Photo album

Due to some changes in my career (all planned and all good) I found myself with an unexpected week off last week. We already had Hungry Mother State Park booked for the weekend, so I added 4 nights in Asheville and 1 night in between at the Fancy Gap KOA on the VA-NC border just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The week before we left, I was reading Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally Curious by Seth Kugel, otherwise known as the Budget Traveler from the New York Times. The primary thesis of the book is that we miss the best stuff from traveling when we over plan, and we also set ourselves up for disappointment when we read too many Yelp or TripAdvisor reviews prior to the trip. For example, the dinner at a local restaurant that was very good and would have thrilled you normally will be a let-down if you go into expecting the meal to be a religious experience because of the reviews. Been there, done that. As somebody who normally builds a spreadsheet for every trip, I took the book to heart and cut off the detailed planning. We decided to wing it for the most part, and as you’ll see below, it mostly worked.

The trip to Asheville was a scouting trip. We’ve been thinking about a move to the mountains next year. We had a lot of fun in Asheville, but neither of us feels any pull to live there. We got into town on a rainy Sunday afternoon and set up camp at the KOA east of the city. Because we were on a scouting trip, this was not a normal camping trip for us. We had no camp dinners planned as we were there to explore the town, so we planned to eat out every night. That first evening, we ate at The Cornerstone, and it was fabulous.

Fun with Birds

On our first morning in Asheville we got up early to get to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary just a couple of miles from downtown Asheville. I had signed us up for a guided 2-hour bird spotting tour via AirBnB Experiences. I was expecting some retired bird enthusiast to be our guide. It turns out our guide is a professional bird expert. His day job is organizing and leading birding tours to the far reaches of the globe. He’s been to Cuba a couple of times, Africa, all over South America, etc. The bird sanctuary is between his home and the office, so he offers the tours on AirBnB. It was probably my favorite two hours of the week. We observed 36 species of birds in the two hours. Also, we learned so much just talking to him.

My attempt at taking a photo of a green heron through the bird spotter monocular.

After the birding, we spent the rest of the day wandering around Asheville, in and out of shops, and maybe a brewery or two. We had dinner at the Pack Tavern, which was very good. It was there that we both agreed that we weren’t feeling any desire to move to Asheville.

Who read this map?

On Tuesday, we took our time getting out of camp, eventually making it to the NC Arboretum just before lunch. We spent the afternoon there, including a hike that went about a mile longer than planned (for me) when my map reading failure brought us to the trailhead about a mile from the car. So I got to hike back to the car while Michelle waited for me to come get her. While waiting, she met a charming young boy who upon seeing her Purdue t-shirt loudly proclaimed, “Boiler Up. Hoosiers suck.”

He’s not wrong.

After two dinners out, we weren’t feeling it for restaurant food so, we stopped at a grocery store and picked up some food to grill at the camper. Tuesday evening was a more traditional hang out by the campfire with a couple of beers and relax kind of night.

464 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway

On Wednesday, we picked up where we left off on the Blue Ridge Parkway tour from last year. I drove to Cherokee, NC, the end of the BRP, and we followed it back northeast to Asheville, thereby completing all 464 miles on the Parkway. Along the way we stopped at many overlooks, did a couple of trails, and just generally took our time as we traveled about 90 miles in 4 hours. Wednesday evening we had our only dinner reservations of the trip, at Tupelo Honey. It was another fabulous meal, this time traditional southern cooking. Wednesday night was also spent around the campfire relaxing.

Mayberry

On Thursday we packed up the camper and headed north to Mt. Airy, also known as Mayberry NC. I had a 3 PM tour of the town booked from a classic early 1960s Police Cruiser, similar to the cars used on the Andy Griffith Show. The tour was a lot of fun and interesting, and gave us the lay of the land to come back and explore more the next day. After the tour and a visit to the custard shop, we continued another 20 minutes up the road to the KOA and set up camp for the night.

