More of the Road to Town, April 15, 2003

I know I have been showing a WHOLE lot of pictures of off the Ranch. But I've shown so many of the Ranch already, and as you will see, there is a lot to show elsewhere too.

Still no leaves up here on top of the mountain at the Ranch. On the way to town this morning I got this picture of a Sarvis tree blooming againt a Hemlock. Sarvis is really just a mountain pronunciation of Service. And they do preform a service. They are the first trees to bloom and have wonderful berries. They taste a little like a blueberry and cherry mixed. They are a sure sign Spring is finally getting up here.

Just down the road a few curves from the mailbox is this old barn. There are usually horses in the field behind it, but I don't see them this morning.

As I rounded one of the curves this is what is in front of me. Even though I live here and am use to many of these sights, sometimes you have to say wow.

This is the old abandoned farm...

...that I showed the other day. This time in a little better light.

I've been showing this waterfall a lot as I cross over the bridge...

... but I have not shown the abandoned "house" on the other side of the road.

Pewee and his Native American wife (I never heard her name) lived here until last year. Grady ran into him at the store a couple of months after the house was emptied. Pewee said "his squaw left him". Can't say I blame her.

On down the road, the fog is making for a beautiful morning.

The old couple who live in this stone house have gotten their garden plowed. I try to plant my garden a couple of weeks after they do since I'm a lot higher up. Notice that they have leaves on some of the trees down here!

This is an old homestead at the bottom of the mountain where the gravel turns to pavement.

... several of the out buildings are log, which means they are very old...

... one of these barns is log...

...the house is across the creek, it's probably log that has been covered with sawn lumber. The house is not lived in, but someone, probably their children, still take care of it all.

Here are some cattle in a springtime pasture. These old fields are fenced with stone. All the Dogwoods down here are blooming.

Another old abandoned house up a hollow.

This old house has been revived and is lived in again. It's across the creek from where their truck is parked. You have to either walk across the bridge or ford the creek to get to it.

Another shot of the barn up the hollow.

After a busy day in town, I'm on my way back home. This is Rush Fork mountain.

This is the big Palmer farm. They have a huge farmhouse, milking barns, other barns. It's a big complex.

As I go on up the mountain the setting sun paints some dramatic colors on the clouds. This barn should be familiar to you now.

Since the Ranch is at over 4000 feet in elevation, but the flatlands only 30 miles away are at only 800 feet, the clouds are always really close to the ground here

... they have to plow up and over the 6700 feet ridges of the Smokies. Sometimes they do hit, and I have one of those fogged in days. Here they make for a nice sunset...

... as they set on the Great Smoky Mountain National Park across the gorge from the Ranch.