Light the Night

Last weekend we walked Light the Night which raises money in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. LLS exists to find cures for blood cancer patients. Sara and Skye started walking Light the Night in 2014 after Jimmy was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma. This was the first year we walked on the National Mall in DC. It was a beautiful night with perfect weather. The actual walk was 1.5 miles.

Lots of our friends and family members turned out. People were more than generous with their donations and Team Eagle Rock raised over $3,000.00. After the walk we all went back to Virginia and had drinks and dinner.  It was a really fun night.

I Love New York

It is that time again. Another trip to New York for lab work and a visit with Dr. Sauter. Only this time Jim is scheduled for his 18 month PET Scan, CT scan and his first bone scan. We left yesterday morning (Monday) to take the Vamoose bus to New York. You can't beat the price and timing is about the same as driving (five hours). The bus drops us off near Penn Station and we cab it to Manhattan's Upper East Side. We know the drill. It took a lot of convincing to get Jimmy to agree on the bus but finally he caved to my nagging. Personally we can read, sleep or check emails on the computer. Off we went with plenty of room initially until our one and only stop in Arlington soon filled the bus. We sat near the back. Never again. There was a steady flow of people going in and out of the bathroom exposing us to repugnant fumes. An hour into the trip Jim accidentally spilled his coffee. Luckily it was an iced coffee and only a small amount went onto his computer. The rest of the coffee was absorbed by both of our jeans. UGH. I ended up sitting on one of my magazines the rest of the trip to prevent a total butt soak. Now Jim is convinced never to take the bus again, like it was the buses fault that he spilled his coffee. A couple of other odd things happened on the trip up. After we picked up the stop in Arlington for some reason the bus driver headed into DC and drove onto the campus of Georgetown University. I think he was trying to find a place to turn around but he had to go on the wrong side of the road to avoid a gate arm that was there to prevent cars from entering. Later when we were on the highway he pulled over at a truck weigh station because I think he thought he had to weigh the bus. WHAT??? That has never happened before. Lastly he stopped at a rest stop and ran to the back of the bus to use the restroom. Can't blame him for that one. Despite all the delays we still made it to the hotel in time to freshen up and go to Jim's first appointment.

The hotel is The Bentley. We have stayed there many times because it is a convenient walk to the hospital and it's within the price range of other hotels in the vicinity. They all are incredibly expensive but that is New York City for you. The Bentley actually gives discounts, although not much, to Memorial Sloan Kettering patients. We had only been in our room for ten minutes before Jim noticed an enormous water roach on the ceiling. I immediately started for the elevator to notify the desk but on my way I saw the housekeeping supervisor and when I told her, she marched into the room, stood on the ottoman and swatted at the Neanderthal bug. After a couple of attempts she got it and flushed it down the toilet. She said they sometimes come up the pipes. We were on the 20th floor!!! That's a lot of crawling. What pipes? After she left I flushed the toilet again.

When Jim's bone scan was done
we went to our favorite pub, Treadwell Park. They have a nice selection of beers and even food that I can eat. We spent a couple of hours there listening to the music, drinking beer and ciders and eventually ordered dinner.

 This morning Jim was up early for his CT and PET Scan. I stayed at the hotel until he returned. The process takes a couple of hours. We didn't meet with Dr. Sauter until 1:30 and I can thankfully report that his Pet looks good. No Evidence of Disease! Thank you God first and Mike Rice second. Dr. Sauter said the report came back quickly this time because the radiologist did not see anything suspicious to investigate further. Sauter said when there is something on the scan it's like a bright flashlight in a barn. Ok sounds good to me. 

We are on our way home. This time we are taking the Gold bus. More room, less people and we are sitting closer to the front, far away from the bathroom. It's a happy day.

