It's Too Hot, Let's Go Somewhere

With temps in the 90's and heat index bumping the 110 area, I decided to run for the hills and the kids were ready to jump on the bandwagon.

Monday, I got my brakes done and the van checked out.  Went to lunch with Jake and loaded up on various types of shelf stable drinks and snacks.

Tuesday, we headed out bright and early!

We went to South Cumberland first because we had an orienteering class that Park was teaching.

I still need about 2 more hours of patient telling and retelling about using a compass, but I have the gist of it now.  Ben, of course, picked it up immediately.

Park hung out with us afterward and gave us a list it would take the rest of the year to finish of places to go see.   Sometimes he's super useful with the ideas, sometimes he's too much like me-all over the place.

We headed more or less toward Ocoee, then decided to go further north and end up back there later in the week.   We stopped for cheese at Philadelphia and backtracked to Tellico Plains.  The plan was to go to the bald and camp, then get up Wednesday and head for the Smokies.  Ben wanted to backpack to a campsite we have been eyeballing a while.

Stopped at Tellico River to walk around a bit and there was a snake on the trail to the water.

We did a last-minute detour to Bald River Falls, then decided to keep going the back way to Cherohala.

On the North River Road

 The dispersed camping sites along the drive proved to be too tempting and we decided to stop where we could hear the water all night.  After getting set up here, the kids went for a walk and decided the NEXT site up was even better.  I was already in my hammock at that point, so we didn't move.  Just made a note for next time.

Ben does not like hammock camping, so he got to use my new tent.  Not having slept in several of my previous attempts at finding the right one, he was not as amazed as I still am over the Copper Spur.

I woke up really early and started packing my stuff up and grabbed some breakfast and water.  I walked around a while and Ben got up, Chandler finally woke up and we got everything back in the van to get moving!

The previous campers did a decent job of trashing the site up, there was trash in every fire ring and scattered around on the ground, lots of scarred trees and partially burned wood.  It's sad when people will take such a beautiful-and free-place and just take a crap on it like that.

Well, get moving after a little music.

All set up in the van, I turn the key and 'click, click, click'.

DANG.

There was a campsite a mile back that had people the night before, so we walked down to it.  Their camper door and truck doors were WIDE open.  I yelled 'Hello!' a few times and we looked up and down the creek and...nothing.  Bears ate them.

We walked back up to our site and decided to leave a note on the car parked at the Donley Cabin trailhead, about 1/10th mile away.  It said where we were, that the van had a dead battery and we had no cell service.  If they got the note and could help, we would be very grateful.

Back at the van again, we packed water and a snack and the map.  We were going to walk the few miles to the North River camping area.  We had been at the campsite for about 15 hours at this point and the only car we had seen had been just after dawn, likely headed to trout fish.

Passing the Donley Cabin, the car that was parked there had left!  They were from Indiana and I sincerely wished them a flat tire on the way home.

We got past the wide-open and still abandoned campsite and down the hill a ways and a truck was coming!  It tried to go past us, but I yelled, "WE NEED HELP!"

It contained 2 older ladies, a little girl and several huge boxes of Bojangles.  They had jumper cables, but the woman driving was so clueless about using them that she tried to give them to me and leave.  They finally agreed to drive up to help us and took off, with us walking BACK up the hill to camp.  We rounded a curve a bit later and they had stopped and sheepishly offered us a ride.  We climbed in the back and enjoyed the ride!

this is my enjoying face

We hooked up the cables, I talked the kids through it and Ben did all the clipping.

The boy loves a problem he can fix with his hands and his brain.

The van cranked immediately and we thanked them profusely and gave back the cables.

Since our destination, our favorite bald, was FURTHER up the long dirt road and I didn't know if the battery was bad or WHY it had gone dead, we decided to go back to Tellico Plains to get it checked.

Passing the horse camp a third time, men were milling around outside.  I guess bears didn't eat them after all, but seeing a woman in distress obviously caused them to hide so I don't know which is worse.  They must have been from Indiana.

