In front of me lay the rolling hills of the Badlands National Park. Behind me lay the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. I was parked in a free camping area featured in the movie Nomadland. I sat quietly at sunset and watched small mountain goats scramble their way up the rocky incline of the badlands. The wind buffeted my camper and I pulled my blanket closer. My neighbors were a hundred yards away and their lights beginning to blink on.
I am a novice when it comes to hard alcohol. Using my Harvest Hosts membership, I camped overnight at a small distillery named R M Rose located in Dillard, Georgia. Founded in 1867, RM Rose is the oldest legal distillery in Georgia. I happily sampled their excellent product as the descendant of Rufus Rose tutored me on the finer points of whiskey. I learned there are differences between Kentucky bourbon; Tennessee whiskey and Georgia Moonshine.
For more than ten years I traveled to New York City to meet with the talented physicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Initially, after my cancer diagnosis, I met with them every three months for a span of five years. I am the embodiment of planes, trains, and automobiles when it comes to finding my way to the Big Apple.
At 6:30 am I entered the driving loop of Cades Cove. Already I was five cars deep and moving slowly. Along the route were groups of photographers gathered around their cameras peering through the mist and fog. I was only a few miles in before I spotted my first large group of tourists parked along the road and gathered in a distant field. I slowed to ask the park volunteer about the crowd and she pointed out the three fuzzy lumps in a very distant tree. A mother black bear and her two cubs sleeping.
Ocracoke Island is located south of Hatteras Village and half of the island is controlled by the National Park Service. A free vehicle ferry operates a daily shuttle from Hatteras Village. Expect a line as wait times can be as long as two hours.