Tuesday, August 19, 2008

You Want Plans? We Got Plans.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”.--John Lennon

Pilot Mountain, North Carolina.

This has been one of the worst years for me in the past few as far as traveling to wilderness areas and parks is concerned. We've had some good trips, but nowhere near as many as in a normal year. Part of it was the very minor damage I did to my travel trailer. It was just a stuck door (now repaired), but it kept us from feeling comfortable in taking it for a trip. Just the idea of struggling with the door every time we wanted to go in or out seemed more than we wanted to deal with. So we sat on our vacation time until we could spend it the way we wanted.

Now, our planned trip to Acadia National Park in Maine had to be canceled. Carole is having surgery which finally got scheduled (surprise!) on the very week we were planning to be in Maine. Alas! Acadia is one of the most beautiful places Carole and I have ever been, and we dearly wanted to return there. Perhaps we'll make a winter trip. She'll be recovered well enough from the surgery for us to make a more modest trip in mid-September, so we'll go somewhere then.

Me, in Acadia, overlooking Jordan Pond from South Bubble.

We've been reviewing possibilities for our next jaunt with the trailer. We love using it as a base camp. It's perfect for me as I can often hike right out of our campsite on a nearby trailhead that will take me to some mountaintop or down to a waterfall or over a ridge into a virgin forest. So we've been looking at our options within the North Carolina/Tennessee/Virginia/West Virginia areas. We'll find a great place where we've never been and have a chance to get out of the city for a while. It's what keeps us going.

2 comments:

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Sorry you cannot make Acadia, Bob, but its better that your wife gets taken care of. That's a great first photo you posted.

James Robert Smith said...

That's a really neat mountain. No one is allowed to climb to the summit, because it's a nesting ground for ravens which, apparently, are a threatened species. Plus, there are many rare plants on the top of the peak. It used to be privately owned and in those days there was a kind of ladder up the cliff to the top. It has since been removed and no rock climbing is allowed on that part of the mountain.

Yes, Carole will be okay. It's only minor surgery. But of course you always want to be careful. She's not supposed to do any lifting at all for about six weeks after.