The nice man at the NAPA place hooked it up and it tested 'good'.  Still not sure why it went dead-we did not have anything plugged in and I had turned the lift gate and overhead lights off so they would not be on the whole time we were unloading and loading the van.

Since we were already there...we ate lunch at Tellico Grains and bought fougasse to have with our cheese.

Stopped to enjoy the river on the way out and the only pic I took was this dead bug.

We talked it over and decided to go over the Skyway anyhow, planning to end up at maybe Deep Creek to camp.  That area anyway.

We stopped at several overlooks and finally at Huckleberry Knob, which has long been a favorite spot.  We had planned to go here to watch the eclipse, but heard from a local that over 18,000 other people have had the same idea!  DANG.  So that little plan has changed...

I love the balds.

The hike is about a mile one way, it goes uphill (but not a hard climb, about 100-foot elevation gain) a long ways to Oak Knob, a lovely bald tucked into a high gap.  After crossing it, the trail climbs another 100 feet through the woods and pops out on the higher bald, with VIEWS everywhere.

You can see Huckleberry up at the top of the far hill.

The balds are mowed once a year to keep them open.

Turk's Cap lilies

We were calling these pumpkin orchids because we didn't know what they were!  After discovering the name, we decided we like pumpkin orchid more.

teeny Chan

That's Oak Knob and off on the other mountain top is Hooper Bald, which has no view anymore, the trees have filled in the edges.

Chestnut tree

I think Oregon Trail every time I see this view!

Much of the trail is in the woods, but the open part is waist high.

We did not get a single tick, though I am not sure how!

Another overlook, toward the Smokies

We stopped in a Joyce Kilmer to hike the lower loop, but after arriving, the bugs were BAD and it had just rained and it was humid and damp and we just walked to the bridge and back instead.

Hmmm

Between Joyce Kilmer and Robbinsville are many, many campsites!  Some are tucked along the lake and there's a beautiful tiny campground right next to a creek that we stopped and checked out seriously before deciding it was just too wet there-and hammock camping would be hard because the sites were so teeny.

We kept going and saw a sign for Cheoah Point and went to look at the swim beach.

It was nice, so we looked at the campground next to it.  It also was nice!

Cheoah is pronounced (according to the local) as 'Cho' with kind of an ah at the end, but not QUITE Cho-ah, more like a breathy sound.  It means otter.

We picked the only spot on the loop that had trees spaced for hammocks and set up, then it started to thunder!  Then it got really cloudy and dark.  We planned to go swim, but the showers across the road were so tempting.  We opted to get showers and skip swimming since the weather was acting up. 

I showered first so I could get a hot dinner ready for us.

We eat very little meat.

I had my backpacking stove, which worked just fine, even cooking for 3.

I constantly think the little igniter doohickey is going to melt off. 

I label my gas canisters so I can always quickly grab a used one for trips like this when I know I will only be boiling water a few times and when running out of fuel won't ruin the day.

Lentils, rice, mango, apple, black beans, red and green pepper and loads of spices

Add boiling water, seal and wait!

It was good, a 2 person packet was enough for the 3 of us to have a decent sized bowl.  We supplemented with cheese and bread.

This wee thing wandered over.  We discussed keeping it, but the owner eventually realized he was missing.  DANG

The rain went very close but missed us, so we headed to the swim beach for the sunset anyway.

Ben woke us up at FOUR A.M.

We managed somehow to pack everything into the van and start driving.

I had no idea where to go, so we followed the map the host gave us.

Cheoah Dam, just past Tapaco Lodge on 129

Looks very Star Warsian

This was before sunrise, so it's blurry as heck.

We also stopped at Fontana Dam

this thing is HUGE.  See itty bitty Ben?

The dam is closed to traffic but is open for hikers to use.  It's the official route for both the AT and the Benton MacKaye Trail. (mack-eye)

I liked the huge chains.

We got breakfast and then decided it was HOT, we needed cooling.  The plan had been to go hike in the Smokies, but Ben had twinged his knee running up a hill the night before and he was getting blisters on his heels.  We decided hiking could wait, we needed to get in the water.

