My Dragon is miles behind me? I have run to the forest to be with my thoughts and a favorite North Carolina river. The Nantahala in western North Carolina is my retreat this weekend. This is the view from my camp site and I have claimed it as my space to reflect on the semester behind me. I have written, composed, hiked, fished, cooked, photographed, shot video, and slept enough for a full week of activity in just a few days. Early this morning I succumbed to an effort to put my thoughts into words and music?somehow I hear and visualize the memory of this place as some sort of historic southern movie (something besides Deliverance's Dueling Banjos, please)...perhaps some combination of Stephen Foster's Sewanee River and Sidney Lanier's Song of the Chattahoochee would be more appropriate. There is something inspiring and nostalgic about this place and I understand why the people who live here love it so.
As for the young men who paddled the river for two days: Matt (pictured), Austin, Kenny, and Justin... I salute you on a job well done. Anyone executing an Eskimo roll in 43 degree water and coming up with a smile gets a 'thumbs up'.Now about finishing that term paper...(maybe a nap, first...)