Tipton Family Genealogy 52 of 67 Pigeon Roost Tour April 29 1996

Taking a break from my usual coronavirus pandemic update posts here folks.  

What I'm posting today is an old VHS video that I took in the Spring of 1996 when I visited the mountains of western North Carolina, my father's hillbilly roots. Not much has changed since he left that Appalachia area in 1930 with his parents and eight brothers. He was ten years old at that time.

The video I'm posting is raw, no fancy intro title or ending, just my shaky, huge, should hugging video camera.  

After I left my job at the Philadelphia bank where I worked, I flew down to Atlanta Georgia to apply for a job at Sun Bank. While waiting for an answer after my job interview, I took a sideline visit to my brother John and his wife who lived (and still do) in Greenville, South Carolina. John only lived about two miles from Pigeon Roost, North Carolina, near where our father was born.

On this trip we visited a distant cousin, Horace Tipon and his wife Margie. At their house we looked at a video that was taken by Frank Tipton, whose father Adgie was Horace's brother. Frank never knew his ancestry until he came to one of my Tipton Family Reunions. He told me that his father would never talk about his family. I talked to him and found out he had a brother Horace.  I contacted some of my southern sources and found Horace lived in Micaville, North Carolina. I reunited Frank with this previously unknown branch of his family which is what the video on their TV (which Frank gave them) shows.

After visiting the Horace Tipton's we visited one of the many cemeteries in those beautiful North Carolina mountains, looking for my Tipton headstones which I recorded for my genealogy information. We also took a long ride up Pigeon Roost Rood, also known as Green Mountain. 

Since that visit twenty-four years ago, I've visited several times, the last time being in 2013.  I met my cousin Bob Tipton and his wife Marie to show him our common family roots in those North Carolina mountains. I was going to introduce him and his wife to Glenn and Wanda Renfro. Wanda was the granddaughter of my grandfather Fieldon Tipton's sister Pansy Tipton. Unfortunately that visit never took place because Glenn's son found out (probably through my blog) that I was gay.  He called me the night before the planned visit and asked me "Is it true that you practice the gay lifestyle?"  I responded "If you're asking me if I'm gay, yes I am."  He responded "Now get this bud. If you put on step in my parent's house you'll have me to deal with.  You got that?"  Well, I took that as a threat. Homophobia alive and well in those beautiful western North Carolina mountains along with blatant racism (Glenn referred to President Obama in the most offensive racist terms and of course there were no people of color who live in those mountains). The next day we (cousin Bob and his wife) did take a ride up Pigeon Roost road, the same as shown in this video but we, of course, didn't visit our cousin Wanda. Haven't been back since folks. I know when I'm not welcomed. 

This video is over an half an hour long, and probably not of much interest to most of my blog followers but I'm posting it anyway, part of my legacy in case I don't survive this pandemic and for sure after I depart this world where there is no longer any degree of hate that I experienced like I did during my last visit to this mot beautiful part of our country.

Stay safe every one!

Why I am a F.A.G. Volunteer

Some people run a 5k races for self satisfaction while others twist their bodies pretzel like in yoga poses for body flexibility and spiritual enlightenment.  

Me, I've always marched to a different drummer.  I'm a F.A.G. volunteer. 

Me at a family cemetery in the North Carolina mountains 2013

Granted, you're unlikely to see a photo of me in too short shorts in the Cape Gazette running one of the many charity 5k runs. Nor will you see me in some 105 degree yoga studio, sweating my balls off with a bunch of fellow, sweaty women yoga practitioners, seeing if I can hold my pose without peeing myself or passing out.  Nope, yours truly, when I am in the self enlightenment mood will be at either your local cemetery or in some old, forgotten family cemetery in the mountains of western North Carolina.  For you see Virginia I am a Find a Grave volunteer.

What is a Find a Grave volunteer you ask?  We F.A.G. volunteers take photos of headstones in cemeteries and post it to the website called Findagrave.com.  Find a Grave.com was founded coincidently by a distant cousin of mine, Jim Tipton, to record the final resting places of celebrities.  However, in a very short time it became a very popular website for recording graves of everyone, whether they were celebrities or not.  I've been a member for over five years.  I've recorded over 4,500 memorials (graves) and over 9,600 photos.  

