Places, Events Etched into Minds and History

Part 1 of 3, My Journey to Western North Carolina Begins

I must start with the admission that I could be writing of what has happened to our local county regarding the damage done by the recent storms, but I am offering you this compilation of stories of what has happened (and what is being done at present) in one of our favorite places in this country, the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina.

I started out my journey (and adventure) setting up camp in an area at least 40 miles from the devastated areas so as to not take up precious lodging space for those who need to be there longer than myself. My journey started out with a troubling incident before I even made it to North Carolina. On the first leg of the trip, I stopped at a truck stop I frequent just south of Savannah, Georgia (as I normally did when I hauled various trailers in my days of employment).

At these stops, I usually walk around the combined machines and especially inspect the tires.
Now, our R.V. has been set up under a big steel carport for over three years and the radial tires “looked” nearly new (at the start of the trip). When I walked around the trailer this latest time, I noticed that not only did all the tires show signs of heavy weather cracks in them, but two of them had rubber missing over the tread portion of the tires.

So, after the loss of one and a half hours and $600.00 later, I was moving again. Because of this loss, I entered the area of Spartanburg, South Carolina just before dusk. I noticed on my atlas that there was a route that could save me some precious time, so I veered off of the interstate (I-26) and onto a paralleling route. Upon coming to the first set of lights, I noticed a campground sign.

Within a short distance and time, I arrived at the camp office. As I was talking with an employee of the business, she finally divulged how much the one lot for one night would cost. When I heard how much it was going to be, I backed out of the transaction and mentioned that as I was heading to the storm-ravaged areas of western NC and I needed to save the resources that I had.

I got back into the truck and was doing a loop in the park when another site employee stopped me. Apparently, his wife (also in that office) overheard my previous conversation and called her husband! He asked me where I was going, and while doing this, looked over all of the items that I had in the bed of the truck. I mentioned that I was heading to the Chimney Rock and other sites in western NC and he told me to loop back around to the office. HE WAS GOING TO PAY THE PRICE OF ADMISSION FOR ME! Nice!

The following day, I made it into an 11-acre property owned by Tami Krell and her partner, Greg Martinson. The adjacent property to their house used to have cotton growing on it, so it was aptly nicknamed “The Cotton Patch!” I had known about the property by way of a YouTube video done by Mr. John Ward of The Appalachian Channel and as this couple had wanted to do their part in Hurricane Helene relief efforts, they were allowing free camping for those others who had come from all around the country to do their part in the restoration of the communities in western NC.

They had one section of the “Cotton Patch” set up for the intake and dispersal of needed supplies and products like chainsaw chains, oils and even safety glasses, masks, sleeping bags, camp stoves, and various other emergency products. On the other side, there were “yurt” style tents and a parking area for RVs.

Now, besides the Krell-Martinson family, another couple, Mr. Randy Taggart and his wife Thelma, had come all the way from Montana to help. They brought a big military surplus dining tent similar to the one used in the “M.A.S.H.” television shows (many years ago)! When you walked into that dining tent, you nearly expected to be greeted by Radar O’Reilly or Hawkeye Pearce! There were also many other volunteers coming in and going out with a determined sense of duty to their nation and this community, all being done with attitudes of friendliness and SELFLESSNESS!

So, this was the first set of memorable moments, places and people that I can share with you. In part two of this story of my journey, I will be speaking of the second emergency provisions drop that was done in a once beautiful and quaint tourist destination that is named “Chimney Rock.” If you care to familiarize yourself with this place, you can go on YouTube to a site named “The Appalachian Channel” (produced by Mr. John Ward) and the video in question will be titled “Free camping for volunteers.” It shows not only the camp where I was based but also a drone “flyover” of Chimney Rock and other impacted sites as well!

In part three of my memoirs, I’ll be writing about a project I volunteered to help with: the cutting of 60-foot sections of a massive tree clump in a town called Newland. The reason I speak of it now is that when I returned to “The Cotton Patch” (base camp) at 9:30 p.m. (very tired and VERY WET), Tami’s partner Greg had cooked up a delicious plate of pork chops and “taters,” and had one of the camp members bring it over to my trailer. (What a pleasant end to a harrowing day that was!)

My constant prayer is for the people not only up there but all along the heavily damaged areas of this beautiful land that we call home.

Until next time, be safe, and BE BLESSED!

Steve Goodwin is a recently retired Christian conservative veteran (of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division), who still feels that “duty to country” did not end when the military uniform got hung up. He and his wife Cecelia live on the edge of a beautifully wooded tract of land just south of the bypass, and are involved in not only church activities, but also attend school board meetings and local community action events as well.