All of you that have followed this blog know of my love for Newfoundland - for the place and most of all for the inhabitants. Imagine my rapture when I discovered that the novel by Annie Proulx that I was reading, after the first 25 pages set in New York, takes the leading characters back home to The Rock. From that point on Proulx’s work is permeated with place, people and patois.

I had been looking around for a novel by Proulx after reading her short story in The New Yorker Summer Fiction Issue. At the public library I decided against her several volumes of Wyoming stories and chose The Shipping News because I was aware that it was an earlier award winning work. The book jacket announces it the winner of the U. S. National Book Award. That edition was apparently printed before it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The book is worthy. I am in awe.

“And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery” - E. Annie Proulx

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Out beyond wrong and right there is a field

I will meet you there

- Rumi

“Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion” is the sub-title of The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt, published in 2012, and reviewed as follows:

“Haidt’s research has revolutionized the field of moral psychology. This elegantly written book has far-reaching implications for anyone interested in anthropology, politics, religion, or the many controversies that divide modern societies. If you want to know why you hold your moral beliefs and why many people disagree with you, read this book..”

—Simon Baron-Cohen, Cambridge University, Author of Zero Degrees of Empathy and The Science of Evil

“Jonathan Haidt is one of smartest and most creative psychologists alive, and his newest book, The Righteous Mind is a tour de force—a brave, brilliant and eloquent exploration of the most important issues of our time. It will challenge the way you think about liberals and conservatives, atheism and religion, good and evil.”

—Paul Bloom, Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology, Yale University

“A landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself. . . . Haidt is looking for more than victory. He’s looking for wisdom. That’s what makes The Righteous Mind well worth reading.”

—The New York Times Book Review

“An eye-opening and deceptively ambitious best seller . . . undoubtedly one of the most talked-about books of the year.”

—The Wall Street Journal

“Splendidly written, sophisticated and stimulating. It may well change how you think and talk about politics, religion and human nature.”

—NPR

“Ingenious prose. . . . Beautifully written, Haidt’s book shines a new and creative light on moral psychology and presents a provocative message.”

—Science

Nobody can tell you what to think or what to believe but you might want to read this book, particularly if you would like to see understanding in place of anger.

Also see The Science of Righteousness by Michael Shermer in the June 2012 Scientific American.

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There are many wonderful reasons to visit Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton Island is at the top of the list. Depending on your taste you may say that the Cabot Trail or the Bra d’Or Lake or the historic interpretive centers are the reason to visit Cape Breton but if you love music then you will be immersed in a culture of traditional music all the time everywhere. Whether a Ceilidh or a “kitchen party”, whether Gaelic or Acadian or Newfoundland, these music sessions will be a memory long after your visit is past.

As I said in an earlier post, we attended our first Ceilidh at The Baddeck Gathering. Jennifer Bowman was on the upright piano accompanying fiddler Donna Marie DeWolfe (and serving as musicologist for the tourists in the crowd). That was our introduction to up close Cape Breton fiddle and to Donna Marie who took up the fiddle 7 years before (at the age of 10) and she can really play. She has a wonderful sound and is very athletic - the heel and toe slapping of her leather sandals amount to a four piece rhythm section.

Our introduction to local music in Nova Scotia had come earlier at a restaurant in 5 Islands during the weekend of the Not Since Moses Run. There we heard the Halifax bar band “Celtic Rant”. Compared to our Southern Appalachian Scotts-Irish music, they had added the keyboard to the fiddle, pipes, mandolin, and guitar but there was no banjo. We learned some great local favorite bar songs (”The Queen of Old Argyle”) and a wonderful Irish closing time benediction from the 1600s, “The Parting Glass”.

While we were camping in the Cape Breton Highlands Park, we walked into The Doryman Pub one night in Cheticamp and there was Donna Marie DeWolfe again. We recognized her parents and introduced ourselves. They were driving her around to performances several nights a week that summer and we visited with them that night. They are nice folks and very proud parents. When we saw Donna Marie again at a concert at the Judique Music Center (below), her mother exclaimed “Donna Marie is following you around”. We said we were Donna Marie groupies.

On Sunday August 19, 2012, we attended the Kintyre Farm Benefit Concert in Judique Community Center next door to the Celtic Music Interpretive Center, Judique, Nova Scotia. The concert was about 2.5 hours and all of the performers volunteered their time.

Our rock star fiddler Donna Marie DeWolfe above in the center, the artist in the rear with long hair and big guitar is Tom Daniels from Newfoundland and is Gabrielle McLellan’s accompanist, and the woman up front on the right is a very good fiddler but I am embarrassed to say that we didn’t catch her name. It is important to note that all of these artists are fine musicians and performers.

The Grand Finale. On the far left is Shelly Campbell and in heels and short skirt is Gabrielle McLellan. Many of these performers are instructors at the Buddy McMaster School of Fiddling which is held during the week of the Celtic Colours International Festival. I am told that the Celtic Colours festival is musical reason enough for a trip to Cape Breton Island from anywhere.

The fiddler above is Shelly Campbell at the Baddeck Gathering on Tuesday, August 21, 2012. She is very friendly, as are most of the Cape Breton Islanders, and says she is ready to come to Asheville. The step dancer is a walk-on and one of the best we saw. The accompanist is Alan Dewar who is Music Director at the Judique Center, and accompanied Natalie McMaster on tour from 2000 - 2006; he likely played the Porter Center with her when she performed there.