It was so hot that even with the AC on full blast in the van, my cell phone was too hot to charge and it shut itself down!

Still only $5 a tube for the whole day and the backrest is worth every dime of that!

I WAS ON THIS TRIP

something happened.

We went down twice!  Then the kids said their feet hurt and so we returned the tubes and headed to the mountains.

I had parked the van in one of the only spots left-right in the sun.  It was so hot inside that I honestly thought the water bottles might have exploded from the boiling liquids inside. 

After changing into dry clothes, we decided to go up the Blue Ridge Parkway a while.

we could not maintain the recommended distance from the elk because they were about 10 feet from the road.  So we just stayed in the van with the windows rolled down and snapped a couple shots before moving on. She did not seem to notice us.

We turned off on Balsam Mountain Road and went up to the campground, which is VERY nice!

We almost opted to stay but decided to check out the overlook at the picnic area first.

When we got there, it started raining!  Not wanting to set up right away while everything was still wet (and it was several hours until sunset), we decided to drive the Round Bottom Road, a 28-mile one-way route back to Cherokee.

I drove about 10 MPH, if that, so it took a LONG time to get off the mountain.

At one point, we pulled off and had a snack and dance party while listening to my hiking music selection on my phone.

The sun came back out and Ben and I both saw the way it was hitting the moss on these trees ahead and started pointing it out to each other.  I had to stop and get a picture!

More light play pics!

We stopped at the bottom of the road to walk a while.  The rain had been very heavy and the creeks were raging!  This shot looks more dramatic than it was.  Ben is the most careful person I know.

We do not know what this is.

On the way into Cherokee, we stopped at Mingo Falls.

I did not see Billy Bob Thornton this time.

The way the water flows down the face of the cliff is amazing.  I can't think of another set of falls where it's this widespread.

Ben is in this shot.

turtle cloud!

Kudzu

We drove late, got home around 2 and Matt was still at a gig!  I stayed up to help him get unloaded, by the time I got to bed, I had been up 24 hours straight.

Back up with his alarm, I unloaded the van, did laundry, sorted gear, unpacked and made sure everything was totally dry, repacked and put everything away.  It took the whole morning!

We are going back soon to do another section of the trip we wanted to get this time, but rain and Ben's blisters and knee put us off being able to do it this time around.

Still, it was a great trip, cost us $15 for tubes, $15 for camping and 2 tanks of gas.  Totally worth it!

Freewheelin, Ramblin, Tent Talk

I have been hiking on my own of late because I can't seem to drag anyone off to join me.  I started a Facebook group and 38 people joined it and NONE of them seem free to hike.  It's am amazing phenomenon that hits group after group.  People think they will be more 'this' and join a group and they are just as themselves as ever.  But they like hiking memes, so they are hikers.  (insert teary eyed laughing head here)

It's not like I have loads of room to talk, I have done it too.  And I join other groups hikes sometimes, but not the 'walk the greenway' weekly stuff, I'm looking for exciting destinations in this state I have walked every decent trail in twice already.  And I don't want to walk with 15 other people.  And it can't be too hot or rainy.  See? I can be a little bitch, too.

So I have started heading out on my own, but I find myself stopping short of anything interesting.  It's been, well, interesting, to watch myself branching out.  For the past 21+ years, I have had a hiking companion, even if I did have to grow them myself.   Matt will go, of course, but with having regular 2 day weekends now and the band he is in has released a new cd, so at least 2 weekends a month he is off playing (free) gigs to promote that.  Before the release, he was in the studio.  Gary is already talking up the NEXT cd.  Add in the waves of rain/heat/rain that are making up our weather and it's not been a really active spring and summer for our tiny hiking duo.

I find myself retracing the places I went with the kids, specifically to feel safer in case anything happened.  Parks, small trails at the Refuge and Bankhead.  No doubt I will hit Cane Creek Canyon as soon as a cool day presents itself.  Greenways.  hahaha!  Richard Martin.

