Brenda Inman's blog

The sky was cloudy, and the wind a bit brisk when I woke in New Hope. The threat of rain hung over us again, though nothing fell that morning. Its easier on the horse when its cool. After Bill made his coffee I got to making breakfast. I used my Colman stove to cook up some bacon, eggs, and toast. Aside from the hills this was an easy day, as Bill and Blackie only had 8 miles to reach the town of Union Grove, our next stop.

Jonny and I drove straight to town to check out the Fiddler's Grove Campground. Before the trip I had researched possible places along our route to stop. I called the owners to ask permission to keep the horse there; they had no problem with the horse, so we drove down and setup camp.

Shortly after Bill arrived we met with the manager of the Grove, who was a very kind elderly gentleman. We told him about the trip, and later he came back to refund our camp fee (nice! Every bit helps) and invite us to the Cookshack for some family style Bluegrass pick'n. Fiddlers Grove is famous for its “Ole Time Fiddlers and Bluegrass Festival” which will be held May 23 – 25 of this year.

Gallery Link -->

04-22-08

We made our first stop about 11.5 miles from the Taylorsville Lions Club Fairgrounds. The numerous churches have been great places to stop my rig. There's one about every 10 miles or so and most have large parking lots. Theres no one around Linney's Mill, seems they are closed on Mondays, so we move on.

When we reach the church in New Hope there is a gentlemen mowing the grass. His name is Jimmy; we tell him what we're doing and ask him if he knows who to talk to to get permission to camp. He drives down to Mr. Youngen's house for us and he comes down to see us. We get permission, and that night camp out near a graveyard. We don't see any ghosts.

Bill arrives tired and goes to bed early.

04-21-08

Tuesday morning was sunny and chilly. As we prepared to leave, Lt. Adkins arrived to take us to a place where we can get showers. A good hot shower is always welcome! Back at the church, Bill waited his turn and chatted with some folks. When Jon and I get him to go shower, we saddle Blackie and pickup the panels (Jonny note: gez Bill spent the whole time we where showering talking...). When Bill got back we were ready to go.

Corporal Hardin escorted Bill on this day. The beautiful rolling hills and lush, green vegetation is quite a contrast to the brown landscape we saw in much of the west. We make our lucnh stop at Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church. 

Later we find a "Community Club" that we can stay at for the night. We setup our camp. Later that evening Bill and I are invited to a "pick'n and grin'n" with the Golden Valley Crusaders. I got some video of that so hopefully Jon can put something togather with that soon.

Gallery Link -->

Since our first stop in Tyon, we have camped out everyday. We made our way down 108 on to Rutherfordton. Lt. Chris Adkins with the Rutherford County Sheriff's Dept met Jon and I at a gas station at the intersection of Hwy 9 and Hwy 108. The Lt.  and I learned that the mounted patrol was planning to meet up with Bill at the Polk/ Rutherford county line. Bill only stopped for a brief moment; he took off before grabbing a bite to eat. 

Sunday, the 13th of April, turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride, despite all of the weather forecasts calling for rain. When we arrived at our Starting point, Schroader's Honda, there were a few hardy souls who turned out to see us off. We were especially pleased to see Billy Cannon there.

All of my aunts were there to see us off along with a few of our new friends. Larry and Cheryl rode with Bill down the mountian. They were escorted by Dottie,and law enforcement officers from Henderson and Polk county. Jon and I made our first stop in Saluda. By chance, Mrs. Arrington, a member of the Pisgah Trail Riders was in her realty office, right next to where we stopped! She came out to see us and chat for a few minutes.

When the riders arrived with their escort, M. Snipes, of the Saluda Police Department,  Mayor Rodney Gibson came to greet us. Bill had to replace a coulpe of loose nails on a shoe on Cheryl's horse. We had a light lunch and then they rode on to Harmon Field in Tryon.

There we were greeted by Lorna Deever and Judy Shultz who made us feel right at home. They had refreshments for us and anyone who happened to come by. Dana Bergman was there to entertain us with his acoustic guitar and great songs. He had even composed a song for Blackie. My mom was able to record some of it and we hope to post that segment sometime in the near future. We hope you enjoy the photos and will post more video as soon as Jon has it edited.

Jonny note: My Toshiba laptop's sound seems to be damaged now. I'm not sure if its a software or hardware problem, but I'm guessing its hardware. I'm not to happy about this.