During this Ceilidh I notice an old guy (’bout my age) come in wearing a cowboy hat. When the tea and oat cake break came I noticed him working the room and I read his lips as he asked people if they were the ones from NC - he had seen our truck with the NC tags parked on the street. He plays banjo (a rarity in Cape Breton) and played in NC for 20 years - jammed once with David Holt. His sister Laura Boosinger plays banjo in Asheville, sometimes with David Holt, and lives on Beaver Dam Road. His name is William Jr. “Banjoman” Johnson and he invited us to come next evening to the Wednesday night concert (dance starts at 10PM) in the barn at the Normaway Inn on Egypt Road in Margaree Valley. I wore my cowboy hat in his honor and he had us upgraded to reserved seats right down front. We heard Kyle MacNeil, Brenda Stubbert and Allan Cameron accompanied by Sheamus MacNeil. The MacNeils are brothers and are members of the Barra MacNeils, a well known band of six siblings. Kyle told me that they had played some gigs in a bar in Asheville.

We left Cape Breton the next morning on the ferry to Newfoundland.

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While on Cape Breton in the summer of 2012, our primary base of operations was at a lake front campground just south of Baddeck. We spent all of our nights there except for one very pleasant week camping at Cape Breton Highlands National Park just north of Cheticamp.

While at Baddeck we concentrated on history and local music. At Iona the Highland Village site is a very well done reenactment of the Scottish Gael migration to “Nova Scotia”. The several hours we spent walking this site and listening to the script of the re-enactors (in Gaelic if requested) was a great introduction to the Gaelic part of Nova Scotia heritage.

We also spent a day touring Fortress Louisbourg National Historic Site which is a huge reconstruction and reenactment site that deals with the early French presence in the Maritime Provinces. The French call Nova Scotia “L’Acadie”. There are many regions with a dominant Acadian French presence in Nova Scotia, such as St. Mary’s Bay, Chezzetcook, and the coast of Cape Breton Island around Cheticamp.

We attended our first Ceilidh at The Baddeck Gathering. Jennifer Bowman was on the upright piano accompanying fiddler Donna Marie DeWolfe (and serving as musicologist for the tourists in the crowd). Donna Marie took up the fiddle 7 years before (at the age of 10) and she can play. She has a wonderful sound and is very athletic - the heel and toe slapping of her leather sandals amount to a four piece rhythm section. Our introduction to local music in Nova Scotia had come earlier at a restaurant in 5 Islands during the weekend of the Not Since Moses Run. There we heard the Halifax bar band “Celtic Rant”. We took notice that, in comparison to our southern appalachian Scotts-Irish music, they had added the keyboard to the fiddle, pipes, mandolin, guitar and there was no banjo. We learned some great local favorite bar songs (”The Queen of Old Argyle”) and a wonderful Irish closing time benediction “The Parting Glass” from the 1600s.

After a few days, we left Baddeck and moved over to camp for a week in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The campground there is one of the most pleasant and well managed that we used on the two month trip, and the Cape Breton Highlands Park, the Cabot Trail highway, and the hiking trails in that area are magnificent.

From the Skyline Trail above the Gulf of St Lawrence with Cheticamp Island on the horizon

We hiked the Skyline Trail soon after our arrival. The trail is a 5.7 mile loop out to a headland cliff over 1000 feet above the sea. Back in Cheticamp that night, we walked into The Doryman Pub and there was Donna Marie DeWolfe again. We had a strong hunch that a couple in the room happened to be her parents so we introduced ourselves. They were driving her around to performances several nights a week that summer and we visited with them that night. They are nice folks and very proud parents. When we saw Donna Marie again at a concert at the Judique Music Center, her mother exclaimed “Donna Marie is following you around”. We said we were Donna Marie groupies.

The following day we hiked out of the campground through an Acadian forest up the Salmon Pools Trail which is 7.6 miles round trip. Following are photos of T and the pools in the Cheticamp River canyon.

While at Cape Breton Highlands NP we hiked Skyline Trail, Salmon Pools, Le Chemin du Buttereau, Le Buttereau, Corney Brook and the Acadian Trail over 4 days for a total of 28 miles of gorgeous scenery. We took one day to drive the Cabot Trail around as far as Ingonish for lunch. We took a very long side trip (about 30 miles of not so good road) from Cape North up to Meat Cove, where we had intended to have lunch, but there were no services, not even a vending machine. There are campsites and cabins to rent.

Meat Cove, the northern most settlement in Nova Scotia, looking north across Cabot Strait

On the Cabot Trail north of Ingonish

On the Cabot Trail north of Ingonish

Enragée Point Light, Cape Enragée, Cheticamp Island

Cheticamp village from the Island

A fairly typical Cape Breton household woodpile at Cheticamp

We stayed a week at the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and Cheticamp provided very good support services, even an excellent health food store (Trofle) with grass fed meats, etc. We left Cheticamp and returned to the campground at Baddeck to prepare for our crossing to Newfoundland.

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Out beyond wrong and right there is a field

I will meet you there

- Rumi

            Going to the Sun -Photo by Tom T Traywick

My siblings and I share the same genetics but our hair is of different colors and lengths and we have each taken markedly different paths through life. We have a lot of birth order stuff going on but we were, of course, oblivious to it while it was happening. I am the oldest and was an only child for 25 months until my other brother Jim was born and he was the baby for 25 months until my other brother Joe was born. Joe was the baby for 8 years until Sue was born. So then Sue was the messianic baby girl (indeed only child) which allowed Joe to remain the baby boy and Jim steadfastly held on to the middle child slot. As for me I think I never noticed that I was not an only child. Jack Douglas published “My Brother Was An Only Child” in 1959 (one of the funniest books of any century) and the rest of us tended to describe our other brother Jim in those terms.

One of them considers me to be a liberal, one figures me to be a socialist, and the other is pretty sure that I am a communist. I think that they are each wrong - out beyond wrong, for I am a Realist, or I strive to be. But I am happy to say that, at least for us, there is a field out beyond wrong and right, and the four of us meet there from time to time. There is not one of us who had not learned from each of the others - but each is possessed of a righteous mind.

No matter our ideological alignment we each have a dose of Righteous in our way - we can’t help it, we got it from Thomas and each other. Brother Jim would refer to this as “the Is-ness of the Was” (which may be original with him according to Google - which wouldn’t surprise me).

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While we were in Nova Scotia in the summer of 2012, we took a day trip from Annapolis Royal down to Yarmouth. We noted that the town of Yarmouth seemed to be on the wane as a result of the ferry from Maine having ceased operations in 2009.

The Ferry Is Back

In May, a new luxury ferry began operating daily between *Portland, Maine and Yarmouth. I feel sure that a lot of work was done by Nova Scotia promoters to get this done, and I understand that subsidies are involved on both sides of the water. I have read that, at least through June, the ferry is running at less than capacity and introductory fares are very reasonable.

Yarmouth 2012

When we visited on June 28, 2012; we dined on the docks and walked about the village visiting art galleries, museums, and shops and we took a walking tour of the historic residential district just a block from the waterfront.

          - Photos by Old Ones Dream

A New Down East Travel Opportunity

There are over 800 land miles between *Portland, Maine and the southeast shore of Nova Scotia. By the ferry it is 11 hours and includes an ocean cruise with all the amenities.

*The Cat maintained the schedule from Portland to Yarmouth until its lease with the City of Portland expired in 2018. At this writing in January 2026, the ferry from Maine to Nova Scotia is from Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia — The Cat high speed ferry operated from May to October by Northumberland Ferries.

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We left Parker’s Cove, just north of Annapolis Royale, Nova Scotia, first thing of a morning, drove down 101 to exit 26, and dropped off onto 217, which took us down Digby Neck a little over 50 miles to Freeport where the second ferry goes over to Westport on Brier Island.

One of the reasons that we chose Freeport Whale and Seabird Tours at Freeport NS for our whale-watching excursion was that we had seen written that one of the good restaurants in Nova Scotia is located at the dock and that the ticket office for the whale-watching tour is located in the restaurant, Lavena’s Catch Cafe.

When we arrived, we confirmed our reservations for whale watching and got a table for lunch on the deck, where we watched the workboats go by in the inlet separating Long Island from Brier Island, and the comings and goings of the Brier Island Ferry. I didn’t pay strict attention to everything on the menu because I spied Liver and Onions, and there I stalled. I had been on a menu of “catch” for about 2 weeks and it seemed like the time and the place for Liver and Onions.

While we waited to be served, Tanne was “working the room” and at the next table she found Heather, who graduated from high school with her, 50 years before, and then moved away and made her life in Wisconsin. We had a delightful 50-year reunion visit with Heather and her husband, and that continued in the afternoon onboard the Georgie Porgie for the whale-watching tour.

          Heather and Tanne on the Georgie Porgie

I wish that I had taken a picture of my meal, but I did not expect to find “the best I ever had” Liver and Onions at a maritime cafe in Nova Scotia, and so I was guilty of underestimating the meal. I did not realize what I had until I tore into it. The very generous portion of liver was tender and tasty, mounded with onions and bacon, and served with coleslaw and sweet potato fries.

Beef liver and onions is comfort food to me and always brings back memories of the dinner table at the farm and meals prepared by Shot, meals which caused fertilizer and seed salesmen to schedule their sales call for around 11:45 AM. Also, the liver and onions, sometimes served as a menu special by Falls Landing in Brevard, North Carolina, is a pretty good standard for comparison as well, but the best I ever had was had that day at Lavena’s Catch Cafe in Freeport, on Digby Neck in Nova Scotia.

The Georgie Porgie arrived at the dock and disembarked the folk from the morning tour. The tour boat is a working lobster boat during lobster season and becomes a whale-watching tour boat when lobster season closes (locally May 31). Captain Tim Crocker runs the boat, exchanging information and sightings with other boats, while the passengers are entertained and informed by a knowledgeable local guide.

We boarded Georgie Porgie and headed north into the Bay of Fundy where, within about 20 minutes, we were among humpback whales—and we remained among whales for about two hours.

These girls are over 40 feet and 40 tons. We saw one with a calf which was only about 12 feet long but very playful. They are very sociable creatures.

Later in the afternoon, we suddenly headed up northeast at full throttle for about 5 minutes and came about. Our guide announced that we had “won the whale-watching lottery” and pointed out to us a North Atlantic Right Whale she termed “one of only 400 remaining on Earth.” Maybe they have a deal with the North Atlantic Right Whale to promote Nova Scotia tourism and they do that every day—but it could have been a “Southern Left Whale” and none of us would have known the difference at 50 meters.

We had a great time. We saw and cavorted with more whales than we could have expected, the equipment performed well, and the personnel were very gracious and informative. The trip exceeded our expectations and we give it a 5-star review.

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Mesa Verde National Park is one of the best preserved of the populated areas that were part of the large Ancestral Puebloan community known as Chaco, a civilization with trading partners from the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River and south to Mesoamerica.

Driving Time Required

In the West, the good places take some work. We first learned this in September of 1981 when we camped across the northern route in Canada from Thunder Bay to Kapuskasing. Our chosen campsite at Thunder Bay, Ontario, was out on the Sibley Peninsula in Lake Superior in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. We drove over 20 miles to the campsite after we turned on to the gravel road. It was on that trip that our family vocabulary expanded to include words such as “Nipigon” and “Labatt Blue”.

So on this Four Corners trip in 2014 our driving time was similiarly increased. The visitors center for The Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands NP is 25 miles from the highway, and the Needles District visitors center of Canyonlands is 35 miles off of US 191.

The entrance and visitor’s center for Mesa Verde NP is about 10 miles east of Cortez, Colorado on US 160. After the entrance you can see the top of the “Green Mesa” rising 1600 feet above you. The 21 mile winding drive up to the top and on to the Spruce Tree House ruins, Archeological Museum, Cafe, and Bookstore affords you some of the most beautiful long distance views in North America.

Discovering Spruce Tree House

We arrived at Spruce Tree House at about noon on April 7, 2014 and took the hike down to the cliff side site. Mesa Verde is very well preserved because the villages are built in high dry cliff alcoves and very well protected from the weather. The National Park Service brochure states that Spruce Tree House is “the park’s best preserved cliff dwelling”. The site is open daily from March 8 for self guided tours and was the only site that had opened yet on the day we visited. Other sites would open as weather and snow and ice melt permitted until all sites would be opened on May 22 until November 1.

            Our first glimpse of Spruce Tree House tucked up under the lip of the top of the Mesa. - Photo by Tom T Traywick

            Spruce Tree House - Photo by Tom T Traywick

            Spruce Tree House - Photo by Tom T Traywick

            Spruce Tree House - Photo by Tom T Traywick

             Spruce Tree House - Photo by Tom T Traywick

            Spruce Tree House - Photo by Tom T Traywick

             Spruce Tree House - Photo by Tom T Traywick

The Ancestral Puebloans of Mesa Verde

... long before Europeans explored North America, ... Ancestral Puebloans made Mesa Verde their home from about A.D. 550 to 1300. For more than 700 years they and their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls. Then, in the late A.D. 1200s, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away. Mesa Verde National Park preserves a spectacular reminder of this ancient culture. The park contains over 4,000 known archeological sites including cliff dwellings and the mesa top sites of pit houses, pueblos, masonry towers, and farming structures. (U. S. National Park Service)

In the Home of the Ancients

Human history of the Ancient Ones, the Anasazi, the Old Ones, the Ancestral Puebloan People of the first millennia AD, seems to exude from the stones of these sites. Since this was a “Spring Break” week, there were school children present but they were not their normal exuberant selves, but noticeably subdued and reverent. The European visitors were particularly studious of the artifacts in the museum. If you love history, you will be moved by a sense of the wisdom and valor of the ancients, in this their home.

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After completing our quick driving tour of Arches National Park in the early morning of April 6, 2014, we drove US 191 north for 7 miles and Utah 313 south for 25 miles to the Visitor Center for the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands NP. We ate our picnic lunch and began our driving and walking tour at the Shafer Canyon and the Neck overlooks at about noon. Five awe filled hours later we were sure that the several Districts of Canyonlands deserved at least three days of our time not counting any time that we wanted to spend hiking. So this trip would simply qualify as reconnaissance. We took the following photos that afternoon in the Island in the Sky District.

            Mesa Arch

            View through Mesa Arch

Photos Credit: Old Ones Dream

The snow capped mountains in the background of many of these photos are Mt. Waas, Mt. Tomasaki, and Mt. Peale, all above 12,000 feet and part of the La Sal Mountains, the second tallest range in Utah.

For shock and awe, the Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park win hands down; but we suspect that, up close and personal, the Canyonlands NP experience would become a spiritual one if you had the time (three days plus the time spent hiking) to immerse in this wilderness. At the end of this day we had only toured some of one of the three sections of the park.

CanyonlandsIsland in the Sky Map

The Island in the Sky District

Hiking Information - The Island in the Sky District

So after this, our 2014 reconnaissance of our remainder points of interest in the Four Corners, our remainder to-do-list would resemble the following:

• Spend several days at the Chaco Culture National Historic Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

• Spend a day (or more) at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and surrounds

• Return to Canyonlands National Park for a week of hiking, and

• Return to Mesa Verde National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site) for a week of hiking.

The Four Corners remains one of my favorite places.

