Hunkering down in Cherokee, N. C.

 10/17/21- It's 5 46 am and I'm about to start looking for breakfast. ( as you may know, I'm not a big cook, though we have had turkey hot dogs over the fire several nights.)

     Jenni is coming out to stay with me for three days, starting noon today. I've invited her to lunch at my place. ( You know what we're having!)  All of my eggs cracked in the camper catching on the way here, so I'm going to Peters for breakfast. I went there yesterday and the wait was 50 minutes long- for breakfast. So I gladly sat at the counter between people who were interested in chatting. The first elderly guy on my left told me that that were moose up the road. The Cherokee women on my right drove a 1986 red Alfa Romero,  which she'd just had refurbished.  She was selling tickets to a huge refurbished Car Rally in Cherokee that day , which block traffic both ways down the Main Street all day. She was a happy, smiling woman with a round head and short black hair-short in stature.  The Cherokee woman who sat down in my right after the first one left, was a school teacher who taught the Cherokee language. And she taught me some things too- the first of which was that she doesn't like having her picture taken.  Her name was Louise.

     Louise was a then, hip, sweet woman with short dark hair. About my age, like the last woman.

    The first thing she schooled me in was not to use the word " reservation," but "boundary," to be respectful.   She told me to head towards Gatlinburg Tennessee and go to Clingmans Dome, which had a terrific viewing tower that you could see three states from on a clear day...but, to get to it you had to walk up the mountain. Good grief. Another sweet sight I'll miss. She advisedme to go to Max's General Store for mount for all kinds of things. I believe it was in Waynesville, which she said I should go see because it had old brick streets, lots of shops and a good pizza joint. She said not to miss Newfound Gap and Sugar Land. 

     LOUISE gave me the name of Kylie Schuler at Dua Academy, to go see if I wanted still wanted to volunteer in the classroom, since the woman I've been emailing for 5 months never wrote back.  Louise also told me to be sure and check out the Cherokee Museum of the Indian village. And she explained that Navajo Pueblo and Sioux people lived on the Cherokee boundaries too, because Cherokee members would leave Cherokee and go out into the diaspora, marry other Native Americans and come back the Cherokee. She introduced me to the Jamaican cook who married a Cherokee girl. He worked there at Peters and despite the fact that she said she like to Converse in Cherokee with her old students, he couldn't remember a word.  She said that there were Navajo, Pueblo, and SOUIX Indians living here in Cherokee too. Yes, I said "Indian"  because that's how she referred to herself. She explained that "other people" gave them other names that she had nothing to do with.  Interesting perspective on a diversity fail.   Louise taught me to say " she-o" for "Hello" and "ski" for thank you.  I had to use it on the manager three times, before you stop staring at me, came out of his coma of shock, and acknowledge what I was saying. Louise laughed.  I paid for her meal on the way out. 

     Then I saw a sign that said " Cherokee flea market," so I made a quick turn, and came to a long building with an Open Door it said it was an Indian Community Center. I poked my head in the door and said," IS "ANYBODY" welcome here? 2 senior, portly women turned from their card table,  which was full of items, and said, "Sure, come on in!" 

        Everybody around the perimeter had set up a table with Goods they wanted to sell. So I went around, and bought the following: 2 Cherokee covid masks for Jenni and I, a Cherokee t-shirt for myself, a large and a small red angel recycled from old maple syrup pails, a Bluetooth speaker for $2, and another T-shirt with "Cherokee Special Olympics" on it, and I forget what else. The guy who sold me the last t-shirt volunteer in the Special Olympics and he works in the communications and public relations department for the Cherokee School system. She gave me another contact at his school if I wanted to volunteer to teach special ed there.  I used my Cherokee " thank you" there and nobody really acknowledged it.

     It was slightly money from the sporadic rain we've been having yeah, but I took to buy a for a walk out in the field next door when we were done. She does fine staying in the car with the windows cracked for like up to an hour's all I've left her. Then, we headed back into the main part of town looking for a dog park, which was not to be found.  But, we did find a nice very well built and maintained Park that was a series of wooden walkways and staircases and bridges around over and under- okay well not under, the river.

      Dubai is wonderful at my side all the time unless somebody comes up to her with a mask and a hat on then she kind of loses it a little, because they look like a flipping Bandit! But generally, she wants at my side and kind of brushes everybody's pant leg with her nose who's coming from the opposing way, trying to get them to pet her! You would not believe how many people commented on her beauty and asked if they could pet her. 

     So you may be wondering what my impressions are of Cherokee, as a whole. Well the main strip, or strips dash of which there are three, art a tourist nightmare of shops of Cherokee wear. Evidently they do a huge tourist business because they have a boatload of small little hotels, a couple or three campsites, and ice cream shops and Etc to go along with this plethora of souvenir shops. Trying to avoid all that oh, I went to the local co-op, where prices were exorbitant. Just outside, on the perimeters of the town, the majority of residents live in impoverished conditions- except, of course the woman with the red Alfa Romero! As a matter of fact, I didn't see any decent housing except maybe one or two here or there for the whole first two days that I've been here.

      I drove down the first few miles into the Smoky Mountain National Park oh, but didn't go any further because I didn't want to ruin Jenni's moose Adventure for us. ( she knows of a field where they come out by the dozens in the morning mist! ) well, it's 6:40 a.m. and I need to start getting ready for breakfast. Ta ta!