For years I've always liked to roam graveyards.  Perhaps that's sounds weird to some but hey, I think running your ass off in a 5k race or nearly passing out and peeing yourself doing "hot" yoga is weird too.  I guess one's weirdness all depends on one's perspective.  But I gain the same satisfaction out of my volunteer work for Find a Grave as do the participants in the previously mentioned activities.  One thing is for sure, you'll never hear an S.O.S. going out for me because I got lost climbing a mountain or collapsed running a 5k race.  Oh sure, maybe I'll faint in a graveyard…..not likely. What's more likely I would fall into one of those collapsed graves (had some near misses on that).

One of my very favorite activities is fulfilling photo request for Find a Grave.  The way this works is someone, whether it be a relative of non-relative, requests a photo of a grave or memorial as we call it; that request is posted to the Find a Grave.com website and those F.A.G. volunteers in the area can claim those requests.  That's what I did this morning when I claimed seven photo requests for the Union Cemetery in Georgetown, Delaware this morning.  

Yep, that was me on this cold and overcast morning, down at the Union Cemetery in Georgetown, Delaware. Nope, I wasn't greeted by hearing crowds nor were there any photographers from the local newspaper to record this event for posterity, fame and glory.  Nope, just me and Bill roaming the cemetery looking for "Ira Short Jan 24, 1894 - Apr 24, 1956".  

Ira Short headstone, Union Cemetery, Georgetown, DE

We found him and the other six requested photos of gravestones of those dear, long ago departed citizens of this southern most Delaware County of Sussex who are buried at the Union Cemetery in Georgetown, Delaware, the county seat of Sussex County. Yes folks, we did our volunteerism without the Roar of the Crowd.

As I mentioned earlier in this posting, I'm not totally selfless in my volunteerism for F.A.G.  I do get a sense of self-satisfaction and that I am helping people by recording the final resting place of relatives and loved ones who are not in the geographical area.  To me all Find a Grave.com is the Digital Age extension of the old fashion cemetery.  With the Internet and computers and the thousands of F.A.G. volunteers taking photos and recording the final resting places or the previous inhabitants of this planet, we are literally making a virtual cemetery.  

Of course with an endeavor that I am in I endure some negative feedback.  There are trolls and negative nabobs wherever one goes these days who will be quick to criticize and says things like "Why would you want to do something like that?" Not so coincidentally those negative comments almost always come from the same folks who criticize everything else I do or others do and yet they DON'T do.  Go figure.  In the Find a Grave.com community we call those people "Find a Grave Drama".  I've had them attack me as have had other Find a Grave volunteers.  But you know what folks?  People like that are everywhere, I ignore them.  

But last week I received an e-mail that made all the hard work of looking for the cemetery (some of these small family cemeteries aren't easy to find), in all kinds of weather (it was COLD this morning) worth it.  This lady posted this comment on my Find a Grave.com account:

Now this made me feel good.  Here I found the grave of the sister of this woman's grandmother's sister who died as an infant (got that)?  She never thought she would find the grave let alone a copy of her great aunt's death certificate.  I also posted the copy of the death certificate because I am also a member of Ancestry.com and have access to death certificate of some of the decedents.  Where I find them, I post them.

Now here is a lady who took the time to thank me for the photo I took of her great aunt's grave in the remote mountains of North Carolina at a small family cemetery that I did have some trouble locating. I remember well this expedition last year, it was raining the whole day I was traipsing around those mountains and I ruined my sneakers. I was soaked by the time the day drew to a close.

I was in this area because it was where my father was born and grew up until he was ten years old at which time the family (he and his eight brothers) were moved to southeastern Pennsylvania in the late 20's.  Each year I've been visiting this area to take photos of the local family cemeteries, looking for Tiptons but also recording the graves of other folks in that area, many of them related to my family (not a small amount of inbreeding in those mountains folks but I won't go into that at this time).  