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A Pilgrim’s Way

At the end of October, Tanne walked into Santiago de Compostela, Spain, after a 5-week 500-mile hike from southern France across northern Spain with her belongings on her back. She did this in recognition of her 70th year; and, no doubt, as expression of unspoken emotions. She returned home on November 3, and for 2 children, 2 grandchildren, 2 old dogs and 2 old cats, and the Old One; “… every breath we drew was hallelujah!”.

To me this is an heroic trek - a far land, a foreign language, foreign customs - and few creature comforts. For 50 years I have known that she is fearless, and I believe that the courage to want to take this walk, and the courage to carry it through, is more estimable than the physical requirements for walking 15 arduous miles every day for 35 days with your belongings on your back.

An Old One, she carried her Dream, and I am proud of her bravery and resoluteness. I hope she will write about it.

Friends Along the Way

            Tanne, and her friend and
             hiking companion, Lee.

            - Photos by Tom T Traywick

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On April 5, 2014 after breakfast we visited the famous Gallup Flea Market for a few treasures to take home for gifts, and then drove north for the rest of the day to Moab, Utah to see Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park. The next morning was cool and windy and we drove several miles north of town for a driving tour of Arches NP which took a little over two hours. You could easily spend two days exploring this park and the beauty

- Photographs by Tom T Traywick

It is safe to say that we were less impressed with the arches than with the many other formations. Try to guess the name of each. Hint; no name is as evocative as Pissing Mare Falls in Newfoundland.

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We arrived in Gallup, New Mexico at dusk of the first full day of our 2014 Trak Trek Southwest. We had taken AmTrak from Greenville through NOLA to Tucson and had driven our rental car North through beautiful country including two Apache Reservations including the stunning Salt River Canyon.

Salt River Canyon - Photos by Tom T Traywick

In searching the web for dining in Gallup I encountered inconclusive contradictory information that seemed to suggest that Gallup is not an oasis for Supper Seekers. There was, however a constant in those reviews on Yelp, Trip Advisor, etc. Jerry’s Grill on a side street in the center of town was a head and shoulders consensus choice for best food in Gallup. We got in just after 9 PM and it was still crowded but they were getting ready to close the kitchen for a 10 PM closing. I had seen it described as “dive dining” and that description was apt. We were disappointed that they served no alcohol but the food was really good.

I had planned to have Chicken Fried Steak from their Americano Menu section but I sensed that I might be on “Mexican American” culinary hallowed ground and decided to have Jerry’s Special which had been on the menu since 1976. It is described as:

Jerry’s Special - Hamburger Steak smothered with Green Chile. Served with Rice, Beans, Tortilla and Sopaipilla. Choice of soup or salad $8.95

Jerrys Cafe - Photo by Tom T Traywick

T chose the Chicken a la Mexicana - Chicken grilled with Jalapeño, Tomato and Onion. Served with Rice, Beans, Tortilla and Sopaipilla. $9.50

Everything tasted very fresh and was muy sabrosa. Look at the fresh Jalapeños in T’s grill. She said it was delicious but more heat than she likes to endure. The heat of my Steak and Green Chili was perfecto. Made me ready for the Sopaipilla and Honey afterwards. Just look at Los Sopaipillas. I ordered Corn Tortillas instead of wheat but fell off of my wheat free regimen for Los Sopaipillas and the sore fingers next morning were worth it.

In the category of Mexican American or Tex-Mex food; Jerry’s Grill and Jerry’s Special are The Best I Ever Had.

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I discovered the Redbirds while sitting at Thomas’s feet in the evening as he listened to Harry Caray announce the games on KMOX while reading (Christian Science Monitor, Harpers, The Interpreter’s Bible, to name a few). I don’t multitask so I devoted myself to the ballgame. That was in the late 1940s so I have been a Redbird fan for over 65 years. The St. Louis ballgames have been broadcast since 1926 which has resulted in a large embedded following in the Mid-west and Mid-south. They were the “southern team” until the (Boston 1876-1952) Braves left Milwaukee (1953-1965) for Atlanta.

I am reminded of all that by the recent success of the Team. They won their division last year and the World Series in 2011, and watch out - they now have the best record in the Bigs going into June. As of last night they are 9 games over .500, have not lost 2 games in a row in over a month, and have been number 1 in the power rankings for several weeks. Although they have suffered several devastating injuries to both the starting rotation and the bull pen since opening day, they are now considered by most to have the strongest starting rotation in baseball; and the bullpen keeps getting their job done. When necessary the front office just rings-up Memphis and brings another young hopeful up to the “show”. At last count they have debuted 12 rookies this season. Consequently most consider them to have the strongest farm system in baseball. All of this is great fun for an “old one” fan.

Once upon a time if our TV was getting some age on it, then T and the children would ask what kind of season the Redbirds were having because we sometimes got a new TV if the Cards were in the hunt in September.

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Spring is on the schedule whether you are ready or not, so I took a holiday (Spring Break?) from blogging in order to get ready.

In early February 2011, twenty-four months ago, the jet streams must have shifted because the weather abruptly warmed here in the mountains and we have not had any real winter since. So even though I was late planting a fall cover crop on our kitchen garden, the rye and clover came up and grew fairly well in the relative warmth. On March 25th I took shovel and started turning the green under while the snow flew. The jet streams have shifted again I hope. Chilly but joyful because that is more like normal weather for the season than we have had for a while. The normal date of last frost here is around the 10th of May.

