Categories
Paddle Bob

Back in the kayak: Fontana Lake

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I screwed up my back a few months ago and have been getting in the kayak sparingly. This week, I finally felt good enough to jump in the boat again. It helped that my buddy Jim had the week off and wanted to head up the Fontana Lake in the Smokey Mountains to paddle. It’s one of my favorite spots and I was thrilled to go back.

We drove up on Monday in a rainstorm and things weren’t looking good, but after we arrived at Fontana the weather eased and we decided to put in at Fontana Village Marina. From there, we headed up Eagle Creek amid dramatic skies and a bunch of kids in canoes. It was a nice, though tiring, paddle. All told, we went about 9 miles.

After a hard rain Tuesday night, we awoke to cloudy skies and headed up to Cable Cove and put in there. I love this put in. It’s remote, and it puts you in the heart of Fontana. We were out for a few hours and covered about five miles. I saw one canoe and a couple power boats the entire time. And the Smokey Mountains made it very clear how they got their name. The clouds and mist rising up out of the trees were amazing.

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Categories
Assorted Bob Books Transcendental Bob

An inverted NPR moment, thanks to Hank Stuever

NPR likes to define its “moments” as those times you sit in your driveway with the car running, waiting for a particularly enthralling story to end before going into your house.

Thanks to Hank Stuever and his marvelous book “Tinsel,” Lara and I had an inverse NPR moment recently. Our friend Barb loaned us an audio copy of Hank’s book, which we spent much of a 16-hour roundtrip drive to Pittsburgh listening to.

As we hit Abingdon, VA, I started wondering if we had enough book left to last the rest of the drive home. When we entered Knoxville, I started worrying that we wouldn’t have enough time to finish it and we’d be sitting in the driveway, waiting for it to end.

But as we pulled in our driveway, the last line of the book was read. It had lasted exactly long enough to get us home. Lara and I looked at each other, grinned and thanked Hank for a delightful drive.

If you haven’t read “Tinsel,” add it to your “must read” list. Wonderful book. Hank’s observational tale is perfect for this examination of Christmas and what it means to us, as seen through the folks in the Dallas exurb of Frisco, Texas. Some of it’s pretty strange, but Hank doesn’t judge. He just observes and lets the people speak for themselves. It’s clear that he developed a true affinity for many of the book’s subjects, and it’s uncanny how the holiday events offer a macroeconomic tale of a society consumed with debt, spending and materialism. But the Christmas spirit is in there, too. Buy a bunch of them and give them as gifts next Christmas.

Categories
Dog Bob Tribute Bob Uncategorized

Gilligan’s Wake

Gilligan“Riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”

It’s finally time. Time to hold a wake worthy of the sound and fury that was Gilligan, the black-and-tan coonhound from hell. We’re going to commemorate the noble beast at our house on Saturday, July 31. There will be swimming. There will be music. There will be rituals that will have James Joyce spinning in his grave.

If you’d like to join us, please send me a note and I’ll respond with details. Out of town guests are welcome, of course. The more the merrier.