This is also the same area where I was going to introduce my cousin Bob Tipton and his wife to our cousin, our grandfather was her grandmother's brother (got that)?  As I said I WAS going to introduce the cousins until the son of the cousin asked me the night before, when I had called on the phone to confirm the meeting, "There is a rumor going about you Ron.  I have a question to ask you Ron.  Do you practice the gay lifestyle?"  After closing my mouth, which was agape, I said "If you're asking me if I'm gay…yes I am." There was a pause then he said "Now listen to me and listen good, if you ever step foot on my parent's property (his mother is my cousin - our grandparents were brother and sister), you'll have ME to deal with.  You got THAT bud?"  Well folks, this is North Carolina after all, land of the most voter repression law in the United States and non-marriage equality.  Hillbilly country where you won't see ONE minority in those hills be they black, Italian or Romanian. One of the last outposts of homophobia.  Where gays like me area called "QUARRS" (as the husband of my cousin called our President during our last visit). Oh yes folks, this is the U.S.A.  So I probably won't be going back anytime soon to Deliverance Country.  

Me in the North Carolina mountains - 2013

I probably will never go back again after last springs Welcome Wagon reception from the son of my cousin (he's my cousin too whether he realizes it or not.  Just imagine, he has a "quarr" for a cousin.)  But I am glad that I received this thanks from this lady last week for my small act of volunteerism.  Sort of gives me hope that not all people are hateful and perhaps some are even appreciative of what this one, insignificant, non-celebrity volunteer does, expending time and money and sometimes, at personal physical risk, to do something good.  

My cousin's husband during a visit in 2012 before he knew I was "quarr" - I was allowed in his house then.  Now that my "lifestyle" has been identified I am no longer welcome

This past week hasn't been good one for me folks. First one of my sister-in-laws gets offended (too easily in my opinion) because of a photo I posted on Facebook of my Mother getting her hair combed by my niece (said sister-in-law's daughter).  Some folks noted the dress my niece was wearing (floor length with a ruffled apron) and teased my niece about her choice of clothing.  My sister-in-law promptly sends me an e-mail saying that I attacked her and then mentions something about my "lifestyle."  A remark that was frankly beneath her and hurtful.  I didn't know know THAT was simmering beneath the surface of our relationship.  

The offending photograph - my niece combing my Mother's hair Christmas 1979

Then on the same day I was having a casual conversation with my longtime friend Bill B. on the phone and same sex marriage came up.  I forget what brought it up, maybe the fact that I sent him a Christmas card that shows me and my husband on the front of the card during our marriage ceremony.  My "friend" said "What's next?  Marrying your pet?"  There you go folks.  You never know what just beneath the surface of people you know.  People who are self-proclaimed "Good Christians".  You know the kind, judgmental.  Well, as I wrote about it before both occurrences left me feeling sick in the stomach.  Little did I know that these two folks, who I thought liked and respected me really considered me "less than."  

Me with my friend who asked me if I'm going to marry my pet next - I never cease to be surprised by the latent homophobia of some of those I have known all my life who I considered my friends 

I tried to have a reasonable discussion with my friend, telling him that he had just insulted me and didn't understand what he was talking about but you know folks, there is just no reasoning with people like this.  They have their horse blinders on, blinded by their so called "faith".  They will never change their minds.  In their mind I am "less than" and always will be.  So I am letting them go folks.  I am tired.

This morning, in the cemetery, looking for those graves to fulfill the Find a Grave photo requests I felt a sense of peace and tranquility that I didn't feel with my relative and friend this past week.  

Me at my great-grandfather Hiram Tipton's grave in Limestone, Tennessee

When I received that thank you from that lady for taking a photo and posting her great-aunt's memorial, I felt like I was appreciated.  For all I know she may be just as homophobic and prejudicial towards gay people as my relative and friend but at least she said "thank you".  And that means a lot.  

Me with my pet Sparky, who I never intended to marry

Annual Road Trip South - Day Four

Hampton Inn, Helen, Georgia

What a difference a day makes.  Today was wonderful.  

We left Marion, North Carolina this morning.  Bill and I said our "goodbye's" to my good cousin Bob and his wife Marie.  They just made our two days in Marion so enjoyable.  They were the perfect antidote to the hateful remarks that my other distant cousin (his great grandmother and my grandmother were brother and sister) made to me on Sunday.  I think I've gone through the five stages of grief over that incident:  

Denial 
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

I'm at the "acceptance" stage now.  I knew he will never change as many won't in this country.  They will go to their grave believing that it is their God given right to discriminate, harass and threaten gay  people.  I have to tell you though, I was shocked and a chill went through my whole body when he said those hateful words to me.  But we left that area of the country this morning and I doubt if I'll ever be back.

Now for the good news.  It was a fairly short drive to Greenville, South Carolina where my brother lives.  I wanted to leave my Mother's jewelry with my brother's wife to distribute to her daughters and granddaughters.  

Me and my "baby brother" in front of his garage in Greenville, SC

Bill and I had a short visit with my brother and his wife.  We went out to lunch with John (my brother) at the Golden Corral.  One thing I notice about the south, they sure do eat good.  Lots of buffets with LOTS of food, and GOOD food.  The only buffets we have in Delaware is the one Chinese food place and who knows how old that food is.  

Will in Greenville I purchased a Garmin 3565 GPS, Voice Activated device.  My cousin Bob suggested that we get one and am I ever glad.  All the stress just disappeared for our road trip.  Bill and I usually end up fighting when turns are missed.  With this fancy, dancy GPS device, those mishaps are now going to be few and far in between.  Thank God.  

After our visit to my brother and his wife, Bill headed towards Toccoa to visit his old boyhood haunts.  Unfortunately, his old neighborhood has gone downhill drastically.  And I mean BIG TIME DOWN HILL.  The lady who now lives in Bill's old family house invited him in to look around.  That was very gracious of her.  Of course the inside of the house looks nothing like it did when Bill lived there.  And it looks a lot smaller, but doesn't everything when you go back to it as an adult remembering what it was like when you were a kid?

Bill's old home on Alexandra Street in Toccoa, Georgia

Now here is the really good part of the day.  We planned to stay in the area for two days until we head back home.  But there aren't any decent hotels in or around Toccoa.  So I put a search in my new fancy fancy GPS and asked for a Hampton Inn.  The Lady in the GPS came up with a Hampton Inn in Helen, Georgia; about 34 miles away.  Okay.  That was a too awful distance to travel.

Bill on the street outside of his old home - he says it "has changed a lot."

So we follow the GPS instruction and we're taken to a beautiful little theme town for tourist.  This town is called "Helen" and is build like a Bavarian village.  Bill loves Germany!  He was stationed there while he was in the Army.  And here is a replica right here only 34 short miles from Toccoa!

Now the story gets even better.  The Hampton Inn we're staying at is also built like a Bavarian house. And our rooms!  Wow!  The best I've ever had, ever!  I actually have a suite for under $100.00 a night.  Bill and I both have suites (we sleep not only in separate beds but separate rooms).  My suite (as well as Bill's) has a fireplace, a living room, a kitchenette, a big whirlpool in the bathroom, a king size bed, two flat screened TV's (one in the living room and one in the bedroom) and a beautiful view of the mountains right outside our windows.  And even better.......we can walk out of the hotel down a real sidewalk to all the shops and restaurants.  No getting in our car and figuring out how to get across the interstate and those butterfly turn roads just to get something to eat.  This town even has an Old Time Photo shop! Yes, I am going down tomorrow and get my photo taken.  This evening I had my photo taken in one of those old time photo booths from the Fifties. What great fun!  

Street scene in Helen, Georgia

After dinner at the Heidleburg House (a tasteless hamburger but great french fries; I opted not to get a big traditional German dinner because I had already made a pig out of myself for lunch at the Golden Corral).  However, I did get the apple strudel and yes, I ATE THE WHOLE THING even though it looked like it was a family serving. 
Memo to Ron: eat less tomorrow.  

It's late now.  I was on the phone with Apple Support.  I was in a Catch-22 with my passwords.  don't ask.  It's straightened out now.

Oh, one more thing.  I took a long soak in the Jacuzzi tonight.  Wow.  Was that ever relaxing but after I got out I kept sweating and sweating.  I had to take another shower and I was still sweating.  And I think I'm down to my last set of underwear. I may have to get some quarters and use the hotel's laundry facilities.

