Last week we had our first visitors to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. Although we have hundreds of visitors every day in the park, these visitors were special to us: Eric and Sandy Shaw; Steve, Amy, and Emma Winstead; Bob Walliser, Megan Spade and Cheryl Giddens. This group was the core of our Boy Scout leadership for years and we have known Cheryl and Sandy since they were young mothers. We all grew up together, along with our kids.
Sandy and Eric have come to visit us before when we were working and we traveled with them in September. Bob tags along because he doesn’t want to miss out on any of the fun. Amy and Steve visited us at Fort Necessity and managed to make it for the weekend here. Emma, only being one year old, had her first visit with us where we are working. Cheryl and Megan have visited us at Fort Necessity, King’s Mountain, and here. The best part was having everyone here for more than a few days. Most of them were here the whole week! They stayed in the campground and we were only a few sites away from each other.
Our first visitors got to Cumberland Gap in time for the Juneteenth celebration. Although we weren’t able to do much with them on days we were working, we spent the evenings together and enjoyed a few short hikes. Cheryl, Sandy, and Megan came to visit me when I was doing my living history textiles on Monday and Cheryl took the opportunity to try her hand at weaving. She told her husband that she might have to get a loom! I am on the lookout for a good loom for her at the right price.
It is hard to work all day and enjoy company in the evenings, so we were glad when our workweek was over. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we really packed in the activities. Unfortunately it also rained most days. We did short hikes when we could, checked out some indoor places, and spent a lot of time talking around the campfire. Our time together always goes too fast, but we felt like we got caught up a little. I will be writing about some of what we did next week, so you will continue to hear about the visit for a few posts to come.
Cheryl wanted to spend some more time weaving, but ended up going to the emergency room for a possible blood clot in her leg. It wasn’t a blood clot, but the doctor advised her to stay off the leg. She followed his advice for an afternoon, but then was back out on the trails with us. She didn’t want to miss any of the fun either! When it rained on Thursday, Sandy, Cheryl and I went back to my textile room and played around with the loom without letting in any visitors. Cheryl did great with the loom. Sandy also had a chance to try the loom and both of them measured string on the warping board.
We ate out a couple of times. Tom and I took everyone to Dutch Treat and we all got sandwiches and ate in the gazebo. We also checked out the Harrogate Plant and Produce Shop. Everyone made a morning trip to the Pinnacle together. They had already been, but wanted to see it again now that they had been some of the places. On Tuesday morning some of them did the Cave Tour while Tom and I did some laundry and I wrote some blog posts.
It was a great time together with lots of conversation and plenty of laughter. We never sit still for very long, so I always need a rest when everyone (Sandy) leaves. But it was so wonderful to have them here and feel like we had friends in this new-to-us place. I am so thankful to have friends who come to see us and support us in this wandering lifestyle.
