"The Time" - a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

I read this poem shortly after my day on the river. While there is a brief mention of a river, the quote in the last stanza stayed in my mind. "It gets late so early."

THE TIME

Summer is the time to write, I tell myself this
in winter especially. Summer comes,
I want to tumble with the river
over rocks and mossy dams.

A fish drifting upside down.
Slow accordions sweeten the breeze.

The Sanitary Mattress Factory says,
"Sleep is Life."
Why do I think of forty ways to spend an afternoon?

Yesterday someone said, "It gets late so early."
I wrote it down. I was going to do something with it.
Maybe it is a title and this life is the poem.

From FUEL - by Naomi Shihab Nye

Kayaks on the Delaware River

According to Wikipedia, the Delaware River forms the entire boundary between NJ and Pennsylvania, most of the boundary between NJ and Delaware, and part of the boundary between Pennsylvania and NY. The total length of the river from the head of the longest branch to Cape May and Cape Henlopen is 410 miles, with the length above the head of the Delaware Bay at 360 miles. For comparison: Nile River = 4135 miles; Missouri (before it joins the Mississippi) 2540 miles; Colorado= 1450 miles; Hudson=315 miles; Passaic= 80 miles; Raritan= 16 miles.

Since I'm not a river buff, however, none of this information had any bearing on my immediate reply of "yes" when a friend asked me last week if I wanted to join a group to go kayaking on the Delaware River. It's summer, I love the water and I'm a fairly good swimmer. I'd never been kayaking and I was excited to try. Add to that good food with friends at the end of the day. It all sounded perfect!

I could detail all the ways in which the day, in fact, was perfect: the weather, the ride through northern NJ, the friends, the food. But what has stayed with me the most, was the connection to the river and the peace that brought. The boat, the paddles, steady progress. During the course of six miles, there were times we really had to pay close attention (going through the "rapids", avoiding rocks) and other times when we could float along on the current rather carefree. As one friend kept saying, "Just let the river take you where you need to go." There's certainly a metaphor there that I wish I could apply more often to my life! When we reached the kayak's destination and were back on land, I was surprised at how completely serene I felt. I expected aching shoulders and ravenous hunger. Instead, post-kayaking nirvana. I am eager to return!
Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind
be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you
are doing. This is the ultimate. - Chuang Tsu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_River

http://www.nps.gov/upde/planyourvisit/boatrentals.htm

Asheville to NJ

I'm home. In eight days I drove 2, 258 and this Jersey Girl has pumped A LOT of gas!

The return trip took me just under 12 hours door to door, including a quick stop to pick up dinner. Each leg of the ride from Asheville to NJ was smooth and pleasant. Highway 26W out of North Carolina cuts through the mountains and for a long stretch I shared the road with a single truck. Then 81N to 78E. The only place there was traffic was on the GSP for a brief stretch. All the way home, I listened to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which was completely engrossing and read aloud beautifully.

In the early part of my drive, 81 crossed through Tennessee. At a convenient spot, I pulled off for gas. Next to the station was a Kozy Kitchen and I decided to get an egg sandwich to keep me going. It was about 9:30 and guys were sitting on the porch. They said good morning and looked at me, clearly an out-of-towner. Inside the restaurant, there were steam trays on the left and a large, bright dining room. An older gentleman behind the counter smiled.
 

"What can I get you?"

"I'd like an egg sandwich."

"On toast?"
"Do you have a roll?"
"No. How about a croissant?"

"Are your biscuits homemade?" I realized this was a ridiculous question to ask in Tennessee. He just smiled patiently.
"I'll have the egg on a biscuit."

He wrote a ticket and said, "That'll be 98 cents."

In the meantime, a clean-shaven young guy walked in. He was wearing a white tee shirt, jeans, a small tattoo, and a tight face. He asked for three pieces of bacon on a biscuit. His bill was $2.19. The bacon looked good.

"Could you put a piece of bacon on that egg sandwich?" I asked a waitress behind the counter.
Then I asked the gentleman the new price so I could pay. He replied, "I'll catch you next time."

The waitress who was wrapping my egg sandwich in red and white checked wax paper shouted, "Do you want salt and pepper with that dar-lin?"

"Yes, please."

I turned to the gentleman to pay, but he just grinned largely and waved his hand. Didn't say a word, just shooed me away.

