Saturday, 23 & Sunday, 24 November 2019
I spent almost all of Saturday and Sunday sitting in the parking lot at the Visitor Center using their wifi signal to catch up on these posts, and to plan my travel when I leave here Monday. Not having even my own hotspot at my campsite makes things surprisingly difficult for me. It takes time to figure out where I'm going next and where I'm going to stay and how to get there. And even when I've written drafts, it takes time to turn them into intelligible posts. It's really much easier with a readily available signal.
About 2:30 Saturday, I went down to town for groceries and propane. The route from here to there is torturous - down Bluff Road, left on Locke Cuba Road which becomes Millington Cuba Road which becomes Randall Branch which becomes something else which becomes something else which becomes Shelby Avenue. And I'm not kidding.
And most of these names aren't reported by Google or by the nice people at the Visitor Center, so when I'm actually driving the route, I'm mostly going on faith. (Faith that if I become irretrievably lost, some nice family will take me in for the night.)
The roads are all barely 2 lanes wide with encroaching greenery, they all have s-curves and right-angle turns and blind driveways and hills - all of which makes it impossible to see very far ahead. But the speed limit is 45 mph and that's what the locals want to go. Nerve-wracking for me, and I spend the drive worrying about getting lost down one of these roads.
I heard a song on the radio with the lyrics, "The long way isn't the wrong way; the wrong turn isn't the end." Considering the almost daily-ness with which I get lost, I'd say that's my theme song.
The drive to town is supposed to be only 20 minutes or so, and I only stopped for propane and groceries, so I assumed when I was ready to go back that it was about 3:30. But I was surprised to see that it was getting really dark (sunset's not till about 4:40) and assumed it was because of heavy dark cloud cover blocking the sun. But it was 5:00 when we got back to the campsite. I have no idea where the time went.
Getting back so late pushed our whole routine back an hour, which was confusing for the dogs and meant I didn't bother with a regular supper. I usually feed them before 5:00, and I eat not much longer after that. It's the early darkness, I guess, that's made such an early schedule seem reasonable.
The campground population really picked up over the weekend. On Wednesday there were only 2 of us; Thursday there were 3; but both Friday and Saturday the population tripled to 9 and Sunday night it was up to 12. It's really unusual - even in the summer or during a holiday - to see that: campgrounds always start clearing out on Sundays. And also oddly, nobody seemed to have dogs until Sunday night. We were lucky this whole time.
There are 2 memorials at the Visitor Center.
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| memorial to the CCC, who built many TN parks including this one |
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| reverse side, mentioning (oops) a "bridal" instead of "bridle" path |
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| close-up of plaque |
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| memorial to Ed Meeman, journalist and remarkable fellow |
When we were sitting at the Visitor Center on Sunday - a chilly but sunny day - we saw a photographer and an attractive young couple and their baby all dressed up and clearly taking photos for the Christmas card. I saw them go over to a cute little gazebo behind the Center, and I'm sure the photos will turn out well.
When the dogs and I were out walking later, we passed that gazebo and I was stunned to see it almost coated with dead ladybugs. The floor and the seats - just covered. I wasn't watching them but am guessing the couple decided not to go inside for the photos.
Late Sunday afternoon my computer seized up again. Got taken over by somebody claiming to be Microsoft security or something. I couldn't get any other screen except theirs. This is the third time that's happened so I now know the drill:
Use smallest screwdriver, take off back of computer.
Unscrew even smaller screws, take out battery.
Unplug battery.
Replug battery.
Reinsert battery.
Retrieve dropped tiny screws, finish reinserting battery.
Reattach back of computer.
Find out part of back isn't fully in place.
Detach it.
Carefully attach it correctly.
Turn on computer.
And Presto! Like magic. Computer functioning again. All thanks to knowledge gained from my very smart brother.
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