[at-l] Smoky's Trip report...part two

[AThiker at smithville.net (Felix)]

Now...where was I? I was right here, of course. But, the story...where 
were we in the story...? I was trying to remember the name of the guy 
who thru-hiked last year that we met at an overlook. His name, Pilot 
tells me, is 'Turkey Bacon'. We talked to TB (which is what I call 
Turkey Bacon now) and his girlfriend for a bit and resume our ride back 
to Waterrock Knob, and my truck. We head to Maggie Valley where we are 
going to meet my good friend Waterfall. We drive up a windy (which is 
pronounced to rime with 'blindy', as in 'a curvey road'...not windy 
pronounced to rime with Mendy and refers to lots of breeze air) road to 
Nina's (which is what I call Waterfall now because if I called her 'WF' 
folx might think I'm talking about 'Wingfoot') cute little house. We 
have a nice little visit before we go to Maggie Valley for to eat. The 
nice visit continued there and beyond. After the visiting ended, we 
headed to Asheville where we were going to visit Pog before going to see 
James McMurtry at the Orange Peel. Pog and Ed were visiting relatives 
(one of their relatives...not mine) and we didn't see them. Pilot and I 
went to the show. As we walked in, some woman came up to me and said "I 
know you"...she didn't look the least bit familiar...so, I said "I don't 
think so" and she said "You're Felix"....Hmmmm, thinks me. "We met you 
today on the Parkway" Ahhhh...I never would have recognized her...

After a great McMurtry show we (Pilot and I) went back to Pog's for 
sleep. We were tired as all the sleep we'd had in the previous 38 hours 
had been in the bed of my truck. We were awakened Sunday morning with 
the wonderful sound of quiche being prepared. (Now, I did not wake up 
thinking 'Hey, that's the sound of quiche being prepared'.)  After a 
nice breakfast with Pog and Ed with tales of their recent canoe trip to 
the Boundary Waters (They told the tales, not us), Pilot and I headed up 
the Parkway toward one of my favorite places on this side of the 
universe...Doughton Park (milepost 240) . Once we got there and got the 
tent set up, we got on our bikes and did a little riding around. We had 
the same site we had last time we were at this campground...#83. We like 
it there.

It seems like it may have rained through the night. I couldn't swear to 
it in no court of law, though. We got up and mounted our bikes (that's 
bike talk for 'to get on one's bike') and road the mile or so to the 
restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, we mounted our bikes (see 
above for a definition of 'mounted our bikes') and rode the 18 miles to 
the Northwest Trading Post and a little town called Glendale Springs. We 
had ice cream and coffee at the little ice cream and coffee shop and a 
pleasant time in general. After which we mounted (...) our bikes and 
road back to Doughton Park. We got rained on a few times...hard at 
times, but fortunately not for long. As we got back to the restaurant at 
Doughton Park, we see a cyclist who had demounted his bike (that's bike 
talk for getting off of one's bike). His hybrid bike had a trailer. He 
was sitting right in front of the gift shop we were going to for to buy 
candy bars to reward ourselves for our fun ride. As we get closer to the 
trailer-biked cycler, I notieced he had an AT t-shirt on. So, we strike 
up a conversation. A little chit-chat and then introductions are made: 
"I'm Felix"..."Oh, I read your stuff in the Trailway News."  "Oh,  
yeah." "In fact, I spent the night with you in New York, or something." 
"You did? When was that?" He went on to describe the situation and he 
and I had, in fact, spent the night together. He had hiked with the 
Honeymooners and Rambunny. I happened, by total happenstance, to happen 
to be where they all were at the same time (VERY small-worldish) and we 
ended up spending the night and hanging out. I had 7 packers w/packs in 
the back of my truck that night...a fun night it was. So, me and this 
trailer-biked cyclist reminisced for a while and I told him that the 
Honeymooners, in fact, were going to be at my cabin 
(http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/cabin3.jpg) the next weekend.  So, 
anyway...that was, we all thought, quite a coincidence. That he and I 
would both happen to be at the same place by happenstance again. And, 
how easily our meeting could have been whizzing past each other on the 
parkway and merely waving.
Pilot and I rode back to the campground and my truck and dismounted 
(this is the 'action' of getting off of one's bike. Once you are off, 
you have 'demounted') (Understanding the biker-lingo is as difficult as 
the cycling...somethymes). We got loaded up and headed out. We had a 
pleasant drive through the countryside around Sparta, NC. We stopped at 
a little diner somewhere and I got to flirt with a wairtress. It seems 
like I got some free desert out of it...but, I can't remember for sure. 
We were headed to the NF campground just south of Damascus about 3 
miles. That is where I stay when I go to Traildays because I don't like 
hangin' out with all the drunks and all. There is a couple who are the 
'campground hosts' that I've visited with for three or four years now. 
And, I wanted them to meet Pilot. Blaine and Gerri Thomas. As fine as 
folx get, Blaine and Gerri are. As fine as they get. We had a very 
pleasant visit with them before we headed out. We went to Abingdon and 
got a room for the night. The next morning we headed home. Highway 58 
west of Abingdon is a curvey (nearly windy) and beautiful drive. We 
stopped in this little store that I've seen many, many times over the 
years. McMurray Grocery is what the sign called it. I'd never seen a car 
there. It was slightly larger than a trail shelter. The door was open so 
we decided to go back. There was a little old woman...Mrs. 
McMurray...inside. I think she was 83. I think she'd run the store for 
62 years. She was gettin' ready to shut it down for good. She smoked the 
whole time we were in there. She didn't have much. We got a lot, though. 
I'll miss McMurray Grocery.

 From there we headed to Cumberland Gap where we like to eat and kill 
some time enjoyin' simpler things. If you're ever driving through, try 
to stop in and have a memory or two. We were driving around and some man 
flagged me down. We sat and talked to him for a bit. He was a Hoosier. 
He had lived in the town my brother lives in now. He knew where my 
brother's shop is. He doesn't like Democrats and apparently Indiana. 
Larry Hendricks was his name. I'll look him up next time I'm in 
Cumberland Gap. I don't remember much of what happened after that except 
Pilot bought a wildflower identification book at the Cumberland Gap NHP 
gift shop and we went and identified wildflowers. That was fun. Then, we 
ate ice cream...only before we ate ice cream, this conversation took 
place: "What flavors of soft-serve do you have?"  "Vanilla" "Do you have 
chocolate?" "No".  That was in Pineville, KY.

So, I sez to Lulu, I sez....

--  
Felix J.
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
ALT '03 KT '03
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/