Shenandoah National Park, was established in 1935 as part of the CCC work program. Formed from over 1000 privately owned tracts of land, Shenandoah started as a patchwork of forests, fields, orchards and home sites. People came to the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia for rest and recreation long before Shenandoah National Park was established. President Herbert Hoover and First Lady Lou built their rapiddan Camp as a retreat to escape the heat and stress of the nations capital. The parks scenic roadway, Skyline Drive, follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 105miles. At its southern end it joins the Blue Ridge Parkway, which stretches 469 miles to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We have visited the park on several occasions but this was Pleeps and Sis's first visit. It was hard to get Pleep excited about Skyline drive after all his Battlefield fun yesterday at Gettysburg. The pretty drive and viewing spots were more Sis's cup of tea."I DON'T WANT TO WORK, I JUST WANT TO BANG ON THE DRUM ALL DAY!"
PLEEP
PLEEP
Then Pleep saw the Plaque for Jackson and his excitement cranked up again. And he also saw the Appalachian Trail where his pal Bob Knight walked....hey Bub how many people walk the full trail every year? When was it complete? How many have walked it since the beginning? What inspires a person to do this? After diggin a bit, we found since 1936 9000 (maybe up to 11,000) folks have hiked the AT-121 per year. Only 25% that start out actually finish. And the count includes those who complete the walk over years. This really upped Pleeps impression of Bob- one walk, 2,179 miles.
We had hoped the colors were in full force but not yet- still a pretty drive and so nice not being hot and crowded. The park employs 100 people throughout the year and an additional 125 during the summer. We saw quite a bit of road and retaining wall refurbishment. Pleep asked the Ranger "Hey, where did ya get the dough? Some of that stimulating money I bet". You've got that right Pleep. YOUR RECOVERY DOLLARS AT WORK. (www.recovery.gov)- to the tune of $30 million. Bubba chimed in "better than some things, but you don't spend that kind of money when you're broke". Here Here Bubs.www.celebrateshenandoah.org
" A FRIEND MAY WELL BE RECKONED THE MASTERPIECE OF NATURE"
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
BBF (BEST BUDS FOREVER)
We spent the evening and night with Bubba's BBF, Butch and his lovely wife Karen. Butch has been Bubba's friend since 5th grade in Sarasota Florida- 1958. He lived one house over. They struck up their friendship with Boy Scouts, fishing, camping, hunting..two peas in the pod. Well actually more like Mutt and Jeff- Butch was small and Bubba was a biggin. In 1964, Senior year in high school, they were caught skipping school. So they decided, hey let's just not go back. Let's join the ARMY. Say what Bubba? Both were underage, 17, so they had to have their parents sign. Poor Mom Collins, was beside herself. His Mom threatened to get his older cousin to beat some sense into him, but that didn't work either. So off Butch and Bubba went to Fort Gordon and Fort Jackson, then on to Germany... Bubba, how could you be stationed together over and over? We went in on the Buddy Plan. The what? Yup, way to "recruit" those dumb 17 year old kids. They actually compromised, Butch wanted to go into the Navy and Bubba into the Marines- so the ARMY was the logical sign up. The BBF split off because on a trip home Butch got married and Bubba volunteered for Viet Nam. Notice how they both ended up in law enforcement too. Yup. BBF.
They remained friends through the years but became BBF's again through Bub's resurgence of his love of hunting. Butch and Karen live in South Carolina so Bubba's farm (SC) was the perfect place to rendezvous. Since Bubba sold his farm poor Karen has had to run a B and B for the boys to hunt out of. Thank you St. Karen, you really raised the bar for Sainthood. How do you define a friend? SYMPATHY, EMPATHY, INTIMACY, HONESTY, UNDERSTANDING, COMPASSION, TRUST, GIVE AND TAKE..... Who is your BBF? Do you still have childhood friends? High school friends? College friends? Friends from the first "neighborhood" you lived in? From your former jobs? From your former clubs or sport teams? Is there different criterion for man to man or man to woman friendships or woman to woman or woman to man relationships? Sadly, a recent study (American Sociological Review) found that Americans have suffered the loss of quality and quantity of close friendships- going on since 1985. How awful! For me it is important and very special and a privilege to have those long time friends. Bubba agrees...he's happy to know there are others out there willing to put up with Boca too.
We are blessed both with quality and quantity- happy to defy that research. A big shout out to our dear and wonderful friends. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!
