Visit To Troy
Maybe not so topical except in my head. I drove over to Troy NC where I lived in 1953-54. It was my second visit in the past 58 years.
Note: That year in Troy was good. My sister and I had a lot of friends; I lettered in football. My mother and father were involved in things. They belonged to the little Montgomery County country club. One night they went to a party and my mother wore a pretty green dress. That summer things changed, got weird (although to be honest things were weird before Troy). My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and we returned to Shelby so she could die there, which she did two days before Christmas. She was buried in the green dress. All of our lives made a radical turn. I have been told that I got stuck, did not progress properly - that Troy was the last normal time of my life.
But the trip today was nice. I wore my hat and greeted people with grandiosity and humility. I don't know if I learned anything. Time will tell.
Bushes and trees have replaced the little house where we lived. From the`size of bushes the replacement happened a long time ago. My mother was happy here for the first time that I could remember (although being barely sentient I could not have said it). I recall sitting on our porch with my mother and Bookie Kearns the pretty 13 year old who lived across the street. I said something grand and stupid and my mother glanced at Bookie then both of them regarded me with amused pity, tolerance and affection. This has been my pattern with women ever since. I seem to like it. I suspect other guys feel the same way.
Hotel Troy where my father stayed the summer of 1953. The rest of the family came just before school started that fall. Some months after my mother died my father and I returned to Troy and spent the night in the Hotel Troy. I don't remember now why we came. I might not have known then. My father seemed disturbed.
Russel mansion where Charles and Larry lived. I spent one night there. Charles sent the black man out to get some beer. I was invited because people thought I was a little wild. I almost got kicked out of school for supposedly giving the finger to Mrs. Livingston the librarian (I didn't). When I denied it she said, "Mr Weathers the truth is not in you." I was taken to the principal's office and my father was called. Fellow students were impressed. The last time I saw Charles was during my brief stay at NC State (after we came back from West Palm Beach where we moved after my mother died). I was walking up the street and Charles drove by a red Alfa Romeo convertible with a beautiful girl all over him. He grinned and yelled, "Weathers I want to see you."
The mansion is now for sale at a fairly reasonable 500,000. The man at the little restaurant downtown where I got coffee and cherry pie said that Charles and Larry were still alive but the Russel who had been living in the house was dead.
Inside the diner where I talked to older woman who knew people from my era. Oddly most are still alive. My friend Lowell Perry is dead. Maybe he died in Vietnam. Sensitive, existentially troubled, violent, he would have been perfect for getting killed there. My friend Mike Powell had those same traits and would also have been perfect, but he is still alive somewhere in Florida. I don't know about me. I didn't go so I'll never know. .
Although it seems unlikely, this might be the bench were Leanna Harris and I sat in romantic proximity for several hours one night. We walked across town from the house where she were staying. The bench I saw today was in the same little park behind the hospital as the bench I saw 58 years ago. I claimed to love Leanna - which I had never done before - but she returned in a few days to Hamilton Ohio. (I think it was also a few days later when my mother went to the little hospital with a bowel obstruction then went to the Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem.) After my mother died and we moved to West Palm Beach I wrote Leanna an embarrassing rather`desperate letter to which she replied kindly, suggesting that I move on.
Note: That year in Troy was good. My sister and I had a lot of friends; I lettered in football. My mother and father were involved in things. They belonged to the little Montgomery County country club. One night they went to a party and my mother wore a pretty green dress. That summer things changed, got weird (although to be honest things were weird before Troy). My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and we returned to Shelby so she could die there, which she did two days before Christmas. She was buried in the green dress. All of our lives made a radical turn. I have been told that I got stuck, did not progress properly - that Troy was the last normal time of my life.
But the trip today was nice. I wore my hat and greeted people with grandiosity and humility. I don't know if I learned anything. Time will tell.
