North Carolina Cabin in Otto
December 28, 2011 - January 10, 2012
Karen visited her sister Sandy, in Clayton Georgia, in 2006, where Sandy and Warren Price have a condo. She renewed her love for the mountains, which culminated in her looking at real estate in North Georgia, and Western North Carolina in 2011. After some adventurous searching with her real estate agent, Ellen Goldstein, she found the cabin of her dreams at 294 Mulberry Ridge Road, in Otto, North Carolina. After some dickering, a lot of phone calls and e-mails about insurance, appraisals, credit checks, and so forth, we closed on the cabin on Wednesday, December 28th, and moved in. We had dinner with the previous owners, Bruce Marsh and Delores Coe, at the Cupboard Cafe, in Otto, Tuesday night before closing. Bruce gave us a thorough rundown on opening and closing the cabin and maintenance procedures. Delores showed us some pictures from the photo album she had kept. We read some pages from a journal they kept, starting with the building of the cabin in 1982. We have begun our own journal, and this is my first entry. There is a lot of history and zeitgeist to the cabin, which we plan to continue in our own way. We really appreciate the spirit of the property. Bruce and Delores are both artists and special people. We told them they could come visit, if they wanted to.
We unpacked Karen's Honda CRV, which was loaded down, and started getting organized. We only made it half way up the neighbor's asphalt driveway before closing, due to ice. We came up our gravel drive after closing, and made it all the way.
We were in euphoria about our new retirement home and the adventure of it all. We went for a short hike and stoked up the fire in our cast iron stove.
For the next few days we unpacked, arranged, rearranged, bought an oak table and a futon, and began familiarizing ourselves with our new environment. Jimmy Blalock, the realtor who represented the Coe-Marshes, came by Thursday morning to welcome us. He brought a housewarming gift, told stories, and answered questions about where to go for what. His family has been in this area for generations, and he is a genuinely good old boy.
Every day we collected kindling and split wood and split more kindling from scrap lumber. The only heat upstairs is from a wood burning stove. I walked up and down our driveway 2 or 3 times a day for exercise. It takes about 10 minutes a round trip. I'm guessing it is about 200 feet vertically, although the driveway has three switchbacks. Warren and Sandy came by a couple of times to visit. Warren assembled the futon Karen bought and I helped move it into the main room of the cabin. I hung some beer cans from trees outside my office deck to shoot with my bb guns. I straightened out the tool closet under the lower section of the cabin. Bruce left lots of useful tools and supplies, including a chainsaw, a table and a crosscut saw, a bush hog and regular weed eater, hand tools, carpenter tools, and 2 moving dollies.
We went to Unity church in Mills River, NC, on Sunday morning, the long way. It looked shorter on the map, but was through the mountains. We made it for the second half of the 11 o'clock service. We had lunch with Anna, Dylan, and Daniel Stearns at the J&S Cafeteria (Mother and Dad used to enjoy eating there after church) near the Asheville airport afterwards, and came the short way home in half the time. The long way is more scenic, and I look forward to riding my motorcycle there.
We went to Lowe's, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Ingles grocery, Big Lots, and Piggly Wiggly, to buy groceries, supplies and repair materials. We stayed up until midnight on New Year's eve. Most nights I was in bed by 10, though one of us, mostly Karen had to tend to the fire every few hours. I was up at 6 most days.
It got pretty cold, 14 degrees, on Monday night, January 2nd. We turned on some faucets, but the downstairs hot water quit Tuesday morning. When it warms up a little, I will go out and check the pipes. Bruce cautioned us about leaving the water running, as it could drain the well. There are a set of procedures to follow for opening and closing the cabin and cold weather. Bruce made a real good written and visual guide, he named, Coming into the Country.
Pat Bale came by Tuesday afternoon to assess the freeze damage. Pat is a handyman who was recommended to us by Ellen, our realtor. We looked over several areas where the water or drain wasn't working. He said to call him when the pipes unfreeze and we'll make repairs. It never got above freezing today and probably won't warm up until Thursday. We talked outside in the cold for a while about family, motorcycles, and this area of North Carolina. We have some hot water, but no tub or shower. I guess we'll give each other sponge baths, could be fun.
Thursday, Jan 4: Pipes under cabin froze 2 days ago, haven't thawed out enough yet to fix, hopefully today. Karen has turned into a real pioneer woman. She collects kindling and keeps the wood stove going at night. Smoky yowls at the mice and coyotes. Having a real good time.