Sweet Virginia

Thursday we left Marion, North Carolina and headed towards Virginia. We had a few days left on our vacation and could have gone other places but decided to start heading back home. Pulling a 29 foot travel trailer can be tiring and unfortunately I can't help with the driving. Sometimes I know I make things worse for Jim by how nervous I get while he is driving. I help navigate by using my phone's GPS and by using paper maps. But still sometimes we find ourselves on a narrow road where it is hard to turn around or back up. That can be stressful.

After leaving Marion we wanted to find a bakery or healthy grocery store where we could buy some pastries or snacks to go with our coffee. I found a store in an upcoming town and it didn't look too far out of our way. Well as it ended up we had to drive through the center of this tiny community and my GPS kept rerouting us. Finally we found the store and Jim was able to pull over in the far corner of the parking lot away from all the cars. It was hot out and he left the truck running while he went in first. We have to tag team because of Boo. I was getting out of the truck to retrieve something from the Airstream when I saw this little old lady that had been staring at us earlier when we drove by. Long story short I ended up talking with her for about 20 minutes while Jim was in the store.

Her name was Judy. She was probably in her late 70's. She and her husband, Bruce, used to travel in an RV hence her interest in stopping to talk with me. Judy lived in town and even waved at a car going pass as we were chatting. Her husband, Bruce, died 11 months ago. When I asked her if he had cancer she told me her story. Bruce had a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had a stem cell transplant, but it was an autologous one (when they use their own cells). Jim had that first before using Mike's cells. Judy said Bruce was doing well until his one year check up. They saw a spot on his lungs during the PET Scan. Apparently this spot was there before and they never seemed too concern about it but this time they wanted to go in and remove it. She told me "if you are feeling good with no symptoms to leave it alone." Removing the spot revealed that Bruce had lung cancer. The kind that non smokers get. She said he went down hill drastically after they removed the spot, as if they stirred all the cancer cells up. After 53 years of marriage she lost her Bruce. She told me she use to be the navigator on their road trips and Bruce would drive. Now she has to do both and it's not easy. I guess you could say I was meant to meet Judy. She had a story to tell and I could sympathize and relate to some of it. She is a neat little lady. Jim came out of the store without any purchases. He said the sidetrack was a waste of time and I told him it wasn't and I had a story to tell when we got back on the highway.



We drove to southern Virginia and set up camp at Staunton River State Park. There was barely anyone in the park. It's a beautiful state park with lots of trees situated between the Staunton River and the Dan River. We learned that it was also listed as an International Dark Sky Location. That means it is a land possessing an exceptional quality of starry nights. When the sun goes down and there is no moon out it is DARK.

We decided we should take our showers before evening turned dark. Here's a tip (for the women) if you don't have many products with you when camping and want to still exfoliate your skin. It sounds silly but it works. I took the mesh bag that my lemons came in and used it to hold my soap and face wash. In the shower I also used the bag to hold the soap and it works as an exfoliator. After your done soaping, the mesh bags rinses easily and the soap and face cleanser goes back in it. Multipurpose use for a mesh bag that used to hold lemons.

Later in the night Jimmy and I took Boo for a walk. We had a flashlight on hand because it really was hard to see where you were going. The stars in the sky were incredible. We saw the Milky Way and the Big Dipper. I'm just glad we didn't see a bear. Earlier in the day we met a woman who told us a woman at another state park three hours north of us was attacked by a bear a few days ago.

We are back home now and like the old saying "There's no place like home" rings true to me.  We are going to try to do another jaunt in a couple of weeks but this time closer to home and only for a long weekend.

Magnificent Mount Mitchell

Although we loved Paris Mountain State Park, it was time to move on. We hated leaving the beauty of the mountains, the quietness of the park and the darkness of the night while sitting outside listening to the cicadas sing but it was onward to another adventure.

We drove to Marion, North Carolina and took up residence at a CampingWorld RV park. This is so not us but the park was convenient to the Blue Ridge Parkway and our goal was finally to see Mount Mitchell. Earlier in our travels this stretch of the parkway was closed because of damage Hurricane Irma caused so we were unable to visit Mount Mitchell. After settling into the campground we drove the hour drive to Mount Mitchell State Park. Mitchell's summit is the highest point east of the Mississippi. It stands proudly at 6,684 feet. We drove straight to the summit and although the sun was still pretty high in the sky the views were spectacular. We had a 360 degree view of solid mountain ranges. My photographs could not capture their beauty but I tried.