The mansion is now for sale at a fairly reasonable 500,000. The man at the little restaurant downtown where I got coffee and cherry pie said that Charles and Larry were still alive but the Russel who had been living in the house was dead.
Peed at by ewe, etc
Burke's Garden,
Wytheville VA . Guy on Honda headed for Chicago.
Up gravel road toward Burke's Garden, VA.
Bad place.
Near top.
Looking down into Burke's Garden. An oval depression about 25 miles long and 5 miles wide surrounded by a circle of mountains . Two gravel roads and one paved road in and out. One of gravel roads is bad. No store in valley. Nearest town 10-15 miles over mountain.
At bottom .
House not atypical. All are supported by working farms.
Church established in 1828.
Functional nevertheless.
Small mountain deer hides in woods - part of a group of three. Camouflage makes them nearly invisible. VDOT guy we chatted with on road going up said coyotes kill deer. Bear also roam woods. He thought cougars too - although they are not supposed to be here
Bison.
Tried to get out on another gravel road (to left). It quickly became dirt and went bad and we backed out. VDOT guy had without committing himself advised against it.
Downtown Harlan Kentucky - supposed to meth, marijuana capital of U.S. Looked OK to me, although coming in saw some really bad trailers. Could imagine meth being cooked there. Marijuana grown out back.
Mr. Bob. We are at Cumberland Gap overlook.
Mr. Tom, who, going crazy, bought hat. Also lost lost eye glasses. Bored Mr. Bob with talk of black Lincoln Town car with loud mufflers and big bumper guard up front.
On the Way To Burke's VA
Day 1 - Sunday 3/25/12
Shot Tower from 1800's - where molten lead was dropped to make musket balls and shotgun shot. New River in background. Rained. I was wearing short pants shirt and Crocs.
Max Meadows - note sign beside building.Max Meadows like a number of the little out of the way towns is in decline. Bob said there was furniture manufacturing but it went away. Cattle still a big deal. We saw lots of shacks and trailers surrounded by trash and abandoned vehicles (and parts thereof). We also some huge exotic old mansions - many of them also falling apart. Wonder about story - who built. Lords? Those who wrote in diaries.
Was barked at by mixed collection of mixed dogs in downtown Max Meadow. I said hello dogs but they were not impressed. Man came out and yelled at them - might have yelled at me too if we had not left. I waved at other people who reluctantly waved back.
Shot Tower from 1800's - where molten lead was dropped to make musket balls and shotgun shot. New River in background. Rained. I was wearing short pants shirt and Crocs.
Max Meadows - note sign beside building.Max Meadows like a number of the little out of the way towns is in decline. Bob said there was furniture manufacturing but it went away. Cattle still a big deal. We saw lots of shacks and trailers surrounded by trash and abandoned vehicles (and parts thereof). We also some huge exotic old mansions - many of them also falling apart. Wonder about story - who built. Lords? Those who wrote in diaries.
Was barked at by mixed collection of mixed dogs in downtown Max Meadow. I said hello dogs but they were not impressed. Man came out and yelled at them - might have yelled at me too if we had not left. I waved at other people who reluctantly waved back.
Mr.Bob looking at train.
Valley named after somebody's wife who got taken by Indians and was bought (purchased) back by husband six years later - after which they lived rustically in log cabin until eventual death.
More - Followed Case Knife road along ridge. Gravel there. Fog in valleys on both sides. We were above it. Saw one shack with the words NOT FOR RENT scrawled in angry letters. Front yard of another house (in earlier part of trip) was decorated by three toilets placed on stumps. Worst of trailer houses on Cae Knife road coming down case mountain. Saw a lone white boy in hoodie walking in woods beside road.
More More - Went through Pulaski - saw elegant old courthouse, main street with sad little shops, some abandoned, dead dreams of culture and money - large abandoned furniture plants. Bob said fine furniture was once crafted here. Bob has been everywhere. His company had a loan office here. But we did get turned around when map was wrong about one of back roads.
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