An afternoon paddle on Price Lake, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, NC.  Cool water, a nice breeze, and stunningly beautiful weather for an early fall paddle.

What’s the best cheeseburger in the universe?  One you cook yourself at the top of Mt. Mitchell, NC – at 6,684 feet the highest point east of the Mississippi River!

My grand plan was to cook dinner at sunset, in the picnic area about 150 feet below the summit of Mitchell.  57°, rain, wind and fog turned that into cooking in one of the picnic shelters (which just happened to have some wood and charcoal left over at the fireplace), while the clouds descended and fog rolled in. Sitting by the fire enjoying a chili-cheeseburger and new Dos Equis Zero-alcohol brew might have been the best dinner I’ve had in quite a while!  (Even if I did miss the sunset until driving back down below the clouds later in the evening.)

The two field mice living on the shelf to the left of the fire were unhappy I took all their wood to burn, so I made amends by feeding them all my left over potato chips, which they immediately began fighting over!

Earlier in the afternoon, I had hopes of hiking back up to the summit monument and watching the sun go down.  Wasn’t meant to happen; but everything else about the day (and the three days on the Blue Ridge Parkway) was perfect, in spite of rain!

Camping at Linville Falls Campground, mile marker 316 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  No water, electricity, or showers, but the quiet and view make all that worthwhile.
Hiking the Balsam nature trail back down from the summit of Mitchell.  Several times, I had that wonderful scent of “Christmas in the air” while walking through the evergreen trees!After driving back down Mitchell in fog so think I couldn’t see the other side of the road, I just happened upon this view from one of the overlooks on the parkway;  so I guess I did get to see the sunset after all.

We paddled 11 miles of the New River on Labor Day; from the Wagoner Access of New River State Park to the 221 Access.  The water level and flow was very low, so we ended up slogging over rocks all day.  But at the one rapid below, after suggesting that she not go to the left, by golly, Judy took her boat ALL THE WAY to the right!  Right onto the rocks – scaring the kid wading in the water half to death as she almost mowed him down!

When I asked her below the rapid, “What – exactly – were you trying to do?  Her reply?  “YOU SAID TO GO RIGHT, DIDN’T YOU?”

We paddled Charleston Harbor from James Island to Fort Sumter and back last week.  Low tide at Melton Peter Demetre Park meant launching through nasty, thick, black, clinging mud.  Temp was 97° and heat index was a whopping 109°, which translated into many moments of “What the hell are we doing out here?”  Note to self:  This is a great paddle for COOL weather; not so much for the dog days of summer!

And I truly thought that I actually HAD heard it all with the nonsense that swirls around Donald Trump: a Today his “legal spokesperson” (who just so happens to be a young, attractive, eye-candy type of “assistant”)  goes on Fox News and says something so outrageously false that we should have seen her nose growing on air:

Alina Habba’s own words:  “If President Trump didn’t want something turned over I assure you that is something that could have been done. But he never would act like that. He’s the most ethical American I know.”

Sure toots:  And up is down, hate is love, black is white, the sky is falling, and you all are gonna make America great again… right?  Jeez… I listen to such unmitigated BS and wonder to myself, “How can ANYONE be so stupid and ignorant as to believe and support this sociopath?”  Yet they just keep on drinking the Trump-flavored Kool Aid, publicly showing us how serious the conservative “brain-drain” is.

America may well be doomed.

Paddling the Chesapeake Bay on the southern tip of the DelMarVa peninsula on vacation.  The breakwater off the coast at Kiptopeke State Park in Virginia is a  line of partially sunken ships that were constructed of reinforced concrete during World War II.  Of all things to paddle to… Concrete ships!

Two songs for funeral for Brandon. Both have been cut for time.

This one has 2nd verse cut out:

This one has one of the chorus repeats cut out:

So… According to Kevin McCarthy, it’s wrong, immoral, unethical, stupid, etc. to raise the debt ceiling without addressing budget cuts. (That all just happen to be those “woke handouts” that Republicans want everyone to be stupid enough to believe.)  So the Democrat in the White House can simply go suck hind tit and the nation can default for all he cares.

But when a Republican happened to occupy the Oval Office?  Republicans happily raise it without bothering to do any of this outrageous grandstanding we’re now reading about every day.

And they actually expect all Americans to be stupid enough to believe this kind of crap?  And they have supporters that actually ARE stupid enough to eat this shit up?  Wow… just wow.  Anyone willingly supporting these liars and planning to vote republican?  Damn; I don’t even want to know you.

I had a chance to paddle the Cape Fear river last week.  Unusual for eastern North Carolina, there’s some really good class II whitewater mixed in with flat water sections between Lillington, NC and Erwin, NC.

The water was significantly above normal – 4.54 feet on Monday and just under 4′ on Tuesday, so rapids were pretty energetic.  And Shaw’s Great Falls?  (The one place where you have class III water when the river is up?)  It made certain I had the opportunity to take a swim and cool off!