Category Archives: Travels

Beaver Dams:

Judy and I went for one of our walks in the “Icky Woods” again today. The owner of the campground here on Lake Hartwell gave us a challenge. We had asked about bicycling and hiking opportunities and were told about limited opportunities. But then he told us that he and his family had hiked down to the stream that crosses their property. He told about walking up the stream to its source, a spring. He also indicated that it was a very difficult hike because of thorny brush and some steep banks. Well that was all the challenge we needed. Continue reading Beaver Dams:

Sailing on Lake Hartwell

We are now in South Carolina. We are camped on a lake called Lake Hartwell. It is in the west end of South Carolina. It is a man made lake, Corps of Engineers, and it has some 900 miles of convoluted shoreline. This is a lake made for our schooner rigged canoe. This time you will just have to visit the web site to get a good look at Gary walking the schooner rigged canoe to the water. It is balanced on the bicycle trailer, and you can clearly see the double masts of the schooner rig. Also you can see Judy’s autumn colors reflections photo.

We spent a couple hours on the water and paddled about two miles this time. Our trip was very tranquil. We were able to observe a Great Blue Heron as we quietly paddled on this warm sunny afternoon. He didn’t seem to mind us shadowing him and he periodically flew up ahead of us and watched us glide by again. The autumn colors are beginning to develop nicely around the lake. We did observe that the beach houses are spaced very closely along the shore, and each house has a dock. Most docks have a speed boat or a party barge. In addition many docks have two or three “Personal Watercraft.” We only saw one “Bass Boat.” I would imagine that the intensity of the cacophony of buzzing boats makes it tough for the devoted fisherpersons. But on a quiet autumn weekday there was nothing moving except ourselves. It was magical.

We will spend a couple more days here, and then we will flirt with the big urban sprawl of Atlanta. We are going to a fairground campout in Marietta Georgia for a Bluegrass festival a week from Friday. Gary has been faithfully playing the guitar every day and teaching himself to pick melodies with the computer providing the accompaniment.
Judy is just as busy creating quilts and wall hangings for the church. So you see that we keep ourselves busy and entertained. By day we are always exploring our surroundings and in the evenings we create and practice.

We do enjoy getting comments back from these Blogs, and we like to hear what is going on with our friends and relatives back home. Do remember that if for any reason you wish to be dropped from our mailing, just send back a reply. You can always catch up later by checking out our web page.

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Time to wish everyone a good evening and send this on its way.
Love to all from Gary and Judy

Two masted canoe
Gary Walking the Two Masted Canoe to the Water on Lake Hartwell
Lake Hartwell
Fall Colors Reflecting in Lake Hartwell, SC

Long Ago, Far Far Away:

We both grew up in the Spokane Washington area. I went to John Rogers and Judy went to Mead High School. Here we are 45 years later, and out in the middle of North Carolina we have been having a Rogers class of 1960 class reunion. Two of my good buddies from school live or work in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina. As we drew close we made contact and for the last four days we have been reliving all of the old pranks and science experiments that we together conducted “Long Ago, and Far, Far Away.” Continue reading Long Ago, Far Far Away:

Walk in the Icky Woods:

While replying to an e-mail from one of my associates from back at Boise Cascade, Diane Dillard, I responded to her celebration of having walked over three miles on the treadmill at the mill’s exercise club. Now Judy and I do really miss the workout times at the club and especially the good friends there, so I chided her by saying that we had to do our walking in the “Icky Woods.” So this blog is about walking in the “Icky Woods.” Continue reading Walk in the Icky Woods: