[at-l] Keeping it a hiking discussion?

[KellyGoVols at aol.com (KellyGoVols@xxxxxxx)]

Aww!  ya'll are making me cry!  I never felt so much love!  I've gotten twice 
as many off list emails from lurkers supporting me, some of them I've never 
even heard of before!   SOOOOOOO it seems I have more friends than foes on the 
list, and some people said I ain't the type to just back down, and they were 
right.  You don't like my posts?  Block me.  I won't get offended.  And I'm 
over feeling sorry for myself, and back to being the big mouthed, not-so-dumb, 
blonde southerner that I am.  I have half a mind to tell the most dumbest, 
blondest, Southernmost, Vols joke I know, But I be damned if I can think of one, 
Gosh Darn it!  And, just for you, Dutchy, I'll make this trail related.  (By the 
way, I'm sorry about your back.  I hope you are up and at it ASAP)

I went on vacation this weekend in Rogersville, Tennessee.  The Boy and I 
stayed at Camelot Golf Course and Country Club, which is owned by my ex, and not 
in operation. We had the whole place to ourselves, about 180 flat acres, 
surrounded by mountains. We had access to about a dozen golf carts, one of which I 
ran into a creek. (it was dark!)  I didn't do any damage to the cart, but I 
got an egg on my head and lost one of my favorite shoes.  Anyway, I took the dog 
and the boy along with me on my "cart hikes."  It was the only way I could 
get the Boy to go!  The mountains were so nice and cool (temp wise and 
otherwise) in comparison to Florida.  God, how I loved it.  Of course, I did the cart 
hike/walk hike where I would ride the cart half way up the mountain until it 
got treacherous, and then hike the rest of the way.  I saw a baby deer (doe?) 
and we both shocked each other enough to get a long look, and for me to take a 
picture.  Too bad I was 100 yards away and he (she?) looks like a speck, but 
hopefully my new digital Elph will allow me to zoom in enough to prove it was 
indeed a deer, and not a small dog.  I also managed to get lost THREE TIMES. I 
was constantly having to knock on someone's door and ask for directions to the 
"Golf Course." And thank God I understand backwoods southern, otherwise I 
would still be walking around out there.  Then, after walking back, I'd have to 
walk up the same mountain to retrieve the Golf cart.  The boy and the ex thought 
this was hysterical.  I was ready to kill them, but by the time I reached the 
golf cart, and had a couple of the beers I naturally stashed away, I was just 
fine and giggled with them upon my return.  I picked some wild flowers, 
shocking myself on an electric fence which sent me screaming backward about five 
feet.  I think I nearly gave the Boy a heart attack.  He thought a snake bit me. 
 (Have I been gone from the country THAT long?  I should've known better.) 

One of things that really cracked me up, and made me swell with pride, is on 
one of my hikes, a house appeared out of nowhere.  It was on a gravel road, 
with nothing around for miles.  I mean, NO ONE would ever pass by this house 
unless they were going TO the house.  However, this house had the biggest Go Vols 
flag I've ever seen, alternating orange and white Adirondak chairs, (sp?) and 
alternating orange and white flowers growing everywhere.  I mean, that's team 
spirit!  Well the Vols undisputedly do have the largest group of fans.  

Anyhoo, another thing I've learned?  Country bugs are dumb.  I mean, they 
don't bit or sting or anything, they just dive bomb your eyes and ears and your 
mouth, if it happens to be open.  And these aren't small bugs either? They HURT 
when they crash into you.  Is there some blind species of flying bug I'm 
unaware of?

To summarize, and I would really go into detail, but I'm back at the office, 
and the place is a disaster.  I don't know how this happened.  I was gone TWO 
WORKING DAYS.  OK, so hurriedly:

Times I fell:   3 (two times outside one inside)
Times I burnt myself:  1 (lighting fire crackers on the 4th)
Times I got lost: 3 outside 1 inside (the country club and attached house is 
like 25,000 square feet, it was like the freaking Shining)
Times I crashed a golf cart into a creek:  1 (thank God)
Times I shocked myself: 1 (you only do that ONCE)
Times I got chased by dogs: 5 (with my dog, all four pounds barking right 
back at'em.... he takes after his Mom!)
Times I almost ran over my dog with a cart: too many to count
Times other people almost rain over my dog with a cart: too many to count.
Times I skinned my knee: 1
Times I bumped my head: 1
Times I broke a toenail: 1
Times someone died: 1

My ex and his Father and two uncles own what is known as Camelot Golf Course 
and Country Club and the surrounding area, which also includes Pressman's 
home, Pressman's plant and other buildings that are all part of the Tennessee 
Historical Society.  Anyway, I was supposed to go visit Red on Sunday, which is 
the day my ex's uncle Mike passed away.  He died of hemorrhaging from 
self-medicating himself with his high blood pressure medication.  This same day, the 
truck I was going to borrow to drive to Red's broke down, and fixing it was, of 
course, secondary at that point.  The rest of the vacation was a subdued 
affair, as it well it should have been.  My ex was extremely close to his uncle 
Mike.  The Boy, too, was also close, as they were once all in business together.  
I thought of leaving early, but I felt it my duty as Gary's friend to be there 
for him.  His way of dealing with it was by getting good and drunk, so Kenny 
and I stayed and got drunk with him.  He seems to be OK now, a little sad, of 
course, but OK.  My deepest sympathies go out to the entire Valletta family, 
and I'm glad I got to see uncle Mike one last time.

GoVolsGoDean 
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