Spring also means digging out and organizing all of a years income and deductions for tax returns. Tax Season. Paying income tax is a privilege that T and I appreciate because we have had it both ways - and not because of a friendly tax code or tax loopholes or such. For twenty years or so (1964-1983) we didn’t pay much income tax because we didn’t have much income to speak of (low crop yields because of droughts, low crop prices because of export embargoes, high interest rates, and issues like that all took a toll). We didn’t go hungry and we raised children with character but we would have rather paid income tax like we do now. So it is taxing but joyful.

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While on foot in far west Texas recently it was interesting to note the frequency with which the subject of Asheville came up, and how it was most often in the presence of folk from Austin. During a week spent at Big Bend Ranch camping and hiking I was rubbing elbows with a woman from Austin who wore (for 2 days in a row) a T that stated “If you’re too weird for Asheville, you’re just too weird”. She was there mountain biking with her daughter, and other folks often commented on her shirt and how much they liked Asheville. I don’t know whether she had two of those Asheville T’s or whether she washed it each night for the next day but she did love that shirt and so did the rest of the folk staying at the bunkhouse. Her daughter said that 12 Bones BBQ fare was refreshing after too much Texas BBQ. I don’t know - I do love 12 Bones but I haven’t gotten too much Texas BBQ yet (more on that later).

The next week I was 100 miles north in Alpine for the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering and met a couple there with an Asheville Tourists sweatshirt. They were from New Hampshire and were big fans of all that Asheville has to offer, including the Tourists and beer. The next week while riding AmTrak home I chatted with a young woman who lives in Asheville and works as a wilderness camp counselor. She loves Asheville but likes to hang out in Brevard between shifts. Which brings me back home to Brevard - today I listened to cellist Alistair MacRae perform J. S. Bach and Gaspar Cassado solo at the Porter Center. Tonight I will listen to local friends perform Celtic music at the tasting room of the local brewery. It is good to be back home in Western North Carolina.

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Having grown up rural in the 1940s and 50s in low country South Carolina, the best BBQ we ever had was likely to be found within a one hour walk or 15 minute tractor ride. In an old brick storefront on the main street of Cope across from the railroad depot was Duke’s BBQ and I remember that they served every Friday night and the hash was wonderful. The local community ate there in swarms for decades until transportation and communication got out of hand and attention turned to fast food and larger towns. Different branches of the Dukes family had BBQ shops in some of the small towns in Orangeburg and Dorchester counties. Earl Dukes BBQ hit the big time in Orangeburg and was open several days each week. Earl Dukes, Jr., had a rock and roll band (The Rebelaires) and cut a 45 RPM vinyl on Delta Records (Don’t You Know the Reason Why) that got some play, at least locally.

BBQ preparation style and sauce; and trimmings such as hash on white rice, cole slaw, pork skins, and sliced white bread; varied by community and region. In South Carolina the BBQ served in the southern low country, the Pee Dee region, the Sand Hills and the Up-country are each distinctly different. The Pee Dee style is very similar to that of adjoining eastern North Carolina and is seasoned primarily with salt, black pepper, and red pepper and served with a vinegar based sauce - as opposed to sauces containing catsup and/or mustard and/or mayonnaise and/or other condiments as featured in other areas of South Carolina. The headquarters for the Pee Dee style BBQ, considered by many to be the best, might be Scott’s Bar-B-Que (as featured in The New York Times and Time Magazine) in Hemingway, South Carolina, and Lexington BBQ in (western?) North Carolina. There is much debate in the Carolinas as to which regional BBQ is the best. There are some new kids on the block (for instance Bib’s in Winston-Salem and 12 Bones in Asheville) that are not traditional Carolina BBQ and include some western accent such as brisket, smoked sausage, pinto beans and cornbread instead of white bread.

In April 2011, T and I went camping in the Texas Hill Country. Our initial destination was Blanco Settlement at Blanco Texas north of San Antonio, south of Johnson City, and southeast of Fredericksburg. East of Seguin we dropped off of I-10 on US 183 to pickup Texas Highway 80 and head northwest to San Marcos bound for Blanco. About 4 miles from I-10 we came to Luling and stopped to have lunch. We were on the main drag (East Davis St) which was on the east side of the railroad and we walked up to a BBQ market but it was closed that day. Two men were visiting at a picnic table out front and directed us up the street to City Market in a brick storefront, furnished with picnic tables. At the back of the dining room is a door in and a door out of the smoke house where you stand in line at the meat counter and order your meat(s) which they slice to your order and sell by the pound served on sheets of butcher paper. We grabbed each end of our butcher paper and walked out with sliced smoked brisket, pork ribs and smoked sausage garnished with sliced raw onion and whole fresh jalapeños. We took a position at one of the picnic tables and went to the sides counter and purchased our Shiner Bock, slaw and pinto beans and served ourselves some of the house sauce. The tables seemed to be filled with various business men, country folk, and tourists. The large group at the next table was in the area for a wedding and they were heading out after lunch to do the tour at the Spoetzl Brewery - fun. T and I left with bellies full of the best BBQ meal we had ever tasted, and the beginning of our love affair with Central Texas BBQ.

