Pictures and Stories from
1992
Wilson Creek, NC.
The Apple Orchard
Jan 17, 18 and 19
As seen through the eyes of Jim.
3.7 miles down Road #58 in the Pisgah National Forest. We have the road
just about completely blocked. We are in a small orchard that we found
some time back. 
"And that is all I'm going to Say. That's the end, I don't want to talk about it anymore so don't bring it up. It's over and finished. Last words (not) by Bubba. For some reason I have in my notes that Bubba was in rare form tonight. That probable means he was happier than normal.
We have a couple of rookies in our mist this weekend. Bill Abel brought
his young brother Brian and Lee Marlow is also with us. Also include in
the trip is Raymond Lewis with Alex Brown, Mike Campbell, Harold, Preston, Lee
and myself. Bubba also brought his dog Boo Bar (more stories of Boo Bar
later). The way things are looking someone may be hurtin in the
morning. We are going to do a night hike sometime shortly. We are
planning to head to the end of this
deserted one lane road. There appears
to be a small deserted Christmas Tree farming community tucked back in the
middle of this national forest. I don't believe that anybody lives
here during the winter months, but come summer, with all of the pruning required
there are 40 to 50 people in this deserted community. We are going to
investigation the area and our focus is going to be to try and find a cemetery.
On Saturday we took a hike along Persimmon Ridge. This trail was taking
us to the spectacular 200'
water fall on South Harper Creek Falls. During
the hike Brian keep telling Bubba that he could drink more that he could.
Please remember that Brian is about 17 or 18 at this time. They decide
that they will settle it tonight after dinner. This is a great tale, so
more is coming on this shortly.
As things are about to heat up with the competition, Bubba is standing around
the fire with a Shot in his hand and his pants have fallen down around his
ankles. 
I don't think he even knows it. He is still holding his shot
and has not spilled a drop. For some reason I believe that Bubba
needs some suspenders because his pant just don't seem to want to stay up.
It is and absolutely funny sight.
Boo Bar
I would like to tell you a little about Bubba's dog Boo Bar. To start with let me give you a little back ground on the name. At one point Raymond just could not bring himself to call Sandor by the nickname everyone else know him as "Bubba". About a year or two back Raymond started calling him BooBar. Well sometimes Bubba was bad enough and Sandor is the kind of guys that just don't mind what you call him but he was not to fond of BooBar for himself. So he got a dog. Guess what he named him? Yep, you are right.
BooBar was half Pit-Bull and Half Labrador. BooBar liked very few people. I think she like Mike, Arlie, of course Bubba and myself. Most everyone else she was indifferent to, except Alex and Raymond. Alex, Raymond and BooBar just were not very close at all. I believe that BooBar would go out of her way just to aggravate Alex. The rest of us would set back and watch as she would nip at him and he would run from her. Looking back on it know brings a chuckle to me.
Alex wrote in the journal "That damn Dog and me are not very close. And that is all I'm going to say, that's the end, I don't want to talk about it anymore... Oh! Don't Burn the logs in Half.
The story of Brian's Beginning.
As promised I want to share with you the events around Brian's challenge to
Bubba. As stated earlier Brian said that he could drink more than Bubba
any day. We decided that we needed to have something to use that would measure out
an equal amount to both guys. 
Someone had an old Mountain Dew bottle so we cut
the top out and it became known as the Ceremonial Shot Glass. To this day,
it is carried to every Winter Camping trip.
Well it started out with Bill and Brian getting a shot each of George Dickel. We were impressed with Brian's ability to keep up with Bubba. And, there goes Bubba's pants again. He is holding a shot with one had and his pants with another. At some point during this dual, Brian made the comment "Everyone likes a little Dick every know and then." Wrong thing to say on a camping trip. Everyone lost what ever was in there mouth at that time in a big spew. We all rolled on our backs in laughter. After we all calmed down the battle continued.
Unbeknownst to the rest of us Arlie, which had been controlling the shots,
had switched Brian to water shots. Brian had gotten so far along the way
that he could not tell the difference at first. Brian was boasting about
how good he was when Arlie gave him a real shot of Whisky. At this Brian
spewed it out over everyone. We all busted out laughing again when Arlie told us
what had been going on. Brian could not take this anymore. It was at
this point that thing got ugly. Brian started a push Bubba who is
quite a bit bigger than Brian until his brother Bill jumped in to stop
Brian. Bill and Brian rolled all through the camp twisting and
turning. They rolled through the fire, they knocked things over and BooBar
wanted to jump in the fun. Each brother had a head-lock on the
other. Finally everything calmed down and it was over.
Needless to say Brian did not come back for a couple of years. To this
date we still kid him about "Liking a little Dick every Know and
then".
The next story is told by Preston Brewer. This story also happened on this same trip.
The Old Rugged Van
by Preston Brewer
It's Friday afternoon and I am riding in Jim's Old beat up white panel van. Harold and Boobar the dog, are also riding with us. We were making good time coming up the dirt road from Brown Mountain Beach to our remote campsite located in these isolated mountains. I was amazed at the way this old van could take the curves we encountered. Earlier I had commented to Jim that driving that thing must be like driving a boat (to say there is play in the steering would be an understatement of mammoth proportion). But, Jim handled the ancient vehicle well - Until that one curve.
This particular curve was not wide enough for two vehicles. To our immediate right and far below was the beautiful, icy Wilson Creek. We saw Fred Davis and his crew coming in our directions, it was too late to change course and where definitely limited by thoughts of drowning in the icy creek below - SUDDEN IMPACT - rather shocking that is was. After climbing out from under camping gear & dog, I began to assess the situation. Harold was, to say the least, NERVOUS, when he looked out the window of the van and said "Jim, I think we've got one wheel off the road". When Mr. Davis came to Jim's door & stood there waiting, Jim responded, "I can't open the door" Quick as a whip and with a Marion, NC drawl, Fred Davis said "Caan ya roll dawn the window?" He could about half way. Harold then gathered enough nerve to open passenger door - carefully - about an inch. He saw that we had just about enough room to get out and we did. After what seemed like and inordinately long period of silent, damage assessment, Fred said "Where ya from?" Jim told him Statesville and we learned they they were from Marion.
A mutual agreement was made that each should fix his own vehicle. Jim summed it up well when he said "It's same a nice vehicle like yours had to collide with such an ugly van as mine. Before continuing on, Jim asked the Fred Davis crew of they had a crowbar or something to open his rammed door with. Mr. Davis's response, definitely in the running for 'understatement of the year' was, "It's shut nice and tight now, I think I'd Leave It Alone." It was, and we did. So Jim, Harold, Boobar and I all climbed in through the passenger door, cranked up the old battle worn van and completed the 22 miles of dirt(gravel at times) road to our camp.
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