Written Last Night

I wrote this last night, and it is crossposted on our band site.

Right now, we’re stranded in Highlands, NC. Not a bad place to be stranded if you ask me. Our car, the ever-capable “Dottie”, is stuck at the Blue Valley overlook scenic point while we are enjoying the luxury of the Main Street Inn in Highlands, NC. Everyone here is wonderful, the little town is one of retirees and 2nd home vacationers, but I remember it as being a place where my family and I came to escape Birmingham and enjoy the mountain air.

“Dottie” has a flooded engine; our spark plugs are bathed in oil because we have a leak, and although she normally is good with traveling, she now needs new plugs somewhere along Scaly Mountain Road.

Hitching a ride with a young couple, in town for a wedding, we make it to our destination, Highlands, N.C. Finding that the parts store doesn’t open on Sundays, we settle into the town with the knowledge that we’re going nowhere soon. We say our goodbyes also knowing that, had the car not broken down, we’d have probably made friends with these folks anyway. The girl, possibly Ben’s wife, and I believe her name was Jamie, prompted to drive Elsa to name her pony (the plastic toy one she was carrying) Butterscotch, making the ride cheery, in spite of our problems.

Now we’re in the Inn. Ladies at the Don Leon Deli Cafe told us we HAD to come here, and they were right - and now, we’re waiting to fix the car’s brokenness with a great view and a very cozy room.

Tomorrow holds fixing the car and making it home. Right now, we’re enjoying the beauty of a more than 100-year-old inn and the landscape of Highlands.

I hope “Dottie” is alright, but right now, I’m immersed in Appalachia.