As our knowledge of Texas “Q” grew, we learned that we had stumbled blind into the holy of holies - a shrine for many Texas BBQ purists; City Market, 633 E. Davis St. Luling, Texas 78648. We learned that Texas Monthly magazine has a BBQ web site and a smart phone BBQ Finder App. We learned that Central Texas BBQ is (of course) BIG - The New York Times recently ran a feature announcing that Texas Monthly had named a full time BBQ Editor. We learned that Texas business men fly their planes from large towns to small just for lunch. We learned that, identity theft being the sincerest form of flattery, there is a BBQ joint in Houston named Luling City Market that sells Luling City Market BBQ sauce (so be careful when you Google - but you already knew that).

Of the top 5 BBQ markets on the Texas Monthly Top 50 list (each with a perfect 5.0 rating) City Market is in Luling, Kreuz Market and Smitty’s Market are in Lockhart 17 miles north of Luling, The other two, Snow’s and Louis Mueller’s, are also located nearby in the country east of Austin. We have not yet eaten at the others in the top 5 but we have since eaten at others on the top 50 list and they were all good. We like Cooper’s in Llano just fine but we returned to City Market on our next trip in 2012 and we like it best. It was very frustrating to rock and roll through Luling on the train in March and look out of the window across East Davis Street and see City Market and not be able to stop. It was the best I ever had.

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On the trip back east in July there was a large group of Amish young people (couples and singles) that spent much of their time in the view liner lounge playing board games (including chess) and kibitzing in their German dialect. They had been on vacation and were returning to Elkhart, Indiana. It was a treat to observe them because they were so fresh and smart and enjoyed each other’s company so much. One young man told me a clean “yoke” about couples who live near train tracks. There was a young woman who had been sitting alone reading and writing all day and I spoke briefly to her about their travels, but I didn’t press because I felt like an “English” intruder in their “other-world”. I did tell her that I admired the way her people farmed (based on horses), and that if our country still farmed that way there would be little unemployment and that most people would be happier than they are now. She nodded and smiled.

The Empire Builder left Minot, North Dakota headed east over 3 hours behind schedule because of severe storms and high winds in eastern Montana (moving east) and by morning we were 5 hours behind schedule. We arrived in Chicago over 6 hours late by which time almost everyone on board had missed any connection they might have had. But AmTrak had arranged for many chartered buses heading in many directions to take care of folk such as the Amish who had missed their train east to Elkhart. For folk like me who had tickets on the Cardinal for Cincinnati and points East, we were treated to a 4.5 hour Express Bus dash through the night down the Interstate system to Cincinnati where we overtook the Cardinal and boarded. So much for high speed rail.

Passenger trains travel on track owned and operated by the freight lines and the passenger trains operate within a scheduling system that includes the schedule of freight trains and passenger trains running in each direction, and that involves the location of side tracks and stretches of double track (if any). For a passenger train that is on schedule, the odds are good that the system will work very well and the passenger train will remain on schedule. I have travelled this year on 10 individual trains for almost 10,000 miles and up to this point had but one train that was as much as a couple hours late. But when a train does get appreciably behind schedule, the synchronicity is no longer in place. The train is out of its schedule pocket and the bad situation is very likely to get worse, which is what happened to the Empire Builder, and then caused the Cardinal to be left “dead in the water” on a siding at Clifton Forge, West Virginia. We arrived in Clifton Forge about 3 hours late; and CSX, the incumbent railroad, had equipment “up on the mountain” between there and Staunton that had to be cleared out before we could go. I spent this time in the lounge car, which is where the conductor’s desk is on the eastern trains, and so I had a ring side seat for all the story as we sat there for 4 hours while CSX worked out their problems. I met Tim Hensley who is a retired railroad Vice-President who now works as an Engineer for AmTrak and who had gone off duty earlier, caught some shut eye and came back to the lounge car to see what was happening. He shared my table and gave me a play by play of what was going on. He is a writer of books and a collector of railroad artifacts and has a bed and breakfast at Kenova, West Virginia By the time CSX had solved their problems and we were able to move, our crew had reached the end of the time allowed by regulations for them to operate the train. The westbound Cardinal stopped and gave us a fresh Conductor and we gave them Tim for his ride back home to Kenova, and then AmTrak sent an Engineer out from Charlottesville in a taxi; and then we began to “rock and roll”. We arrived in Charlottesville almost 7 hours behind schedule but by then the southbound Crescent was running a few minutes late, and they held it a few minutes more for us. It arrived in Greenville next morning almost two hours behind schedule.

Those two days were not AmTrak’s finest hour but travel during peak vacation season is often not pleasant no matter the mode. The experience of the people I met and visited with and/or observed was worth the pain.

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Asheville is a granola and hops town. We spent Saturday and Sunday at the Organic Growers School held on the campus of UNC - Asheville. This event is just one of the cogs in the machine that supports the amazing local and organic food industry in Western North Carolina. It is the largest conference of the type in the Southeast - and a great “people-watching” spot. Some of the attendees are bright young unconventional college graduates (many attended Warren Wilson College and have no previous farm background) that are making a life in the mountains organically farming small tracts of land. When apocalypse comes, the earth will survive but if the human race survives it will be because of folks like these and the tribes of New Guinea each involved in sustaining life without petrochemical and pharmaceutical and other industrial inputs.

