Wilkesboro, NC Habitat

We got back to Nashville after almost a week in Florida, only to repack for a trip to Gatlinburg with Emily’s family.  They graciously invited me to join their annual pre-Thanksgiving trip, and I was pretty happy to accept and take a couple days off from the road.  If you’ve never been to Gatlinburg, it’s like Santa threw up on Vegas…including the traffic…but I mean that in the most sincere way.  After 72 hours of great food, the beautiful mountains, aimless walking, a trip to the arcade and playing nightly board games it was back to Nashville for Thanksgiving Day.  That was only after stopping at my version of Hell, Bass Pro Shop.

http://www.gatlinburg.com/default.asp

view from the lift

They played a lot of games involving guns while I played skee ball

Moonshine tour
http://www.olesmokymoonshine.com/

Love this family

My next stop would be Boone, North Carolina, set to arrive Thanksgiving night.  I had recently joined couchsurfing.com, a great way to see new places and meet new people, and connected with an awesome girl Meira.  I was blessed to arrive to a well cooked vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner and a very competitive game of foosball.  The house was filled with some much warmth and a welcoming spirit, I loved it.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to experience too much of Boone because it was an hour from the Habitat build site in Wilkesboro, NC.  Between the commute, time spent on the blog and sending emails, I can’t imagine I was the most outgoing couchsurfer she’s hosted.

Because of the deadline for the house being built in Wilkesboro, they worked the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, while a few other Habitats’ I contacted were not.  The drive from Boone down the mountain was beautiful.  When I arrived Friday morning, the site was unlike anything I saw in Baton Rouge and Sarasota.  It was the only home being built and in proximity of cows and horses.  While I could never imagine living in this desolate of an area, my surroundings were breathtaking.

view from the front yard

http://wilkeshabitat.org/

  

I worked with roughly ten people the first day, including Julie the future homeowner.  Many of them were men and experienced professionals, including Gary the gentleman running the site.  Such a kind man.  A priority of the day was making sure they had the power running from the temporary outside source in to the home.  Once I mentioned my previous experience in Sarasota, Gary had me help out Guy, the resident electrical expert.  Much like Bo from Sarasota, Guy was tedious and I liked this about him.  We did a lot of running back and forth from the circuit box to each and every room making sure all wiring was correct.  For the troubleshooters, we spent meticulous time figuring out why.  Guy really took the time to explain a lot of detail to me, including diagrams for the wiring of 2-way, 3-way and 4-way switches (he’s an engineer).  I may not understand this diagram, but I certainly appreciated his patience and interest in educating me as much as possible.   At the end of the first day, we had completed all the wiring from the circuit box to the appropriate switches, with the exception of one mysteriously nagging three way switch.





Saturday morning was a smaller group, but I saw many of the same faces.  A majority of the men were still working on building the front porch from the day prior.  Guy wasn’t on site Saturday, so that morning Julie and I went around and accomplished small tasks from hanging light fixtures, to installing door knobs, to painting trim.  I was finally able to meet Shelia, the woman I had been in touch with through email prior to the build, who brought some delicious barbecue and hush puppies for lunch.  She was so sweet and expressed her gratitude in participating in this their build.  I do wish I was able to spend more time with her, but being that it was the holiday weekend I completely understood. 

After lunch, I was asked if I wanted to help hang the roof siding, to which I replied sure.  Well, this will officially go in the books as the scariest task I performed so far this trip.  I do not have ladder legs, and with how high up I was, combined with the momentum of swinging the hammer, there were a few times I thought I was going to fall off of the ladder.  Thankfully the guys that were hanging the siding with me were very patient with my slow pace.

All in all, it was a great experience in Wilkesboro.  I can’t thank this group of guys enough for taking the time to teach, and generously be patient with me as I was learning.  I am also thrilled to say I just read that the house will be completed by Christmas for Julie and her family to move in.

final product as I left the build site on Saturday

And finally, a big thanks to Gary and Brandon (yellow hoodie and WFU hoodie above) for continuing to follow my journey on this blog.  I appreciate it guys and wish you both the very best.

Another successful build in the books.  Next up, Beaufort SC … but only after a quick pit stop in Rock Hill to reunite with a few Hokies.

Love from the road,

Erin

PS.  If you noticed, Emily had to get back to the real world.  It certainly won’t be the same without her.  Same experiences, less laughs.