the call of the mountains

It's Sunday of the week we leave for vacation. Hopefully, Thursday morning by this time, we will be passing into SC from GA. Can't wait.

The first part of our trip will take us to Lenoir, NC, arriving before dusk on Thursday. Just south of Boone, it is close enough to spend only a half hour traveling to Boone for Cheap Joe's Boone in June Trade Show on Saturday. Friday we will tool around the area taking in the mountains and the sights. Friday night we plan to meet friends in Hickory for dinner.

After Boone in June, we will head west to Asheville for the next and largest part of our trip. We will spend 8 days in Weaverville, just north of Asheville, where we have rented a small 1 bedroom cottage. While we plan to do some outings, we also plan to stay very close to the cottage resting, reading, doing Buddhist practice and artwork, and watching DVDs. There is a phone with local access but we won't know if we will be able to log onto the internet from there. We've already been told by the owner that cell phone receptivity there is rare if at all. I hope to have internet access while away so I can post pictures and tales of our time in the mountains.

The last part of our trip is a somber pilgrimage. We will go to SC for 2 days and visit the location of Todd's death and go to the cemetery to view his headstone for the first time. Seeing his name and his birth and death date chiseled into stone is the very last part of the process of letting go of Todd. It's already been 2 years. It goes fast. We will visit with Todd's widow and her new husband, then return to Jax on July 1st.

I need this time away like I haven't needed a vacation in a long time. For the last 5 years I have taken vacation in late March - early April. I am feeling the fatique of the extra 2 months of work without vacation. I'm tired and really need a break. I love the area we're going to. The mountains roll over my consciousness and soul in a way that refreshes me. When I lived in NYC I vacationed every year in S.Florida. That is where I went to wash away the stress and strain of my daily life. Now that I live in FL I seek out the mountains of NC for restoration. I love it there. The air, the beauty of the mountains, the sky, the people, the sound of no sound.

But the trip is not today. It is not until the end of the week. And there is much to do here now.