It all reminded me of a day in Vermont last summer. After leaving the Shenandoah on our way to the Maritimes we had camped a night in Pennsylvania, several in the Adirondacks, one on Lake Champlain at the ferry, had not had easy access to laundry facilities since Edinburg VA and had about 30 lbs of dirty laundry. So we were heading East across Vermont on Highway 15 along the Lamoille River (stopped at an organic farm and bought gorgeous vegetables) and pulled into Johnson Vermont. There was a laundromat so we parked. We walked up main street and found a hippie cafe in a house on the main street and ordered panini and terrific iced coffee - sat at a table on the porch and watched college girls on skateboards with dogs on leash on the sidewalk. Three guys in work boots and Carhartt shorts discussed the recipe one of them was fixing that evening (pulled pork and a nice sauce). The County Sheriff drove by in his official Prius. I haven’t seen so many Saab automobiles in years (and I have had 2 or more in my driveway at once). The town (home of Johnson State College) is so green it crunches. We were in rapture. We left town with a smile and clean clothes.

We left the Organic Growers School with seeds, knowledge and inspiration and the wish (rare at our age) that we were younger.

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The train has proven to be a great way to look for America and to meet the people who are looking.

In June I headed out to the High Plains on a thirty day USA Rail Pass and 29 days later rolled back home after 4238 miles, 4 days, and 6 nights on the rails. The Crescent Limited (New York - New Orleans) took me from Greenville to Charlottesville, The Cardinal (New York - Chicago) took me then to Chicago. The Empire Builder (Chicago - Seattle) took me to my Minot, North Dakota destination. I returned on the same trains.

The Crescent is, in many ways, a train with a metropolitan mindset - a streetwise train. The passengers are for the most part bound for or returning from the metro areas of New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta and New Orleans and are not so open. The East - West trains I have found to be entirely different in that regard. So in comparison, the Crescent is just something that must be endured in order to get to the good part of the journey.

With me on the Crescent north to Charlottesville was a mid-life Appalachian Trail through-hiker named Ed but I would never have known it had I not struck up a conversation with him during the Charlottesville layover waiting to board the Cardinal. He had caught the train in Gainesville, Georgia after coming off of the AT and he was packed and dressed for the trail. He was bound for Indiana where his mother lived to meet his girlfriend from Colorado before returning home to Colorado for the first time in over a year. He told a story of how he had quit his job in Colorado, took a leave of absence from his girlfriend and hiked off of Mt Katahdin, Maine in the spring of 2012. After hiking 700 miles and losing 32 pounds, his foot got angry and he found himself in the hospital in White Plains, New York with an unresponsive staph infection which “required surgery”. He recuperated over the winter at his mother’s place in Indiana and his girlfriend came to visit him several times. He took up the AT in the Spring, where he left off, and had just completed his goal when I met him. His next goal was to get a new job, hopefully with REI. He left the train in the early morning in Indiana. I’ll bet on his success.

Leaving Charlottesville I shared both a table in the lounge car and my Verizon MiFi with a young culinary school student from Tucson with pueblo blouse, turquoise jewelry, and MacBook Pro. She had brought her lunch on board (forbidden but ignored) and offered to share her avocado salad and Greek sandwich. She detrained all too soon in Staunton. She had flown from Tucson to Charlottesville and was taking the train to Staunton (39 miles) to meet friends.

Some members and several adult leaders of Troop 382 from Lexington, Virginia were taking the train to Philmont Scout Ranch, the Boy Scouts of America national training center in northern New Mexico - what an adventure.

A man that I encountered several times on first the Crescent and then the Cardinal was not responsive to my attempts at small talk at first but in the morning in Indiana I learned that he was a house carpenter by trade but lived now on his family lands in Northeastern North Carolina to which he had retreated from Raleigh in the collapse of 2008. He cuts and mills his own wood, built his house, and makes reproduction fine furniture. He has developed a sustainable existence producing organic food including fruits and berries and he periodically ventures out on a USA Rail Pass and peers out of window to see what’s happening across the country. He says that 2008 was caused by “capitalism out of control” and seems to think that the United States will never recover from that collapse - which, of course, crushed demand for his trade.

The Empire Builder west from Chicago, like all of the the trains west of the Mississippi, has Viewliner lounge cars with the lounge area in a full length glass dome deck with the short order cafe on the lower level. This opens the traveller up to the countryside and makes the search for America much easier, both visually and socially.

Mary and Jimmy from Wisconsin, in their late 50’s and “living in sin” for 11 years were playing cribbage and drinking beer. He is a masonry contractor and they were on their way to Glacier National Park.

Jan, a house painter from Norway (impeccable English), was also traveling on a 30 day USA Rail Pass. He comes to America periodically and takes AmTrak. He says that the building trades are much more healthy in Norway because the oil and gas industry fuels the economy and the government is able to fund the necessary infrastructure maintenance and improvements.

A young man (residential insurance adjuster) and his 3 year old son from Indianapolis were traveling to Seattle to visit the child’s mother and her boyfriend.

I detrained in Minot, North Dakota, and headed south and west around the fringe of the Bakken Play to Shade Ranch south of Medora, North Dakota.

To be continued.

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Spring

The sky is shutting down with sand

     toward Marfa

Visibility less than a mile now

     in this 30 mile land

It was sunny today

     and seventy plus

But a desert storm is blowing in

It will be forty plus winds after mid-night

     and snow before sunup

It is February trans Pecos.

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