A Tale of Two Chemists: Drugs and Guns: Refill or Reloads

Drugs and Guns: Refill or Reloads - We’ve got you covered.

3 April 2023

One of the great things about making a trip like this is that you see so many different parts of the country. As we were driving up to Hanging Rock State Park, I was struck by how beautiful the surrounding area was and how attractive the local villages appeared. When we arrived at the park I immediately felt that this was a wonderful place. Move on a couple of days and we are now driving through the western part of North Carolina and the contrast could not be more stark. Admittedly it was raining, but the sense of foreboding that we felt as passed the Nantahala National Forest was almost tangible. Steep sided, gloomy valleys are dotted with decrepit houses engulfed in vines. Once past the national forest, the road is littered with billboards advertising a side of American culture that is so far removed from my own experience. “Pray for Peace, but prepare for the worst” alongside the picture of an automatic rifle. “Drugs and Guns: Refills and Reloads - we’ve got you covered”. I personally think this one-stop business is missing a trick. If I were stopping by for my anti-psychotic meds and 0.762 ammo, I’d really appreciated being able to pick up a six pack and a pint of whisky at the same time.

Step back a day … We had a great time at Hanging Rock SP. I would give it 5 stars. We climbed the peak for which the park was named, toured the area where the Civilian Conservation Core (CCC) were based when they initially created the park, and walked to a couple of waterfalls. Gloria was interested to read about the CCC contribution because her uncle Raymond spent some time with this group prior to WW2. The program was initiated by President Roosevelt in response to the great depression and was responsible for a tremendous amount of conservation work, not to mention the positive impact on the lives of those involved and their families. The program was closed in 1942 as America entered the second world war and we figure that none of the people involved will be alive today.

I should mention that we experienced extremes of temperature whilst staying at Hanging Rock SP. When we arrived it was in the 70’s oF, but with a pretty strong wind. During the night the temperatures steadily steadily dropped under the clear skies, and by morning it was so cold that I lit a camp fire prior to starting the morning coffee. It warmed up considerably and we were fortunate to have cloudless blue skies.

As I write this we are in Fort Mountain SP in northern Georgia. We’ll be here two nights before making a long drive down to the coast of Alabama. We haven't had cell phone service at either of our last two campsite so there may be a delay in posting this.

P.s. Did you know there are 33,000 post offices in the USA (we were happy to find one yesterday to post a letter). There 380,000 churches.

Mike

I’m not always great at taking people pictures, but I have vowed to make more effort on this trip. Along with a couple of landscapes, the following set of pictures show various people enjoying Hanging Rock State Park.

What the sign doesn't say is that the serious injuries and deaths occur when reluctant climbers are pushed too hard by their partners !

The view from the top was spectacular. Although hard work, the hike up is fairly short (1.5 miles) and is very safe ... unless you start scrambling around at the top with a camera.