I'm already planning on coming back here next year.  Bill can visit his hometown again and I can "get away from it all" by staying in this lovely suite of rooms nestled in the Georgia mountains.  Too much of our vacation is spent driving on the road.  When we leave here Friday we're faced with a 12 hour drive of about 645 miles.  We can't make that in one day so we'll have to stay over somewhere halfway in between.  But we're definitely coming back here next year.  I like this place!

Ron and Bill's Excellent Adventure Day Five

Bill's hometown, Toccoa Georgia

If this is Wednesday this must be Anderson, South Carolina!  Remember that movie "If this is Tuesday This Must Be Belgium?"  That title has always stuck in my head when I travel.

Well, this was another adventure filled, frustrating, exciting, and productive day.  This is what I love about road trips.  Did Bill and I get lost again today?  Oh yeah.

Bill was determined not to get lost again so last night in his hotel room at the Hampton Inn in Franklin, North Carlina (high in the Smoky Mountains) he drew a map for himself.  After breakfast we would leave the Hampton Inn and get on Rt. 23 and zip straight down to Tallulah Gorge in Georgia.

We load up our Dodge Caravan rental and leave the Franklin, NC Hampton Inn and proceed to go the wrong way.  We were going west when we should be going south.  I thought we were going the wrong way but Bill wouldn't hear of it.  Okay.  As we were barreling down the road the wrong way I saw a small church cemetery along the side of the road and asked Bill if he would mind stopping.  He said he didn't mind.  He was probably feeling good because he thought he had his driving directions under control.

While Bill patiently waited, I took photos of every headstone in that small, beautiful cemetery on this cool spring day up there in those Smoky Mountains.  I even found a couple of Tipton graves!  Coincidentally the Tipton graves were located right behind gravestones for the Stroud family.  My first love was named "Stroud" and ironically he also lives in Georgia.  I haven't seen him since my Army days.  He's probably a great grandpaw now.  However, seeing that name again after all these years brought back fond, warm memories of my foolish youth and my first passionate love affair.  Man we were hot.  But I digress.

After I finished taking my photos and we got back on the road, THE WRONG WAY, Bill realized we were going the wrong way.  After I gave him several "I told you so's" we headed back to where we began and started over again!  Oh boy.  We were headed for the Tallulah Gorge.  Bill thought we wasted our time but I always try get something good out of mistakes.  I wouldn't have found that little cemetery if we hadn't gone the wrong way.

We eventually got to the Tallulah Gorge.  You know every time I say "Tallulah Gorge" I think of the old joke about Tallulah Bankhead which she used to say about herself but since this is a family blog I won't repeat it here.  Well, I was very impressed with the Tallulah Gorge.  Wow.  That was one deep gorge.  Looking down my fear of heights kicked in.

Next up was a visit to Bill's hometown of Toccoa, Georgia.  The past two years we have visited Bill's hometown and he always felt I rushed him.  So this time I agreed he would drop me off at the Toccoa Cemetery while he went and did his thing.  That worked out well except it was a very hot and humid day in Toccoa and that cemetery was big.  By the time Bill came by four hours later I was soaked with sweat.

I enjoyed my time in the cemetery but I was unable to fulfill even one of the twelve outstanding photo requests.  Sometimes I think people requesting photos are fishing.  They aren't sure where the deceased person they are looking for so they are quite willing to take advantage of us Find a Grave volunteers and waste out time going on their fishing expeditions.  Those kind of people I don't like but we all know it take all types.  There are always those among us who take advantage.  Oh well, I did enjoy having time to cover that whole cemetery.  There are so many interesting stories that are revealed by the type of headstones and reading the dates of birth and death.  I always feel sad for the little headstones.  Those are children whose lives were cut short.  Make me think that perhaps I am past my expiration date on this earth.

Bill came by later to pick me up to head for our next destination, a Hampton Inn on the interstate near Greenville, South Carolina.  We're visiting my brother John and his wife Barbara tomorrow.  We didn't want to stay in Greenville, we've done that and it is just too much stress with all that big city traffic.  We prefer staying as far away as possible from big city streets and rush hour traffic. Less stress for us two old guys.