On Thursday, we pulled the camper back to Mayberry and spent the day exploring town. That turned out to be more fun than expected. Yes, it’s a rural NC mountain town. Yes, all the stereotypes were on display. We checked out the Andy Griffith Museum, where we learned he was a much more accomplished actor at a young age than we realized. We had lunch at Barney’s Cafe, which serves a good burger and perfectly cooked fries. We found a sock outlet store selling premium socks at insanely low prices. I had another custard. And we also wandered into the Mt. Airy Regional History Museum, which turned out to a lot more interesting than I expected. Eventually, we left town for the 90-minute drive to our final stop of the week, Hungry Mother State Park.

Hungry Mother is always on the list of top state parks in VA, but we weren’t that taken by it. The campsites are decent sized, but we would have needed 100 yards between campers to not be annoyed by our neighbor, the loudest woman in the world. Her voice only had 1 volume level, a loud screech, which she mostly used to tell her kids to shut up, or to threaten to pop them in the mouth when they didn’t shut up. They did observe quiet hours, so that was a nice surprise. The beach there is fine, and wasn’t as crowded as I expected. But a small mountain lake ain’t the ocean. I like salt in my beach breezes.

On Saturday afternoon, after we’d had enough sun, I went looking in Google Maps for something to do nearby. Here is where that lack of planing comes in. I found the Museum of Middle Appalachia about 25 minutes away, in Saltville VA, a town I had never heard of once in my 19 years living in VA. The museum is fabulous, and the history of the town, going back well before its founding to the ice age, is fascinating. Seriously, if you are driving along I-81 in SW VA, take the 15-minute detour to visit the museum. It’s only two rooms, but we managed to spend over an hour there. The town itself is depressing, a completely dead downtown at 4 PM on a summer Saturday afternoon. We drove around, checking out a few sites the museum recommended, but everything was in disrepair and not maintained. I feel like given a mountain town with woolly mammoth fossils in the ground, interesting Civil War history, a fascinating history as a company town for a lot of the 1900s, and a precipitous decline since the 70s when competition and environmental concerns impacted the US chemical industry, I could find a way to turn that into an interesting small town tourist destination.

Even though we don’t feel moved to move to Asheville, the trip was a smashing success. We ate great meals, relaxed by the campfire, got in some hiking, checked “drive the entire Blue Ridge Parkway” off the bucket list, visited Maybery, and stumbled into a couple of fascinating museums.

Not bad for a last minute trip!

Photo album

Photo album

Due to some changes in my career (all planned and all good) I found myself with an unexpected week off last week. We already had Hungry Mother State Park booked for the weekend, so I added 4 nights in Asheville and 1 night in between at the Fancy Gap KOA on the VA-NC border just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The week before we left, I was reading Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally Curious by Seth Kugel, otherwise known as the Budget Traveler from the New York Times. The primary thesis of the book is that we miss the best stuff from traveling when we over plan, and we also set ourselves up for disappointment when we read too many Yelp or TripAdvisor reviews prior to the trip. For example, the dinner at a local restaurant that was very good and would have thrilled you normally will be a let-down if you go into expecting the meal to be a religious experience because of the reviews. Been there, done that. As somebody who normally builds a spreadsheet for every trip, I took the book to heart and cut off the detailed planning. We decided to wing it for the most part, and as you’ll see below, it mostly worked.

The trip to Asheville was a scouting trip. We’ve been thinking about a move to the mountains next year. We had a lot of fun in Asheville, but neither of us feels any pull to live there. We got into town on a rainy Sunday afternoon and set up camp at the KOA east of the city. Because we were on a scouting trip, this was not a normal camping trip for us. We had no camp dinners planned as we were there to explore the town, so we planned to eat out every night. That first evening, we ate at The Cornerstone, and it was fabulous.

Fun with Birds

On our first morning in Asheville we got up early to get to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary just a couple of miles from downtown Asheville. I had signed us up for a guided 2-hour bird spotting tour via AirBnB Experiences. I was expecting some retired bird enthusiast to be our guide. It turns out our guide is a professional bird expert. His day job is organizing and leading birding tours to the far reaches of the globe. He’s been to Cuba a couple of times, Africa, all over South America, etc. The bird sanctuary is between his home and the office, so he offers the tours on AirBnB. It was probably my favorite two hours of the week. We observed 36 species of birds in the two hours. Also, we learned so much just talking to him.

My attempt at taking a photo of a green heron through the bird spotter monocular.

