Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

My mother used to say that, I think, when I was young. It's one of those phrases that you pick up in life from some unknown source that comes to mind regularly in life.

I always think of it when we return from a trip away.

We left Friday morning at 2:55 a.m., and arrived at the Cranberry River just as daylight was breaking. Fully loaded, we slowly followed the pot-holed path (Forest Road 76) along the river, picking camp site number five through the fog. (We had a choice of five and three, five had more trees for tarp hanging.)

We were unpacking exactly three hours after we left home.

With camp set up early Friday a.m., we both sat down to relax, examine the map of our surroundings, watch the waters of the Cranberry River flow. After being up most of the night before, I fell asleep on the river bank around 1:30 in the afternoon, and Frank fell asleep around 3 while looking at the maps in the back of the Jimmy.

Later, we made a trip to town for bread and fish bait. About an hour before dark, it began to rain.

We made two mistakes on Friday. We waited until too late to start a campfire, and we only hung one tarp over the campsite, directly over the tent.

Thus, the picnic table got wet, we couldn't start a fire in the rain, and we got a bit wet hanging the second tarp.

The rain broke for a bit around ten, and we got the fire roaring. We dried out as best as we could, and retreated to the tent for the night. It rained off and on all night, and when we both crept out of the tent in the night to pee, the wind was wicked.

By morning though, the weather passed.

Saturday was spent trout fishing (no, we don't know how, and caught nothing), adventuring a little to gather drift wood (we also took firewood), and drying out wet stuff. We had sausage biscuits for lunch, and pork steaks with baked potatoes and black-eyed peas for dinner - all cooked over an open fire.

Saturday night we had an amazing fire, and made love on a blanket next to the fire ring. :o)

We both slept like babies Saturday night.

And turning the clocks forward? Who needs a clock when you're camping?

Sunday we leisurely began the process of pulling everything back together, and after a lunch of keilbasa with grilled onions on hotdog buns and fried potatoes, we packed up and went on a driving adventure through the forest roads.

By the way, the park maps for that area are NOT accurate!

On the way home, we stopped at the Truck Stop in Sutton (one of our favorite places to eat, by the way) for a big dinner. We arrived home Sunday evening a few hours before dark.

* * *

one thing we thought about on the trip was bringing the travel writing concept into our adventures. Thus, when I came home, I began researching the subject, and the markets.

This led me to redesign our personal site at www.hayesminney.info to match our goals, I didn't change the site theme, but I did change the pitch of the site and the information provided. It's more "professional" now than "personal."

I haven't quite finished it yet, and will be tweaking as I go. If you visit and see any mistakes, please let me know. I know already I've got three pictures that won't show, and I can't get my damn email forwarding servie to work for the new email. (I'm using namezero, anyone have any suggestions?)

I then redesigned the blog colors to match the other site (in case you didn't notice).

I also realized that I have been travel writing already, just submitting to the local markets only. I write about festivals, events, etc. in Calhoun County on a regular basis, and have done the same for Gilmer county! So, I have also researched markets that will accept reprints.

A new path for us, something to enhance our lives. I am hoping this is a good direction for us. We can travel, research, learn, take photos together, I can write and submit queries, and perhaps we can cover our travel costs.

* * *

Over vacation, I have been sending occasional emails back and forth to my boss, asking for a change in my title (no raise, I'm not asking for a raise) from "reporter" to something else.

There are a lot of reasons this became important to me. One reason is that I do so much more than report, and I want to be recognized for that - by staff and readers. The other reason is that our community thinks as a reporter, I should drive 56 miles to take a photo of a garden potato that looks like a UFO or should visit the other end of the county for a photo shoot of a 38 pound cat.

As a reporter, the community thinks all they have to do is call, and I will jump. I just can't deal with that anymore. We are too small a business and gasoline is just to expensive. Also, I am too busy for such pittances.

I also resent the "why don't you look into this" group, who act like I am a bulldog that can be sicked on people. I report on news, I don't make it happen. Sure, I look into things, watch, ask questions, etc. But it is NOT MY JOB do to it for the whole damn community! If you don't like corruption, or wasting of tax payer's money, CALL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL and vote in somebody new next time. Don't just sit there and expect me to do it all and print it so you can read from the sidelines.

Anyway - I digress.

After researching job descriptions to match my tasks, I have come up with "Communications Editor"- and he has agreed. So, I feel a little better about work, and hope I can get a little more respect from the community.

Tomorrow I'm back to work, delivering newspapers and updating the web site, and Thursday it's back to the office.

And yes, I can say that at the end of this little sabbatical, I feel better.


:o)



Want to know more about DeLaHaye?
Visit her web site at www.hayesminney.info,
or her online store at www.cafepress.com/impecunious/,
or read her weekly column at www.calhounchronicle.com.