Swimming Hole @ MindSay 
We came across a spot I'd never been before with one of the nicest swimming holes I'd ever seen. It was secluded which was good since I had no suit and intended to skinny dip. As I hurriedly headed for the hole I just about tripped over a lone hiker laying in the tall grass under a tree. Startled me good. And ended my chance for cooling off.
Then we decided to go and check out the gold claim since we hadn't been there yet this year. It was peaceful and quiet as always. But my swimming hole is gone .... the river did a big change this year ..... and although a new smaller hole appeared above the old hole ... it's just not going to be the same. Also changing is the old trails that my family used regularly from the site of the cabin to the river. Overgrown now and barely showing signs of any life that may have once existed there. It overwhelmed me yesterday. Like my family before me that loved this place and are now forever gone ..... the changes to the river and the landscape will hide our exsistance here as well. History forever gone. I'll hang on the the claim as long as I can. And the memories that go with it.
I've posted a pic of the old outhouse before .... but it's leaning a bit more now. Long gone from the inside walls .... the drawings my best friend Nancy and I would do and hang up in it. Some were serious pictures ..... some were our childish attempt at outhouse humor .... cartoons. It was a two holer .... and Nancy and I never travelled to the outhouse alone. Lions and tigers and BEARS ..... Oh My !!!
New smaller swimming hole at the claim .... the old hole was much bigger and shadier in the afternoons. Oh well, no complaints .... really.
My "Road to Deacon Lee" cache hidden at this bridge. Deacon Lee trailhead is a popular hiking trail in the summer.
First to find on this Forks of Salmon cache. Beautiful spot on a beautiful day.
First to find on this cache as well. Located at an entry to a campground. These two caches were placed by wheelchair bound individuals and they are highlighting wheelchair accessible areas with their hides.
Salmon river.
Today is a day of getting my first assignment done for my class and also it's another class day so I have to check in there as well and get the second assignment. As you can tell .... I'm already behind ...
But after my shower I plan on getting busy. Oh yeah, got to order the layshaft for my MG too ..... if I plan on having it run soon. Hope everyone's Friday is a good one ..... back to work tomorrow for me.
Peace. J.
We do something here in East Tennessee we call "loafering". It means getting out driving around with no particular place to go. Maybe visit some friends if you drive past their house and they're home. Possibly finding a nice place to stop and eat. We did just that this past weekend along with some family and friends. We filled the cooler with drinks and food, threw it in the van, and headed out. We first stopped by the home of an old friend named Larry Stills. It had been quite a while since I had seen him so when we drove past his house and saw him in the yard I said, "Hey, let's stop and see Larry". You can do that when you are out "loafering", so we stopped and talked about old times for about an hour. After that we headed for the mountains.
There is a local swimming hole nearby where I swam quite a bit in my younger years but a few years ago, after a flood, the road had to be closed for repairs. The road was recently reopened, so we decided to drive down it and stop at the old swimming hole.
Here is the rock that I used to climb and jump off of in my younger, dumber years.
We just skipped a few rocks this time, then drove on through the mountains into North Carolina.
The creek emptied into a river and we drove beside it on our way to a place called "Hot Springs".
Most people don't know this but we have hot springs here, near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, like the ones in Yosemite National park. You can even get in these if you want, and have a nice hot mineral bath. We had planned on stopping here for a picnic, but it occurred to me that an old friend of mine was playing in a band at a restaurant nearby, so we decided to go there. Here is the band in action.
We had a great steak dinner, then danced the night away.
The young and the old got in on the dancing.
Finally, the young got too tired to tango.
Here is the "East West Band". They are a great band. The third guy from the the left is my old buddy, Clinton (Red) Norton. Many years ago, we played in bands together, all over East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
I am really glad to see good people like this playing their music and having a great time. I'm not ready to do it yet, but I hope someday, to give up trucking for awhile and play music full time again myself.
Now it seems that once you stake your claim at any given swimming hole outsiders are not welcome. There is generally not much room at these holes for a lot of folks anyways. So it took awhile to find a spot that was accessable and unoccupied. The spot we stumbled onto was perfect. A couple of good size pools with deep spots and easy access to the opposite and shaded side of the river. The dogs were in their glory. Lots of sticks to fetch, lizards to chase and water skippers to swim after. I had brought a few beers for myself and diet pepsi for the husband - he was the DD afterall. Of course shade is nice but sitting in the middle of the river in the sun with an ice cold beer is much more refreshing.
After about an hour and a half of R&R in the sun and four beers - yes, that is all it took - I was feeling a pretty good buzz. Normally I am not such a lightweight, but being up since 3:30 a.m. and very little food throughout the day made for some interesting hours to come. Soon some other folks showed up at the hole ... apparently tired of trying to find one for themselves. I don't have a problem sharing as long as there is no attitude to begin with and it turns out that these were some pretty nice folks. We ended up smoking a little bit of bud with them and visiting for a bit. We then loaded up the dogs and ventured home - fried in more ways than one. I do have a few stories of swimming hole invasions that turned pretty ugly but not really in the mood to share those right now. Too nice of a day yesterday. What I can remember of it!
The one thing I learned for sure out of all of this is trying to reply to blogs when highly intoxicated is not a bright thing to do. The fingers don't cooperate with the brain at all. The brain won't cooperate with the fingers at all. It's not a pretty sight. I had actually started this blog last night....and ended it this morning after many spelling corrections. Oh well..... gonna see what kind of trouble I can get into today. Too much to do and don't want to do it. Hope everyone has a good day. J.
I was receiving my email and there was one that was taking a very long time to come through. Went about my business and came back later. The email that was coming in so slow was from my husbands son. He still lives on the property that my husband spent a good portion of his young life on. The email was titled "swimming hole" & contained pictures and a short note: "Dad, was out looking for property yesterday and came across this piece. It's for sale - for $65,000.00. Couldn't believe it. Thought you might get a kick out of it. What's new?"
The pictures were looking down on a creek from a ledge above. One showed a wider spot in the creek - the swimming hole. Several different shots of the area. I called my husband in from outdoors. As he came toward the computer I was reading the short note to him and then scrolled down to the pictures.
Silence. Not a word. I turned around to see tears running down his face. This had happened in a matter of seconds. "Are you ok?" I asked. "No." He turned and started to leave the room. I stopped him. Finally after a few more tears and seconds went by he told me that this was where he spent the majority of his time as a kid. He came from an abusive home and this was his secret spot. His place to hide when times got rough. His sanctuary. "I'll be ok" and off he went. To be alone with his thoughts.
Don't really know why I felt the need to share this. I was moved and touched by a reaction I never expected from a man I love dearly. If I could have anything right now it would be that property wrapped up in a great big bow. I would give it to someone who would never take it for granted. Who would appreciate the quiet beauty and keep it that way. I'd give it to my husband.
