Smoky Mountains

Location: Smoky Mountains, Tennessee

The weather has not been sunny and bright, but I did manage to get into the mountains for a while. I started at a lower elevation and hiked to Laurel Falls, a little over a mile one way. Like so many places, water has been scarce here lately, so the volume of water in the falls was not great. The weather was mostly cloudy, but the sun came out every so often.

I then started up the mountain towards Clingman's Dome, a 20 mile trip on a mountain road. It started to lightly rain, and it was actually very beautiful. The green in the pine trees was very dark, and the red, gold, and orange leaves almost glowed.

When I passed the 12 mile mark, the rain was really pouring down, and the visibility was a few feet. It didn't seem worth continuing if the only view I would get was fog, so I turned back at that point. The rain was only at the higher elevation -- as I descended, it tapered off until it finally stopped. If the weather cooperates, I'll try again to get to Clingman's Dome before I leave for Kentucky.

Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia) Lifecycle

Location: Rainy day in Pigeon Forge, TN

At the beginning of October, I picked up a small caterpillar that was crawling past my RV. I took a couple pictures of it, but ran out of time. So I popped it into a container, intending to take more photos the next day. Richard identified the caterpillar as a the larva stage of a Buckeye Butterfly.

When I put the caterpillar in the container, it curled up into a spiral ball which I didn't think anything of at the time. However, the next morning it became apparent why, and also that the caterpillar photo session was over -- overnight it had transformed into a pupa, or chrysalis. I decided to keep it, and see what would happen next.

Fast forward to yesterday. I checked the container and found I had a butterfly emerging! It was slowly, bit by bit, uncurling and unfurling.

Soon I had a butterfly livng in my RV! Before long, its wings had dried, and and now it looked like this:

It is so "tame" it willingly sits on my fingers:

Being out of Butterfly Chow, I'm trying to give it some sugar water to nectar on, but I don't know if that will work.

Williamsburg to Pigeon Forge, And A Stop Along The Way

Location: Pigeon Forge, TN

I discovered one of the great benefits of being a nomad -- stopping spontaneously at interesting places.

Two of my recent destinations have been Williamsburg, Virginia and Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Because campgrounds in both Williamsburg and Pigeon Forge are filled up on the weekends, and I did not do a good job of planning before that happened, I was limited to weekday visits. This left the entire weekend for traveling. I left Williamsburg on Friday and did not have to be in Pigeon Forge until Sunday. That made for a very leisurely trip through some gorgeous mountain scenery, most of it somewhere near peak color.

As I was driving through Virginia on Friday, I noticed I was about to pass Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. I've never been there, and I had lots of time. It was raining off and on, but that's why I have rain garb (my Frogg Togg poncho covers everything worth covering), and last I knew I didn't melt. So exited the expressway and followed the signs to Monticello.

I bought my ticket and noticed that it included a shuttle ride to the house. Having been cramped up in the car all day, I asked if it could be walked, and was told it was "way too far." It turned out to be 3/5 of a mile. Not knowing that at the time, I boarded the shuttle and arrived at the house a few minutes later. This is when I found out that the tickets were timed, and I had forty five minutes to wander the gardens before the tour. The gardens were actually quite pretty in the mist, the time passed quickly. We were not allowed to take photos inside, and some of the rooms were so small that we had to take turns at each wall to see the furniture -- but it was a fabulous residence, full of clever devices, nooks and crannies, and lovely art.

When I left, I did take the walking path back, and found that it goes past Jefferson's grave.

On Sunday I got to Pigeon Forge, and discovered two disturbing problems. First, there are so many people here it is like Ocean City on a Saturday in August, except the traffic flows better in Ocean City (yes, really). "The Strip" is bumper to bumper cars passing by Pigeon Forge's shops, restaurants, and amusements designed to separate a parent and their money. Gatlinburg is even worse, if that's possible. The shops and attractions look cuter but there are only two lanes for the traffic, so it just crawls.

