Traveling in the Carolinas

The North Carolina Mountains offer me a little therapy each year, particularly in the heat of a Louisiana summer. I’ve been a regular this time a year for a long time. One of my trip highlights is to hike Grandfather Mountain, which is located about an hour and a half northeast of Ashville. A trek up and down the Profile Trail takes me about 2 ½ hours, and can really get the blood flowing. I try to make the trip up here several times a year. You will note my LSU hat that stirred quite a reaction from Appalachian State fans that live in the surrounding area. They are really gearing up for their first game against LSU next Saturday night in Tiger Stadium.

Now I’m not what you would call a great dancer, but I did stop by the Mountain Breeze Boogie Dance last week in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The Shag is the hot new dance sweeping this part of the country. A little swing and a little shuffle. You see me here trying to “cut a rug” with the club president Elaine Crowall. They all get together for lessons once a week.

As I travel through out the South, I make it a point to stop by any bookstore that carries my first book, Justice Denied. Since I am just weeks away from publishing my next book, staying in touch with book sellers is an important part of the writing process. I stopped below at Black Bear Books in Boone, North Carolina last week to visit with Rhea Buck who works at this quaint mountain location. And by the way, there was much talk about the LSU– Appalachian State football game that is just a week away.

My 15 minutes of Fame.

We always hear about someone having their 15 minutes of fame. I really did have just about 15 minutes of fame back in 1963. I was a senior at the University of North Carolina, and a hurdler on the track team. In that year, a new race was authorized call the 300 meter hurdles. After this one year, they move the race up to the 400 meter hurdles. The first time the race was run was on the track below at Furman University in South Carolina. I won this race, and since it was the first time it was ever run, I legitimately held the world record. But remember now. I told you my fame lasted 15 minutes. A short time later, another race was run on the West Coast, and someone beat my time and also took away my world record. Ah, say le vie. But it was great while it lasted. I came back to visit the track and renew old memories.