After the birding, we spent the rest of the day wandering around Asheville, in and out of shops, and maybe a brewery or two. We had dinner at the Pack Tavern, which was very good. It was there that we both agreed that we weren’t feeling any desire to move to Asheville.

Who read this map?

On Tuesday, we took our time getting out of camp, eventually making it to the NC Arboretum just before lunch. We spent the afternoon there, including a hike that went about a mile longer than planned (for me) when my map reading failure brought us to the trailhead about a mile from the car. So I got to hike back to the car while Michelle waited for me to come get her. While waiting, she met a charming young boy who upon seeing her Purdue t-shirt loudly proclaimed, “Boiler Up. Hoosiers suck.”

He’s not wrong.

After two dinners out, we weren’t feeling it for restaurant food so, we stopped at a grocery store and picked up some food to grill at the camper. Tuesday evening was a more traditional hang out by the campfire with a couple of beers and relax kind of night.

464 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway

On Wednesday, we picked up where we left off on the Blue Ridge Parkway tour from last year. I drove to Cherokee, NC, the end of the BRP, and we followed it back northeast to Asheville, thereby completing all 464 miles on the Parkway. Along the way we stopped at many overlooks, did a couple of trails, and just generally took our time as we traveled about 90 miles in 4 hours. Wednesday evening we had our only dinner reservations of the trip, at Tupelo Honey. It was another fabulous meal, this time traditional southern cooking. Wednesday night was also spent around the campfire relaxing.

Mayberry

On Thursday we packed up the camper and headed north to Mt. Airy, also known as Mayberry NC. I had a 3 PM tour of the town booked from a classic early 1960s Police Cruiser, similar to the cars used on the Andy Griffith Show. The tour was a lot of fun and interesting, and gave us the lay of the land to come back and explore more the next day. After the tour and a visit to the custard shop, we continued another 20 minutes up the road to the KOA and set up camp for the night.

On Thursday, we pulled the camper back to Mayberry and spent the day exploring town. That turned out to be more fun than expected. Yes, it’s a rural NC mountain town. Yes, all the stereotypes were on display. We checked out the Andy Griffith Museum, where we learned he was a much more accomplished actor at a young age than we realized. We had lunch at Barney’s Cafe, which serves a good burger and perfectly cooked fries. We found a sock outlet store selling premium socks at insanely low prices. I had another custard. And we also wandered into the Mt. Airy Regional History Museum, which turned out to a lot more interesting than I expected. Eventually, we left town for the 90-minute drive to our final stop of the week, Hungry Mother State Park.

Hungry Mother is always on the list of top state parks in VA, but we weren’t that taken by it. The campsites are decent sized, but we would have needed 100 yards between campers to not be annoyed by our neighbor, the loudest woman in the world. Her voice only had 1 volume level, a loud screech, which she mostly used to tell her kids to shut up, or to threaten to pop them in the mouth when they didn’t shut up. They did observe quiet hours, so that was a nice surprise. The beach there is fine, and wasn’t as crowded as I expected. But a small mountain lake ain’t the ocean. I like salt in my beach breezes.

On Saturday afternoon, after we’d had enough sun, I went looking in Google Maps for something to do nearby. Here is where that lack of planing comes in. I found the Museum of Middle Appalachia about 25 minutes away, in Saltville VA, a town I had never heard of once in my 19 years living in VA. The museum is fabulous, and the history of the town, going back well before its founding to the ice age, is fascinating. Seriously, if you are driving along I-81 in SW VA, take the 15-minute detour to visit the museum. It’s only two rooms, but we managed to spend over an hour there. The town itself is depressing, a completely dead downtown at 4 PM on a summer Saturday afternoon. We drove around, checking out a few sites the museum recommended, but everything was in disrepair and not maintained. I feel like given a mountain town with woolly mammoth fossils in the ground, interesting Civil War history, a fascinating history as a company town for a lot of the 1900s, and a precipitous decline since the 70s when competition and environmental concerns impacted the US chemical industry, I could find a way to turn that into an interesting small town tourist destination.

Even though we don’t feel moved to move to Asheville, the trip was a smashing success. We ate great meals, relaxed by the campfire, got in some hiking, checked “drive the entire Blue Ridge Parkway” off the bucket list, visited Maybery, and stumbled into a couple of fascinating museums.

