Reunion!

Yes, naturally I have to begin with the end, because there is food involved.  This may not look like much, my friends, but this is the holy grail of barbecue as far as I am concerned.  My mouth has watered for this since the last time I bit into one, which has to be over 15 years ago.  Poole's Barbecue lies in the small city of Ellijay, on the western edge of the Chattahoochee National Forest.  I was in the area a month or so ago when I found my way back to Three Forks, but I was already on a diet by then so forced myself to drive on past.  Not so today!  Luck (and a little judicious planning) had me reach here right about 11:30 this morning and while I'd had a great breakfast and wasn't exactly starving, I had to sink my teeth into this and yes, it was absolutely as wonderful as I remember it to be.

This be the place.  Not too many folks here this early, but that parking lot will fill up quickly enough.  I thought the place had been around since time immemorial, but in reading old newspaper clippings on the table I learned that it only opened around 1989.  It couldn't have been too much later than that when I first discovered it on one of my frequent trips north, probably headed to North Carolina for one backpacking trip or another.  I'm simply unable to pass without stopping, for the most part.  Presidential candidates from both parties have been known to stop here, the Today Show did a live broadcast from here one day, and they've been written up quite widely.  It won't be long before I'll be headed this way once more and yes I will indulge again.

Back to the beginning.  Friday I left home just before noon and drove northeast on the usual convoluted series of roads.  Once I reached the general area of destination I managed to take three wrong turns, mostly from poor signage and at least once because I read the sign wrong.  Once again I was astonished (and not in a pleasant way) at the growth, traffic and congestion that has traveled right up Georgia 400 to this once pristine country world.  We traveled this road weekly, often, and there was next to nothing but trees once you left the outskirts of Atlanta.  I remember when the first McDonalds and a service station opened near Dawsonville and we were all so grateful, since it was located at the perfect place to stop for a potty break each way, if nothing else.  Now, all four corners are filled with shopping centers and so horribly congested I wouldn't stop.  Sad.

Eventually, I found my friends' home and felt as if I'd gone right back into the world I remembered. Their home is on about 5 acres outside Clarkesville on a dead-end gravel road.  It's nicely wooded and not a house can be seen from anywhere on the property.  We spent most of our time on a screened porch near a fishpond with a little waterfall -- tranquil doesn't begin to describe!  Most importantly, of course, was reconnecting with the people inside the home.  I knew Linda well -- hiked with her a lot in the old days, but I didn't know Jimmy at all until the two of them hooked up.  He was in the rock climbing crowd and I didn't go there.  None of us could remember whether or not we'd seen each other since their wedding, which is edging up on 19 years ago.  I went off into whitewater, then bought a house and spent most of my weekends there; they were both into rock climbing and our paths simply didn't cross.  Beautiful people!

Saturday morning we picked up one of the 40 elders who were being honored (Elmer Butler, who is in his 90's, and his wife).  I'd never met them, but got to know his wife really well on the trip to and from Highlands, and they, too, are really interesting people.  

In Highlands we parked in a neighbor's grassy field and were shuttled up a long dirt road to the farm in either a car or, in our case, a wagon pulled by a tractor! Driving the tractor is our genial host, Hillrie.  Quite an experience, both ways, but loads of fun.

It was tough to get a photo of the entire crowd, but I got a few.  The barn in the rear housed a short film about the honorees plus some marvelous photo scrapbooks.  More about those later.  Food was eventually set up under the green tent.

Jud, one of the honorees, entertained us for much of the day, sitting on the rise strumming and singing.

I'm not sure these folks would appreciate this photo of them eating, so rather than offer names I'll simply say that these are more of the honorees.  Almost all of the 40 were actually in attendance.

Something I learned is that a long-time member of our Club, Bob Almand, is currently President of the entire national Appalachian Trail Conservancy!  I doubt that I have the organization's name exactly right, but you get the gist.  He presented the club with an honor  that was recently conferred by the Conference. Only 5 were given out in total, and ours was the only one given out to one of the member ATC clubs.  Really a huge honor. 

By the time I had a chance to take a photo of the award, it had already been hung on a high spot in the barn and I couldn't get a good angle or avoid the light reflections.  This is what it reads:  In recognition of excellence service to engage youth in recreational and service activities on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail."

Yep, food again, and yep, barbecue again.  Ain't no such thing as too much of a good thing when that good thing is barbecue! Didn't hold a candle to Poole's, but then, nothing does.

After lunch Hillrie led us on a tour of his garden and a short hike through the woods.  He said the idea for this kind of planting came from the Mother Earth News, and it's pretty simple.  Open the package of topsoil or whatever you want to use, poke holes in the bottom for drainage and to let the roots through, and plant.  No weeds, no muss, no fuss.  Clever.

Not a lot of wildflowers blooming yet (Highlands is much further north and at a much higher elevation, so spring is just now arriving).  I don't know the name of this flowering tree but it was lovely.

I don't remember the name of this, either, but it's some kind of wild orchid.

The woods were just beautiful -- all spring-green and sun-dappled.

I think in all about 80 people were due to attend, and it turned out that they were mostly old-timers and I knew almost all of them to one degree or another.  That was way cool.  A few I'd like to have seen didn't attend, but most of those were off on a hiking trip to Nepal or some such place, so I guess they have a good excuse.  And, I needn't have worried about these extra pounds I'm carrying, because with only one or two exceptions, everyone else had also put on a few extra pounds and yes, all of us have aged 15 or so years. 

Remember the photo scrapbooks I mentioned?  I found a few photos of Kitty in there and copied them with my camera.  Now we can all see how thin I was back then and understand how many extra pounds I've put on!

I have absolutely no idea when or where this photo was taken, but I love it!  I'm hugging up on Duff Sutton, who joined the club the same time I did and who was one of the honored elders who didn't attend.  Sure would like to see him again. Despite the photo, we were never an 'item', but we did hike together many times.

I don't know what year this was, but that was the Honda I drove from California and the bike I rode all over Colorado, so it was in the early years.  The gentleman helping is Fritz, with whom I led an overnight 80-mile bike trip several years on down the road.  He was also one of the honored elders, and didn't have the first memory of ever riding bikes with me!  Someone overheard that conversation and told us she had photos in the album to prove it, and here it is.

Same event (an annual club picnic at Stone Mountain called a Bike & Barbecue), different year.  I don't recognize the woman in the center, but the man is Michael, who I hiked with a few times and who went on the overnight trip with us.

One of the same B&B parties -- a three-legged race with me and George in the middle.

This was taken at a GATC board retreat up in the mountains someplace.  I was never an elected member of the board (didn't want to be) but I was photo chair for many years and thus attended all the board meetings and events in a non-voting capacity.  Whit, Roz and Darrell.  How we have all changed!

No clue where this was taken -- looks like a lunch break on a hike or a work trip.

So that was the great reunion. I am overjoyed that I went, and equally overjoyed at the opportunity to spend a couple of days with Linda and Jimmy catching up on their lives and getting updates on others that we knew.  Naturally, several of the people I knew and loved have died, and a surprising number have had cancer of one kind or another -- some surviving it and others not.  I'm oh, so grateful for all that are still among us and that I had the chance to see again. 

Today, I opted to drive home on a circuitous route along the northern edges of Georgia, mostly to pick up better highways and always, of course, aiming for the road through Ellijay. This was all familiar country over roads I've traveled countless times. A few highlights:

This is the Nacoochee Indian mound that was once in the center of the Cherokee Nation.  Read the plaque for details (click to enlarge if necessary).

The 'alpine' village of Helen, known for it's old-world Germanic architecture and themes.  Really quite charming and I'd have taken a photo of the downtown area if I could have found a place to park.  Once upon a time there were parking spaces along the main drag, but no more.  Too much congestion, I suppose.

The upper Chattahoochee River.  Yes, the same huge river that feeds Lake Lanier then travels through Atlanta, down the western state line and into the Gulf of Mexico. The Hooch has its beginnings not far from this spot, right on a section of the AT.  I've often walked the short distance down the hill from the Trail to fill my water bottle from the spring that tumbles quite modestly out of the hillside and is the official headwaters of this mighty river.  One of the best whitewater experiences of my life was a day spent with a few other folks on a lower section of this river with some righteous rapids.

I'm home and I'm tired but what a wonderful way to be tired.  I slept like a baby both nights and didn't do much in the way of physical activity, but like Linda and Jimmy, I'm just not used to doing that much talking.  We wore all of us out!  I am grateful -- so grateful -- for all of it.