It was too late in the day to do any major hiking and honestly I was ok with that. It is bear season and there are warnings here about "aggressive bear attacks". The bears are feeding a lot and getting ready for the upcoming winter season. The last thing I wanted to do is hike into the mountains and confront a bear. I am getting wimpy in my older age.
On our way back down the mountain we stopped at all the overlook spots. Boo kept his head out of the window for a good portion of the drive up and back. The smells, including skunk, must have overwhelmed him.

There was one sad note along the drive. Apparently there is a tiny beetle called the balsam woolly adelgid and it is killing a large number of Fraser firs. You can look throughout the mountain and see the devastation. If you look above the Mount Mitchell sign (see photo above) you can see the stick looking trees in the background. These were once vibrant Fraser firs.









As we continued our descent down the mountain we came across an eerie magical fir that had been devastated by this invasive beetle. I found it to be quite beautiful so I will end this blog with pictures of this tree.

Greenville

This morning we met another Airstreamer. Josh and his wife, along with their 16 month old son and two dogs, are in a campsite close to us. Josh, who has a masters degree, is a stay at home daddy while his wife is a traveling physical therapist. They are from Vermont but bought an Airstream and are traveling the country. She gets contracted to work for a time as a physical therapist and when the contract ends they move on to another state. What a cool thing to do while you are young. I didn't mention it earlier but when we were camping in Grayson Highland State Park we met another couple, also in an Airstream, raising three children on the road. They also had a German Shepherd. The father was a traveling nurse and the mother (who was homeschooling the oldest child) was studying to be a nurse practitioner. I find it interesting that both families we met are traveling in Airstreams. At the campground is one more interesting family. I haven't met them but they are a young couple with four or five boys and they are living in a converted old school bus. The older boys ride their bikes through the campground and you can hear the little one squealing from time to time. This is a state park so their is no laundry facility or sewer hook up. Basically whatever water that comes into your camper goes into your holding tank. I personally use two tubs in my sink when I wash dishes and then many times I dump the water outside instead of letting it fill the reserve tank. Once the tank is full we would have to go through the hassle of hooking back up the Airstream and driving it to the dump station to deposit the water. That's a pain. It's better to conserve what water goes into the tank in the first place. I don't know how the family in the bus do it with all those children. Today I walked by and she had so many clothes hanging on make shift clotheslines. That means she washed them the old fashion way in buckets.

Today we ventured into Greenville. The downtown area is very nice. We visited Falls Park on the Reedy, a popular park with trails and gardens surrounding the falls in the heart of downtown Greenville. We walked over the curved suspension bridge which overlooks the falls and meticulously groomed gardens below.

On part of the walk we ended up at Furman University. There was a tree on the path with its roots exposed. Unfortunately people had carved their initials all over the trunk and roots. It's amazing how it stands tall with so much of it's backbone exposed.

Along the trail are many restaurants and shops. We stopped at Papi's Taco Shop for Tuesday $2.00 tacos. Jim and I both got two tacos each and they were authentic and delicious.

 Before leaving Greenville we stopped at a local Brewery and sat outside with Boo, checking our emails on their free WIFI. I had a cider which was pretty good. We went to Whole Foods to buy some fish and returned to the campsite for a delicious dinner of Rockfish on the grill and salad. 

Tomorrow we head north.

Paris Mountain State Park

We slept with the windows open last night. The crickets and cicadas were very loud and I loved listening to them. The campground itself was barely occupied. You can also hear a train blowing its whistle on a regular basis through the night. I find it a comforting sound. Unfortunately in the middle of the night I could hear a lot of dogs barking in the distance. It's either a puppy mill farm, which really disturbs me to think of that, or most likely it's someone that hunts and has a lot of dogs in kennels. They probably saw a wild animal and once one started to bark they all started to bark. I ended up putting my earplugs in.

