Tales from the Mountains

Thank you so very much everyone who donated, shared, and encouraged. What a beautiful testimony of the goodness and willingness of people to sacrifice and get involved in helping others! I was blown away by the $1330 raised so quickly! Every penny of it went to folks impacted by the hurricane! For more details, especially for those who shared directly, feel free to read on, it’s long ??

TL: DR – Grateful for all the donations and ability to share it with others, it was eye opening and do what you can when you can with what you have – the need is massive!

A few folks have reached out asking how it was. My first thought is – great. Second thought, it is a LOT, and I’m still processing. I just realized (now 5 hours since I woke short of breath) that the dust from the toxic mud blowing around is likely the culprit, off to remedy that! OK, mullein is an amazing herb to support the lungs – it is fairly easy to get – we have plenty if you are local, or I can send a link to get online if you want to go volunteer and reduce any negative impact to your body.

We had some last-minute changes and the friend that was going to come, wasn’t able to, so we worked together to get all of the morning and day’s farm work done ASAP, got the truck loaded, and then my husband, Mark came along with my son and me. GPS was green until shortly after Newport, TN and then there was a long patch of nothing. Literally nothing on GPS – no color, no info, and then as soon as we hit the NC/TN border the road was all red with lots of red tags, so we had no idea how far we’d get? Almost immediately after getting off the highway we started to see and hear helicopters, we saw many throughout the day. They were simultaneously a welcome sight and a reminder of the grim reality we know all too well having spent so much time over the years in these mountain communities, many people are still cut off and those helicopters are providing lifesaving rescues and drops of desperately needed items. We decided we’d drive until we couldn’t anymore and then go help from there. As we drove out, I saw how widespread and simultaneously specific the damage was. Widespread in the sense of for 25+ miles it continued on, specific in that everything wasn’t completely wiped out, where we were at least. There were houses moved off their foundation, cars hanging in 10+ feet up in trees, and railroad tracks buckled and falling down into the river. But on the other side of the road there were houses untouched, though also without power. We drove through a patch of death in the air, an unmistakable smell we know from rural living. Search and rescue are a constant reality while deep in the interior. We drove on through the green, and through the no information at all, and then all the way through the complete red and right into Hot Springs, NC without any problems at all. Trees had been cut away and the water had receded off the road enough to drive through. As we drove out, we made note of some places to come back to if we had any supplies left over.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to Hot Springs, it is my place. You know in meditation or anytime where there is a prompt to think of a place where you are happy, peaceful, and fully alive? Hot Springs is that place for me. I cried again seeing it decimated, mud covered and just brown, especially with fall leaves coming soon. Hot Springs, in tiny. A block or so. It's main road doubles as the AT. The huge chunk of road that caved in had already been filled in so you can drive both directions down Main Street. People from all walks of life were working together side by side. One of the top priorities is to get the Hardware store back up and running, as well as, emptying out and redeeming everything that can be redeemed from all the homes and businesses. No one – not one person was on their phone, which reminded me of one of the joys of Hot Springs, for years after there was cell service most places there wasn’t any in Hot Springs. People were working or connecting with each other, everyone was about the business of living. The only road closed was the one down to the trail head of one of my favorite hikes, but it is right at the river so I figured it would be.

We parked at the General Store across from the spa – the whole place covered in thick mud, and we walked across the bridge to see if we could get down to folks that live down there – as we did the Army showed up with their clean-up & restore road vehicles and I think we were all so happy to see them! I know I was! There was sherif tape at the head of the trail down where we wanted to go and a camper on its head, so we turned around and brought some of our snack packs over to a group of guys close by. They had just arrived from GA to do rescue and recovery and wouldn’t take a thing. They brought snacks and wanted to make sure others got it. So, we headed to see if we could find a staging area for all the folks working – there wasn’t one, beyond a case of water, so we headed up to the main one at the school. One thing I consistently noticed is that folks were concerned about everyone else, they weren’t going to accept something unless they really needed it. I’m not sure how far out into the future they factored into that decision? It was determined they needed what we had, and I added our name to a list of churches, and some random folks like us that showed up to help. 90% or so was churches from Knoxville.

I connected with one of the Firemen and he shared his personal need for the suits, protective gear – googles, gloves, respirator masks. He looked tired and I am glad he was taking a break to eat, even though he was still standing. Benjamin got in the back of the truck to pull stuff out and a group of volunteers quickly relocated the things to their piles – some of it being picked up immediately by those in need. The drop-off and pick up is the same line, not that there was a big line, just a small space. They had a mountain of cases of water, but we did the math coming back and with a 50 or so folks working plus another couple hundred we didn’t see and 100 or so oz a day, that mountain of water was really probably only a few days’ worth. I’m glad we brought a few cases! We kept some stuff in the truck with us to give to folks on the way back who might need some love.

The vibe while we were there was totally ‘get’er done’. I was hoping to also offer prayer/ support/coaching to folks but I wasn’t sure about the timing, those are usually a right after, or an on down the line once the basics are restored and the fullness of it soaks in thing. Neither of those were at play yesterday, power and water are not restored, basics are not met, and I saw zero people that looked like they wanted prayer, coaching, or even to talk. That’s not to say there weren’t any – I mean couldn’t we all use it, just about any time? ?? But there are times and seasons, and this was time to get to it. Time to get after the business of life and living. And that’s one of the many beautiful things about showing up with no agenda to help in these kinds of situations – you take the adventure that comes, meaning you plug in with the need, you go with the flow, go where the energy is, and connect in with what is vs try and change the energy or go against it to match what you planned to do.

On the way back we came across a group of folks at a usually packed campground that was right on the river in Del Rio. We’d seen some people working to help clean up on the way in and so we stopped back by and asked if they needed some snacks, and they gladly accepted all we had, they had nothing to eat except a few crusty donuts, which won’t give them the fuel they need for the extremely hard manual labor they were doing. There were some guys running skid steers and consolidating trees, campers, car parts, and all the other debris into 6 foot plus piles.

Take aways at this point are:

·?????? Every bit of it will be put to good use and likely today/ tonight!

·?????? Every bit counts AND it felt like a drop in the ocean in terms of the needs we saw just in one small portion of the overall area. The amount of destruction is overwhelming, AND every bit helps. So, be encouraged, what you did truly helped ??

·?????? We are homesteaders, and I’d consider us fairly well prepared, this was another perspective shift for us, and we discussed what we are focusing on next. Stay tuned for that list and how we came up with it.

·?????? Folks were focused on their neighbors, and the well-being of everyone as well as working together to repair roads, businesses, and get basics back up and running.

·?????? Everyone was kind, helpful, cooperative, and appreciative of each other.

·?????? If you are looking for some sign to go help – feel free to use this as a sign! I’ve learned even in helping in a disaster there are different schools of thought, aren’t there always? ?? Different folks have their opinions on the right and wrong way to do a thing. If you want to go, GO!! You don't have to go with a group or get permission. The need is massive. If you want to go with a group and don’t have one, I can put you in touch with some! People just need help, and they need it as soon as possible, and will likely continue to need it months from now. So do what you can, when you can, with what you have??

·?????? I’m already thinking about a return trip not sure exactly when, we have a LOT to attend to on the farm still, but once the chickens and turkeys are gone…

Thanks again everyone, your generous donations far exceed what I thought we’d be able to provide and I’m beyond grateful for your generosity and kindness. Every penny went to help immediate needs. You guys are amazing!!

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