Jonathan and Kahran

Well, we are now underway!  Trish and I left the island yesterday and traveled to Greensboro.  Our son, Jonathan, and his fiancé, Kahran, life in Greensboro.  Before our trip is over we will be coming from the west back to New Orleans for their wedding on September 21.  I am performing the ceremony, and, since I have not done this in a long time, we needed to get together for one more meeting to work over the entire plan.

Jonathan and Kahran
We met them for dinner, along with Jonathan’s mom, Beth, and then got a chance to pretend that we all know what we are doing and that we are actually prepared for September 21!  It was an excellent time.

Today we have driven on up to my home town. Waynesville, to be ready for the Cataloochee Reunion in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Before the Park was established in 1934 some of my forebears lived there.  My Uncle, Gudger Palmer, was 100 years old the year the Park turned 75.  He died in 2012 at age 103.

Most of the native born people of Cataloochee have gone on from this world, but, each August for 81 years, their descendants and friends gather to remember the days when a significant early community lived in the remote valley and to celebrate the care and perpetuation of National Park stewardship.

We are camped in our Airstream beside Jonathan’s Creek, one of the places where I actually played and camped as a child.  Tomorrow will be a great day with a service at Palmer’s Chapel Methodist Church followed by dinner on the grounds.

You will hear more about Cataloochee when the day is over.