Note to Jerry Pilcher, January 4:
Mountains are great, but cold. Coyotes howl at night. No tv, cell phone service, or internet, just got a phone yesterday. Be back Tuesday evening,January 10.
We managed to drain the well and burn up the pump by running the faucets to prevent the pipes from freezing. Our new best friend, David Cheek, owner of C&C Pump, advised us that the well and pump only provides 1 quart of water a minute. There is a large air tank that allows for more volume for short periods of time. The well itself (which is 600' deep) does not have a large capacity either and takes a day or so to refill if it is emptied. David is going to put in a new pump and replace the galvanized pipe with schedule 80 pvc. We are thinking about a rain barrel to provide extra water.
We bought 20 gallons of water and filled up empty jugs with water from the neighbor's rain barrel and the stream below and the stream on Mulberry Road. We learned how to flush the toilets and take showers without running water. It was a little inconvenient, but not intolerable. I went to a laundromat once and washed clothes. We found 2 transfer stations for trash and recycling, one in NC, and one in GA.
We settled into a routine of preparing firewood, cleaning, repairing, building shelves, shopping, finding new wi-fi spots,checking e-mail, Googling miscellaneous questions, grading the gravel driveway and cleaning out the 3 culverts under it, and sitting in front of the wood stove, which has an open front with a screen. I called my friend Susie Bacon, in Martin, Georgia, one evening. I hadn't spoken with her for 30 years,though we've exchanged Christmas cards and recently reconnected on Facebook. I was hoping to visit with her, Martin is a couple of hours away, but we got too busy.Maybe next time.
Anna, Edwin, Dylan, and Daniel came by Saturday, January 7th. We talked about a Stearns family genealogy site, hiked up to the cave behind our cabin in the forest, shot bb guns (Daniel brought his air soft pistol) at beer cans I had hung in the trees behind the back of the cabin, and hung out. Eddie and Dylan helped me carry the big shutters to the porch and office deck. All shutters are in place for boarding up this afternoon. Pat is coming by @ 2. We will pack the CRV tonight and head back to Florida tomorrow morning, the 10th. We plan to return in March. It rained off and on Saturday, Sunday, and today. We will try to make another shelf for the front room, if the rain lets up. Smoky was pretty freaked out when we first got here. She was up yowling at night for the first week. There are mice and other wildlife about and maybe she wants to hunt? There are coyotes, deer, turkeys, hogs, and bears around here too. She settled down and seems pretty happy. She climbed the ladder to one of the lofts several times and couldn't get down because it was so steep. She sits in front of the stove some and stares at the fire. She is eating good and making her monkey business regularly too.
Performed closing procedures, did a walk through, and shuttered the front door. Gave Smoky 1/4 tranquilizer tab for car ride.
Drive home was 480 miles and 9 hours long. Kicking back with creature comforts now in Dolphin Cove. Cleaning pools tomorrow.
Cabin photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53908518@N08/
March 24, 25, 26, 27, 2012
Road trip to Otto, NC
I left home at 8:30 on Saturday morning in the little blue 1993 S-10 pickup with 183K miles. I recently thoroughly went through most systems doing repair and maintenance. I felt confident it could make the 1000 mile round trip. (And it did).
I hit the neighborhood Jiffy (Kangaroo) to get some ice and headed for J Turner Butler on the way to I-95 N. Then I-16 W, then 441N, then Betty's Creek (Georgia) or Mulberry Road (North Carolina), to 294 Mulberry Ridge Road. Loaded on the flat bed was "useless" the shop vac, a generator, tree cutting gear, 1/2 of a 55 gallon drum for a fire barrel, 5 gallon buckets, an old hatchet, supplies, clothes, an ice chest, a portable mechanic's tool box, an extra spare tire, and a small air compressor.
I was running 60 mph + on 95 leaving Jacksonville and the heat gauge started getting up to 200, so I backed down to 60mph and turned on the heater. Temp went back down to 190. Pretty much ran at 60 in 5th gear most of the trip. (Discovered later that when I replaced the 4 blade engine fan with a 5 blade fan from a similar motor from Donald Dagley's junkyard, the replacement fan had an opposite pitch from the original.The same motor as mine turned the opposite direction and the new fan was pushing air out instead of pulling air through. Went back to Donald's and got a 5 blade fan with the correct pitch. The original donor motor had air concitioning and my 2.5 in line 4 did not. Only thing I can figure. Now my engine warms up and never gets much over 200°. Sweet!)
