Airstream "1"
The great American adventure part-14
July 21, 2008

Patty and I have been blessed to have to date 9 grandchildren, most of whom we have a wonderful relationship with and have taken most of them on our Airstream trips other than baby Grace and of course the older teenagers Emily and Kenzie as this is much beyond "cool" for them, especially now that they are both college freshmen and Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority sisters at wonderful University of Alabama and Auburn respectively; they much prefer New York and the Ritz Carlton Hotels, don't you know.

Anyway Jack, Maggie and Little Charlie "II" accompanied us on this trip and drove we up to Asheville, NC where Airstream"1" has been parked since May and hooked up and drove the Blue Ridge Parkway to Linville Falls, and the Big Bear Pen Campground, a private commercial campground right on the Parkway at mile post 327. The temperature up on the Parkway was a cool 72-76 degrees and so refreshing. Charlie and Jack had brought their fishing gear and the campground had a small lake that they tried their hand at, both being expert spinning reel casters and Charlie has picked up the skill of fly-fishing and can operate that equipment like a regulation fishing guide. We then had a nice meal down at Miss Mary's country restaurant in Linville Falls as we were too tired from the all day drive up from Atlanta and Ashville with the camper.

We arose the next morning to a campfire breakfast of eggs, bacon and biscuits and a brisk hike through the woods and up on the Parkway. We had a nice rest for lunch and then was able to take a spectacular horse-back ride at a small farm just over the hill from our campsite; me and the kids hooked up with the wrangler and a nice ride through the mountains and streams surrounding the Parkway....and at 3,000 feet of elevation a very pleasant cool ride. The next afternoon we drove over to Blowing Rock, NC for a nice visit in that mountain village and an afternoon of ice cream and playing in the city park with the other tourists and campers. We camped for 2 nights and then hooked up and rode up the Parkway north of Roanoke, Va. and the Peaks of Otter National Park and campground where we camped 32 years ago in 1976 with our little Star-Lite pop up camper and all 4 of our children, Mrs. Nottingham (Patty's mother) and Beth Williamson our babysitter from Galveston, Texas. It was a very nostalgic remembrance of those days gone by when we spent so much time with our children on the various vacations and trips we took with them. We walked over to the Peaks of Otter Lodge for dinner as we had taken most of the day to drive up to mile post 84 and were too tired to cook on the grill; but, we returned to camp and celebrated Maggie's 9th birthday with a cake and marsh mellows as the temperatures settled in the high 50's; a perfect setting in those beautiful mountains for a warm snugglin' campfire.

After a morning of fly-fishing in the lake at the Peaks of Otter, we hooked up and motored on up to Charlottesville, Va. and the KOA campground. You must remember that we are camping snobs and are accustomed to and love the wildness of the State and National Parks of our wonderful country and do not like to camp where Billy Bob, Leroy and Ethel May are crowded in with 27 screaming younguns' who have all brought their bikes, scooters and other paraphernalia of toys and are running through the campground yellin' and a screamin' all afternoon and night and where each campsite is 5 feet from the next, don't you know.

We decided that we had had enough of roughin' it in the wilderness and found a very nice self storage facility in Charlottesville and the next morning cleaned up Airstream "1" and parked her therewith and checked into the very nice 4-star Boars Head Inn that we have stayed in many times on our travels to this beautiful hometown of Patty's mother where she met Mason Nottingham at the University of Virginia and grandparents Ned and Ada Beck; not to mention the home of Thomas Jefferson, Monticello and the University of Virginia that Mr. Jefferson founded in the early 1800's when he retired from the Presidency and the federal government.

We had a wonderful large double room that was about twice the size of the Airstream so we were most comfortable for the next 3 days of our visit. On Saturday we arose and after a nice breakfast in the Inn departed for Monticello and a tour of Jefferson's home and passion of his life. Charlie being the avid historian that he is was enthralled with all of this history as well as Jack and Maggie...and bein' as they are such well behaved chilluns' due mainly to the influence of their wonderful parents, (our children) were the focus of the lady guide and she catered to them and made sure they had ample viewing opportunities and commented on how polite they were; yes mam'n and no mam'n and all that!

We then went out to the Monticello Cemetery where Mrs. Nottingham and her parents are buried so the kids could see where their great grandmother and great-great grandparents were buried and Jack (John Edward) is name lineage from Mr. Edward Jamison Beck...an important part of his and their heritage.

That afternoon we went back to the Boars Head Inn and the beautiful lake that encompasses it whereupon Maggie proceeded to land a 9 pound Bass with her 4 pound test line spinning reel...how proud and excited we all were for her as she caught the biggest fish of the afternoon. We then dressed up and had a lovely dinner in the more formal Inn dining room.... A great opportunity to express and show good table manners in fine surroundings, with the boys assisting Mimi with her chair at the table, don't you know....there is a Bible verse that says "train up a child in the way they should go and they will never depart from it." Mimi and I feel that is also part of our job as good grandparents, in addition to having fun with the children; is to lovingly teach them as well.

Well, all good things must come to an end as we had rented a small KIA Subaru after we docked Airstream "1" and the Ford F-250 Turbo at the self storage facility and got up early Sunday morning had a great breakfast at the local Country Kitchen and headed out on the 550 mile drive to Atlanta. We can't wait until the next adventure in Airstream "1" to the East coast and New England!