I wish Kuma were more portable, but he won't leave Jessie and she is past her hiking days.  Nia would go...not to be intimidating, but to bowl for toddlers and the elderly and to LEAP onto people who are terrified of dogs-her three main talents.  But Murph is a puker.  If, IF, I ever get another dog, it will be a 50 pound non-shedder who loves car rides and hiking and me and that's it.  No companion dog for my companion dog.  He can have his own hammock and I'll name him...Hiking Dog.  He'll be a Belgian shepherd trained just for me.  Those are only $12k for basic skills.  I see where, for $60k, I can get one trained to kill on command.  Hey, dress like a raccoon and Kuma will kill for free.

I did eventually manage to take the kids on some pretty spectacular trips, so I am hopeful I will eventually take myself on a few as well.

Took the dogs in for rabies shots.

Jess is in the floor.

I don't take many pics when I am walking, I guess because I don't go anywhere new.
But I did hit the natural arch nearby, I have always liked the mossy trail there.

Poison oak along the trails EVERYWHERE.  It's robust this year.

I bought what I considered to be my final piece of equipment (an insulated pad for Chandler) over the weekend and lo and behold, Massdrop put the backpack I want up for sale this week, and it's available in purple.  I need someone to give me $5k from something like money that was stolen from drug lords or given to them by an uncle they never liked and therefore don't want to use his money for anything.  Corrupt cop money.  Yeah, like the stash from Santa Clarita Diet.  Anyway, basically money that needs to have some good karma.  That can be my public service.  hahahaha.  I will spend your dirty money on my crack-like gear habit.  And you can feel good about it.  This is such a win-win situation, I imagine I will have many takers.  I can take a personal check or PayPal.

Jake once said (about 10:30 this morning)
"When I feel bad about spending money on yet another video game, I just think of Mom and her god dammed tents."
Yes, this IS the person I was in labor with for THIRTY SIX hours.

I have resold all but 4 of the tents I bought.  2 are going up for sale my next round and 2 I am keeping because they are excellent tents.  I'll do a review at some point, maybe save someone some hassle.

I also have sleeping pads I need to sell, a hammock camping system, 2 pairs of boots, 2 pairs of shoes and 2 hiking skirts.  I have a dozen odds and ends type things as well-pillows, liners, cookware, a stove, water filters...I buy things as I find them on sale, then usually upgrade once I discover what I am really looking for in a product.  Or I am gifted things I cannot use.  Or I buy something, certain I will use it all the time and realize there's another less-complicated way.  Like with the water filters.  It's all a learning process and luckily resale value in barely or unused gear is comparable to sale pricing. 

Here is what I have learned:
This is assuming you have read reviews and are sure of the exact product you want, not just shopping for random 'backpacking gear'.
Check used gear pages first, every time.
Post that you are looking for X item.  Sometimes people will message you about selling theirs, sometimes they will send you a link to a good discount for buying it new.  Use the network.

Always check for warehouse sales, refurbished items and bulk buy discounts (ex: Massdrop, steep and cheap, even groupon) once you have a brand name in mind.  Some sites will send a 20% (or more) off coupon for joining their mailing list.  Most places you buy from new will honor a sale price within 14-30 days.  I have gotten back nearly $300 using this, so keep shopping even after you buy.

If you have the time, put the item in your cart, fill out the contact and shipping info, then leave before paying.  About half the time, the site will contact you within 72 hours with a discount code for completing the purchase.  Sometimes they send a 25% off for 3 days sale flyer for that brand name, or they will send a catalog to your mailing address with discount codes.  If you have to buy new-and there are plenty of reasons to do that-don't pay retail.

There, hopefully that will save somewhere somewhere some hassle.

Farewell, Cleo

I had Cleo put down this morning.  It was harder than I realized, we have not had an animal need intervention before.

She had injured her leg and after rounds of antibiotics, no change.  She was still in a great mood, eating and purring and loving being petted.  I kept putting it off and putting it off, convincing myself it looked a little better, that she was still getting around, that she was still seeking us out for affection.
I did not sleep last night, I woke up at 12:17 and laid there until I finally peeled myself out of bed this morning.  It wasn't getting better.  The vet had given us a new type of meds that were a 'last resort' for badly infected puncture wounds, but a full week into the 10 day round, it was not looking any better. The vet suspected snake or spider bite, the wound was necrotic.  She wasn't acting like she was in pain because the nerves were too damaged to feel it.

