One month OTR

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Thirty one days on the road. It seems much longer than a month, since I left Lake Worth. Time seems slower for some reason. I suppose that is due to all of the new and different activities and locations that I am encountering. I like slow. Slow is a good thing. I liked living in Lake Worth, (I miss my warehouse) it’s just that for the last few years one day just seemed run into the next, then one day I woke up and I was old. What’s up with that? A body can’t sleep through the night without getting up 4 times to go to the bathroom. That’s another thing, now I never pass a restroom that I don’t do an internal check before moving on, and I can certainly no longer trust a fart to be just a fart.

A friend asked me yesterday if this traveling thing was all I had hoped it would be and it surprised me that the answer didn’t spring to my lips with an unequivocated, “Absolutely”. Like most things in life there is a lot of grey swirled in with the negro e blanco. For the most part I have purposely tried not to build up much expectation, a task which is all but impossible when turning your life upside down.

If I had to give the adventure a percentage rating at this point it would be 80% great and 20% not so great with a error figure of + or – 5%. I guess I am one of those people who focuses on the disappointments and tribulations in life when I would be much happier dwelling on how grateful I am that 80% of my adventure has been exceptional.

One of my goals on this journey has been to live life as it comes. Live in the “now” and not in the “past or future”. I seem to be struggling with that (sound fammilar). I occasionally wake up in the night thinking about the money currently going out, none coming in and only having a “hopeful” plan to alter that cash flow scenario. I knew starting out that I would not work to bring income in until after my classes at William Holland School. Waiting for my classes to start could also be why feel like I am circling the airport in a holding pattern. Of course that feeling comes from the book “Live Now, How it should be Done” by M. Payschent Mann.

So in keeping with focusing on the negative, the thing (other than the money) that I was most disappointed in is the “Treasure Factor” here in the Franklin area. It is was not what I had expected it would be. First I must explain “Treasure Factor”. “Treasure Factor” refers to the potential that exists of finding some treasure in any given location. I am not talking large financial gain here (although that would be cool). Treasure is a unique stone, an arrowhead, a civil war musket ball, a fossil, things to mark the adventure. I assumed, mountains, rocks and the “Gemstone Capitol”, would have a HIGH treasure potential, but as I mentioned in an earlier posting that the gemstone mines are pretty much a farce. Perhaps I need to alter my perception of “Treasure” to include the discovery of Highlands road, the waterfalls on the Cullasaja River and old Roy, the rock man, all pleasant treasures. Which reminds me; I need to get a picture of old Roy.

So far, I have to say, I like what I am doing, however I am almost certain when I have decided that I have seen all the things I want to see and done the things I want to do, I plan to get another warehouse / barn / shed. I just like making stuff.

Though cool at night, the last few days have been fantastic. I could not have asked for better weather, the mountain atmosphere and country attitude has been wonderful. (See, I can do positive stuff). People here actually slow down and wave at you when they pass, even if they have no idea who you are.

I will be picking Jo up in a few days and I am excited about that. It will be good to see her again. The Rock and Gem Show is this coming weekend. The end of this week will be a busy time. I will pick Jo up on Friday the 9th. Then on Saturday, break camp and all but connect Lyca to Cazee, hit the Gem show and then grab the trailer and drive down to the new camp site near Young Harris GA. Then we have Saturday evening and Sunday morning to set up the new camp site before we need to be at the school on Sunday afternoon.



Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Nothing much going on here, same old great weather, same old wonderful people, same old exquisite camp site.

I noticed yesterday, that the tents for the Rock and Gem show are being erected. I am really looking forward to the show, however Cutter, not so much. Rocks don’t have strong odors and they don’t digest well.

One of the ladies that has a permanent trailer site got Mack, the campground owner, to take his tractor and dump three buckets of dirt in her garden area yesterday. When I passed her trailer while walking Cutter, she was struggling to spread the piles out. I asked her if she would like me to help her but she said no, that she could handle it. When Cutter and I returned from the walk she had moved very little dirt and was sitting down mopping her brow. I put Cutter in the trailer and grabbed my shovel and within 20 minutes had the piles leveled inside the stone boarders that defined her planting area. It felt great to be able to help someone like that, plus it earned me a glass of lemonade and a pleasant conversation while making a new friend. What a cool treasure that was.

Many of the part time residence have not arrived for the summer yet. The trailer occupancy is about 20%. I have been told that many of them are rockhounds and some actually make a living doing the things I am aspiring to do. I hope some of them show up before I leave. There is one man, John Wilson that is here now, who does gem faceting (fa-cet-ing). Faceting is cutting a clear or colored gemstone with flat areas so that it reflects the light internally and makes the stone sparkle. Gemstones like diamonds and rubies, sapphires, amethyst, quartz, etc. Though interesting, for some reason faceting is not something that I desire to learn to do. When I told John about what my plans were and how I wanted to cut opals he informed me that he used to cut opals but he liked faceting so much that he rarely does any cabochon cutting more. Then he added that he had a bottle of rough opal that he would sell me if I wanted them (cheap). Wow, more treasure. They were pretty good stones too and they cost less than half of what I had previously purchased at the West Palm Beach Gem Show for the same quality and quantity of stones.

I showed them to Mack, the campground owner, and after looking at them he said that he had a bottle of opals somewhere and if he could find them he would sell them to me. Then one of the other men standing by said that they might be with that stuff that Bill left. It turns out that the “Bill” he was referring to was an avid rockhound who unexpectedly died a several years back and left Mack with the chore of disposing of his property. Among the items abandoned was a bunch of rough rocks, rock slabs, crystals, geodes, and who knew what else. Bing, bing, bing, treasure jackpot!!!! Mack said that they were buried in a shed and said he would try to drag them out if I was interested in them.

I said “Absolutely” trying not to show how excited I was.

Then one of the other guys said you have been saying that every year since you put them in there. I told Mack that I would bug him every time I saw him until he did it. He laughed and nodded, but made no further commitment.

I saw Mack this morning (Tuesday) and as promised I mentioned the rocks. He indicated that he would dig in the shed this afternoon. I offered my assistance and he said he would let me know. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

AV