| 5 Comments »

            “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen

When I first got on the parkway this day, fog and mist obscured the views. — Photo by Pat Bean

Adventures with Pepper: Day 35

            I ended my travels yesterday, which I had started in Meadows of Dan, Virginia, at Julian Price State Park in North Carolina. It was a beautiful park by a lake, but I had neither cell-phone service nor internet connections.

But when the fog cleared out, the colors of fall were brighter and crisper than I had seen before. — Photo by Pat Bean

I would have liked to have stayed put a couple of days but with a writing deadline to meet the next day, I knew I would have to move on early the next morning so I could connect back to the world.

I didn’t sleep good because it began raining shortly after Pepper and I took a hike around the lake in the early evening, and the dripping continued all night. Normally I love to listen to the patter of rain on my RV roof, but I didn’t want to drive the parkway in the rain the next day. Gypsy Lee handles steep hills quite nicely, but doesn’t do slick well.

The rain finally stopped just before dawn, and as I had my morning cup of cream-laced coffee, I watched the grayness of day overcome the blackness of night. There’s usually a brief moment of this fantastic grayness, before the light of the sun takes charge of the day, that always seems magical to me.

One of many parkway tunnels that I passed through this day, briefly leaving the light behind but finding it just as bright again on the other side. — Photo by Pat Bean

But not when the grayness lingers, as it did this morning.  And when I got on the road, the grayness turned into a thick fog that shut down all but about 50 feet of the road ahead, and all of the grand views looking out from the mountain ridges.

Then, as if someone had clicked a switched, the sun popped out, creating light that pleased my camera more so than any other day I had spent so far on the parkway.

If I had to pick one day as my favorite of driving the 466 miles of the parkway, this day might have been it. But then I’m glad I don’t have to choose because every mile, every hour, every day on the parkway had something amazing in store for me.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie is now at 60,701 words.

            Bean’s Pat: The Crown of the Continent http://tinyurl.com/crkcmxg Take an armchair tour of Glacier National Park – and prepare to be awed.

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A Bit of Politics on the Parkway

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , on November 1, 2012| 7 Comments »

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” – John F. Kennedy.

Adventures with Pepper: Day 34

Old cars and political observations were the highlights of this day on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

It was quite windy the day I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway from Meadows of Dan in Virginia to Julian Price State Park in North Carolina, a mere 117 miles away but which took all day drive.    Mother Nature’s bluster plucked fall’s leaves off the trees and sent them swirling across the parkway like pieces of colored glass in a kaleidoscope.            Along with listening to the hum of the wind as it glanced off Gypsy Lee, I heard several conversations this day that put my mind outside the parkway and tuned into the bluster of politicians’ blowing promises around they probably wouldn’t keep.

This tangled mass of leaves claiming this tree trunk reminded me of the tangled mass of people who together are America. Hopefully we can all learn to co-exist as peacefully. — Photo by Pat Bean

There was the conversation I overheard at the High Piney Spur Overlook. The guy doing the speaking had been showing off his shiny red restored vehicle, one of several I saw this day on the parkway. I suspected there was an old car rally being held somewhere along the route – or perhaps the parkway is simply a place old car enthusiasts like to drive their vehicles.            Anyway, the proud owner of the red vehicle was saying: “I don’t think the country’s as bad off as they are saying. People are eating out and buying new cars,” then with hardly a breath in-between thoughts, he added “It was that Iraqi war that caused all the problems, we didn’t need that.”

The night before, I had overheard a fellow sitting around a campfire at Meadows of Dan ask: “What do you think about where this country is heading?” I didn’t hear the answers because I was walking Pepper at the time, and she, not as big an eavesdropper as me, was pulling me along at quite a fast pace.

Later this day, when I bought some snacks after buying gas, I handed the clerk a dollar too much. He quickly handed it back to me, noting that he always tried to be honest.

“I guess that’s why I could never be a politician,” he then noted, before telling me to “Drive safely now.”

     Book Report: Travels with Maggie is up to 60, 424 words.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day

Bean’s Pat: Morning Mist http://tinyurl.com/azmp3vw I like the idea of each morning holding a mystery in waiting.

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A Sassy Blue Jay and a Fried Apple Pie

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Art, Dogs, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , on October 31, 2012| 2 Comments »

“You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.” — Ronald Reagan

The majestic, panoramic views from the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which the parkway follows, can get to be a bit overwhelming. So I also spent some time focusing on nature’s little beauties, like this woolly bear caterpillar that made its way across my Meadows of Dan camp site. — Photo by Pat Bean

Adventures with Pepper: Day 33

Meadows of Dan is a small farming community located just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I stopped here because it had a nice RV park with Wi-Fi and I had a writing deadline to meet for American Profile Magazine http://blogs.americanprofile.com

Or like this tiny mushroom growing beneath a tree. — Photo by Pat Bean

It was a pleasant scenic park but nothing special to distinguish it from the other campgrounds I had stayed at along the way. Pepper tried to play with every dog we passed on our walks, and I enjoyed the smell of campfires drifting into my RV as I sat at my computer and wrote.

The best part of my two-day stay in Meadows of Dan was the morning I left.

A blue jay, its bright blue feathers a bit faded at this time of the year, sassed me good-bye as I drove out of the campground, making me smile at its determination to not move out of the road until Gypsy Lee was almost on top of it. While I didn’t see anything, perhaps it had found a tidbit of breakfast hiding among the gravel.

I stopped for gas in the tiny town, where an art show and farmer’s market was underway. The gas pump was an old-fashioned one that didn’t take debit or credit cards and so I had to go inside to pay.

And I loved the contrast of Virginia creeper in its fall dress against the rocks that lined the roadsides. — Photo by Pat Bean

I took time to roam through the country store that was filled with home-made crafts and other goodies, of which I bought bread, honey, plums and an honest-to-goodness fried apple pie, which I ate once I got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway to continue my journey.

The crust was moist and the taste of the grease it was fried in rich in my mouth. I savored every bite, including the rich apple filling that had  been lightly sweetened to perfection. Just writing about it now makes me feel like one of  Pavlov’s dogs.

Eating healthy, which I mostly do, is good for the body. But that apple pie was good for the soul. It’s probably a good thing I don’t live in Meadows of Dan, however. There’s probably only so much the soul can take.

Book Report: I’m happy to report that Travels with Maggie is now up to 60,119 words. I didn’t have internet at my last stop and so it was Travels with Maggie that got my attention.

Bean’s Pat: Hurricane Sandy Birding http://tinyurl.com/cwhadl4 In the aftermath of tragedy, life goes on for both humans and birds. Not to make light of the tragedy by noting this birding blog, I join all those mourning for the families of  those who lost loved ones.

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