A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
I have a love/hate relationship with the song “I’ll Fly Away. I sing it at just about every jam session I attend and, quite frankly, I had gotten a bit tired of it. During the pandemic I sang it at one funeral and heard it at two others. Every time we do it at the … Read More “I’ll Fly Away Redux” »
My big red kayak has been sitting on top of my pickup truck waiting to get wet while I’ve been languishing in home improvement purgatory. I wanted to explore some places with fall colors but each time I thought I could get away something would come up. Finally, this past Tuesday, I was able to … Read More “Exploring Lake Adger” »
This month the Lowcountry Unfiltered group decided to explore the Charleston Harbor. It was a great day, but not without its challenges. We battled wind, rain, tides, tricky currents, and crazy boaters, but still got to see some interesting history from the water. Our plan was to meet at Remley Boat Ramp, paddle under the … Read More “Exploring the Charleston Harbor by Kayak” »
The Etowah River in Northern Georgia has been on my paddling wish list for a long time. This past weekend I finally joined some friends to run the river, which includes a quarter mile through an old mine tunnel with rapids. It was a challenge, and I found that I had been away from whitewater … Read More “Chasing Gold on the Etowah River” »
Jim Leavell and I fully intended to join our Lowcountry Unfiltered friends for the Williman Island kayaking trip. We were going to use Jim’s wife, Judy’s truck. Unfortunately, Jim let road rage get the better of him, so Judy’s truck is in the shop. I was going to borrow Stephen’s trailer, but the afternoon that … Read More “A Close Encounter with the Lizard Man, or The Somewhat True Story of What Happened to My Truck” »
The blog has been on a bit of a hiatus while we’ve been on a Washington State sojourn. We head back home in about a week and I’ve got posts in the hopper, but I wanted to go ahead and mark two passings. Both of these folks were very influential during my high school days. … Read More “Remembering Eddie Cooper and Caroline McCauley” »
A genie appears from a bottle and grants you three wishes. Of course, you can’t wish for infinite wishes, but there is a loophole. I wish for a hand-held notebook with infinite pages. I wish that anything I write in that notebook is true. I wish for the genie to be freed. Now to go … Read More “The Wish Book” »
I really miss playing in jam sessions. I learn so much just by listening and trying to follow along. Granted, I’ve participated in lots of online sessions and I’ve had time to hone my skills and learn new tunes during this pandemic, but it’s just not the same. I made one trek to the Pickens … Read More “Musical Hoarding” »
Some while back fellow paddler and geocacher Larry Easler posted a photo of a can label on Facebook. It was the label for Cambridge Hash. That garish orange, red, and blue label brought back a flood of memories. What I didn’t realize until Larry, who is from Ninety Six, posted this, is that “Cambridge” has … Read More “In Search of Cambridge Hash” »
Due to a weird quirk of my family I have a somewhat skewed sense of history. I am one of the younger siblings of seven. My mother was the youngest of nine and my father was the second youngest of seven. We come from big families. My Grandfather Taylor was born in 1880, and for … Read More “Ancestral Ages” »