Fine Arts Day

Wow, what a great day! You just never know when you'll chance upon some wonderful treasures of music and art. Today, they were tucked away high up on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Glendale Springs, North Carolina.

First, there was a wonderful fresco, by Ben Long.
This work of his appears at the Holy Trinity Church built 107 years ago in Ashe County, NC. Ben Long is curently on a 7 year consignment to work on frescoes at The Vatican. Yup . . . he's pretty good!


Next, was a delightful evening concert at the Ashe Civic Center by Emile Pandolfi

A classicaly trained pianist, Pandolfi presented a well rounded show of time tested favorites introduced with humor and a sense of humility which understated his great talent.

WHAT A FINE DAY!

North 35.5342 West 82.3227

"The road less traveled", or "where no road has gone before" is descriptive of Paul & Sherry's stunning 48 acres straddling the eastern continental divide, some 15 miles east of Asheville, NC. When they found this paradise, there was nothing you could call a road on it. I can see why they come to the mountains for a bit of solitude and soul centering relaxation.


Right now, their base camp consists of their Oliver travel trailer and a multipurpose "shabin", a cross between a shed and cabin which can accommodate overflow guests, serve as a storage facility, or even a makeshift cafe' which I have named The TY-wun-ON . . .

During a power hike up and down the steep terrain, Paul & Sherry pointed out several options of where they might build their future home. I pointed out the BEAR TRACKS!#*! along the path to which they said, "Oh, yeah, there's a mother and her cubs with a den down in that deep ravine." Nice . . . real nice . . . glad I left Oscar, aka: "Little Snack," back in the Wonder Egg.
It was a wonderful visit, you can't find more gracious hosts in a five star hotel. For you Oliver Owners out there, look for a notice sometime in the future about a Rally-on-the Mountain. Here's Little Snack, thinking about bears and saying goodbye to our special friends.

Parkin' with the Big Guys!

Oscar just love it when we do this . . . as a little 13 pound dog who dreams of himself as a Great Dane, he relates so well with the Wonder Egg as it parks among these behemoths and claims its rightful place.

Litle Ocmulgee

After the long Texas drought, living underneath the deluge of Tropical Storm Fay was exciting for Oscar (but not the booming thunderstorms when he quivered) He had never seen so much water and when "she" was gone oscar said "Pete, I'd like to see Fay again, let's go north NOW!" I simply can't stand t hear him whine, so, we packed up and went north. Coming upon the crossing of the Suwanee river, I started singing the song by Al Jolson, "Suwanee, Suwanee, how I luv ya, how I luv ya ... when Oscar yelled, "Pete, pull over now!" and I slowed down just in time to cruise into the Suwanee River visitor center.


Which was CLOSED due to the torrential rains from Oscar's girl friend, Fay. I think the electric cars would short out in this parking lot and the van and car pools took on whole new meanings.

But we managed to circumvent the wet stuff and make it to our appointed destination, Little Ocmulgee State Park, in Georgia, a small well kept secret deep in the heart of the south. Well manicured, golf course, lodge, river activities, playground for kids, etc. Best of all, low key and quiet. Yeah, my kinda place.

Needles Acre, Dunnellon, Fl

Well, things are just starting to dry out from tropical storm Fay that lingered overhead for tooooo long. But she's gone now. We shall soon set sights north and plan to pull up stakes on Monday.


Here's Oscar's most recent family photo . . .

The Sunshine State . . .

OK, we just HAD to have the obligatory goofy tourist picture taken as we entered Florida!

But then, just as we were having our photo taken, Florida went all out to honor its newest celebrity canine visitor . . . OSCAR! . . . by putting on this awesome aerial demonstration by the Navy's Blue Angels. Oscar was so thrilled and he swelled with pride.

Oscar guided me by map into the deepest recesses of the southern panhandle of Florida where we navigated through tiny, jungle trails looking for the perfect spot for an overnight stay.

We found it at Ecofina River Resort. Quiet, out of the way, lots of friendly fellow campers, and a gator or two. (Honest, I saw two . . . but I kept them from Oscar the Brave so he wouldn't attack them)

Here's a photo from this morning before we pulled up stakes and headed for Dunnellon, FL to visit family. We'll bed down there for a spell and be back up on line after a while when we set off for points North!

We're OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we've done it . . . we took care of household logistics and Oscar & I are beginning our initial BIG TIME adventure! Wish us luck as we strike out for points generally known with timing totally up in the air.

This morning started with an unusual strong thunderstorm and rain system that delayed our departure time by a couple hours. Somehow, I just couldn't see sending Oscar out in the rain to hook up the trailer. You know, he's such a sweet little dog he complained he might melt in the rain. HA! Besides, he was too busy cowering and doing the "shakey dog" thing every time thunder roared across the sky. I think he imagines some huge, hungry dog "up there" looking for a little snack . . . HIM!!!!!!

One of the joys is that time is very flexible and we're just going with the flow . . . huuuummmmmmm . . . :)

We've bedded down 4 miles inside Louisiana at a casino RV stop. $5 to park, with water & electricity - whoohooo! They figure we'll give 'em all our quarters on the slots and make up for it . . . not a chance.

Tomorrow - Biloxi, MS or somewhere thereabouts.