Jo arrives

Thusday, May 8, 2008
Well, I have chased Mack around for two days trying to get him to dag out the rocks that he said he would sell me and he keeps coming up with excuses and dragging his feet. I even offered to do all the work myself and he could just watch, but to no avail. I told him that if we couldn’t do it today then we could not do it at all because I had to pick up Jo tomorrow and then my schedule would be too hectic to even attempt the sale. So we came too an agreement that he would give me his cell number and I could call him in a couple of weeks and possibly set something up where we could make the exchange after I had finished with my classes. I am not holding out much hope but I will think it over and decide if I want to make some kind of deal.

Friday, May 9, 2008
I loaded up Sic Fiddy and his non motorized cousin, Bountain Mike, we call him “Mike the Bike”, on to their special carrier on the back of Cazee. I already have 90% of the truck and trailer packed up so tomorrow when Jo and I finish visiting the Rock and Gem show’s we can haul our bottoms out of here.

One of the agreements that Jo and I have is that I will sleep in a tent outside of the trailer. The reason for this arrangement is not what you might think. It is not a modesty or privacy issue it is a “sleep deprivation” issue. You see, I snore.

A couple of years ago I got together with a group of guys and went to this Dude Ranch kind of place in central Flotida. For sleeping accommodations they had bunkhouses that slept six persons. The first night the guy in the next bunk kept kicking my bed and waking me up. We were packed in this place pretty tight and I thought he was just a restless sleeper and that I would talk to him about it in the morning. His restlessness was not the problem. It was my snoring. Apparently I make noises that no human could possibly make. According to them I sounded like a cross between a small herd of asthmatic horses after a twenty mile run and the steam engine room of the SS Clermont. Therefore Jo’s in the camper I am in the tent. Earlier in the week I had set up the tent on the wooden deck, approximately thirty feet behind the camper. By the way, I highly recommend this tent; it is a “Eureka Apex XT” 2 man tent, it’s light, easy to assemble and waterproof, however if you plan to put 2 men in it they should be very small or lovers or both.

Around noon I left for the Asheville, N.C. airport via the interstate system to get Jo, who would arrive around 2pm. We connected as planed hugged and started off on out little adventure. It sure was great to see her again.
We decided to drive back on the “Blue Ridge Parkway” and were rewarded with some wonderful scenic views.





Jo was impressed with the Old Corundum campground as I gave her the tour. That evening we sat on the deck and relaxed, soaking up the mountain tranquility.







Saturday, May 10, 2008

It rained fairly hard last night and although the rain hitting the tent was quite noisy I stayed perfectly dry. Come morning the sun came out bright and cheery. Jo informed me that during lulls in the rain storm last night she could hear me snoring, even over the babbling stream and then still with the window closed. It such a joy having Jo visiting.

Around 10am we set off for the gem shows.



It was huge and it was a bit overwhelming at times. It was hard to get a handle on prices as one booth might charge less for one type of item and more for another than its neighboring booth. I had planned to purchase a better grade of opal than I already had but when I found out I was looking at between two thousand and five thousand dollars for the material they had, I decided that the 3 small bottles of opal that I had would be just fine for what I was doing. If things worked as planed I could always reconsider and contact the opal dealers at a later date.
Two and a half hours later we went for lunch and then to another show for another hour or so and decided that we had had enough.

We returned to OCM (Old Corundum Mill Campground) packed up, hitched up and hatted up to the Sundowner RV campground in Hayesvill NC.



The Sundowner RV Park is a rocks throw from Georgia and 6 miles from the William Holland School.





We are due at the school on Sunday sometime between 3pm and 6pm to sign in and have our get acquainted dinner with the staff and students. In the mean time it is time for me to erect my bedroom. Which, at Jo’s instruction, is approximately eighty to a hundred feet down the hill and into the woods.



The Temperature tonight is expected to be in the high thirties. Man it sure is good having her here sharing this adventure.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Another sunny and beautiful day and even though it got down to the low 40’s last night I was warm and snug in my sleeping bag and tent. We ran into Young Harris, GA for some supplies. Young Harris is about 5 times bigger than Molina GA but we still could not find a grocery or hardware store, so we ended up going to Hayesville, NC which is a teaming metropolis in comparison.

At 5 pm we left for the school and signed in. The meal was a good old country dinner of roast beef and potatoes, which was very good but did not go with my dietary plan. I will be eating most of my meals at home rather than at the school. Afterward we had our class orientation, which lasted later than we expected and we didn’t get home until 9ish.

Monday, May 12, 2008

William Holland School is a two story building built into the side of a small mountain in Northeastern Georgia. This picture is from the uphill side of the building and the second story is below ground on this side and exposed on the other side. The class rooms are on the bottom level and the Lodge or student sleeping quarters are upper level. That is what you are seeing in this photo.



Here is the mess hall. The meals looked good in that down home southern cooking sort of way.



First day of classes. The morning went well as we did several small projects that were fairly simple, but in the afternoon session, we had an earring project that had Jo in fits and she was ready to quit. I struggled with it a little bit but many of the concepts of wire wrapping are similar to other crafts and projects that I have done before, besides I’m just good. Jo finally got the hang of it but was not feeling good about her efforts.
Here is a picture of our class.



As you can see I am the only male in the class.

I have more to post but not enough time. see ya soon.
AV