I had decided to wait until Saturday to decide if she needed intervention, so Matt could help.  But after feeding her her med-laced food and using wipes to clean her face and body, I realized this is what my life has become.  Every day I watch her, all day long.  I shovel her poop into holes I dig for her, I poison ants (with borax) when they start making lines toward her leg, I clean her bedding and wash her body and spray her leg with peroxide and work a doll brush through her tangled hair, which had begun to fall out in clumps. I have not gone anywhere in nearly 3 weeks.  I didn't want to give up hope, but how fair was it to keep her in this limbo?

Yesterday, she changed locations about a dozen times requiring hourly searches to relocate her in order to keep the dogs from harassing her.  I was taking Nia and Murph out myself all last week, never letting either out of my sight.  It was constant reminding the kids to watch for the cat, daily prayers that she would pass easily in the night.  I was so stressed.

Today, I found her under a car, then under the porch, then splayed on the sidewalk, then on the porch, then in the mint and I finally realized she just can't get comfortable.  That was a change, but not for the better.  I went out and tried to soothe her and she just yowed.  The vet had said I would 'know when it was time'.  I didn't understand it until I did.

I went in to get a basket and a towel.  She purred as I carried her to the van.  She purred as I talked to her going down the road.  She purred as I held her for the vet to examine one last time, her body so hot, her face pressed into my neck.   The fever was new.  I took her to the vet a week ago and she was running normal.  Over the weekend, she felt cat-temp.  Today, it was like holding a sunbeam.

I signed the paperwork saying I gave permission to euthanize her.  That to my knowledge she had not bitten anyone.  The staff at the vet's office was so kind.  I had envisioned being scolded for choosing to put her to sleep, or being debated or talked into trying yet another type of medication.  But none of that happened, they were gentle with us both.

The first shot, she did not even flinch.  She purred and we petted her and I cried and cried and cried, tears splashing off my sandals, running under my feet so that later, every step, I squelched.  She went very limp and the vet gave me a minute.  I adjusted her body on the towel and helped her close her eyes.  I rubbed her head until her last purr faded and she was breathing shallowly and I rubbed her as clean as I could with the combo of baby wipes and copious amounts of tears I had on hand.  It didn't seem right for her to be dirty, she was always messing with herself, fighting that long fur to lay smooth.  Cats are filthy.  I wiped her feet, her mouth, made sure her ears were clean inside.  Got the fur smoothed down her spine.  She was so thin, this cat who, in her prime, was a hefty 13 pounds was now just over 5.

The next shot was a tiny pink goo-filled syringe.  It took a couple of seconds to get it all in her leg. The vet set the needle down and listened for a heartbeat.  She was gone.  It was that fast.  She never seemed stressed or scared or hurt, even the car ride in wasn't hard.  She drifted off being petted and if there is any justice in the universe, that is where she still is hovering-in that memory of that feeling of no pain and many hands, of running her purr engine and making biscuits on the old towel I had wrapped her in.

The vet arranged her body like she was asleep and placed her in a bag that she taped off.  I paid at the desk and went back in the room to get her.  The bag was hot, that poor cat.  I feel so horrible for both letting her wait so long and for letting her go so soon.  She still had 4 days of meds left.
But they were not helping at all, the vet told me during the exam that the only thing left to try was amputating it and she doubted Cle would survive the anesthesia.

At home, I dug a spot outside my window.  It's not where the rest of our pets are buried and I hope she doesn't mind.  The bag was still warm as I lowered it into the hole, careful to keep her arranged in a comfortable cat curl.  I put a double stack of brick on top because the very last thing I want is to walk outside next week and see shredded green plastic and ecstatic dogs.

