Saturday, July 16, 2016: Leaving Wildacres

Saturday, July 16, 2016: Leaving Wildacres

Elaine Cohoon Miller posted this shot on Facebook with the caption: The motorcycling meditator James Kershner, heading off today after leading us in meditation "between the bells" every morning for two weeks at Wildacres.

We had one last meditation Saturday morning, and then went to breakfast. There were a lot of sad farewells and promises to return next year. I packed up the motorcycle and was on the road by 10 a.m.

By lunchtime, I was at the Northwest Trading Post, a sop mostly devoted to local arts and crafts form Northwest North Carolina. I remember buying my favorite cowboy hat there years ago. This time I was happy to see they had a selection of subs, so I got a turkey and cheese sub for lunch.

 Riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway is amazingly beautiful. Miles and miles of natural surroundings with very little man-made structures in sight.

I had planned to stop and camp at Doughton Park, but it seemed much too early to stop, so I continued on to see if there were any vacancies at the wonderful cabins where I took shelter from the storm on the way down. Unfortunately, they were all full, so I continued on and get a cheap motel room in Meadows of Dan. I had a flashback to a time about 20 years ago when I stopped there with my family. It’s still a funky little Mom and Pop operation, but a perfectly adequate motel.