Oh, I forgot.  We had lunch in Toccoa today.  Toccoa is an old cotton mill town that is almost dead since the Interstate was to built near it.  Both Bill and I wonder how the people who live in the town now survive  since there is no industry or business in town.  Last year we tried to have lunch but everything was closed by three in the afternoon.  Talk about rolling up the streets!

This time we saw a restaurant open.  So we were going to eat "local."  How was it?  Terrible.  The food that is.  I had something called the "Cuban Panini" sandwich.  I had one of those at Panera Bread in Johnson City and it was delicious.  That was the first time I had it.  The sandwich consisted of bits of grilled chicken, ham, mustard, and dill pickle on sour dough bread.  That was the Panera version.  The Cuban Panini I had today?  Not the same.  This baby consisted of ham, mustard, dill pickle and....wait for it:  OLD PULLED PORK.  I was so hungry I ate it anyway.  Ever done that and regretted it?

Bill enjoyed lunch because he kibitzed with the waitress who was very friendly.  Bill likes to flirt with women.  He was having fun teasing her.  She was giving as good as he gave.  Because Bill was enjoying himself I decided not to ruin their good time.  My ice tea tasted like a dirty dishrag.  The one good thing was the dessert.  Our waitress recommend their Orange Cream Cake.  It was scrumptious!  Our waitress asked me if I wanted coffee with it.  I took her advice, hoping by drinking the coffee I could wash out the dishrag taste .   Guess what?  They used the same dishrag to make the coffee.

So here I sit now at my desk in my room on the third floor of the Anderson, South Carolina Hampton Inn.  I have the TV on, listening to The Ed Schultz Show on MSNBC while I hear thunder in the night sky outside my hotel window.  More rain!  By the way, I'm glad this Hampton Inn has MSNBC on their channel line up.  At least I have more choice tonight than I did last night in Right Wing Country of Franklin North Carolina where my only choice was Fox News!  All low information voters up in those hills for sure.

Oh boy am I tired.  I was watching Rachel earlier and I kept dropping off.  Time to wrap this up now and get ready for bed.  The Hampton Inn has the most comfortable beds.  Last night I was so tired I woke up in the same position I went to sleep.  That's when you know you're tired.

Another big day tomorrow.  The adventure continues.

Ron and Bill's Excellent Adventure Day Three

The church on the mountain top with the most fabulous view I've ever seen in my life

A very productive day today folks!  Of course it was raining AGAIN when we started out this morning.  I decided to head over to the "homeland" over the Tennessee state border to North Carolina mountains, where my father was born and brought up until his family left for Pennsylvania when he was ten years old.

I wanted to find a few more of those family cemeteries in those hillbilly mountains before we left for Bill's hometown of Georgia tomorrow.  We got lucky and had a very productive day!

Unfortunately we again had confusion getting out of Johnson City, TN where we are staying at a Hampton Inn. Both Bill and I are older now and we both have problems handling heavy traffic in a city in which we are unfamiliar with the traffic patterns.  Bill is doing all the driving and I am navigating.  So far so good, with only a few glitches which was this morning getting out of Johnson City.  But once we were on I-26 headed towards the North Carolina mountains we were alright.

This morning I contacted the man (Glenn)who I met eighteen years ago who now lives in my great grandfather Ike Lewis' house on Upper Pigeon Roost Road.  His wife is my second cousin although we've never met.  Her grandmother Pansy Tipton (yes, "Pansy", no smart remarks from the Peanut Gallery) was the sister of my grandfather Fieldon Tipton.  I thought Bill and her husband would hit it off and they did.  Both of them are 83 years old and both veterans.  I was so glad Bill had somebody he could connect with instead of just wandering around cemeteries while I take my pictures.

I asked Glenn to ride shotgun in our rented Dodge Caravan (he was suitably impressed) and show us where the cemeteries were located.  I was so happy he agreed because I would never have found these cemeteries on my own.  All of those small family cemeteries up there in those mountains are up little winding paths on the very of the mountains.  They don't have any cemeteries on the low parts of those mountains, too much water.  There seems to be a stream everywhere  If they had cemeteries near those streams...well you know what would happen.  I don't have to paint that picture.

