Welcome to Big Sandy Mush

Our home away from home for the month of July is the Big Sandy Mush, a secluded valley located about 15 miles northwest of Asheville. European settlement of the valley dates back to around 1800, but the mountains ringing the valley kept it fairly isolated. Generations of residents raised all their own food, kept cows … Read more

POWs and Peanuts in Rural Georgia

Our 2022 summer sojourn finished up with several days of driving on rural roads punctuated by two short stops in Georgia. And our stops provided a fitting bookend to a summer that started with a very challenging and thought-provoking stop in Montgomery. Hard Labor Creek State Park On our way south from Asheville, we made … Read more

Lincoln-palooza in Springfield, Illinois

Springfield has enthusiastically embraced its role as the hometown of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln arrived here in 1837 as a 28-year-old man whose earthly possessions fit into two saddlebags, but who had recently become a member of the Illinois State Bar after teaching himself the law. He left Springfield in 1861 as President-elect of the United … Read more

So Many Stars at Davis Mountains State Park

My ill-fated trip to the East coast last week affected our planning for the fall, since after leaving El Paso we needed to traverse many miles of West Texas and fit in several planned visits before getting ourselves to Austin in time for Thanksgiving. Our hop-scotching across the state started with a drive to Davis … Read more

Ambivalent End to Our Dakotas Experience

Our route from Theodore Roosevelt National Park took us north to Williston, ND for two reasons. First, it was time to return to the Mighty Missouri and the Lewis & Clark Trail to continue our westward trek after our month-long sojourn in the South Dakota Badlands, the Black Hills, Devils Tower, and the North Dakota … Read more