The Matt Mittan Show
MMO: 30 Days of Camping: Days 8-11, Lake Chatuge / Jack Rabbit Mountain
What if your camping gear could make your outdoor adventures not just bearable but downright enjoyable? Join us for a deep dive into days eight to eleven of our 30-day camping challenge at Lake Chatuge's Jack Rabbit Campground. From the picturesque beauty of Hiawassee, Georgia, and Hayesville, North Carolina, to reflecting on our journey thus far. We'll talk about how our initial overpacking mistakes turned into valuable lessons on packing light and the necessity of being flexible and prepared for the unpredictable nature of camping.
You'll hear about our serene kayaking experience on the expansive 13-mile-long lake, surrounded by the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains. Picture this: navigating waves, encountering a curious dragonfly, and witnessing a seaplane's up-close landing on the lake. We also delve into the convenience and practicality of our essential camping gear, like how our solar system kept our phones and medical equipment powered, even on cloudy days. We'll even discuss the benefits of a solar rechargeable crank lantern and how our fitness preparations made a significant difference in our extended outdoor adventure.
But the adventure isn't all smooth sailing; we faced unexpected challenges and discovered the kindness of strangers when our car's ball joint broke down in a small town. Listen as we recount being stranded, the heartfelt assistance from locals, and the valuable lessons of patience and acceptance that nature taught us. Plus, hear about our exploration of local gems like "Festival on the Square", a Cherokee Homestead Exhibit and the Friends of the Hayesville Library bookstore. This episode is packed with practical camping tips, heartwarming human connections, and the serene beauty of nature's wonders. Don't miss out on these stories and much more as we continue our unforgettable camping saga.
Visit the Matt & Michele Odyssey website for much more!
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
What if your camping gear could make your outdoor adventures not just bearable but downright enjoyable? Join us for a deep dive into days eight to eleven of our 30-day camping challenge at Lake Chatuge's Jack Rabbit Campground. From the picturesque beauty of Hiawassee, Georgia, and Hayesville, North Carolina, to reflecting on our journey thus far. We'll talk about how our initial overpacking mistakes turned into valuable lessons on packing light and the necessity of being flexible and prepared for the unpredictable nature of camping.
You'll hear about our serene kayaking experience on the expansive 13-mile-long lake, surrounded by the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains. Picture this: navigating waves, encountering a curious dragonfly, and witnessing a seaplane's up-close landing on the lake. We also delve into the convenience and practicality of our essential camping gear, like how our solar system kept our phones and medical equipment powered, even on cloudy days. We'll even discuss the benefits of a solar rechargeable crank lantern and how our fitness preparations made a significant difference in our extended outdoor adventure.
But the adventure isn't all smooth sailing; we faced unexpected challenges and discovered the kindness of strangers when our car's ball joint broke down in a small town. Listen as we recount being stranded, the heartfelt assistance from locals, and the valuable lessons of patience and acceptance that nature taught us. Plus, hear about our exploration of local gems like "Festival on the Square", a Cherokee Homestead Exhibit and the Friends of the Hayesville Library bookstore. This episode is packed with practical camping tips, heartwarming human connections, and the serene beauty of nature's wonders. Don't miss out on these stories and much more as we continue our unforgettable camping saga.
Visit the Matt & Michele Odyssey website for much more!
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Good day and welcome to another episode of Matt and Michelle Odyssey. I'm Matt Mattan.
Speaker 2:I'm Michelle Sheep.
Speaker 1:And we are continuing in our 30-day camping challenge series. This is part three, and in this episode we are covering days eight through eleven.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah episode.
Speaker 1:We are covering days 8 through 11. Yes, yeah, if you have not caught the previous episodes, we are on location right now. We are recording with no signals or anything. We have a little solar system set up for a little bit of power and we're recording on our campsite where we've been for an extended period of time on this trip. But we'll get to that. We'll get to that. Been for an extended period of time on this trip.
Speaker 2:But we'll get to that. We'll get to that. Um, we're well past the eight to eleven. Yeah, well, just just a little preview, yeah little tease.
Speaker 1:We'll get to how we've been stranded for a week in the national forest, but anyway, um, but we're good, yeah you know, we have water, we have our solar power, we have each other medicines, oh yeah, and we have each other but I think the most important thing, besides letting you know that for this stretch of our camping challenge, we are at lake chattoog and we are at jack rabbit campground, which is part of a national forest, absolutely beautiful campground, gorgeous the scenery on lake chattoog, the towns, towns that surround it, like Hiawassee, georgia, hayesville, north Carolina, absolute joy, I mean you know this episode of the trip. There's a lot of great stuff to talk about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did you catch the inflection, did you catch?
Speaker 1:the inflection, this part of it yes. Actually, there's a lot of good sense after what we're going to talk about here, but I think the first thing we have to really cover is how our Uno game turned out.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Because we had the longest hand ever and it lasted over.
Speaker 2:I don't know where I put my notebook that gave the score, but oh, I won.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I won, you had like.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, I won, you had like no, no, I won, but you only had like eight points in your hand.
Speaker 1:I think I had 17. Anyway, we were playing Uno while we were doing our last two episodes. It took about an hour and a half to Just to finish one hand. We went through the full deck of Uno cards three and a half times until the game ended.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was pretty late at night, you know, the tree frogs were all singing, and or no, actually they might have been laughing, might have been laughing at us, I'm not sure. Anyway, um, yeah, so michelle won that.
Speaker 2:Um, epic two episode long hand remember how you thought you were going to end it in like just six cards and you were just like uno. And then way back at the beginning of the hand and then I was like it was so epic and, by the way, it's the morning.
Speaker 1:It's the next morning now. That was last night In real time for us when we were doing that and we had to shut things down Because it was getting pretty late. But there were so many times that both of us had Uno and couldn't go out, and every time I thought I was about to end the game, you'd change the color, or you'd hit me with a draw two or draw four, and then that's a lot like life and then you hit me with a draw two and you were about to go out but you forgot to say uno and I caught you and it didn't and it kept the game from ending, or that hand it wasn't in the.
Speaker 1:We didn't finish the game, we finished that hand, but anyway, so we are in the finished phase.
Speaker 2:He won't let us play right now, so we're not playing at the moment.
Speaker 1:Because I already packed up the stuff.
Speaker 2:You did not.
Speaker 1:I did. It's already packed.
Speaker 2:Why would you do that?
Speaker 1:It's in this box next to me on the picnic table here.
Speaker 2:It's the one that you can easily open and get cards out of. We could finish the whole page for this we could finish?
Speaker 1:I don't think we could, because when we're doing the show and trying to play cards, it's not a good show probably. You're probably not. Y'all could leave comments.
Speaker 2:We have no way to know how it's going to sound because, like said, we're, we're uh, all right. Well, we are here and I think our uno game um, really kind of illustrates, uh, our trip and our part two of our trip, where you never know what's gonna happen you think you know a lot longer than you think you know and and you get excited about stuff and you get disappointed about stuff you never know.
Speaker 1:So it's a ride and I think too, going back through the journey so far, you know, our first trip out, we overpacked so so hugely, so epically, we brought way too much stuff. And then the second trip, you know, we, we did a little bit better and everything, but this trip we were like we're gonna go as light as light as light as we possibly can. Little baby mice on a on a hammock for what was going to be a four-day trip yes and we've doubled that at least. But and we.
Speaker 2:We've changed our mind about that. Now we're like we need triple backups of our backups. I can't wait to get to the second half of this trip, but let's get this one going so we brought the kayaks.
Speaker 1:We did not bring a canoe, we brought the kayaks for this trip because we really like the you know we're really looking forward to getting on the water here. Yep. So we got on the water twice in our first four days here Right Two different locations on the lake. By the way, the lake is 13 miles long.
Speaker 2:So I think we need to go back. Yeah, okay, we'll get into that, but I think we need to go back and say, as we were preparing for this trip, there were a lot of exciting things besides getting on the kayak again, getting on the water with our kayaks again. But before we came out to this trip, you made a purchase. Oh yeah, that we knew would be a game changer, but we didn't know how, we didn't know what it would be like for real.
Speaker 1:And I've been researching this for months.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:For months I have been researching and we have a new abode. When we're camping, we were doing a double dome tent with a little hallway connection and we would use one dome for the air mattress. Yes and the other room was like a changing dressing room, living room kind of thing and you had bought me this amazing art deco chair, a camping chair that sits in something out of the 60s, but it's got this funky pattern.
Speaker 1:You'll have to post a picture of it. Yeah, that's so cool, and so that was the dressing room basically, but at our last trip at Julian Price Campground at Price Lake near Boone up on Blue Ridge Parkway. The dome tents the way they were structured. It's long and it didn't fit on the pad and so we had to have one part of it off the pad and one part in it. And there's. You get so much rain in the high country of. Western North Carolina, whether you're in.
Speaker 2:Highlands Cachers.
Speaker 1:Every day you could have a little storm come through, so it wore down the sides of the pad to where there was like a rock shelf like there was a line and we kept tripping on it, or you know in a dome tent where we're having to crawl and everything.
Speaker 2:You can't stand up and all that stuff you have to kind of dive into the bedroom area.
Speaker 1:Into the bed, yeah, yeah, onto the bed and we get our little scorecards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, six, yeah 7.5.
Speaker 1:Which is always fun to jump onto an air mattress when camping, because you never know how it's going to go.
Speaker 2:Where to an air mattress when camping, because you didn't know how it's going to go. Where are you going to go? Yeah, that's exciting.
Speaker 1:So I had been researching two things. One we've done, the other one we haven't yet and hope to by the time we look at winter camping. But I've been researching both canvas tent Right With hot stove capabilities and everything for when we do winter camping. And the other thing was going with a cabin tent. I've never owned a cabin tent before, and so I started researching and researching and I narrowed it down to about four different. Um, do you need help with it? She's trying to take her shirt off and she's tangled in. I should take a picture right now. You look like you've been taken hostage by a clothing store or something. It's hot. It is hot and sticky out here.
Speaker 2:And I am wearing a bathing suit. We should say, oh, by the way, we should probably mention this about this trip.
Speaker 1:We are in the grips of a nationwide massive heat wave, Like you had said. You heard from somebody or saw something like that.
Speaker 2:Nope, none of that. You got it all wrong.
Speaker 1:Isn't it? I mean, we've definitely been in a lot of heat.
Speaker 2:What I said was Every continental state. Every, yeah every, state in the continental US that I know it's continental, although I'm sure it's Hawaii too. So Alaska's the only question I'm not sure about, but has gotten over 90 this year, even states that traditionally never would.
Speaker 1:But for us on this trip the first couple of days it was normal kind of old school normal summer weather, but then it spiked up into the 90s and 100% humidity and we'll get to that, but it's just so people know, like the setting we're in, yes, very, very hot, very, very humid, and so, yeah, so the cabin tent, I finally found one that I like and I got it. And do you want to describe it?
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess we could post pictures. Well, first of all, the color is gorgeous. What is the manufacturer?
Speaker 1:I'd have to go. Look, I don't remember.
Speaker 2:Okay so.
Speaker 1:Let me put an asterisk. The heat and the length of time we've been out here, the brain. If you listen to the previous episodes. I'm from way up north in the.
Speaker 2:United.
Speaker 1:States and I'm Scottish English genetically.
Speaker 2:I'm not built for 95 degree he doesn't have in his ancestrycom. There's nothing outside this little area of England and Scotland, yeah.
Speaker 1:Ireland, scotland and England. Yeah, so my brain is not functioning at its normal level after this long of exposure to heat and everything.
Speaker 2:Okay, anyway, so I don't remember the manufacturer.
Speaker 1:Again, like I said in the previous episodes, we can post information in the descriptions for the podcast of this and we really should do video.
Speaker 2:I know you've been saying it forever, but if people can see you right now, yeah, but they can't, so I can do what I want she's.
Speaker 1:I don't know if she's trying to wave in a seaplane for a rescue or if she's, if she's there to find it.
Speaker 2:There is a seaplane here, by the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um.
Speaker 1:Well. So anyway, we got the cabin tent. But you also made a purchase, you made a find that completely changed the camping experience Game changing. Especially when combined with the cabin tent, where it's got a foyer entry, where we have like supplies and stuff like that. You go inside and you can stand up. Even me, I'm six foot one, you can stand up.
Speaker 2:Even me, I'm six foot one, you can stand up easily. I can stand up and walk around inside it. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:But it fit on the camp pad.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But we've got the queen size mattress in there you got the chair, you got a little table. Yep, we got clothing. We got, you know, overflow storage. It's really you made an awesome purchase a portable rechargeable usb rechargeable which is great with our solar system with our yeah um ceiling fan light for the tent for the tent.
Speaker 2:So it's a ceiling fan simply because we clip it up at the top, which the dome tents. You couldn't clip anything up there right which drew me crazy, because I'm like we need to be able to come into these dome tents and be able to put up a light, like you know, to light the whole cabin the old ones that I have don't have yeah, and they didn't have any way to do that and um, but this one it's like made for putting stuff at the top of the tent and so yeah, so this whole time, you know, we just get into our tent, it's all muggy out.
Speaker 2:It's a hot day, it's a hot evening. The great thing about this tent, too, is that you can pull the whole thing off to where the entire tent is open.
Speaker 1:About 75% of it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 75% of the tent is completely open to the outside with this fine netting. That is wonderful, and we slept out there two nights with it like that, when we knew it wasn't supposed to rain, and it was amazing. It was literally just sleeping under the stars, under the trees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, cause you're right, the, the netting is so fine, it's almost like it's not even there but, no bugs, no yeah, even ants, couldn't?
Speaker 2:you could see them crawling up around the tent and they, they couldn't get in and it was amazing crawling up around the tent and they, they couldn't get in and it was amazing and um, and then you have that fan on and it's like and the led light is nice, yeah, and the led light yeah, uh, and we get lights the whole room yeah, and we have little portable battery backup things that we charge up with the solar and and I don't.
Speaker 1:we're not paid for this but I I'll let you know because I do a lot of research into the stuff that I buy. And for the solar system we went with EcoFlow. Right, we have what's called a River 2.
Speaker 2:It's a small portable camping system, Perfect size for the little trips we're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah 110-watt panels that fold up like briefcase size, and it was down to either that or a Jackery system. So if people are looking and they want to get something, like that based on my research, those are the two it came down to. I ended up going with the EcoFlow and one of the main reasons was how quickly it charges. It charges really fast compared to the.
Speaker 2:Jackery, and it's smaller, more compact, got a nice carrying handle on it and things Really not, you know, it doesn't take up too much room in your gear and and it's been wonderful with the solar charging. So I have a lot of medical health issues that have been covered in the Odyssey's and and they require chargeable. I have a chargeable insulin pump and your phone is vital. And my phone has now become my main pump.
Speaker 1:And it's connected Bluetooth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have two things that have to be charged and stay charged for my health, or it could cause some real issues. So having the EcoFlow being able and this really comes in in part two when we get to part two, you'll understand why it comes in handy.
Speaker 1:More than just handy, it becomes a lifesaver.
Speaker 2:It really did become a lifesaver. It really did, and um. But but so having that chargeable, um, you know, it meant that, uh, every night we were able to have our fan and light going every night, you know cause? We could charge up our little packs, our little, like I have a little solar pack and you have a little battery pack, um, and we were, we were able to charge both off of the EcoFlow energy, you know, and then have those to power like the fan for a night.
Speaker 1:And also you know when, like today as we're recording this, it's a very cloudy day. We've been having rain and storms and things like that, but because of the battery backups and the EcoFlow, we can go a couple of days with no sunshine.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's vital for us.
Speaker 2:It's really important. You know, as we said, we are not rugged outdoor camping for reasons. There are reasons and I'm just thankful to be able to do the camping we can do. And you know, as we said before, one of the reasons why we started this whole journey was because of my health issues, um, and being able to kind of show that you can. Still, you don't cause cause. Before I met Matt, I was literally sitting in a room waiting to die. I was waiting for a kidney Dialysis was killing me and he helped show me that the outdoors was still accessible to me, even as someone who had some severe issues back then, less severe now.
Speaker 1:Now I'm maintaining You're rocking it as a matter of fact, as you're sitting across from me in your bathing suit and everything. The tone. You know you've got line muscle tone lines in your arms and your legs too, and everything Because, as stated in the previous episode, you've been working out with treadmill and weights and everything prepping for.
Speaker 2:I've been prepping for the 30 days of camping and kayaking, camping for the 30 days of camping and kayaking, and it's really been wonderful to see something pay off in that way where I can feel my strength so much better and anyway. So back to. We got this awesome tent. We have an air fan. We're excited about this trip. We we, during the early days of the this first part one, we we made another great purchase, which was a, a solar rechargeable crank, chargeable lantern.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And that has also been, you know, a really good purchase.
Speaker 1:No batteries, because when you're doing these extended trips, or you're doing paddling stuff. You don't want to mess with light bulbs, right. You don't want to mess with batteries, right. You know other than our battery pack.
Speaker 2:You want LED led, you want rechargeable solar. If you can get it, uh, the the crank for the lantern.
Speaker 1:We've used it twice on this which which, you know, if all else fails, we are going to have light yeah and that can be very, very important charge off of it too, because you you can plug in the USB and you can go ahead and hand, crank it and you can end with the solar.
Speaker 2:Right, that's like one of my favorite things, just because of its absolute. You know so many essential things taken care of in one little thing, one little gadget, which is the LED lantern.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's funny for us and at our age and with health considerations and everything else, we also got a heavy-duty not really big, but tall, cooler. Yes, Not really big, but tall, cooler.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And that has been a game changer as well, because even you know if you can only get ice every few days. It keeps, it holds the ice, you know, and yeah this one we got Because for insulin or for you know, whatever. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:We both have the insulin. We take me type 1, him type 2. And for now he's on a just just I do not plan on staying not gonna stay that way. It's just, and I that is absolutely true. It's just right now. It's just the easiest way for him to to get to get my sugars under control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they kind of went haywire a little and yeah, so these are great things.
Speaker 2:You also have a solar tactical flashlight.
Speaker 1:Yes, which that has come in super handy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's again. You know, that's something that you don't need batteries for. You just put it in the sun on sunny days and it's ready to go.
Speaker 1:And what is?
Speaker 2:the tactical parts of it.
Speaker 1:So it's got a lot of stuff with it. It's got a compass, which is nice.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:It is solar chargeable. Yeah, it's got different degrees of the halogen light brightness, but it's also got a strobe function, which actually has already been used once to repel a bear, remember.
Speaker 2:Did you use that in our house? Yes, when they broke into our house yeah when the bear broke into the house. I had that I was flashing the strobe when I yelled that.
Speaker 1:I keep that thing nearby everywhere because it's got other things on it. It's got a glass breaker. It's got a seatbelt cutter. It's got a lot of different things. It also can be a traveling battery backup, because it's got USB plug-in.
Speaker 2:You can charge off the solar.
Speaker 1:Your insulin pump can be, charged off of the flashlight. And it also has side LED lights that become a spotlight like a lantern, and it also has distress, like flashing red lights if I need it, and everything.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot to it, a lot to it, and I got that from stealth angel?
Speaker 1:yeah, and so if you search stealth angel, they have a lot of outdoor survival type.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I think that was so. So all of our solar purchases make me super happy. Like all of them, every single one of them they do. They've triple duty for what you would already pay for. You get so many extra benefits when you just add something has that solar aspect and, like you said, because you can charge it or you can charge off it, and so it works.
Speaker 1:And one of the other things, too, is like where we're at right now, where we've been for a lot longer than we thought we would be. There's no power anywhere, right? It's not like you can sneak over to a picnic shelter and plug in something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you'd have to, and a lot of these have car adapters where you can go if you have a car.
Speaker 1:We haven't had a car either. That's for part two.
Speaker 2:Well, well now you're just, you're just not.
Speaker 1:You just spoiled the whole fun no, no, no, because nobody knows why or how long.
Speaker 2:Okay, so all right, so let's, let's go back, so um, we got here thursday night, set up camp um, and then friday I think it was we we got on the water.
Speaker 1:Yes and beautiful, and I oh yeah, I had another purchase. It makes it sound like all we do is buy things.
Speaker 2:Right and all you do for the last-.
Speaker 1:For the last year.
Speaker 2:Year is buy things. I have no idea what you're buying. And then you'll be like, look what I got. And it's like usually off of some comment I've made about oh, it would be lovely if we had a ceiling fan or a light in here.
Speaker 1:One of the things being a lifelong canoeist and switching to kayak as an option is like all my tackle stuff is not compatible. I don't mean like the rods and lures and everything. I mean like my tackle boxes.
Speaker 2:You can't get in a kayak, doesn't?
Speaker 1:it doesn't work right and and and, like my boat lights, my rod holders yeah, none of that stuff works on the kayak.
Speaker 1:So I've been having to revisit a lot of things so that I can, you know, be safe, efficient and productive with my fishing on the kayak. So so I bought a new tackle box, and so, when we got to the water to launch out, I had to build out my new tackle box, which I knew was going to take me a while. And so I was like, you know, hey, michelle, you know you don't have to wait on me.
Speaker 2:And next thing, I know you've gone way off around some mountain point and I don't even see you anymore. You hit the lake and you were gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know just paddling away and everything. So talk about your trip, because it it was a while later until I saw you. You went. Oh, and, by the way, we also have rechargeable walkie talkies. That we have. We should mention that so we can keep in touch when we're together. Yeah, they work so they're like 18 mile range or something like, um, so some of my like like the kayak.
Speaker 2:I love my kayak. It's like a sunburst color, um, and and you've decked me out with with a little red cup, red and orange cup holder and and a red dry bag that is the perfect size for me to put behind me and pull around. Except for this time I overpacked it, so I had it in my lap for a little while. But very comfortable, very, very lovely paddling, because you can sit straight up and paddle or you can kind of lay back lazy paddle.
Speaker 2:I know you like to sunbathe out in the middle and I like to sunbathe and um, and so yeah, you were, you were working on that, and so I got in and at first I was like I'm just going to stay around you in the area. So I stayed in the cove that I knew you would be fishing. But I went all the way around the cove and all the way back and you were still working on your tackle box. You had a major overhaul you had to do, and so at that point I'm like, okay, I'm going around the corner.
Speaker 1:I'm going to see what's around this part of the lake and it was wonderful.
Speaker 2:I was visited by a dragonfly that landed.
Speaker 1:Dragonflies and butterflies seem to congregate to you whenever we're out on the water.
Speaker 2:They do it's nice.
Speaker 1:They're my friends A few episodes ago, we talked about the butterfly that just circled you and followed us for a long ways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this dragonfly was so sweet, that was at.
Speaker 1:Lake Illinois in South Carolina.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, it was. So you're and then, yeah, so, so, um, one of the things that right off the bat, um, because we are on a lake that has um boat traffic, motorized boat traffic, and I think that is a good point to like stop and talk about that for a second when you are a kayaker or a canoer or paddleboard or just any kind of self little vessel that little self-propelled vessel that um, you know a lot of people, you have a motorboat and you don't realize I, I you know, I don't blame them, I just think they're they just kind of ignorant of what's going on, not.
Speaker 1:In regards to people on self-propelled yes, on what it does, what your wake does to that kind of vessel.
Speaker 2:And so if you are still like, if you are zipping around corners that, you know I love going fast and I grew up with motorboats, so I'm like, I'm not down on y'all, like if you do it, but please be aware that you know you could cause some real damage to people who are, you know, like near a shore that, with rocks that you could crush them into. You know like near a shore that, with rocks that you could crush them into.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Cause a lot of times with the paddle stuff you stay close to shore and those wakes become big waves when they're within 10, 15 feet of the shore. And so that Even on the open water.
Speaker 2:So right when I first went out, there was a wake coming and you were like. You were like you've got to make a tea, You've got to be. You were like you've got to make a t, you've got to be. You know, you've got to make a t with the with the way you were sideways to the waves.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because I was trying to go across this little bay of the cove and um, and you're like nope, you got to go into, you got to go into where the wakes are coming. And then I did and oh my god, it was so much fun because I was going to do and jumping up, you know, and then, but I felt very secure and um, and that was the right thing. It's a very stable yeah, I have a very stable kayak and we mentioned before, but you're in a old town, loon yeah you know um which is it's great for cutting through and stability and everything else.
Speaker 1:But you not only awake. You experienced something that I have yet to experience. I've heard it several times, but I have not gotten to see it yet.
Speaker 2:But you have a very, very personal experience with it.
Speaker 2:So I was out in the middle of this Like a bay Bay, so the bay of this little cove, and it was a beautiful day White sky, fluffy clouds, just the mountains. You've got to understand. There are Blue Ridge Mountains that go around this lake. No matter where you are, you get these views of these mountains and just like a paradise, and there was like no other traffic or whatever. And I hear a plane in the sky now the night before we kept hearing this plane and we're just like, okay, whatever it's, you know what is that? You were, you would ask.
Speaker 2:I thought it was maybe a sightseeing plane or something, because it is so beautiful and I think it is a sightseeing plane now on reflection, and I look up and I see this white little plane in the sky and it's coming down towards the lake.
Speaker 2:And then from I had like a panoramic view from where I was in the middle of this bay to see from where it entered the sky on the right and it kept coming down. It kept coming down and it got too far below the mountains where I'm like oh, that's going to land in the water.
Speaker 1:Did you think it was crashing at first or did you realize what it was?
Speaker 2:I think, well, it was still. When it got below a certain threshold I realized what was going on. But when it was still, it could like be going to like an airplane or you know a strip somewhere nearby. Um, I thought that's what it was doing. It was just a strip near the lake that you could, because my parents had their own private plane, cessna little, you know those little little two-seater type um, when I was a kid and so, and they, they had, you know, the airstrips near our house that were just a field, basically. And so I'm like, okay, there could be a field around here and he's going to go to that. But then it got to a certain point and I'm like, oh no, that's going into the water and that's a controlled landing. That's not an out ofcontrol landing, that is not a hurried landing. Nothing is sped up or slowed down, it's like, because it stayed at the same pace until it got, actually too, into the water, you know. And so watching the whole thing from one side of my periphery to the other was very cool.
Speaker 1:The landing and the takeoff of a seaplane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean. Well, the entry from the sky, you know, was very cool yeah.
Speaker 1:And I've heard it a few times especially when it's taking off from the water.
Speaker 2:You really hear it.
Speaker 1:The sound echoes off the water and everything, and I have not seen it. I've heard it out on the lake, but I've not seen it yet. So that is a uniquely your experience on this trip. I mentioned earlier about the two towns, main towns that connect with the lake, because it's a very big lake. It goes across the state lines of Georgia, hiawassee and Hayesville yeah, hayesville and Hiawassee. This was also the area of an old Cherokee settlement.
Speaker 2:There was a population base in this area and you can totally understand why, even before the lake was made in World War II and the Lake Chug.
Speaker 1:Chatoog or.
Speaker 2:Chatooga, chatooga, chooog. We're really going to have to look this up. We didn't do our research to see how to say it.
Speaker 1:I think it's Chatoog, but I'll say Chatoog.
Speaker 2:You say Chatoug, one of us will be right. Okay, I mean, chattug sounds right to me too, but I think I was calling it Chattuga, which you're like. Well, maybe that's it, maybe it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Anyway.
Speaker 2:So yes, and that means beautiful and like a convergence of waters.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rivers, multiple rivers coming together.
Speaker 2:So before this lake was created, which was created back in 1942, I believe it was already a place where lots of different tributaries came in to cross, you know, in this area. And so the Cherokee, you know, called it, yeah, a place of the many rivers, beautiful, and that's how it got its name.
Speaker 1:And it really is so beautiful. In Hayesville there's a really cool heritage site where they've set up a traditional Cherokee village type thing, which is really, really cool.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And let's talk about Hayesville a little bit, because, oh my gosh, we love that town.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And we went there for their annual festival in the square.
Speaker 2:So while we were here, they had their annual festival in the square. Yes, and we saw it the night before when we were just kind of scoping out stuff.
Speaker 1:Scouting yeah.
Speaker 2:And they were setting up all these little booths of you know, and I can't help me. I love to just shop me some local, that's part of the Odyssey, yeah. And so we made plans to come back the next day and then, while we were there, because we had been walking around and we were like, oh, smell that burger. Like and I don't eat burgers, but I was like, mmm, I want to go there, yeah what was it like dirty dog or something like that? Fat dog fat dog.
Speaker 1:I think it might have been fat dog.
Speaker 2:We can do a better job in the future of writing, but here's the.
Speaker 1:Hayesville is a very small town and pretty much everything is centered around this town square, where the town courthouse is, and so it's a beautiful park, they have a veterans memorial there and everything. But for such a small little town it was surprising how many different things they had there, like you know, a pizza shop, a bakery, you know some stores to shop in and things like that, but the festival on the square, they had music, they had traditional dancers and a lot of local artists there.
Speaker 2:I had someone put some goo on your knee that you had hurt back in your service days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my old war injury.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because we were walking around, I was like put it on him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I got a good knee massage knuckle massage on my knee.
Speaker 2:That you never asked for, but it probably was.
Speaker 1:If you follow us long enough, you know Michelle signs me up for stuff, whether I consent or not. You're fine. I got a wonderful but I have to say it was like a it was like a mineral infused kind of thing, and herbal and mineral infused and I really liked her. I have constant pain in my left knee and it did numb around there Like I could feel the heat in it, and then it kind of numbed it a little bit.
Speaker 2:Do you think it helped with the walking around? Yeah, cause what it did is.
Speaker 1:I told her because we went back. She wanted us to come back after we'd walked around and give her feedback.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I said it's like it set like a little pillow of numbness around my knee. So I still had the core pain in my knee, but it was contained and it was blunted. Yeah, yeah, it didn't radiate up and down my leg and things. So it gave like this almost like you know how Novocaine will make your lips feel it like, almost did that kind of around my knee it like did a little bubble of numbness that was relieving. So it was good, and we also and I do I can tell what this is.
Speaker 2:Because we got them right here on the table, because we got them on the table. Ivy Mist Candle Company we got to meet the guy who does that.
Speaker 1:He's been doing it for years and years, and years. Oh, the scents. He does soy-based candles, and the scents are amazing. We bought three different ones. We've got them here on the table with us. We got cactus and sea salt which just smells like the beach.
Speaker 1:We got balsam and cedar, which sounds it smells like maine, so you know I love that back home. And then we got blueberry cobbler, which also smells like my grandmother's kitchen. So we've been using those every night and really enjoying them, but we had a great time. And, um, there's so many different places to launch boats on this lake. Every every five feet well, maybe every five miles or so shoreline there's. How many miles of shoreline? Is 132? Is that what it was?
Speaker 1:132 miles of shoreline I can't remember somewhere in that ballpark yeah but for for paddle enthusiasts. Yes, like michelle said, there is a lot of boat traffic and everything but there's also a lot of coves there's a lot of coves and there's a lot of feeder creeks and rivers yeah and we did not get a chance to paddle up several of those that we wanted to, which we'll get into the part two, right, yeah? Um. But so we're trucking along, we're having a great time and everything, and we're exploring around, we're shopping. The other town is hiawassee, georgia.
Speaker 2:Love that town as well, and and I just, and we have to say about the people, that's what I was just about to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no we have to talk about.
Speaker 2:The people are so awesome and so nice and giving of themselves and open yeah, and um welcoming, yeah, I mean, it's really not like tourism council way, yeah, I mean just like old neighborhood right friend, like I went into the, you stopped at a little bookstore because you used bookstore and you knew that I would like that and I go in there.
Speaker 1:And the woman who was there her name was- that was in Hayesville, right, that was the Friends of the Hayesville Library it was the Friends of the Hayesville Library.
Speaker 2:So books that were donated to the library went to this bookstore for them to sell, to raise money for the library and for operational costs, which I will support all day long. And so as soon as I walk in, the woman who was in there came right up to me and was like hi, I'm Karen, please let me give you a tour around. And so she literally walked me around the bookstore and pointed out every different category that was in there in this little bookstore, and they had a table out front and she's like you know, with your purchase you can get three books. But then I ended up making a purchase my mom likes a series and I called her on the phone and I'm like tell me what you don't have so I can buy some stuff.
Speaker 1:You want to tell people what series it is.
Speaker 2:Sure, it is the Reacher series Jack Reacher. With Childs. Lee Childs is the author and my mom got cancer last year. I don't know why I I. I don't know if she had already read one of the books.
Speaker 1:I think she had read one. She read one.
Speaker 2:And she loved it. And she loved it and so I went and got her a bunch, and then I went back and got her a bunch, got her a bunch and then over the year it's been over a year and now she's cancer free, ish, um that, uh, you know it's very limited now what I know I could still get her.
Speaker 1:But but the series goes on. You found a couple four so I did.
Speaker 2:And then, and then she was just like just take all the books you want take, take one or a thousand books off of the table out front, um, and it's just that, you know, just very nice opening, welcoming, and so anyway, so we're driving around and um, before we get to the incident.
Speaker 1:I just want to mention, while you were just sharing, that, because this is relevant and we haven't talked about it on this trip. But there was just a Wren hanging out right behind your shoulder. Just all that whole time you were talking, there was a wren right behind you.
Speaker 2:Should I read the poem?
Speaker 1:I think you should pull it up, okay, because we have had a short poem. It's a short poem and we we like to read different things and share thoughts and insights on things before we go.
Speaker 2:We kind of set an intention before we go, and it's not an intention of any have-tos or whatever, but just nature, poetry or or musing writings that, um, like muir, is one that you bring to the table all the time and um, and so this, this poem had come across my stuff and, uh, I had to go look it up because I had heard part of it and I'm like that just speaks to me in a way that I can't when before, before you read it right, let me just talk experientially some of the things we've experienced.
Speaker 1:so there have been wrens around michelle this whole trip and even like you went, you walked to um the shower shower house. There's one shower house here and you walked up to that and I was down in the campsite and this wren landed on your purse bag and was perched on the handle and just hung out and was circling around it and I took a few pictures of it. Maybe you can post up the little collage that I did. And I said I think she's looking for you.
Speaker 2:She's wondering where you went.
Speaker 1:So we've had wrens around you, but also there's this, um, there's this group of three ravens that have been hanging out our campsite. This is the longest stretch we've gone without hearing them talk for a while they, they have been all around us.
Speaker 2:They've just hung out with us at the campsite In fact, we thought it was them this morning, but it turned out to be a plated woodpecker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm going to save my experience for the next part. Okay, but we've had wrens and ravens specifically this entire trip.
Speaker 2:Right. They've been omnipresent with us the whole time, which is not something we've ever mentioned in anything, because it's never said so here you go Now.
Speaker 1:before we got here, this was the poem that you pulled up to read before we came in.
Speaker 2:Yes, that we were driving here.
Speaker 1:We were driving here. Okay, so here we go.
Speaker 2:All right, it's called Lost by David Wagoner. Stand still, the trees ahead and bushes beside you are not lost. Wherever you are is called here and you must treat it as a powerful stranger, must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen, it answers. I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again saying here no two trees are the same to raven, no two branches are the same to wren. If what a tree or bush does is lost on you, you are surely lost. Stand still, the forest knows where you are. You must let it find you, yeah.
Speaker 1:And now we've had nothing but ravens and wrens around us all the time like companions, and we've been here. We've been here, unable to leave.
Speaker 2:Yes, unable to leave, which brings us to what happened, right.
Speaker 1:On the final day of this episode.
Speaker 2:We stopped at a store and got ice.
Speaker 1:Got some ice cream.
Speaker 2:No ice.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Trying to come back, and then you see the ice cream shop.
Speaker 1:I have to stop, and you can't help yourself. Did I mention I'm on insulin?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I wonder what contributed.
Speaker 2:And yes, now we have found the cause of the issue Matt's ice cream affliction.
Speaker 1:I say affliction, you say addiction.
Speaker 2:And so we pull in.
Speaker 1:Wait, wait, wait. Before that, I should mention, we decided there's a number of lakes near here.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so we decided to go and explore and we drove into Murphy, we drove all over the place and um and blairsville, and we did a lot of driving right also stifling, hot stifling, and I can't handle it, you know I I needed the car air conditioning break in the middle of the afternoon, because literally I can't breathe when it's 95 and 100%, because without a car and air conditioning, what would you do?
Speaker 2:Oh, I think we might find out in episode two.
Speaker 1:But we had been driving all over all day.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we get to the point where you just mentioned. We go in, we get some ice cream. We come out in the parking lot, get in the car, start slowly backing out of the parking spot and crunch. Crunch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought we ran over something, maybe, yeah.
Speaker 1:But then the car wouldn't drive and it started sliding to the side a little bit, the front right tire detached and the ball joint broke and the axle and things like that. And even now I get chills thinking what could have happened if that had broken while we were driving on the highway, right, I mean, it could have killed us, yeah. And yet here we were backing up at two miles an hour in an ice cream parking lot, right and right in the middle of downtown Hiawassee.
Speaker 1:And so again, speaking to the people, people were coming over and talking to us and giving recommendations and trying to help any way they could and everything else, and so we were able to find a wrecker to tow the car to a garage that everybody recommended. And we were kind of stranded.
Speaker 2:Um, and we were kind of stranded, it was, you know, hayesville and Hiawassee are both the kind of towns that shut down at five o'clock every day and stuff's not open on the weekends. You're done so, so this was a Saturday and and nothing's going to be open on a Sunday.
Speaker 2:This is not an open on Sunday town. And um, it was. It was past five, five as it was, so nothing was open at that point either. And um, we got the car towed. We had to figure out. You know, we got a recommendation to get a ride back to the campsite. Yeah, um we, we got a wonderful ride by this this, uh, this woman named Caitlin, who was fantastic.
Speaker 1:She's great.
Speaker 2:She'll be talked about more in episode two of this visit and so then we came back to the camp site and we were stuck because we got dropped off to be leaving the next day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the next morning we were supposed to check out. And so here we were. We had come prepared for a four day trip. It's the night before, it's our final night here. Yeah, and the right front tire detaches. There's no way to get it repaired. There's no.
Speaker 2:there's no Uber or anything that we're aware of and we find out there's there's no rental cars, but we will go into that. We'll get go into that next time.
Speaker 1:Everything we tried to do was all saying you know, be there in the forest, Be here.
Speaker 2:Here Be, still Be here.
Speaker 1:And it has been days and days and we are still here. Still here and we will get into all of the other things and the insights and the anxieties and the wonderful experiences in the next part. All right, all right.
Speaker 2:So thank you for listening. We'll see you in the next one.