I’ve missed writing to you! While I do not know everyone who reads this personally, I do know most of the folks and I’ve “met” others through personal emails that you’ve sent. I’ve learned you are like me…struggling to do the right things, making mistakes, doing something right once in a while, and just getting by doing your best. I feel we relate, and when I don’t blog, I feel something missing.

I took a few weeks off to find my camera. Ouch. I have not found it. I will be buying a new one but meanwhile, I’ve found my iphone and ipad take pretty good pictures. I also took some time off because I’m working on the website for Adventure Mendota, and I was tired of looking at the computer. It has also been a fun time at About Face (where I work part time) as we plan our biggest sale of the year for “Early Black Friday” on November 7. And…on top of that, I’ve been considering going back to work full-time…so suffice it to say…it has been busy, busy, busy!

The part of busy this week has been the “work” there is to starting a business. I thought…”we have the shop, we have the land, we have Facebook…we’ll just get some tubes and kayaks and take off.” Maybe that would work for some people, but for us, it’s not going to be that way. There’s liability waivers, insurance, county approvals, VDOT approvals, logos and branding, business plans…all kinds of stuff. Mike does most of it, so I am lucky in that respect. Mike is all about the details which is great when you’re a Big Thinker like me. He keeps me reigned in. Mike and I, or Mike or I, go weekly to the Virginia Small Business Incubator for Lunch ‘n’ Learn sessions. They’re fun, and we’re excited to be 1 of 25 entrepreneurs competing for a $5K grant. Here’s where we go.

Independent from this, I have been working on the website. I’m trying to do as much as I can vs. having someone else do it to save money, although I am seeking some help. It does not have a logo and has several things wrong with it, but if you want to take a look at it as a “gentle, not-too-critical reader,” it’s www.adventuremendota.com      I asked friends on Facebook for pictures, and they have all been great. To date, however, I’ve used DeeDee Taylor’s pictures and Jessica Leonard’s pictures.    Darby the dog has become our Director of PR.  All of the pictures were beautiful but they were more fall than spring or I could not get them positioned just right, etc. I can’t wait to put some tubing pictures up as well as more kayak pictures, but I want them to be “real” so that means…next spring or summer! Let me know what you think of www.adventuremendota.com

One thing that we can check off our list is how to shuttle our tubers and kayakers up and down Swinging Bridge Road. Have you ever wondered who buys the old buses from groups like the Mountain Empire Senior Citizens? Enter..people like us.

We’re calling and tagging the MEOC bus the “Fork Taxi” since it will be running up and down the North Fork on Swinging Bridge Road. We bought the bus from Terri Anne and Brock at Clinch River Adventures and I noticed their license read “RVR TAXI.” I shamelessly copied. We’ll have some decals on it and hope everyone around waves at us as we rattle up and down Swinging Bridge Road with our kayaks and tubes!! Mendota rising? Is that a possibility?

Mike and I have been having a great time although there has been a heated moment or two. He took the Fork Taxi and got it detailed. You know what what I thought? Total waste of money, and why wasn’t my car detailed? He’s trying to make up now, so I believe Cracker, my little white Prius, has a spa day planned for tomorrow and will be looking good by tomorrow night.

Also, for those of you who have “liked” and shared Adventure Mendota’s Facebook page. Thank you so much. This journey is going to be fun but only if you’re with us. Float the Fork in 2015!

This weekend Mike and EJ worked outside leaving me inside to work on Adventure Mendota items.     I worked primarily on clerical items but also selected the theme for the website.  I’d reserved the domain name several weeks ago.  It’s www.adventuremendota.com.  I’m not sure what you get when you put that in, right now, but soon there will be beginnings of our website.   This whole thing has made me very grateful to be where I am in life.   I feel a sense of melancholy appreciation.

I saw a picture tonight of this silly girl.   I barely know her.

That silly girl…sometime around the time that photograph was taken made the comment “aren’t you glad we are going on a cruise NOW rather than when we’re too old to enjoy it….like say about 40?”    I’m serious.  I said that.

I was wrong on so many counts.  There are real fears about growing older primarily based on wellness and poor health.  However, to stop growing..to stop living…because of a number is a bad idea.

Mike and I are having so much fun during this time in our lives as we plan Adventure Mendota.  How could we not be excited at the thought of introducing others to this beautiful place where we live?    The river is too low for tubing in this picture, but you get the jist — I don’t see just a river…I see people tubing and having fun in the place that I love.

The North Fork — Live it!  Love it!  Tube it!

I hope you continue to follow us, pray that we won’t fall on our face, and support us in this little adventure.   It makes us feel young.  I might even go find a hat and a necklace and take a selfie!

Have a wonderful week!

When I grew up Worley and Lily Millard were my forever friends Lisa and Katie’s grandparents, but I called them Granny and Papaw because that is what Lisa and Katie called them.    If it bothered them, they were kind enough not to show it.

