The Barefoot Chronicles Returns...... because my Barefoot found ME!

 The universe is funny sometimes.  What appears to be a coincidence.... Well, it's all in how you choose to interpret it ;)

It's amazing that I was able to recover this blot, fifteen years later.  Wow, a lot has happened. My last post was part II boards - that was an ETERNITY ago.  Since that time, I worked hard and sailed through part 3, part 4, and later PT boards - got a license and practiced in Georgia for a year to see where things went with my then-boyfriend Mike (didn't work out), working with Dr. Eric Richards at Healthsprout, after losing my beloved MoosePup, then Bill the Cat.  Came to be dog-mom to Isabella Morgan, my beautiful blondie lab (who I suddenly lost in 2016 to unexplained kidney failure).  Meandered my way up the Eastern Seaboard in April 2010 driving a 18 foot Budget truck towing my Xterra on a dolly behind me - did I mention I had never towed anything in my life?  Was graciously offered the opportunity to live in Darcy's parents unrenovated house in Groton MA while I started Path of Life, after I arrived in NH with $5000 to my name and promptly signed that away towards first/last/security deposit on my office space for Path of Life.  Worked my ass off getting the practice off the ground, making lots of mistakes but somehow building a solid foundation.  Moved into my townhouse a year later (Mom Darcy was graceful about it, but pretty much kicked me out?  With good reason.  We all know I'm impossible.) and here I sit, in 2023, with a successful practice, financially stable, author of four new papers and a fifth in progress, national and international speaker, mom to two wonderful labs, still single (after a heart-shattering end to an engagement that never should have been), at odds (Ha. No. More like exiled) with the majority of those I used to hold dear because of different views on medical freedom and science, a "health-hiccup" survivor who will from here maintain a laser focus on promoting and maintaining health and adaptability, and........ as of yesterday, owner of, ta-da, A BAREFOOT CAMPER.

How did that happen?  Well, mid 2020 (during that pandemic thing) I decided to purchase a small teardrop travel trailer to drive to Arizona to visit my parents for Christmas.  Hey, why not?  I mean, people do this...  it's just something new to learn, right?  On a related note, you're really not supposed to do 80 towing a trailer, even in your BMW X3 "can do it," and backing up a small trailer is truly an art form 😆 I've really enjoyed the Nucamp T@gXL, it was a perfect started trailer and such a wonderful space for me and the pups, I mean, it's a king-sized bed on wheels with locking doors and kitchen out back!!  I've learned a lot about trailers, and discovered that it's the perfect amenity for outdoor-loving, adventure-seeking me who would pretty much always rather be in the woods.  So sometime this fall, a Facebook ad popped up in my feed and stopped me dead in my tracks, laser attention......  Nucamp was releasing a new trailer, THE BAREFOOT.  And it is ADORABLE!!!  (lol absolutely masterful marketing..... just look at the photo, beckoning to me) 

Justification: there's this thing called indoor plumbing.  And I'm turning 50 this year.  There's something poetic about gifting myself indoor plumbing as I hit the half-century mark.  I didn't want one of those big, bulky trailers and I also don't want a burly pickup truck with a tow capacity appropriate for one of those.  I don't personally love the layout of most other small travel trailers, including the T@b series by Nucamp.  But this one........  open layout, windows, tall ceiling, small enough for my AudiQ5 to tow.....  it's like it was made for me and the dogs. 

And so yesterday, after about six months of waiting, researching, thinking, exploring options, arranging, anticipating, and a very interesting financial shell-game (because I have not yet successfully sold my wonderful T@gXL!), I completed a purchase and sale agreement and wired an insane amount of money to the dealership for the privilege of Barefoot ownership.  Indeed, since it was only announced in December and has only been in production for a few months of 2023, I have one of the first models of this lovely creature.  I have yet to take delivery, because I need to go to the DMV this morning and do the plates-registration thing, and arrange for a walk-through with the dealership....  but I should have it by next weekend.  Which, ever so conveniently, is when one of my favorite NH campgrounds opens for the summer - Dolly Copp!  

Why?  Because life is short.  If there's one thing this last year has clarified, OK these last three years, hmmmm last six or seven.... it's that life can change on a dime, so you'd best invest in the here and now and create experiences and memories that can float you through the hard stuff.

And quite frankly, my track record at that is pretty good.

Stay tuned.....

Cumberland Island

Georgia is mostly landlocked. Except for a small stretch of Atlantic shoreline, that is.

The Georgia coast stretches from Savannah (just south of Hilton Head, NC) to St. Mary's (just north of Florida). Off the coast of St. Mary's lies Cumberland Island, a national park that is one of the jewels of the southeast.

I first hatched the idea of visiting the area after reading two of my favorite books: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and The Poisonwood Bible. The first is a murder mystery cum ghost story set in Savannah, GA, better renowned for its annual St Patty's Day fete. The second, The Poisonwood Bible, opens with a journal entry by its main character, while living on an island off the coast of Georgia. I coulda sworn it was Cumberland, but I have been since corrected by my friend Matt. Turns out that Sanderling Island is fictitious: the author was more likely representing Tybee or St. Simons Island... details. Anyways...

Interesting historical reference: John Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette were married on Cumberland Island. I didn't see the church; I think it was on the far north end of the island.

We left WarmLanta on Saturday, after much consternation about the number of coolers to pack and where we were to crash that eve, since the ferry for Cumberland was due to leave at 9am on sunday. Five people in the party: me, Aryn and Matt H (two of my favorite-ist friends around here), and Shawn and JK, friends of Aryn.

The drive to Cumberland includes Savannah en route. Savannah has been on my "list" of places to visit before i leave GA, so I lobbied that we stop for dindin. Parking in Savannah? Ew, WTF? Moon River Brewery? Ah, yeah.


In one sip, Moon River comfortably took its place on my top-x list of local brews (rounding out the top of the list are Stone IPA from San Diego, Fat Tire from CO, Sprecher Amber from WI, Harpoon IPA from Boston, and Sunday River IPA from Maine, and Sweetwater here in HotLanta). Other than that, Savannah was so-so; perhaps i need to see it in daylight to appreciate its charm?

We drove on to St Mary's late Sat eve, and I mean late. We found a quiet and dark parking spot very near to the docks, and all pulled out our respective gear and crashed. I slept on the asphalt next to my Xterra. I've slept in worse places ;)

Dawn was stellar. