27621 - A perfect Bluegrass xmas

My eye falls on the fiddle player, he not just plays music, he is music and I become instantly a groupie. I keep it to myself. The next morning when I wait for my breakfast, he however grabs me and with T from Cold Country playing and singing, I learn my first basic steps of swing dancing. The next moment I recall is in the evening. There is a campfire, the stars are out and people are picking on their instruments. We sit together on a car hood and talk, only disrupted now and then by requests for more fiddle or mandolin tones. The moment is perfect. But this was all back then, when we all lived the good life up North in Alaska.

Now we are down South, me chasing the sun, he moving with his bluegrass band Bearfoot to the center of the country music world. And so it happens, our paths cross again. J invites me to stay over Christmas, promises to play as much mandolin for me as I can stand and submerges me in the world of Bluegrass in Nashville, Tennessee.

When the music from Scots-Irish immigrants rolled down of the Appalachian mountains and combined with the African-American Jazz and Blues, Country music was born. With icons as Hank Williams and the Carter family, it became the music standard in the South. Bill Monroe is however the person we should talk about. Confined to the only instrument left in the family picking sessions the mandolin, he became the founding father of a sub genre called Bluegrass, after his first band, the Blue Grass Boys. And thats the genre we like.

The main distinguishes from Country music, besides its base around only acoustic string instruments, is that one or more instruments each takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment. While in Country music music all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment.

After a romantic dinner for two, J brings me to the Doyle and Debbie show. We hit downtown, and it seems that each bar has at least one life band playing. We are both not impressed with the band we choose and after a beer we head home early.

Who needs downtown if you can have bluegrass music right at home. T and A (who plays fiddle in both bands) invite us for Christmas dinner at their place. Of course it helps that they are picking all day around me, that I can see the process and help with recording a Christmas Carol, that they even have a present for me under the Christmas tree, that they cook a fabulous Christmas dinner. But there is something with these Alaskan people what just makes me feel home. I still can't put my finger down on what it is with Alaska, but I love it.

For 3 days J and me are hardly separated, more dinners, more coffee, more mandolin, more songs, more talking, more pictures, its just perfect.

Then our paths and our lives split again, J heading for some gigs in Chicago, me continuing my travel south. Separated until our travel lives will bring us together again, for some more bluegrass and perfect moments. I hope its soon.

Dag,
   Iris (Nashville, 27621 miles)

27424 - Mammoth Cave NP

I make a quick stop at Mammoth caves, with more then 600 kilometers of passageways, the largest cave system in the world. But more interesting for the visitor, the landscape above the cave is a karst topography, an eroded limestone landscape with a sandstone caprock. And that can mean only one thing inside the caves: Stalagmites, Stalactites and Columns. Oh and very touristy and busy and all that.

Dag,
   Iris (Mammoth Cave NP, 27424 miles)

27088 - It seems like a good idea

I am just not looking forward to go hiking again through the woods. And so I drive my car through the Smoky Mountain National Park. But this feels wrong. I read about the Smokies already before (Bill Bryson, A walk in the woods) and was actually looking forward to it. With 9 million visitors a year, this park is the most visited park in the USA, and also now in winter there are cars every where. This park you have to hike, to avoid people. And so on the way back, I drop by the back country office to obtain a shelter permit and drop my bike of at the top of the pass. Its seems like a very good idea: I walk up from the campground to the ridge, spend the night in a shelter, walk the ridge to the road and bike and cruise 14 miles down the road back to the Oto.

My neighbour D on the campground is in high spirit, knocking of all the mileages available in the park, and with lots and lots of wood he also has a new friend for the evening. The next morning I set off also in high spirit, the sun is out, the trail goes up and I get finally a bit of a feel for the trekking poles, I took out of the car last minute.

That night I have to share the shelter with some spring breakers on their first back country trip, and they even need me to finally get the fire going. They are fun company though and we talk until late in the night. The next morning we wake up with snow and its cold.

As its only 1 night I took barely any food and when I make an extra strong coffee and bake myself some pancakes not much is left. I am just a little bit worried about the snow, but the day will bring a trail on top of a ridge and with only 11 miles to go, I wave it away.

The trail is beautiful, the snow is still falling, but every time it clears up the views are amazing. The going is not too bad, and with my ‘happy to have now’ trekking poles, I make good time.

Not aware of the major snow storm in years I am in, I keep going. The whole day the snow keeps falling and in the afternoon the temperatures drop. I am getting cold, the going goes slower and slower and many times I fall, not aware of the ice layers underneath the snow.

And then I suddenly realize something. What seems liked a good idea might turn out to be a disaster. The snow is now almost 0.3 meter deep and there will be no way to take my bike down the road this way. For sure I have to spend another night out here in the snow. If the road won’t get plowed, which I have no clue about, I am up for a 14 mile walk down along the road and pick up my bike when ever the road is open again. But when would the road be open again? Do they plow this road? It might be blocked for the next coming weeks, months? Let’s keep it positive and first make it back to the road. If I am lucky there might be still cars driving and me and the bike can hitchhike back down.

When I make it to the road, I find my bike covered in snow. And jeh right, there is not a single car driving. This road is closed for sure. The snow is now 0.4 meter deep and I start worrying if I will be even able to walk down the road tomorrow.

Also now I have to keep thinking positive. Worries for tomorrow, lets first find a place to sleep. I drag myself around through the snow for a while and find a shelter. I can hear a pump in the back of the shelter, and it seems indeed a little bit heated inside. Tonight I don’t have to share my shelter, and with 7 private restrooms, it’s not a bad place.

Grosse, jeh I agree. But sometimes being warm is more important then anything else in the world. With no food left I go to bed on an empty stomach and sleep well after a day out in the snow. I wake up with new energy, there is no breakfast and instead I treat myself with some sugar in my coffee. Well the coffee you have to think with it. That’s gonna be a headache day for sure!

More snow has been falling and I will be plowing through 0.5 meters today. A long long long day is ahead of me for sure. When I finally dig myself out of the shelter and make it to the road I can’t believe my eyes. The road is plowed, its plowed in the direction I wane go, plowed! So I dig out the bike, clean it from snow as good as I can, and hit the road. Well road, its one big ice sheet, and my front break is frozen over and won’t work. The gear is also not functioning and I am scared and freaking cold. But it goes and slowly I make my way down, stopping every 0.5 km trying to warm up my feet and hands. The road is only down, and I have to hug my rear break to keep my speed in control. Stopping with a big backpack, frozen hands and feet is scary like hell, and I slide all over the road.

When I make it to another stop in the middle of the road I suddenly hear a car coming up. A couple minutes later the plowing truck slides to a stop besides me. “You want a ride down”, K shouts. Hell jehhhh. The bike goes in the back and me in front with the heaters on full hot, blowing at me. Suddenly life is good again and all the sorrow forgotten already. Well that coffee still won’t be a bad idea.

Back at the campground D is now accompanied by his friends J and W, and started to worry a bit about me. Instead of the fire going they have a better idea and take me out for breakfast and finally a coffee. The rest of the day I hug their big fire and we share a hotdog meal in the evening.

Jeh, the Smokies, I won’t forget them. And if you wonder how that day on the ridge emotional progressed. Here you go.

Dag,
   Iris (Smokies, 27088 miles)

26936 - Blue Ridge Parkway

From the Shenandoah NP to the Smokies NP, I take the Blue Ridge Parkway.


469 miles along the Appalachian mountain range, without any traffic light or stop sign.

Just enjoy the ride.

Dag,
   Iris (Asheville, 26936 miles)

26161 - Filling in the gaps, Jamestown

And the year is: 1607
And we are in: Jamestown
What happened: the first British Colony was established

In 1607 some 104 soldiers and explorers anchored in the James River and established a settlement in the only place not occupied by the locals, Jamestown Island. A swamp without any fresh water, mosquitoes and surrounded by the still friendly Powhatan Indians. With no skilled man in the colony the first years were marked by diseases, starvation and Capt John Smith barely keeps the group together by trading food with the Powhatans.

More colonists arrive but by 1610 only 90 out of the 300 survive the starving winter within the Indians have no extra food left to trade with the British and dogs and human bodies are eaten to be kept alive. Time to had back home.

But when they board the ships to sail home, new settlers arrive with food and fresh expectations. Jamestown gets a new try. With more mouth to feed, the settlers take what ever they won't get from the Indians with force and Indian attacks back violently. Thanks to the marriage of Pocahontas, the daughter of the Powhatan Chief, to John Rolfe things settled down a little.

Being the chief of about 20.000 people, Chief Powhatan let the settlers to their own business, there is enough land to share and never fights them again. He doesn't realize the unlimited supply of new people the British can bring in and thats exactly what happens. Woman arrive, families are established, a church is build. When John Rolfe establish the lucrative tobacco plant, Jamestown is good to go.

There is however one thing lacking, labour. And in 1619 the first African arrives in Jamestown. Slowly more and more Africans are brought in, but when the Dutch capture the fort of Elmina, Ghana, the slave trade takes off and in 1690 more then 9300 enslaved Africans where among the 53000 white population.

By this time the Powhatan were almost eliminated due to foreign diseases and several lost battles fought by Opechancanough, Chief Powhatans brother. An now nothing was in the way anymore for Jamestown to become the first successful British Colony in the New World.

What do I do: I spend hours walking through the very good state museum in Jamestown. And I have a cold, wet, very entertaining ranger tour through the actual Jamestown side.

What else:In the evening when I set up my car for a night in the harbour, the harbour manager comes back. He got in trouble to allow me the night here...with his wife... And so I follow B to his house, be treated with a dinner, a warm shower and a warm bed.

Dag,
   Iris (Jamestown, 26161 miles)

26161 - Filling in the gaps, Yorktown

And the year is: 1781
And the place: Yorktown

What happened: the Siege of Yorktown

The town of Yorktown, being around for 90 years by then, was a flourishing port with beautiful European style houses. Wealthy tobacco merchants walked around, and taverns and shops lined the streets.

