When we last left our heroes… We were busy fixing up our travel trailer and getting to know the area. In our last update, our trailer was naked. But no more… Teresa put a skirt on her (plywood and insulation around the base of the trailer). Unfortunately, we didn’t get a decent photo of our newly skirted trailer. I threw a thermometer down underneath the trailer just for kicks. It stayed a constant 45° F, even with temperatures outside around 20° F, so that should help us with our heat bills a little bit I suppose. It definitely looks better, if “better” means “permanent” or “redneck.” 🙂
As it turns out, my fellow nomadic friend, Chris Dunphy along with girlfriend Cherie, were passing through the area just before we had to leave town to head to Atlanta. We drove Chris and Cherie up to our property, where they set up camp mid-driveway (before the clay) for their visit. On the way back, we stopped off at our neighbors Lynn and Linda. At the last minute, all decided to join forces for dinner. We brought the food and put together a salad while Lynn cooked up some burgers and all six of us had a grand time that evening. The following evening, Chris, Cherie, Teresa, and I had a great time hanging out in Salida. Chris and Cherie arrived at our property around midnight with temps in the teens. Yikes!
After Chris and Cherie headed out, Teresa and I hightailed it to Atlanta by way of Edwards. It was, thankfully, an uneventful trip, taking us through such beautiful sites including Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. When we got to Memphis, we just had to check out some Southern BBQ. We hadn’t eaten decent BBQ since we left the South. So we gave Anita and Phil a call, our friends in Birmingham, and Anita recommend Corky’s BBQ. And we weren’t disappointed. Their ribs were amazing. We spend a night with Anita, Phil, and our stored stuff in Birmingham, Alabama before heading to Atlanta.
Upon arrival, it was a total whirlwind of activity. Once we arrived in town, I immediately had to “go to work” as best man for my good friend Ken’s wedding. The bachelor party was fun… neither Ken nor I were in the mood for a mammary review, so the guys spent an evening at Five Seasons Brewing, Whole World Theatre, and Summit Wayside, enjoying outstanding beers throughout the evening.
The wedding was very nice aside from a few immature men who had a thing for Laura and one misbehaving relative. I tell ya, we all held our breath when the preacher said “speak now or forever hold your peace.” No one threw anything at me as I gave my speech, which was a good sign too. 🙂 All in all, it was hectic, but lots of fun. Ken and Laura (and oh yeah, Captain Nemo [dog])… we wish you the best as a new family!
Then the family started to descend for the feast. I’m still feeling the tryptophan hangover!
We tried to get around to see nearly everyone, which has made for a hectic visit. From what I hear from others, it is always like this when you come back home for a visit. We didn’t have our camera all the time, so apologies if you weren’t included below…
Now Teresa and I are headed off to the North Georgia mountains to freeze our butts off in the Cohutta Wilderness. Afterwards, we plan to melt away in a little cabin in the woods with a hot tub before coming back to Atlanta for one last crazy week before heading off to Florida.
On the business side of things, we’re both trying to line up some work before heading out of Atlanta. Teresa has managed to score some potential contract jobs, and I’m still trying to track down some work leads, including one telecommuting opportunity in Denver, but I’m pretty sure something will work out for me. In any case, it’s nice to know our bank account trajectory will reverse course pretty soon.
On the homestead, we’ve been in contact with a number of new neighbors who have found our website. We’re pretty much the first thing to come up when searching for “Spruce Basin.” As such, I have set up a phpbb website for Spruce Basin. Hopefully this will be helpful in creating an even closer community up on the mountain.
On a musical side note, Teresa and I have been listening to XM radio more and more. We enjoy The Loft (50), Fine Tuning (76), Audio Visions (77), CNN (123) and the BBC World Service (131). While listening to Fine Tuning, we heard some fabulous guitar work by Kaki King. While exploring her fabulous music on the web, I got lost in myspace.com, where all these musicians hang their blog. Following the various links over to YouTube, Google Video, and then following the comments from there, you can discover some amazing musicians. I found the following in my searches for two-handed guitarists:
- Kaki King Performing at NPR
- Preston Reed Performing Ladies Night
- Preston Reed Performing Tribes
- Erik Mongrain Performing Airtap
- Erik Mongrain Performing Timeless
- The late Michael Hedges (one of the original two handed masters) performing Because It’s There
- Stanley Jordan (the original two handed master) performing Autumn Leaves
- Stanley Jordan performing Stairway to Heaven
- And then there was this: Frank Zappa performing Stairway to Heaven
There is some amazing undiscovered talent out there. Will YouTube, Google Video, and myspace level the playing field?
Hope all of you had a fantastic Turkey day.
On an administrative note, the e-mail alert functionality of our installation of Community Server has been down for quite some time, but it is operating once again. Thanks for your patience!