Sandy and I spent last week in Tennessee and North Carolina. We drove to Roan Mountain State Park, and moved into our spacious cabin on Monday, unpacking huge amounts of wonderful food, books and wine. No TV,and no computer access...enforced relaxation, which is great.
We met Beth and Meredith, a mother and daughter who had a cabin a few doors down from us. They were spending some time together before Meredith takes off for college in about two weeks. We were all sympatico, and got together for some great meals and talk.
The down side is that that area of the country is going through a record-breaking heat wave, and at Roan, the temperatures were about 15-20 degrees higher than they were when we visited last year. Without A.C., it was pretty stifling at times.
We had a long drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, and decided that rather than return on the highway, we'd opt for the scenic route. Also, the access for the Blue Ridge Parkway was pretty close to The Biltmore, so we thought we'd shave off some time.
Ah, the best laid plans...
It took us almost twice as long taking the scenic route, which was one lane each way with no divider, along winding mountain roads. At its highest, the parkway is at 6050 feet. Talk about scenic. We crawled all over Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the Eastern United States. I was driving.
Some of you may remember my meltdown/panic attack driving up Grandfather Mountain last year. I suffer from acrophobia...fear of heights... and terror struck my heart as we wound around those mountain roads, with the long drop-offs right next to the road.
Had I realized it was going to be like that, I a) would not have chosen (or allowed to be chosen) the Bue Ridge Parkway, b) certainly would not have been in the driver's seat, c) would have begged, borrowed or stolen some kind of major tranquilizer to put me into a stupor. Come to think of it, we had several bottles of wine we'd bought at Biltmore. That would have done.
So I found myself behind the wheel. I decided pretty early on that I needed to conquer this fear: there would not always be someone else there who could take the wheel when I decided to curl up in fetal position in the back seat.
Without a doubt, I white-knuckled it quite a bit, had my heart, which was racing considerably faster than we were, in my throat. But we survived. My strategy was NOT to look over the scenic overlooks. In fact, I looked to the inward curve of the road on all of those, and generally focused down the road rather than on anything actually close to us. It was a very scary two hours. Particularly when opposite traffic would appear out of nowhere, casually straddling that center line.
Sandy was the picture of cool as I did this. Either she was comfortable with my driving, or she was afraid to spook me further.
So we did it. I'd like to say I conquered my fear, but I know it will be waiting to leap out at me next time I take a lovely mountain road. At least next time I'll have a strategy.
[Image from Mount Rogers.org]
I never knew you had a fear of heights! Now I know why you weren't too interested in joining me at the top of the Empire State Building! ;)
Posted by: Shawn Lea | August 29, 2007 at 10:05 AM