The second problem is that the weather station is calling for rain beginning tomorrow and continuing through the rest of my stay. Yes, I know everyone needs it, but couldn't I have a day or two of sunshine?

I did get a quick drive through part of the Smokey Mountain National Park this afternoon, but again the traffic was a nightmare. Even Yosemite's traffic was better managed.

I Am Both an Ignorant Woman and a Young, Black House Servant Named William

Location: Colonial Williamsburg, VA

I have been at Colonial Williamsburg. The main thing I learned is that I am woefully ignorant when it comes to the American Revolution. Sure, I knew "one if by land, two if by sea" and that "taxation without representation" was the catalyst for the revolution. I knew Patrick Henry said "give me liberty or give me death" and I had a fleeting idea that Philadelphia was where "it" all happened. I knew that the 13 states were more like nation-states, attempting to protect their own position and power. To my credit, I have read Bill of Rights, and consider it to be the single most important document that safeguards our freedoms. I support the ACLU because their sole purpose is to protect those rights -- even if I hate, with every fiber of my being, the person they are defending.

But Williamsburg teaches that those events were real, the people were real, and the things they did took courage, cunning, and bravery. They put you in the middle of it. There are many actors dressed in period costumes who stay in character most of the time (infrequently, one could heard saying modern phrases like, "no way!" that I seriously doubt was a common 18th Century phrasing). Even the music is period -- a fife and drum parade in the village green was a fine way to end the day.

Some tidbits of information that I'm pretty sure escaped my fifth grade textbook --

Did you know Michigan was once considered part of Virginia?

Did you know Patrick Henry became the Governor of Williamsburg after the Revolution?

Did you know the people of 1775 had free speech, a free press, the right to assemble peacefully, and to petition the government? What is missing from this list? The missing element is freedom of religion. The Church of England WAS the same as the government -- there was no separation of church and state. What do you think was the most common misdemeanor at that time? It was failure to attend church at least once a month. The punishment was a fine, but lashes were given if the miscreant was unable to pay (on the bare back, man or woman).

Voting was a requirement for any man who was of age, white, protestant, and owned property of a set value (e.g., qualified amounts of property included 50 acres if unimproved, 25 acres if planted, or a house itself was enough if it was in town). There were no excuses for not voting. If you had to walk a day to get into town, then that's what you did, on the day before the election. You voted; then the next day you walked home.

In the 18th Century, slave ownership was commonplace, and there were more black faces than white on the streets of Williamsburg.

I took a tour of the Peyton Randolph house. As we entered, we were given the identity of someone who had lived in the house, and we could follow "our" self through the tour. The identities included the Randolphs and their slaves -- his butler and her assistant, the waiters and waitresses, the cooks and kitchen help, and other workers and servants. I was the last in line, and by then they had run out of "girls," so I was the slave William, the "Young House Servant." They told me I could think of myself as "Willimena" if I wanted.

As we moved from room to room we found out that this particular couple was well to do, and treated their 27 slaves well, at least as these things go. The slaves had food, clothes, and slept indoors on pallets. They were not horribly mistreated, and some were close to being members of the family.

This household was a rebel home. Did you know the British freed slaves of rebel homes? There was a catch -- you had to be able to fight with the British against the revolutionaries. How would you feel if you were the slave in a loyalist house, and were not included?

One night the British stormed into Williamsburg, and with them were a thousand slaves they had freed as they moved through the countryside. The newly freed slaves were running through the streets, looting buildings for the British. As a slave in the Randolph household, all you had to do is look out the window to see them. This is your chance to leave, perhaps the only one you will ever have. You can go with them, and no one can stop you. You will be free, but may very likely starve or be killed in battle. Or you can stay in bondage, knowing that you will at least have food and basic necessities. What do you do?

At the end of the tour we found out which of our alter egos had stayed and which had gone. The slaves closest to the family, the one in positions of trust, who had been confidants and travelling companions and were the best cared for, were primarily the ones who left. William, who was never more than a "house servant" in the story of the Randolphs, stayed. He was later sold at auction when Mrs. Randolph passed away.