They lived in a little house that sat in front of the railroad tracks in Mendota.    We called it “Granny’s House.”

By the time Lisa and Katie were 12 and 14,  Papaw was not well, and Granny had lost most of her sight.   The two girls took turns staying nights with Papaw and Granny.    On many nights, it seemed quite natural for me to stay, too.

There was a bedroom just inside that window on the front porch.  There were two beds in it.   Lisa and I slept in one bed, and Papaw and Granny had the other.   Lisa and I would slip outside and sit on the front porch and talk about the things young girls talk about.   She had one of her first kisses on that porch.

In the back of the house, there was a wooden “boardwalk”  that went to an outhouse.    I looked for it yesterday.  It’s gone.   That was over 40 years ago. Wooden walkways are not built to last forever.   Neither are houses.   

The little house is in the area of Mendota that floods, so it’s future has been in jeopardy, and it was time for it to be removed.   I said goodbye yesterday.   I did not go inside but I could look inside the kitchen area from the back of the house.   I was looking for a piece of my childhood…Lisa’s and Katie’s childhood…and I wanted to store it safely in these pictures.

It was quite the little lady in its day.     Notice the “shake” shingles in the upper part of the house and the decorative curved detail where the upper part of the porch meets the ceiling?    I can imagine when this was new…how exciting it was to have a house that was not just functional but had “pretties”,  too!   Granny had yellow  roses growing near the house.

One night, when Lisa and I were quite young, we were sleeping soundly in the bedroom,  and the Mendota train stopped behind the house in the early hours of the day.  It hissed loudly and woke us.  We popped up in the bed…startled.  Granny ran in and put her hands on our shoulders and said “don’t worry girls..it’s just the train…it’ll be alright.”

Another….

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage.

When driving across State Street from Virginia as you enter into Tennessee, you’ll see the Chamber of Commerce and a giant guitar reflecting Bristol’s musical roots.  Now, there is something else!   There’s a countdown to something that many love as much as we love music — college football.  We don’t have a professional football team in this area, so we are heavily invested in both high school and college football — especially Virginia Tech and the University of Tennessee; and in about 723 days, 12 hours, 27 minutes and 43 seconds away from the time when I snapped this picture, we’ll see them play right here in Bristol.   All 130,000 seats will sell out at Bristol Motor Speedway.  We don’t have anywhere near 130,000 people living here, but they will come!   Pretty cool, right?

But we weren’t thinking football this weekend in Bristol.  It was Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots Reunion.   Emmy Lou Harris played to a record crowd last night.   My girlfriend took this picture.

She was on the Piedmont Stage near the Bristol Public Library.  There are large stages set up throughout downtown Bristol, and walking down the middle of the street means your senses are assaulted with lyrics, melodies, smells and bright colors.   There are musicians on the stages, there are musicians on the street jamming, food vendors, specialty vendors, etc.

This morning, Mike and I arrived at Rhythm & Roots and we headed in the wrong direction to see Ed Harlow and “The Harlow Experience” playing.   No worries.  These great guys who work for the City of Bristol, Virginia gave us a golf cart ride.    When I thanked them, they said “the City of Bristol, Virginia wants to make sure everyone has a great time.”   Thanks guys!  We did!

Here’s Ed.  I did not know Ed was a musician so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  However, The Harlow Experience was very, very good.    He’s introducing his brother who recently turned 80.  Doesn’t look it does he?   Music must keep you  young!

Here’s the whole group plus a guest who sang Happy Birthday to Ed’s brother.

We stayed about 30 minutes and watched them before it was time to go to see Heather Pace and the Poor Valley Girls.   This is the only problem with R&R — deciding where to go and how long to stay.  Fortunately, you cannot make a mistake.  The talent is top notch everywhere.   I could not get a good picture of the Poor Valley Girls.  It was great hearing them, however, because I know every song on their CD.   This picture was taken in Mendota.

Next we went to see Dale Jett & Hello Stranger at the Paramount.  We had seen them perform here two months ago at Mountain Stage which was an awesome experience.  However, the sound was so much better today.   The theater was full.  It was wonderful.  

While walking along, we saw this set up for selling antiques.   I am not a buyer.   I don’t need anything else in my house, but I do like to see things artfully displayed, and I thought this was creative and deserved this picture.

On this blog, I share my love affair with Clinch Mountain.   However, I seldom notice the Holston Mountain in the background of the City of Bristol.   My loss.   Do mountains inspire music?  I think they do. 

It was a wonderful day.   As I closed the day, however, I learned that it was a day of loss.   There once was a sweet little boy who knew how to make a piano sing.  He played by ear.   Like Lisa (my forever friend pictured below) and others, I do not remember a time he was not on this earth as we were raised as children together.   Today he left us.

Goodbye Eddie.  You are in my memories.