New Year’s Day, 2026

Posted on by
Reply

Tennessee Street at the Cherokee County Museum and courthouse, Murphy, North Carolina.

New Year’s Day, 2026, started out as cold as an Alabama step-momma, but by 11:30 the sun had warmed things up enough to let Sweet Marie out of the stables and saddle her up for a ride.

I think the highest the thermometer climbed was 53, and a moderate breeze tempered even that. But they don’t allow sissies in this corner of the state, so there you go. Gotta do what you gotta do.

Downtown Murphy, North Carolina, was slightly less lively than a morgue, but pretty in a way under winter’s slanted sunlight. I saw only three other bikers on my ride.

Out on the highway, the State Patrol wasn’t being shy about pulling over misbehaving drivers. Myself, I was behaving.

Sighting in the baby Colt

Posted on by
Reply

Look closely, the target is 25 yards downrange.

I’d already replaced the rear sights on my other Colt revolvers, and the other day I finally got around to the baby of the bunch — my .22 caliber King Cobra.

Look carefully at the photo of the pistol on a pillow in my truck bed and focus downrange. You’ll see a tiny target between the firewood shed and the azalea bush on the left. That’s what I was aiming for.

That cluster of shots you see in the close-up photo below is what I was left with after installing the new rear sight. I left the elevation at zero and didn’t adjust the windage from what it was at the install.

It looked about right to me when I eyeballed it. Turns out I wasn’t far off.

Not bad for a first run through.

The rear sights on Colt pistols as they come from the factory are — as everyone knows — pretty much garbage. Adjusting windage is a two-part process: you first have to loosen a “hold-tight” screw atop the sight and then turn another screw on its side to move the sight or point of impact right or left; then you have to re-tighten the first screw, the hold-tight screw.

As I said, it’s a messy process.

The tiny hold-tight screw is a flimsy thing that won’t remain locked down — even with the recommended use of lock-tight.

Shame on Colt. New, reliable sights run about $100 and are well worth the expense.

On the two replacement sights I have used — Kensight and Wilson Combat — there’s a single screw to adjust windage — as it should be, but isn’t, with the Colt factory sights.

Both Kensight and Wilson make fine products that are easy to install. Kensight, out of the Atlanta area, offers better shipping terms, so you save a few bucks over the Arkansas produced Wilson. But, as I say, both are excellent replacements for the Colt mess.

You won’t go wrong whichever you choose.

Posted on by
Reply

Nottely River TVA dam, Christmas Eve, 2025

Like much of the rest of the country we’ve had unseasonable weather over the winter holidays, and that good fortune remains with us through today when the temperature is expected to reach 70- or more degrees.

As you know, that’s nearly perfect motorcycle weather.

So the bike has gotten out of the stable a bit — on Christmas Eve I rode a loop through the Georgia mountains and across TVA’s dam on the Nottely River, where I took the selfie you see here.

Today, while a pot of slow-cooking venison roast simmers on the cabin counter, I plan for go into Cherokee and onto the route through the Smoky Mountain Park, where I hope to get a photo of the elk you can sometimes see grazing there.

Here’s wishing myself some luck on the elk . . . Stay tuned.

Sun’s out. Motorcycle too!

Posted on by
Reply

Panther Top fire tower, Nantahala National Forest, Cherokee County, North Carolina

December 20, 2025 — Five days before Christmas and I was far from the only motorcyclist enjoying the sunshine on a December day that saw temperatures climb into the mid 50s.

Panther Top Mountain, a slight peak of some 2,000 feet, often draws a few folks on nice days, and today was no different. The U.S. Forest Service fire tower is the primary draw.

The Forest Service built the lookout tower atop the mountain in the 1940’s, and though its use as a lookout tower for fires ended about a decade back, the agency still keeps the summit free of trees. Today it’s left for hiker and sightseers to enjoy the views from the wraparound deck surrounding the enclosed tower. But even the tower is open to visitors for a select few days each year.

To the north and west are mountain ranges bordering North Carolina and Tennessee, including the Great Smoky Range, while to the south and east are the countless wooded

Harley-Davidson Lowrider, 2023 edition.

peaks of northern Georgia and the rest of the Nantahala National Forest.

As for my bike ride, the Harley was as flawless as it has been for the past 18,000 miles, the reliable Lowrider ran without a hitch.

