All the Puzzle Pieces are Falling into Place........

Sometime I think when things come together you have to go with it, as it was with our decision to move from Florida and make our permanent residence in North Carolina.  We found a home that was is essence “Just what we have been looking for”…it had the location, the style and all of the items on our wish list…I bet HGTV House Hunters would have been impressed…we were also fortunate to be able to find a buyer for our home in Florida in a very short period of time so it looked as though the puzzle pieces were all falling into place….

                           

From here------------------

To here-------------------

                       (646 Miles)

I have to say from being a “Flatlander” for most of my life that moving into a house on a hill, with stairs was a challenge…let just say that if we ever decide to move again we will be selling a furnished home!!!

Saying goodbye to Florida was more difficult than I thought.......  The selling and buying seemed to flow, even the moving experience while it seemed monumental at times flowed as well.  So on August 27, 2015 at 2:00 in the morning my husband took off with Jeep loaded to the gilds with a cat, chickens and anything else we could stuff in it or on the trailer and headed back to North Carolina to start establishing our permanent residence and finish the purchase of our new home.  On the flip side, with my truck loaded down with the remnants of what we could not stuff in the 3 shipping containers or the 1 storage unit we rented BECAUSE WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF… I walked through for the last time, our home of 28 years to say goodbye, Bogie (Booger to Bud) and I then left to stay at my parents house where I was to make residence until all was finalized with the purchase of our NC home and I could work out my notice to the company I was currently employed.  

A Change is on the Horizon

So while I was at the campground helping with the Rocky Knob Show & Shine, we happened to run across a home listing for a house that had just gone on the market.....in fact it was so new to the market the realtor had not had a chance to put up the real estate sign on the property.  It was also 3 miles down the road from the campground, so we call and scheduled a walk through.  Driving into the driveway the first thing that hit us (well we did miss it since the driveway was so big) was a big truck parked off to the side of the driveway with GMC on the hood.....uh oh, this could be sign.  I have a GMC truck that I love.......

We drove up the driveway (I mean up!!)  which I'm thinking at this point, "good thing we have 4 wheel drive on all of our vehicles".  Once we turned the corner and headed up to the house the woods opened up to a clearing that was stunning, which by the way was the first words that came to mind.  A log cabin in the woods, this is what both my husband and I have dreamed of on our trips to North Carolina and Tennessee in the past and here we were looking at a home that could easily be the perfect place for us.

Since it was the beginning of summer and the house had been closed up it was pretty hot on the main floor, of course the air conditioner would take care of that.....? What! no air conditioner!?!? Yes I know that it is cooler than Florida but I have never lived in a house without a air conditioner!!  OK, so I will keep an open mind...Gas heat!! these heaters look like the ones my Grandmother had....scary....OK, still keeping an open mind....the house had a nice open floor plan (got that term from HGTV) with the living/dining/kitchen area and 2 large bedrooms with a smaller office.....we then walked down into the basement....holy cow! it had to be 20 degrees cooler than the main level.  There was good potential for building out the basement and adding additional living are (also got the from HGTV, now I just need one of the designers to drop by and put this together).  After looking over the house it was determined that there was some fixing that needed to be done but both  my husband and myself have been big do-it-your-self-ers so that would not deter us if we found this house to be the one.  We then jumped into the Jeep and headed down to the pasture. Did I forget to mention that it came with 14.5 acres......yep more yard worked than you can shake-a-stick at.

Wow, this is kind a neat!!  Our own trail through the woods.  A little tree trimming (yeah right) and you have a canopy of what I imagine Sherwood Forest would look like.  Well all and all the trip was very successful but like most things I won't get excited because there are too many variables right now.....

First we have to get the right price (what we can afford)

Second we have to finish getting our Florida home ready to put on the market and sell within a reasonable time frame

And Third I have to keep my sanity while we go through the first and second must do's on the list....

Yeah that's never going to happen.......

And the Adventure Continues......

With the Rocky Knob Show and Shine behind us it is now time to start looking to the 2015 camping season.

Our first full season of camping brought a lot of new and familiar faces, from those who had heard about Durham Town Tellico opening just down the road and wanted to test their endurance and skills on the most challenging trails to those who have always found Crawford’s Campground a favorite for getting away from the phones, TV’s and Internet even for just a weekend.  For others it was the enjoyment of the back road riding that seems to have made the Murphy area the starting point for Dual Sport, Big Bikes and Jeep riders that are headed to the Tail of the Dragon or just a days ride over the Cherohala.  For more local scenic drives, Davis Creek was reopened after the forest service closed Tellico to ORV and made the trail more accessible to those who want the experience of off road adventure without the risks that are inherent to extreme off road riding. 

Also reopened is Tatham Gap Road, which was closed for several years due to areas where the road needed major repairs.  The roads are now in great shape, and the scenic views are spectacular.  A portion of it was called the “Old Army Road” which was the “Trail of Tears”; there are some markers that provide information about this part of the trail. The Forest service have also reopened some of the original Tellico Trails, but have made some changes that makes them more accessible to the non-extreme vehicles. 

So all and all our first season was eventful and rewarding….

