Since practically my entire family lives in 2 or 3 zip codes only a couple of dozen miles apart, we did the only logical thing.........drove 200 miles west to the Blue Ridge along the NC-TN-VA border area. The old Superduty was saddled up with the 6 x 12 trailer toting nearly a cord of firewood, outdoor cookstand, propane, cookware, 1 bushel of Stump Sound's finest oysters, 4 coolers with 325 qts total capacity, 100 lbs of ice, and pretty much the Complete Technology of Western Man scattered through the bed of the truck and the trailer. My sons and I are the poster children of "go big or go home", you might say.
Those extra million + travelers predicted for NC this year--we found 'em, Still only took an additional 45 min or so and was only run into the emergency lane once by careless lane changers. How you can miss my truck + trailer with all lights ablaze I have no idea.
At this moment, 0600 on Thanksgiving Day, a 2 hour rain shower, the first since the hurricane of early October, just ended. That's something to be thankful for in these smoky, dry as toast hardwood forests.
Soon the babies, aged 3 and 1, will be up and running about the house with their Pop (yours truly) close behind. An 18 pound bird is thawed and ready for the oven. A couple from Raleigh, refugees from our rapidly growing city, will visit from their new permanent residence in nearby Ashe County. Our unmarried son's girlfriend's father drove all the way from Cape Cod, Mass to join us. Pop will build a mondo fire in the stone fireplace, the wind will shift to carry the wildfire smoke away, and we'll have our cherished stellar view of Grandfather Mountain as we dine this afternoon.
Tomorrow we'll suit up the babies and descend a short distance down the mountain to the Christmas tree grower's land where we've been doing business for nearly 30 years. It's a reunion of friends and another chance to see how "your Mom and them are gettin' along".
Come Saturday, the Mom and Grandmom will take the babies to the Christmas Parade in Blowing Rock while the Dad and Pop set up for an outdoor oyster fest for our group, my college roommate from 40 years back, who. like many Appalachian State students from the 1970s, never left the area. His 31 year-old daughter and son in law and other local friends and neighbors will be coming over. After the oyster roast, the long process of re-loading the trailer and strapping down the trees, etc, will ensue, then early to bed for a soon-after-dawn departure on Sunday.
It's a whole lot of work, but a whole lot of fun. Just yesterday, grandson "Billy the 5th" (yes, he carries a V after the name my son and I received from my father and grandfather) held on tightly to his father's hand as he traversed the "Big Mountain", a large outcrop beside the house. It was his first such outing but it won't be his last. He's already talking about how much he likes "Pop's Mountain" so I expect, and hope, he'll be back again and again.
Happy Thanksgiving to all in this fine, caring, and giving community!
Foy
with friends and family!