It’s great to live in an area of the country that seldom allows a full winter month go by without offering up one or two — or more — near perfect, almost picture-perfect days for a motorbike ride around the many beautiful mountain roads in the region.

Thank our All-Father, Odin, for small favors, I reckon.

Maryland shore moonrise

Posted on by
2

DECEMBER MOON

A dozen or more autos gathered in the Ocean City inlet parking lot on Dec. 4, 2025, ferrying occupants to the beach to watch the final full moonrise of the year, a supermoon at that, and one also known as the Cold Moon.

And cold it was, made even colder by a stiff wind out of the northeast, though not as cold as it might soon be — a snow storm is making its way cross country and should arrive in our area tomorrow.

After the moonrise, LLT, JE and I went back to Ocean Pines for Thanksgiving leftovers, some of them in a turkey pot pie John had made before we left for the beach.

Tomorrow he and LLT head to Baltimore for a reunion with some of JE’s old college pals. Yours truly will be cat-sitting, with Hazel’s help of course.

Maryland shore sunrise

Posted on by
Reply

 

SUNRISE FISHING

Thunderstorms had departed our region of the East Coast leaving clear skies for Wednesday’s sunrise.

But only a handful of cars were in the lot for the celestial show at the Ocean City, Maryland, inlet.

More’s the pity for them.

Of course, truth be told, even Hazel was more interested in the sea birds than the sunrise. She kept a wary eye on a noisy flock as she did her business in a ragged strip of seaweed and leaves at the edge of the sand along the municipal parking lot — largely empty this time of year.

‘No Kings’ gathering draws hundreds in Hayesville, N.C.

Posted on by
Reply

Several hundred people turned out Saturday, Oct. 18, in Hayesville, North Carolina, for a “No Kings” rally to oppose Donald Trump’s continuing destruction of the country’s constitutional safeguards.

TRUMP FANS WERE IN SHORT SUPPLY.

The peaceful gathering brought families, couples and solo sign-carries to Hayesville’s Main Street — also known as Business U.S. 64 — lining both sides of the roadway as passing traffic tooted approval.

The scene unfolded in a festive atmosphere that belies the sadness of U.S. citizens who have been largely dismayed at the Trump Administration’s actions in sending masked police thugs into U.S. streets, homes and businesses to arrest non U.S. citizens who have come into the country seeking better lives for themselves and their families.

The president, with the complicity of an inactive and indifferent Republican-majority Congress, also has sent National Guard forces into several Democrat controlled U.S. cities to harass officials and residents alike with police-like actions that his administration patterns on those of authoritarian and fascist states — several of which Trump has both applauded and courted since his election.

Under Trump’s orders, the U.S. military has begun summary executions without charges or trials of foreign citizens in international waters that the administration claims — without evidence or proof — to be narco terrorists.

The totality of Trump’s actions have remade the U.S. into something more closely resembling a banana republic than a first world, democratic society.

Saturday’s “No Kings” protests — which drew millions nationwide — was the second national outpouring of discontent since the election of Trump’s pro-fascist regime.

The Old Stovall Mill

Posted on by
Reply

The old Stovall Mill Covered Bridge at Sautee Junction, Georgia. Click on any of the images for an expanded view.

Fog wrapped the taller mountains in a soggy embrace along the Russell Scenic Highway as I made my way to the historic old covered bridge near Sautee Junction, roughly another 30 miles away.

This area of Georgia is part of the Russell-Brasstown Scenic Byway, which itself is part of our National Scenic Byways that dot this big country of ours. All told, there are 184 National Scenic Byways scattered throughout 48 states.

This one is in the beautiful Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. Brasstown Bald is somewhere off to my left.

The bridge is a popular spot for graffiti and seems especially popular for young lovers who need to declare their affinity for each other in chalk. The river is scenic here as it is elsewhere.

I have on a long-sleeve summer sun shirt, a T-shirt over that and then a leather vest — all topped off with a blue jean jacket. It’s border line enough clothing for motorcycling at these elevations and beneath this overcast, foggy sky.

But the sun returned as I reached the turn-off to Helen, Georgia, a tourist trap along the Chattahoochee River, which many people mistakenly believe is the river from the movie “Deliverance.” But, no, that’s the  Chattooga River.