Not bad for a last minute trip!

Photo album

Our Sunday routine typically involves relaxing with coffee and one of Colleen's homemade pastries after morning Mass. Last weekend while pouring a tea kettle of water into the French Press, the lid shifted and I steamed my hand. Ouch! It wasn't enough to convince me to seek medical attention, but I was left with red skin and a couple small blisters. By the evening, I turned to bourbon and a cigar to "take the edge off."

The medium to full bodied smoke is earthy, with a balanced blend of sweet and bitter cocoa notes. While the flavor "feel" is somewhat creamy, there's a bold aspect to the profile as well. It seemed to bring out the sweetness in bourbon.

After that fun, but hot, morning of shooting, my Saturday evening involved a more relaxed, and cooler, activity. I had picked up a few "special" cigars a while back with which to celebrate our son's wedding. The schedule didn't work to enjoy a smoke the weekend of the wedding, so I brought one of them out the following weekend. Coincidently, I happened by an ABC store during the wedding travels, and picked up a bourbon I had been looking to grab for a while. So, by extension, this was a "wedding celebration." 

For the last several weeks Facebook has been showing me ads for Athletic Non-Alcoholic Run Wild IPA. The web is universally in agreement that this is the best NA beer ever produced, so curiosity got the best of me last night and I picked up a six pack.

I'll agree that it's the best NA beer I've ever had. However something on the Applebee's menu had to be the best too. I might be dealing with unrealistic expectations. After reading about 10 raving reviews about how this is better than a lot of "normal" IPAs, I went into it with high expectations. Too high, apparently.

On initial pour it looks like an IPA with a light and frothy head that doesn't last. The initial nose has hints of pine and citrus, and the first taste is pleasant. It goes downhill from there though. It's got a malty mouthfeel and taste. More malty than you expect from an IPA, but probably to be expected given that it's a NA beer and they have to account for the lack of alcohol. They apparently use 5 different hops in the brew, but something doesn't work. The finish isn't lacking in bitterness, but it is lacking in flavor. The bitter finish is just bitter, it has none of the flavor that you expect with an IPA. There is also a hint of butter in the finish. I doubt these guys are shipping bad beer, so I don't think it's a fermentation mistake that resulted in diacetyl. I suspect maybe it's a side effect of removing the alcohol.

I drank two last night from a pint glass. It's not a bad beer. If I'd home brewed this back in 90s I'd be pretty damn pleased with myself. If I'd drank it without reading 10 glowing reviews I'd probably have thought it was surprisingly good for a NA brew. It does taste like beer, which is way more than can be said for O'Douls and whatever other NA beers I may have tried in the past.

I did notice a lot of the comments on Rate Beer were closer to my experience, and a few people there commented they thought it was better straight from the can. I've got two left so I'll try that today and see if makes a difference.

If you quit drinking and miss beer, or can't drink for some reason, I think this is a viable replacement for you. Also, they are only 70 calories each, so it's a light beer that actually tastes like beer. In buying this I went down a rabbit hole and apparently craft NA beer is a thing now, so I may try a few others too.

Update: Drinking this straight from the can is an improvement. I still wouldn't call it an equal replacement for the average IPA, but it's definitely drinkable.

For the last several weeks Facebook has been showing me ads for Athletic Non-Alcoholic Run Wild IPA. The web is universally in agreement that this is the best NA beer ever produced, so curiosity got the best of me last night and I picked up a six pack.

I'll agree that it's the best NA beer I've ever had. However something on the Applebee's menu had to be the best too. I might be dealing with unrealistic expectations. After reading about 10 raving reviews about how this is better than a lot of "normal" IPAs, I went into it with high expectations. Too high, apparently.

On initial pour it looks like an IPA with a light and frothy head that doesn't last. The initial nose has hints of pine and citrus, and the first taste is pleasant. It goes downhill from there though. It's got a malty mouthfeel and taste. More malty than you expect from an IPA, but probably to be expected given that it's a NA beer and they have to account for the lack of alcohol. They apparently use 5 different hops in the brew, but something doesn't work. The finish isn't lacking in bitterness, but it is lacking in flavor. The bitter finish is just bitter, it has none of the flavor that you expect with an IPA. There is also a hint of butter in the finish. I doubt these guys are shipping bad beer, so I don't think it's a fermentation mistake that resulted in diacetyl. I suspect maybe it's a side effect of removing the alcohol.