Today Jim and I didn't leave the park. Jim spent the morning working and making business phone calls...oh and cooking bacon on the camp stove. I made buckwheat pancakes and we finally ate around 11:00. It was worth the wait. In the afternoon we took a three mile hike to the visitor center and around Lake Placid. Paris Mountain State Park was built in 1935 and if you take the time to read the information in the visitor center (which we did) it really is amazing how they built things back then. Most of the structures are stacked stones and timbers. I found it architecturally pleasing to the eye.

Boo saw the water and like most labs wanted to go for a swim. After walking around a good part of the lake we found a spot for him to get his toes wet. We only had our 6-foot leash and weren't about to let him go freely into the water. There was a dam close by, not to mention bears, raccoons and other wildlife. Jim held onto the leash and Boo eventually stuck his head under the water and retrieved a stick to chew on. That's what he does at the river back in Virginia. Eventually we walked backed to the campsite. I kept my eye out for copperhead snakes hiding in the leaves. They are prevalent in this area. Also the ranger said someone spotted a black bear in the park a couple of days ago. One can never be too careful.

When we got back to the campground we gave Boo a bath and showered ourselves. Easy peasy pasta and marinara sauce for dinner. No gourmet cooking tonight.

Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not.

Yesterday we drove into the town of Laurens, South Carolina to visit the public library. Jim was trying to continue a genealogy search that his dad started many years ago. The Riddle lineage can be traced back to John and Mary Riddle who came over from Scotland via Ireland and settled in Laurens. There was a librarian named Elaine Martin who worked in the genealogy room since 1964. Jim’s dad spoke with her many years ago when he was doing research. We were hoping she could help Jimmy continue some research. When we arrived at the library Jim asked if there was someone who could help him and we were told Elaine passed away two weeks ago. They are naming the genealogy room in honor of her. Jim spent at least two hours in the room looking at old records and census reports but didn’t find anything new to contribute to what his dad already learned. In the meantime, I walked around with Boo and then found a shady spot to wait for Jim. There were fire ant mounds all over the grounds. 

After the library we set off on a quest to find the Old Riddle Schoolhouse and the property where Mary and John raised their twelve children and where they evidently were buried. We drove to the spot but were unable to find anything. There probably was a small cemetery deep in woods but undetectable from the road. The day was pretty much a wash. We went back to our unpleasant campground surrounded by fire ant mounds and overweight tan men smoking cigarettes and not wearing shirts. We were ready to move on to a nicer area. Yes you might say we are camping snobs but we much prefer to camp in the mountains as opposed to a lot by the side of the highway.

 This morning we were ready to pack up and head out. We reserved a site at Paris Mountain State Park which is north of Greenville. Jim was having trouble hooking the truck up to the trailer because there was not enough room between our trailer and the one in front of us. After many attempts we asked the man if he could move up a little but instead he retracted one of his additions that slide out and we were able to get on our way. We drove north of Greenville to a beautiful campground in the mountains. 

It was not crowded. It’s in the shade so we don’t need the air conditioning and it’s clean and feels safe. We set up camp and then decided to drive over an hour to Sassafras Mountain, the highest mountain range in South Carolina. First of all to those of you who solely rely on GPS, learn to read a map. GPS does not work in the mountains. Even with a good map sometimes it’s hard to find your destination. Eventually we reached Sassafras Mountain. There was nothing there with the exception of a spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

We got a little lost on our adventures back to the campsite and ended up in North Carolina. Like I said read a map and don't rely on GPS. All was good. We stopped in Brevard, NC at a really cool organic grocery store and stocked up on a few things. Jim bought the very last piece of fresh tuna from the waters of North Carolina. We've been wanting seafood to grill out every since we started the trip. We also pulled into a random parking lot with a self serve ice machine to add fresh ice to our coolers. 

Dinner was spectacular.