Of the 4 cats we have had for well over a decade, Wonder is the only one left.  After Muta disappeared, Wonder has stuck close to the house, despite the fact that Murphy and Nia are little shits to her.  There is a stray orange male kitten who has moved in to the shed.  While he seems sweet and I have not seen him mess with Wonder, efforts are underway to trap him to take to the pound.  I can't do it any longer. I don't want more pets.  I don't know if it's my age or the fact that I thought we HAD to have animals for the kids-who really don't seem to notice we have pets-or the fact that a 'quick' exam at the vet is now $160 a dog. Or if it's the weekly washing of the vacuum filters because they get clogged with dog hair.  Or if it was losing Zephyr and then Kaiju.  Something along the way fell off my personal radar and I feel done.

I can only hope dogs do what dogs are supposed to do and decline quickly and die at home after just a day or two of illness. If I have to put down Jessie or Kuma, I will break.

I don't know what the future holds.  On the way to the vet, I told Cleo to find me again, when I was ready.  She meowed once, and was quiet.  I talked non-stop the whole way and that was the only time she replied.  So maybe, when I am 70 and ready to stop running around so much, I'll go to the pound and see a little grey stripped long-haired kitten with green eyes and a meow like a bell and I'll say, "Well, hello there Cleo Della Rosa, how have you been?"  and she will say, "Meow".  And I will be forgiven.

maybe

Reunited!

They finished the van early!  I picked up my van and returned the Jeep to the rental place.  It was a great chance to see that no one in the family, myself most of all, likes a Jeep.

A few things I did not like: it felt flimsy, the passenger seat was nearly in my armpit, the back seat was teeeeeeensy, there was no proper space to put things.  It had 2 cupholders, lots of shallow slots, an open area in front of the passenger seat that things slid back and forth and flew out of and the windshield was so far away that putting my phone on it with the suction cup thing to use as a GPS was impossible.

Shutting the rear hatch made the door feel like it was made from a couple of those disposable turkey pans stapled together.

What I did like-it had good clearance, long a complaint of mine with the van.  It got slightly better gas mileage, though it had a wee little 11 gallon tank.  It does me no good to get more MPG if I have to stop even sooner to refill than I do in the van.  Though I did get my $22 fill up fantasy fulfilled.

Anyway, I have my van back and the Jeep is banished to Planet Enterprise.  I have a LOT of travel decals on the van from places we have gone.  I wasn't going to sticker it up like I did Nettlevan and held off for the better part of a year.  Then I decided it's my freaking van.  STICKERS!  I was doing state flags on the back and that of course was hit.  The body shop was able to take the rear window off the other lift gate and reuse it, so I got to keep half my stickers.  I reordered what I needed to and I realized why the back looked so weird-it wasn't that it was blank, it was that it was BLANK.  No Kia insignia!  I immediately ordered Batman symbols to replace it.  hahaahaha!  When I went by the car shop to pick up the SIX PAGES of what they did to the van (ACK, it was $2500, it was nearly totaled out for a freaking lift gate!)  they had the new SEDONA strip to put on.  I said, "No way!"  They gave it to me and it's on the changing table in the living room now.

The changing table was Matt's dad's when he was a baby.  His dad's mom was freaky tall, so us mere mortals just use it as a cabinet, since the changing surface is about nipple-height.  It's still called the changing table, though it has not seen a baby butt in over 60 years.  I never used a changing table, just the foot of the bed.  Which is another reason to make the bed the minute you get up.  It is the platform for the rest of the day!  Ben and I are bed makers.  Jake and Chan are not.  And who has the most luxurious hair and nails in the whole house?  Nia, but Ben and I are close seconds. Coincidence?  No. Because after you make the bed, you take your hair and nails gummy vitamin. It's called routine and it's lacking in 2/3 of the under-25 set around here.

Speaking of under 25, Jake will be 22 this year and Ben will be 18.  It SEEMS like it's a long way off, but it's already mid-year already.   I just need to be horrified a bit.  Okay.  Jake had a margarita last weekend.  He didn't like it.  But the fact that he can just go buy one is alarming.

Enjoy this pic of Murphy Jones

And this snake that was under the gate.