In 1781 the American Revolutionary War was 7 years underway. The British had abandoned their effort to reconquer the North and focused their attention to the South. British general Cornwallis let his eye fall on the Chesapeake Bay area, moved in and established a base in Yorktown. This to the displease of American Marquis de Lafayette who had only a small army under his command. But with help of the French fleet under command of Admiral de Grasse who blocked the bay entrance blocking the escape route, and Georges Washington’s large army under command of Comte de Rochambeau, chances changed. And the way it went in 1781, camp was established, trenches were dug, and canons were pointed in the right direction.

Ten days of intense fighting followed until the British surrendered and Cornwallis cried:” Oh God, it is all over!” And so it was, the British went home and the independence of the USA was a fact.

What did I do: I walk through Yorktown, visit the museum and drive through the battlefields.

Dag,
   Iris (Yorktown, 26161 miles)

25706 - Filling in the gaps, Washington DC

The federal government in the USA exists out of three branches: The legislative - the Capitol, The executive - the White House, The judicial - the Supreme Court, and they are all located around the National Mall, the only mall I like.

Legislative
And the time is: 1787 to now
And we are in: The Capitol

Ten years after the Declaration of Independence the Congress had to tackle the issue of representation difference between small and large States during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. The Connecticut delegation proposed a bicameral legislature, also known as the Great Compromise.

A House of Representatives (now with 435 members) representing States according their population, was established. Today, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is the leading officer and the 3rd in line for the presidency. The House comes together in the South wing of the Capitol. Each 10 years a census will count the population of each State, with the next one coming up in 2010.

The Senate (now with 100 members) two Senators from each State was installed. Today, the Vice President Joe Biden is the president of the Senate. The Senate comes together in the North wing of the Capitol.

Together they form the Congress. The Constitution giving both the responsibility for declaring war, maintain an armed force, assess tax, borrow money, mint currency, regulate commerce and make all laws necessary for the operation of the government.

What do I do: I tour the Capitol and the Library of Congress close to it.

Judicial
And the time is: 1801 to now
And we are in: The Supreme Court

John Marshall declared the Court to be the supreme arbiter of the Constitution and gave shape to the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and the States. And so the Supreme Court became the highest judicial body and the leaders of the federal judiciary.

Today existing out of a Chief Justice, John Roberts and eight Associate Justices, nominated by the President with the latest, Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by Obama only last August. The Court looks at some hundred cases a year and comes together only from October to April for Oral arguments.

What do I do: I get a lecture and a tour of the Supreme Court.

Executive
And the time is: 1789 to now
And we are in front of: The White house

From George Washington to Barak Obama, the president of the USA is the head of state and the head of government and the leader of the executive brand of the government. From the second president John Adams, his home is the White House. The President with his presidential veto, has legislative power, with his power to nominate federal judges for the supreme court, he has judicial influence. Although declaring war is a Congress power, the president is the commander in chief of the USA armed forces. And most of all, being the chief of the executive branch, he takes cares that the laws be faithfully executed. And after the most stupid president ever, its a relieve to have Obama, who is eager to make the world a better place for everybody (nothing wrong with Dutch socialism).


With who am I hanging: My friend M commutes from California to Washington DC on a weekly basis and gave me the key of his apartment in Alexandria when we met in New York. And thats not bad.

What else: We see the terra cotta warriors in the National Geographic museum and the Stars Spangled Banner from 1813 (still with only 15 stars), Lincolns hat, the red shoes of Dorothy (the wizard of Oz) and Kermit the frog in the American history museum. I stroll through the Portrait Gallery and the American Art museum. And enjoy for hours my favorite, Anne Truitt in the Hirshhorn museum.

Enough of all the museums and indoor stuff, and when the weather clears up, we hike (well it became more a scramble with all the snow and ice on the trail) the Old Rag loop trail in Shenandoah national park.

Dag,
   Iris (Alexandria, 25706 miles)

25531 - Filling in the gaps, Philadelphia

The year is: July 4, 1776

And the event is: The Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence

Great Britten and the Thirteen Colonies were at war and the founding fathers of the Unites States came together in the independence hall in Philadelphia. Under the leadership of George Washington, the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was signed. With the words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" the birth of the USA was a fact. From now on it would be "E pluribus unum" (out of many one) and 4th of July became a day of celebration.

But the struggle continued and until today there is the question of how much power to the Federal Government and how much power to the individual States. Resulting in a two party system, with the Republicans for power to the individual and the Democrats for power to the Government.

What else was there: They say the Liberty bell was heard on July 8, to gather the citizens of Philadelphia for a reading of the Declaration of Independence. If its true, nobody knows. But the bell with the crack became a symbol of freedom when it became the icon for the abolitionists in their fight against slavery and stayed until this day.


And my companion is: My Alaskan friend S is in town, to prepare for his sailing life in the sea of Cortez, and growing up in Philly, he knows all the ins and outs of the city.

And of course, as you eat hotdogs in New York, here in Philadelphia you eat Philly cheesesteak.

Dag,
   Iris (Media, 25531 miles)