Hit some rain on 16, not long but heavy at times. Had applied Rain-X before leaving, and it really helped. Got off 16 to get on 440 after 200 + miles. Had an 8th of a tank of gas on the gauge (forgot my gauge reads a little high). Decided not to get gas off the interstate, find it a little cheaper down the road. Big mistake. No gas stations until Milledgeville, GA, 50 miles down the road. I ran out of gas going up a hill 20 miles from Milledgeville. I poured in a gallon of non-ethanol mix that I was taking up for the chainsaws, and prayed that I was just out of gas. I was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I coasted into Milledgeville on fumes and filled up. I made a note to fill up next time before crossing no mans land again.
I arrived at the Otto cabin @ 6 pm, logging 435 miles. Sandy and Warren, and Karen's brother Tom were there working away. Sandy made delicious sloppy joes for supper. It was warm so we didn't light the stove. Tom finished up the front steps. I walked down and up the driveway once. I played my guitar and did a few dumb bell exercises before bed. Karen found my pocket knife that I lost the last time we were here. It was in the loft.
Sunday: Warren came up in the morning to help Tom build the back door ramp and trash platform, and continue his mission of burning up all the scrap/trash wood piled up at the downhill end of the parking space.
I trimmed some tree limbs over the house and hanging on the electrical service line. I felled three large live trees to the south for internet access. I don't like felling live trees, one was particularly majestic. I said a prayer for them and cried inside. If I hadn't done it, Karen would have hired it done. We left them where they lay, two of them hung up in other trees off the ground. We will have firewood for years to come. I did try to replant an evergreen tree that had been uprooted when David Cheek widened the access to the well. We'll see if it makes it.
I got the Troy-Bilt weedeater Bruce left, with the bush hog blade, running and tried it out on the small undergrowth around the cabin. It ran and worked pretty good. I didn't have as much luck with the Poulan weedeater Bruce left, and carried it back to Florida. I ran the chainsaw and the weedeaters out of gas before storing them. I was using ethanol gas, as I had poured my non ethanol gas into the truck tank when it ran out on the way up.
I walked down and up the driveway 3X during the day. I shot the CO2 BB pistol a few times at beer cans in the trees. I cut up firewood and scrap wood with the chainsaw. We built a fire in the stove and lit the gas heater downstairs. It took Tom, Karen, and me an hour to figure out how to light it. The directions left a few parts out. Tom, Karen, and I sat by the scrap wood fire outside for an hour or so in the evening. Warren had gone back to Clayton by then. We had leftovers for dinner, nobody complained, I played my guitar for a while, and we all turned in. Tom slept in Karen's bedroom downstairs, I slept in the loft over the kitchen, and Karen slept on the futon in the cabin. I think I stoked the fire in the middle of the night.
Monday: Our first foray out was to the dump, which was a big enclosed transfer station. We got rid of a few things, picked up a swell planter box, and had to take back our old paint and mix it with dirt before dropping it off. Dump fee was 66 cents. Tom went out too, to a used book store. Note to self - don't go shopping with Karen, it makes her crazy. I tend to wander off and she can't find me. We went to Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Ingles, and Big Lots. We got lots of cool stuff, including a Red Ryder BB gun and a full size wheelbarrow.
When we got back to the cabin, the 3 of us spent a couple of hours looking for the 4th property corner, north of the house. The other 3 corners were marked. We came close, but never found a marker. I shot my Phoenix/Raven Arms 25 auto pistol into the bank near the well at some cans. I tried out my new BB rifle on some freshly hung beer cans. I loaded my pick up truck for the trip home tomorrow. I took a few photos and repaired the shutter for my office doors. I straightened up the tool closet under the house. Warren had come back and he, Karen, and Tom worked some more on the back door ramp and garbage can deck. I walked down and up the driveway 3 different times during the day. I walked to the end of the valley on Mulberry Ridge Road in the evening and met our neighbors, Jack and Judy Miller, 475 MR Rd.
Before dinner, Tom and David got into a spirited, but respectful discussion about what's wrong with our country. Tom gave Karen some advice on investing, and I added my 2 cents worth. After a delicious spaghetti dinner prepared by Karen, we sat by the fire for a while. I played my guitar some and turned in.
Tuesday: I got up at 6:45 and ate a banana and drank some coffee. I sat at the oak table and jotted down notes for my journal entry. I kissed Karen good bye and hit the trail at 8:30. After a few miles down the road, I cranked up the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I made it through disc 7 (out of 13), before turning it off approaching Jacksonville. It really made the drive bearable. I ran 60mph all the way back and pulled into Dolphin Cove at 5:30 in the afternoon. 435 miles door to door.