While talking to Glen he casually mentioned a rental property right above his house that he and his wife take care of while the owner was away.  A rental property?  I was just talking to Bill yesterday that we WOULD LOVE to rent a house for a week or two in the fall.  I know my brother John would rent a house for a weekend, he and his wife Barbara are only two hours away.

Glen told me the owner (an airline pilot) was there today but he was leaving tomorrow.  I asked if I could see him and his cabin.  He said "Yes!"  I met him and I liked him!  Great.  I his house/cabin!   It is small and rustic but right next to a babbling stream. I LOVE IT!  I know my brother would love it.

Bill so loves the mountains and hates the shore where we live now.  I like both the mountains and the shore.  I told Bill I would rent the cabin for a week in the fall.  I've never seen the fall foliage.  I bet it is just beautiful up there in those mountains.  I would love to see it and I will.  When I get home I'll check my work schedule and see what week is open. I'll probably go the week after my Tipton Family Reunion in October.

We got a break today and it didn't rain until I finished taking photos of my last cemetery.  That cemetery is located on top of a mountain with the most fantastic view I've seen in my life.  It was literally breathtaking. Bill said he would like to build a house on that hill and live the rest of his life looking at that view.

When I get home I'll upload a short video I took of that view and post it to a future blog posting and share it all with you.  I wish everyone could see this view in person.  Absolutely breathtaking.

I have to post some of the cemetery pictures I took today, make my personal journal entry today and then to bed.  I was up until 1:30 am last night or this morning posting cemetery photos to my Find a Grave.com account.  I can't do that tonight because we're leaving Johnson City early tomorrow morning.  The rest of our trip South is for Bill now.  He wants to go to Talulah Falls Georgia tomorrow then to his hometown of Toccoa Georgia.  Then we'll swing up to Greenville, South Carolina to visit my brother John and his wife Barbara on Thursday.  John wants to show me all the new construction around his church.  I'm looking forward to seeing that.  I am very proud of my brother and what he has accomplished at his church in Greenville.  He is in the perfect job for him.

So there you go folks.  The adventure continues!

Bill and Ron's Excellent Adventure Day Two

Bill in the rain at one of the cemeteries in the mountains we visited today

Today folks we ventured out into the steady rain and visited family cemeteries over the border up in the Pisgah Mountains where my father was born and grew up until he was ten years old.


After a nice breakfast in the Hampton Inn lobby this morning, I gathered my cameras and we headed over the border to the mountains that form the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.  I was hoping to visit the cemetery where my great grandfather Isaac Lewis and his wife Mary Jane Hughes are buried.  They are on the top of a mountain at the end of Pigeon Roost Road.  Last year when Bill and I visited, we couldn't find that small Lewis family cemetery.  We found it this time but not without a lot of effort.  They are way on the top of the mountain.  I was exhausted by the time I reached the top.  The last time I visited this cemetery was eighteen years ago when I was 56 years old.  Now I'm 70 and I'm telling you I felt it this time.  But I got there and took pictures which I will publish when I get home.

Next we drove around those "wiggle roads" up in the mountains looking for family cemeteries.  We were successful beyond our wildest hopes!  I found five cemeteries, including one cemetery containing many of my direct ancestors in Tipton Hill.  Pictures and videos will follow when I get home and can post them to You Tube.

The only problem today in addition of not being sure what roads to travel, was the constant rain.  At least it wasn't raining hard.  This was actually a good rain because it was light and steady.  The hills and valleys seemed to be washed clean with the birds chirping their approval.

We returned exhausted.  Bill is sleeping now.  We spend one more day here and then we take off to Bill's hometown of Toccoa, Georgia.  Bill wants to revisit where he grew up and of course I will be taking pictures of as many cemetery headstones as my legs can take the constant knee bending to take those photos.

We had dinner at Panera Bread this evening.  Wonderful!  I can't wait for the Panera Bread to open in Rehoboth Beach.

Hopefully the rain will end tomorrow.  This must be like what it is to live in Seattle or London.  I don't like it.  The rain is good but.....let's have a little sunshine.

Time for me to end this missive and start reading my new book "The Real Romney."  A real page turner I'm sure.