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That looks like a good lunch Charles.
I had a callous show up on the bottom of my right foot just behind my little toe. I thought it was a Plantars wart. About a week after I got home from Tennessee the callous peeled off like a blister and left a nickel sized sore. I guess all the hiking I did aggravated it. Now I’ve been visiting a wound care Dr for treatment and it is slowly getting smaller.
Now for my latest travels. I started doing a lot of genealogy work back in the late 90’s trying to find my ancestors. I know where my grandparents are but had a hard time locating my great and great-great grandparents. I finally found out where to look for my great grandparents through my dad. He developed Parkinson Dementia and we had to put him in a rest home. During one of my visits I realized he was talking about stuff that was happening before I was born so I just asked if he had remembered where his grandparents were buried. Bingo! He was 10 years old when his grandpa died but remembered it like it was yesterday. After some more research I headed to Nowata, OK and found their gravesites. But, she had a very large headstone and he had none. I figured out where he was (I would have to show you how) and had a stone made for him and put in place back around 2000 or 2001.
Next I had located the cemeteries for both sets of my gt-gt-grandparents in Missouri. I found the cemetery for my paternal gt-gt-grandparents and found her headstone but like his son, no marker for him. Where is he? Around 2007 or 8 we deduced where he was laid to rest. We had been standing right on top of him.
It really bugged me that neither of them had a marker so I made another trip earlier this year and had a stone made for him. Then the monsoon rains hit. Every weekend it rained and I didn’t want to attempt to drag a 100+ pound stone through wet and muddy terrain. Then I spent ten days in Tennessee. Then it was the foot problem the Dr had told me to not walk on. So I have been driving around with a headstone in the back of my Wrangler all this time.
Saturday Oct 10 it was finally time. We headed for Mount Olive Cemetery between Marshfield and Fordland, Mossouri.
My daughter did the sled work.
Four generations of Han
Gt-gt-grandma Abagail’s marker is sandstone and worn pretty badly so I made a placard for her on my laser engraver but I misspelled her name. So I need to make another one to replace it and another one to put in another spot. At least these are light weight. We are pretty sure their granddaughter is buried in the space just to the right of Campbell so that’s where the other placard will go.
I have his civil war pension records and he was injured in a battle east of Little Rock that left him partially paralyzed and I got the date of death from those records.
It was just 20 days short of being 138 years before he got his headstone. Everyone needs a marker, especially veterans.
I left Cades Cove and drove over to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. (Turn at Gatlingburg stoplight #8 and take the historic trail road to it) It’s a five mile one way loop to several old cabins and trailheads to Grotto Falls and Rainbow Falls. If you are ever out there and want to hike to any of the falls be at the trailhead at daybreak. The parking area fills up fast on all trails.
Some sights on the drive.
Right by my car.
I hiked to three different waterfalls this year and was at the trailhead to the before daylight to beat the crowds. I hiked to Husky Branch Falls, Lynn Camp Prong Cascades, Jakes Creek Falls, and the toughest was Upper Meigs Falls. I enjoy reaching my destination and eating a breakfast bar without the crowd. On the way down from the falls I’m always asked two questions. “How much farther is it”? Closely followed by “Have you seen any bears”? It is always obvious that the people asking these questions are not used to the environment they are now in. City dwellers.
I rode the Cades Cove loop again on the 12th and did two laps this time. On the first lap I watched and videoed the 21st bear I had seen on this trip. It was amazing to me that there was so much bear activity. I rode a second lap and about two miles in the sky opened up and it poured nickel sized raindrops. I stayed huddled under my poncho for about 20 minutes. Even being wet it was a great ride. It’s only water.
I’ll add a few more pictures later.
I recently got home from my 5th trip to the Smoky Mountains. I really love hiking the hills in the deep woods and have hiked over 36 miles to 14 different waterfalls. Other trails this trip was another 6 miles.
I had two main goals this year. One was to take my recumbent trike and ride the 11 mile Cades Cove loop road. From May to September they close the loop every Wednesday to motor vehicle traffic and it is open only to bicycles, joggers, and hikers. Goal number two was to place a flag at the Pearl Harbor Tree in honor of my Dad, Uncle, and Aunt who all served in the Pacific theater.
I rode the loop on Aug, 5th and was planning on riding another lap but the idler cog on my chain started chirping because it needed lubrication. I did stop at the pullover for the Pearl Harbor Tree and get the flag placed that morning.
I drove the loop early the next day (at daylight) to hike to one of the old cabins (Elijah Oliver Cabin) I haven’t been able to go to before because the trail was closed because of bear activity. I parked and headed up the trail and looked back toward the road at some stopped cars and watched two bear cubs cross the road and go into the trees on my side about 100 yds away. I continued on to the cabin 1/2 mile away and never spotted any bears along the way.
I got a little rain lase night.
That’s a little over 6″. I’ve never seen that gauge that full.