I drank two last night from a pint glass. It's not a bad beer. If I'd home brewed this back in 90s I'd be pretty damn pleased with myself. If I'd drank it without reading 10 glowing reviews I'd probably have thought it was surprisingly good for a NA brew. It does taste like beer, which is way more than can be said for O'Douls and whatever other NA beers I may have tried in the past.

I did notice a lot of the comments on Rate Beer were closer to my experience, and a few people there commented they thought it was better straight from the can. I've got two left so I'll try that today and see if makes a difference.

If you quit drinking and miss beer, or can't drink for some reason, I think this is a viable replacement for you. Also, they are only 70 calories each, so it's a light beer that actually tastes like beer. In buying this I went down a rabbit hole and apparently craft NA beer is a thing now, so I may try a few others too.

Grayson Highlands is my favorite state park in Virginia. I mean, just look at those views. And they have ponies!

We arrived in the rain on Thursday afternoon for a 4 night camping break over the 4th of July. Thursday night was a complete rain out as it poured all night. It was in the forecast, so we knew it was coming. Storms that day had taken out all power to the campground. Luckily it was cool, so we didn’t need AC, and AC is really the only thing we need power for. The power didn’t come back until about 9 PM Friday night. We spent Thursday night playing board games in the camper.

The forecast was for rain most of the day Friday, so we had planned to go into Damascus for lunch to kill some time. As it turned out, the rain ended by 8 AM. We still went in to Damascus and had a surprisingly good lunch at the 7 Trails Grill, right on the Virginia Creeper Trail. I’ve done the 20 odd mile downhill bike ride before. Michelle is recovering from a severely sprained ankle, so we didn’t do the trail ride this time.

When we got back to the campground, I did the Cabin Creek Trail because it features a waterfall, and it had rained a lot the previous day. I was not disappointed. It’s a pretty easy 1.5-mile hike, except for one spot right at the waterfall. I had to climb up about a 20-25 foot high, wet, slick, rock cliff. Definitely do this trail clockwise, so you are climbing up and not down at the little cliff. Down would be dangerous. Friday night featured lows near 40F, on July 2. I love the mountains.

Saturday I did the 10-mile out and back to the highest point in Virginia, Mount Rogers. This is my favorite hike in Virginia. It features wild ponies, a Longhorn Steer herd, a couple of rock scrambles, a fir tree forest that smells like Christmas, and views that just never stop. I did the hike in about 5.5 hours, including lunch with a guy and his daughter who are from New Zealand at an Appalachian Trail shelter. They were on the final day of a 4 night backpacking trip. Saturday night featured a couple of IPAs while relaxing by the fire.

On Sunday, I took Michelle to see the wild ponies. Doctor’s orders regarding her ankle were to limit any hiking to about 1 mile and easy, and luckily the ponies cooperated. We could actually see them from the Massie Gap parking area as they were way up front in the park.

After spending some money at the visitor center, we went back to camp for lunch, and then Michelle hung out reading while I did more hiking. I started with the Wilson Creek trail, which the trailhead placard completely undersells. It states that the hike features a 25-foot waterfall, but it really features about a mile creek side of continuous runs, chutes, and small waterfalls, many of which had really inviting swimming holes. Next year we’ll go back, and next year I’ll be prepared to jump in the water on that hike.

After a snack and break back at the camper I took off again, this time for the Twin Pinnacles Trail. Pro-tip, do the hike from the visitor center parking lot. I parked at Massie Gap, meaning I had to climb up to the visitor center on a steep rocky trail, then come back down it at the end. The actual loop to the overlooks is pretty flat if you start in the visitor center parking lot. Sunday night featured more IPAs by the campfire.

Monday was drive home day, and we got lucky as there were no accidents on either I-81 or I-64, so the trip home was incident free. Next up is a hastily planned trip to take advantage of a week off I’m going to have between jobs. We will spend 4 nights in Asheville, a night camping near Mayberry (Mt. Airy, NC), and a couple of night at Hungry Mother State Park. Then I’ll start a new job, and it might get quiet around here as I have no camping trips planned in August due to starting a new job. Maybe we’ll be able to go somewhere close for a weekend, though.