And while on “Deliverance” trivia, the rundown town in the movie wasn’t actually in Georgia at all. Those scenes were filmed in Sylva, North Carolina. Same thing with the movie, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Montana” — another cinematic wonder also filmed in Sylva.

Anyhow, the Stovall Covered Bridge isn’t much to look at.

There are picnic tables at the bridge along the beautiful Chattahoochee though, and it’s a nice stop for a snack and a break from the saddle — especially for motorcycle riders, who need more butt-rests than auto travelers might.

I had bought a root beer and a chocolate bar at the Old Sautee Store a few miles back, so I sat at one of the tables, snacked, and enjoyed the view for awhile along with the mid 70-degree day. The chill of the higher mountains long gone.

On the day I visited the mill fiber optic cable was coiled on the ground ready for stringing by crews hoisting it to poles.

The Old Sautee Store and Market make for an interesting if not critical stop for sightseers. There was a father with his two-month-old baby sitting on the porch during my visit. The little boy, wide eyed and smooth skinned as wee ones his age are, worked his month like a guppie and waved his arms like a sea amoeba as I walked by him.

Which gets to my sole bit of advice for the day: Never trust anyone who can walk by a new-to-the-world child like that one was without smiling.

I’m unsure why we always smile at seeing the very young, perhaps as a small way of rejoicing at the world renewing itself, replacing us wrinkled and mostly worn out old versions with new ones.

Outdoor Furniture Refinishing

Posted on by
Reply

Sanding off the crud

The picnic table was here when I moved in more than seven years back, and the summer and winters had taken their toll.

So, finally, after years of putting it off, I spent a day sanding at an old man’s pace while Hazel kept watch and looked on.

Rot had eaten its way up one of the legs, so that had to be replaced; otherwise the old table of treated wood while poor cosmetically was in surprisingly good condition.

I found a suitable piece of lumber for the new table leg in my wood pile that was the right dimensions. Two quick cuts with the circular saw was all it took and then I screwed it in place with decking screws.

A No. 40 disk on the sander cut through the grime and got the wood ready for a coat of Cabot seal and stainer. I opted for a stain with a cedar tint, thinking, correctly, I believe,

The table after the first coat of stain.

that the tinting might help cover some of the many imperfections in the table’s surface.

To help keep it in better repair than it has been these past few years I’m considering putting paving stones down for a small patio like surface alongside the fire pit. Time will tell whether I ever actually get around to that job. Maintenance and chores around the place, while in ready supply, no longer hold the charm for me that they seemed to in years past. But, as I say, time will tell how much more actually gets done.

I trust, though, that I’ll at least have the will to add a few more coats of sealer and stain, though prettier weather returns tomorrow that promises to be nearly perfect for a motorcycle trip; so I’m not making any promises/

A Different Sort of Enemy

Posted on by
Reply

The Yoknapatawpha at a dock outside Bayboro, North Carolina.

“The sea is a different sort of enemy. Unlike the land, where courage and the simple will to endure can often see a man through, the struggle against the sea is an act of physical combat, and there is no escape. it is a battle against a tireless enemy in which man never actually wins; the most that he can hope for is not to be defeated.” — Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage

Alfred Lansing’s book on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s adventures in the Antarctic was on my mind as I made my way on my motorcycle along the Hiawssee River and into Tennessee.

I miss my old boat, the Yoknapatawpha, and the days and nights when she and I were alone on the sea or anchored off an inlet while thousands of stars pierced the blue-black night. The gentle swaying as she rode the current; the popping sound of shrimp against the hull.

A bird call far off in the night.

A motorcycle is a poor substitute for sailing, but it is a substitute, a stand-in of sorts. There is wind in both, but vastly different winds.

If you’ve been to sea alone on a small sailboat you’ll know what I mean. If not, then not.

A boat at sea will test you every day in a way a motorcycle never will. As Lansing said, there — aboard a boat at sea — you often face a kind of physical combat where the best outcome you can hope for is a draw.

And then there are the calm, clear days where the winds smile and the sky and water are the same impossible shades of blue. Dolphins leap. A sea turtle surfaces off the bow and looks at you with deep dark eyes more ancient than time itself.

The combat and the calm, both are what makes sailing the grand reward it is.

Motorcycling ain’t bad either, but it’s not sailing. Not by a long shot.