Much excuses for not having been writing the last couple weeks. On that note, I better go check what my last blog was…. OH! but Welcome new peeps, welcome to y’all that have been around, obvs too, but…. yeah…
WOW! For real, I HAVE been slacking! I love spring and summer. I guess it is the time to go experience more than write about it…. But now I also feel like I should look at our maps to see where all we’ve been… Good thing I didn’t empty the picture cache for storage…. Let’s start with a solid photo dump so i can split those up
As you guys are well aware, I’m pretty unorganized but as always I’ll try my best to give you the whole picture as it came along… The pictures above are unsurprisingly the Appalachian Cavern we toured! It was a fun tour with a very nice, knowledgeable and funny guide. It was a private tour since the only other groups were school trips and we’d arrived when they were halfway to almost done. We even crawled through a tiny space of cavern to test our adventurous side. They offer crawling tours, not just walking tours and I think that’s fantastic.
The same day we drove into Bristol and did a little walk around so there’s some pix of that below. I must remark that the tiktoks has halfassy clips up of both those…. So maybe I’m not flaking off completely…… Except the last week. We’ll get there…
This next set of pictures is the product of my relaxing to hike a peak with the kids. I put the phone in the pack and just walked and breathed and enjoyed, but then the kids wanted pics of the ponies! Yes! Ponies and later in the season rhododendrons too on a lovely hike up Mt. Rogers. On our drive there we drove through a festival and then missed our turn, so the navigational system rerouted us. As I was making a slow turn these lovely folks stopped me to grab some pix of Bugus and ask if we were lost. They guided us most of the way and gave us popsicles. They were so sweet. The hike itself was so beautiful, but Rhea was lagging and acting tired so I carried her most of the way. Occasionally Atreyu took a turn helping to carry her….
After a night of camping, we drove to Wytheville, where we had a lovey day of exploring the downtown area. After which we went to the nearby reconstructed Indian village. Again, both clips on the Tiktoks, no quality promised. I’m still no good at editing anything….
Sooooo we drove into Beckley where we stayed the night at the Tamarrack visitor center, which is beautiful! The next day we went to the walmart there and people were so lovely! One dude pointed me just a half hour drive north to Fayetteville, saying we definitely needed to check that out…. He was SO not wrong. The people there are so amazing we stayed two nights to begin with. Connie and her granddaughter Haley brought me fresh tires and cheer! I had so many lovely interactions! I’m really feeling blessed about it.
A super nice guy who walked up to us to take a couple pictures ended up coming back with a bit of money and ended up giving us some suggestions for local camping as well as his phone number. A bunch of people encouraged us to stop at the New Gorge overlook on our way out of town, so that’s the pix below….
When we pulled into Summerville, I had a wonderful conversation with Mary-Ann, a very loving and intuitive mom of three. The whole family went shopping for us and brought us books and art supplies and a dinner fit for royalty! Inclusive of these lovely flowers! So grateful
While being in Summerville, the decision was made to go camping back in Fayetteville….. I’m omitting things and making leaps that could be connected better…..
Sooooo, Rhea had a stroke, we think. She needed to see the vet, she was acting very odd, not moving much, acting confused when called, shaking. The vet confirmed that neither eye was light reactive as it should be. We had blood work done and amazingly, almost surprisingly, all results were in tip top shape as one would not expect from a 13 year old dog. I guess I can’t pretend she’s not aging anymore. And that’s sad and scary….. All she seems to want is to be close to me so I’ve been carrying her more and spending more time sitting with her when I’m trying to unwind. I added a dog stroller, backpack carrier to our Amazon wishlist. The one shoulder strap bag we’ve had for her entire life isn’t ideal for longer hauls…..
Today we went and saw the Mystery Hole! Oooh so mysterious! Quite a nice little thing off the beaten path.
I do feel like I’m being secretive or dishonest if I don’t reveal that our decision to go camping was majorly influenced by that dude with the the local camping recommendations…. I thought he was attractive when he gave us his number, so once it was evening I figured I’d ask him about the campsites he was talking about. He ended up coming back to hang out with us the next day, which led to us really hitting it off. Caleb’s a fellow traveler who’s in this area for the amazing rock climbing and hiking. He took us bouldering so the kids could have an experience climbing on boulders to see if they like it. He even convinced me to get in a harness and climb up a bit, saying I made it 3/4 of the way up. I was high up for sure and freaked out a little. I mean it’s a literal rock wall and once you get to twice your height it’s really anxiety inducing not knowing or trusting harness/rope. I liked the belaying. That was pretty fun…. When Rhea was acting weird, he dropped all his plans to drive us to the vet and even helped pay for the majority of it. The mystery hole was all his idea and research to show us, too. I think it’s fair to say I’m feeling twitter peeted about this human. Galixy really likes him, while Atreyu is being the suspicious one, making statements like “Mom, he’s manipulating you with LOVE! You know that men do that.”
So, in the next few days we’re breaking up camp. I’ve not gotten my new tires put on yet, but it’s gonna happen. Also, I have a phone repair place marked to hopefully get this tool’s cracks repaired and maybe a new case put on. Pennsylvania is our next state we’re heading towards to see Brittany and Lilly! and Candice and the kiddos and the cool mens they hang out with hopefully too! Caleb is also planning a trip up north there, but the opposite side of the state. It’s likely that we’ll be spending more time together, getting to know each other and enjoying company. Eventually he’ll be heading towards Colorado this summer, and Ill be heading towards Montana and the west coast, as I
still have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep…
The promises are to the lovely people I like to see….. but I’ll probs sleep between the miles anyway…. But I like the author of those words’ works.
AAAAANYWAY, now you’ve gotten far more personal with me than I was intending…..
On that note, I must reitterate that we do run mainly on your kind donations and I greatly appreciate your contributions. Every little bit helps and gets us to explore just a little more of this exciting world. I accept donations via CashApp: $MatildaBugus and paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/matildabugus
If you’d like to peek at our Amazon wishlist follow the link below. We really appreciate those special wants/wishes/deferred needs finding their way to us possibly via your help! https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3LUAOP5L0M5FY?ref_=wl_share
We now have merchandise ready for you to order! Represent and support at the same time! We love these shirts and we love you! Check it out!
https://matildabugus.bigcartel.com
CashApp: $Matilda.Bugus
Venmo: available upon request.
Feel more than free to Contact me. You can establish such via the Contact Me page here on the blog, OOOOOOOORRR! get on your facebooks and join the group “Spotting Bugus” or like the Matilda Bugus Page. Also availble on Instagram, Youtube, and the TikToks.
Hope you smile. hope you’re grateful. Hope you give your pets some love. Hope you feel, be, and see. I hope you learn. I hope you experience freedom, care, and kindness. May you give kindness.
AAAAAh, don’t mind me, imma go die in a molten pile of blushing….
Matilda the Bugus 