Rocky Knob Show & Shine June 27, 2015

I think for this section of the blog I'm just going to post pictures......they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves....

Bye Ya'll.........

Preparations for a Festival.....OK let's take a deep breath

Well with anything new you have a learning curve.....

Once all parties agreed that we were going to have a "Moonshine" festival, preparations started.  Mark Rogers (our local celeb) has his own signature brand of moonshine that is distilled and distributed by "Sugarlands Distilling Co." in Gatlinburg, TN.  After talking with them they were excited to participate in a moonshine festival in the Murphy, NC area and went one step further to supply some "Samplin Moonshine".

Ok so we have a Moonshiner, moonshine and the beginnings of a festival........and the work continues.......

As it turns out, our new friend, neighbor and cousin to Mark Rogers has became a local celebrity as well...... "Huck" as he is known to us and now the Discovery Channel Moonshiners, made several appearances in the last few episodes of last seasons series.  As I watched one of the episodes, I soon realized that there were many familiar faces on the show.....whoa.....this adventure just keeps getting more and more interesting.....

Since my husband was on site at the campground, he was in charge of coordinating the event locally.  This included talking with local artisans, food vendors, and entertainment groups to drum up some additional activities so that this would be an event for families to come for and spend the day.  My husband also knew that we needed a name for this event.  He wanted something that was local to the area but also gave the event something that rolled off your tongue.......He told me later that he was looking at names of mountains on one of the local topographical maps of the areas surrounding Murphy, NC and found one called "Rocky Knob"

Rocky Knob

so the festival had a name....."Rocky Knob Show & Shine".

Now we need advertisements, so my husband, Huck, Mark and Deputy Sheriff Chuck??, oh yeah, another member of the Moonshiners cast.  If memory serves me isn't Deputy Sheriff Chuck trying to capture Mark.....might not works so well at the publicity shoot.



Yep looks like the cuffs are on......

I think my husband was having way too much fun that day considering I had to review quite a few photos before adding to this post.  On board the   pontoon boat is Deputy Sheriff Chuck (in the green shirt), Mark Rogers  (in the camo pants) and our friend and neighbor Huck (in the camo shirt).  I was also told (since I'm not a regular watcher of the series) that the pontoon boat was a part of some of the episodes but one in particular "Shine Overboard".

As for the Florida group we were missing all the excitement being down south.  Our IT expert and partner provided the internet advertisements and developed signs and flyers that were distributed locally at farmers markets, flea markets and the local tourism center.   

While I provided some suggestions I won't take any credit for the preparations because as I stated in an earlier post I was still....... "PACKING AND PURGING" and boy what you find after 28 years of living in one place......I figured I would be more help when I traveled back up to the campground for the festival.

So now we have Moonshiners, moonshine, a name, vendors and entertainment, now we pray for good weather and good times.....

Moonshine

Well I've heard of the stuff, never really thought about it much......saw something about it on the Discovery Channel a couple of times during an advertisement for a show called "Moonshiners" but again, never really thought much about it......

UNTIL......... the day my husband calls me from the campground, "hey honey, have you ever seen the show "Moonshiners"......no, well yes, kinda, I think?????  So in great detail my husband tells me about the show, the names of some of the "characters" and that there are a few local celebrities in our midst.  Well as it turns out one of our new good friends and neighbor is cousin to one of the guy's on the series.

Mark Rogers

 

OK that's kind of cool.......so my husband goes on to tell me that this local celeb stopped by the other night with our new neighbor and they got to talk'in........hmmm starting to feel a little deja vu.   So what does that mean for us I ponder.....

Well we have a campground that just reopened with lots of wide open space, we have local celebrities in the area that enjoy a good "get together" and when you put the two together you have the makings for a festival......and hence was born the "Rocky Knob Show & Shine".

 

 

So begins the preparations........

 



 

Our First Season

 

On March 2, 2015 we opened the campground for the 2015 season and our first season as owners; however driving up to our paradise in the north we soon realized that while winter left the southern regions of Florida in February, it certainly was not going to relinquish its hold on North Carolina any time soon and specifically our campground. 

 This is what greeted us when we pulled into the campground
Spectacular!!!!.....then.............COLD!!!!!!!

I've heard of winter campers and thought that this would be an opportunity for those fearless individuals who were looking for the beauty of winter in a more quite and rustic setting.

Some of the fun of winter camping can be introducing your cat to snow for the first time.....

This is the extent of his adventure with the cold stuff later we found him in the bed under the covers (Florida cat)......





During this visit (on my part) we brought along one of our grandson's from Florida for his first adventure in snow.  His cousin had already learned the pro's and con's of winter and was ready to introduce them to his buddy.

 

Thankfully it was the last snow for the winter and gradually the temperatures began to return to a more tolerable one for the thin skinned Floridians.......but before it left we were treated to some "Winter Art".

Crystallized Foliage

Remnants of a Small Puddle

Ice Show at the Creek

This time I stayed for a week before heading south to warmer climes.  My husband stayed for the long haul to shake off the winter's dust, do some repairs if necessary and prepare to greet the new seasons campers.