1-23-10

OUR OTHER CABIN MATE BESIDES MALLORY













PAUL COOKING UP A STORM









PAUL STRUMMING UP A STORM











JEN ENJOYS HER LAST WAFFLE AT
COWEETA HERITAGE CENTER


We started the morning at Coweeta Heritage Center in North Carolina and ended the day at Wogg Holler Farm in Tennessee. Quite a day. We packed up and enjoyed one more waffle breakfast with Paul, Lara and Mallory before hitting the road. It was a great way to end our stay with them. Waffles were delicious as usual and Paul serenaded us with music he played on his dulcimer after we finished eating. He was signing old Southern songs with Lara singing backup. They generously gave us a wooden spoon Paul carved from Black Birch and Lara shared a few branches of her Bay tree with us.

When we left, the towels were blowing in the cool breeze drying on the clothesline outside the cabin. We learned a lot about energy conservation during our stay at Coweeta Heritage Center. We felt the impact of living off the grid and realized using electricity shouldn't be taken for granted. Paul regularly charged his electric car overnight to get to town. He has converted a car and now powers it with the force of his river in the form of battery power. As a direct result of him charging his car, as it uses a bulk of the energy the river supplies, we did not have enough electricity to heat our hot water tank for at least two days and were stuck with cold water and cold showers. It's incredible that he's managed to change his car over and can drive to town without being reliant on oil but it comes with a price. Next time you have a hot shower and a sink turns on or a toilet is flushed and you lose the heat for a moment, consider the amount of electricity generated and gas burned.

Overall, our time at Coweeta Heritage Center was positive. We learned a lot and worked a lot, but we are glad it was our first stop and not our last stop on this journey we have embarked on. We're also excited to see other farms and places and meet other people who do things differently.

The drive to Tennessee was a scenic one, as we were forced to take a detour due to a massive rock slide on the most direct by-way. It took us about an hour, traveling at 15 miles per hour up and down the twisting turns of the Great Smokey Mountains to reach Tennessee. It was a nice day so we enjoyed the ride, but we did get a bit dizzy and our ears popped. This is definitely not a drive we'd like to do at night or in any sub-optimal weather. We passed many crazy motorcycle riders taking the hairpin turns at daredevil like speeds and turning so hard their knees were literally less than an inch from the ground. Many cyclists were trying to make the trip as well. They must have been training for the Tour de France, because they were miles from anything or any place. One crazy lost dog popped out of the brush into the street without any warning and luckily Aaron was paying lots of attention as a good driver and was able to swerve to avoid the pup. Our hearts skipped a beat. All this action and we hadn't even reached the Tennessee border. We've decided the roads in North Carolina are treacherous. Then again, the roads in Tennessee aren't a cake walk either. We suppose we are seeking out the places off the beaten path..and they definitely are off any paths.





PHOTO OPT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD






TENNESSEE INDEED WELCOMES US






Aaron's good friend from Wollongong Lucas Wilkonson grew up in Maryville, TN and we by chance happened to drive straight through his hometown en route to our current location, Liberty, TN. They don't so much pronounce it Mary-Ville as they call it Mahri-vul. We stopped at a sandwich establishment highly recommended by Luke called Subs & Such. They had a tremendous sandwich selection but 99% of them had salami or ham or turkey or some other dead animal we don't want to swallow. Unfortunately their cheese and vegetable sandwich selection was severely limited. We opted for the sandwich that included the veggies and it was ok. The Subs & Such clientele was what we would classify as typical middle-of-the-country Americans; a lot of people were overweight and we noticed a lot of people had bad acne. Is this a direct result of the food? Is this a result of the American sedentary lifestyle? On the road, there is nothing but fast food. We have already been hard pressed to find actual food to eat en route that is even palatable or something we'd even consider putting into our mouths and bodies. Everything at road stops is all preservative, chemical laden weird fake meat products neatly wrapped in plastic colorful packages. How did it come to this?

Luckily, Paulino, our new WWOOF host used to be a chef in New Orleans and he cooked us up a fine dinner. He had a chicken dumpling soup on the stove when we arrived but when he found out we are vegetarians, he quickly improvised and made us a terrific alternative: falafel, brown rice, whole wheat pita, and green beans he grew last year with a miso-yogurt dipping sauce. Fear not, his soup was enjoyed with zest by some other guys staying with Paulino for a few days who normally work for the Barefoot Farmer. The Barefoot Farmer is Jeff Poppen, one of Paulino's friends and mentors who has a farm about an hour away. We might work with this "barefoot farmer" depending on how our Georgia situation pans out. Paulino owns lots of property: several farms, and a few houses. We ate in his converted barn/house where he lives but now are comfortably resting in our new home, one of his rentals and recent purchases. It is a large, three bedroom house with a balcony, walk-in closets, two full bathrooms, but virtually not a single furnishing, save for a futon, which is our bed/desk/kitchen table.

WWOOF hosts tend to have one thing in common, so far as we can speculate after only two stops, and that one thing is excessively long driveways with bridgeless river crossings. We're here safe and sound and ready for what comes our way.