Grayson Highlands is my favorite state park in Virginia. I mean, just look at those views. And they have ponies!

We arrived in the rain on Thursday afternoon for a 4 night camping break over the 4th of July. Thursday night was a complete rain out as it poured all night. It was in the forecast, so we knew it was coming. Storms that day had taken out all power to the campground. Luckily it was cool, so we didn’t need AC, and AC is really the only thing we need power for. The power didn’t come back until about 9 PM Friday night. We spent Thursday night playing board games in the camper.

The forecast was for rain most of the day Friday, so we had planned to go into Damascus for lunch to kill some time. As it turned out, the rain ended by 8 AM. We still went in to Damascus and had a surprisingly good lunch at the 7 Trails Grill, right on the Virginia Creeper Trail. I’ve done the 20 odd mile downhill bike ride before. Michelle is recovering from a severely sprained ankle, so we didn’t do the trail ride this time.

When we got back to the campground, I did the Cabin Creek Trail because it features a waterfall, and it had rained a lot the previous day. I was not disappointed. It’s a pretty easy 1.5-mile hike, except for one spot right at the waterfall. I had to climb up about a 20-25 foot high, wet, slick, rock cliff. Definitely do this trail clockwise, so you are climbing up and not down at the little cliff. Down would be dangerous. Friday night featured lows near 40F, on July 2. I love the mountains.

Saturday I did the 10-mile out and back to the highest point in Virginia, Mount Rogers. This is my favorite hike in Virginia. It features wild ponies, a Longhorn Steer herd, a couple of rock scrambles, a fir tree forest that smells like Christmas, and views that just never stop. I did the hike in about 5.5 hours, including lunch with a guy and his daughter who are from New Zealand at an Appalachian Trail shelter. They were on the final day of a 4 night backpacking trip. Saturday night featured a couple of IPAs while relaxing by the fire.

On Sunday, I took Michelle to see the wild ponies. Doctor’s orders regarding her ankle were to limit any hiking to about 1 mile and easy, and luckily the ponies cooperated. We could actually see them from the Massie Gap parking area as they were way up front in the park.

After spending some money at the visitor center, we went back to camp for lunch, and then Michelle hung out reading while I did more hiking. I started with the Wilson Creek trail, which the trailhead placard completely undersells. It states that the hike features a 25-foot waterfall, but it really features about a mile creek side of continuous runs, chutes, and small waterfalls, many of which had really inviting swimming holes. Next year we’ll go back, and next year I’ll be prepared to jump in the water on that hike.

After a snack and break back at the camper I took off again, this time for the Twin Pinnacles Trail. Pro-tip, do the hike from the visitor center parking lot. I parked at Massie Gap, meaning I had to climb up to the visitor center on a steep rocky trail, then come back down it at the end. The actual loop to the overlooks is pretty flat if you start in the visitor center parking lot. Sunday night featured more IPAs by the campfire.

Monday was drive home day, and we got lucky as there were no accidents on either I-81 or I-64, so the trip home was incident free. Next up is a hastily planned trip to take advantage of a week off I’m going to have between jobs. We will spend 4 nights in Asheville, a night camping near Mayberry (Mt. Airy, NC), and a couple of night at Hungry Mother State Park. Then I’ll start a new job, and it might get quiet around here as I have no camping trips planned in August due to starting a new job. Maybe we’ll be able to go somewhere close for a weekend, though.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America 

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ...

Every American should read these words regularly, at least once a year on July 4. They are important to keep in mind this year especially as we grow ever closer to a need to fight for independence from another group of oppressive, power-hungry, elitists. For years, people who love God, love their country, expect equal opportunity, not handouts, for all, or respect the rule of law, have been labeled racist, and worse. We've spent over a year being told we had to stay indoors, close businesses, wear masks, get vaccinated, all under the warning banner of, "If you want your freedom back…" No one can give you your freedom back unless they took it from you in the first place. Sadly, many Americans willfully surrendered their freedoms for "safety" or succumbed to the new "wokism."