In the car, before I even pulled back onto the highway, I ate the egg and bacon on a biscuit. You could win someone's heart with that food.

http://www.whitelily.com

Blue Ridge Parkway and GSM Park

Today I drove 80 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway from just outside of Asheville to the North Carolina entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (The Parkway is 469 miles in total.) I didn't intend to make that drive, but there I was at Mt. Pisgah with no biking trails and the entire afternoon ahead of me. Since I have a goal to visit all the major national parks, I decided to go ahead. The route along the parkway to the park entrance takes several hours, especially when you stop as I did at lookouts and paths to waterfalls. A person could spend weeks on all the side trails! At one lookout, I spoke with an older couple from Florida. I had my bike on the back of my car, and they asked if I was bike riding on the parkway with another woman they had seen along their way. I replied I was not. Then they went on to tell me that their son had biked across the country twice, the first time in 30 days! Well, that really got me thinking about the brave things that people do, and my road trip seemed small by comparison.

I continued driving. Needless to say, the scenery along the BRP is breathtaking. The mountains in the distance really do create a "blue ridge." For a while I listened to a recording by the Paul Winter Consort which seemed to match the mood of the landscape, but then I just drove in the silence. Along this stretch of the parkway there are periodic short tunnels through the mountain. A sign before each tunnel instructs drivers to turn on car lights. I didn't, at least not right away. I tried to see how far I could go in the tunnel before it was pitch dark and I got spooked. Most of the time I made it all the way through, but two longer tunnels required headlights!

Finally, I reached the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, though there was no grand sign to let me know I had arrived. There's no toll gate or park fee as per an agreement with Tennessee. There's a small visitor center, a rather sad replica of a Cherokee village area, and a federal road running through the park. It's a huge piece of open land- 800,000 acres. I didn't go deep into the park or to the highest peak for a 360 degree view which would have been another 45 minutes there and then back to the visitor center. Instead, I bought a lapel pin, a couple of postcards, and headed back to Asheville via the interstate. (http://www.nps.gov/grsm)

Tomorrow I drive home. I'm packed- clothes and lunch. Throughout my trip, there's been a noticeable absence of Starbucks, and I miss the familiar logo. So far the only one I've seen since I left NJ is one at the Biltmore Village.

Biltmore House, Asheville, NC

In 1889, George Vanderbilt purchased 125,000 acres (200 square miles) in Asheville, NC. For the next six years, he collaborated with architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to create the home and gardens of Biltmore House. When Vanderbilt opened the house in 1895, he was in his early 30's, single, and quite a catch! He did get married three years later to Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, and in 1900 they had a daughter named Cornelia.

The Biltmore House is a fine example of what money and good taste can create. The home is filled with art, beautiful fabrics and furnishings. I spent three hours touring 55 rooms, one third of the house. Along with the numerous guest rooms, dining rooms, smoking room, library, music room, there was also an indoor pool, bowling alley, and exercise room! The basement contained a pastry kitchen, a rotisserie kitchen, the main kitchen with at least a dozen hanging copper pots, a laundry room and ironing room. With guests in the house, the kitchen required 30 dozen eggs a week. Friends were invited to stay for weeks at at time. Of course, the house staff was extensive because there was such a tremendous workload in order to entertain in a large and formal way.

In the afternoon, I walked outside in the gardens for nearly two more hours. The famous walled garden covers four acres and has five full-time gardeners. There's also a conservatory, a pond, a meadow. Today, the grounds are only 8000 acres because after Vanderbilt's early death, his wife sold the land to the Pisgah National Forest. Vanderbilt was responsible for starting the first forest ranger operations in the country in Pisgah. I ended the day at the Biltmore Winery, converted from the old dairy barns and opened since 1985. After extensive tasting, I did buy a few bottles to bring home. (http://www.biltmore.com)

Even though I felt very mellow from the wine tasting and wanted to return to my hotel, I was determined to see the entire estate so I drove over to the farm area. I walked through some gardens and saw a rapid fluttering amidst the blooms. Of course, a hummingbird! I randomly pointed it out to a gentleman standing next to me. He said hummingbirds were fairly common in North Carolina. I said I rarely see one in NJ. His reply was to laugh and say that's because they've all fled due to the high taxes. LOL.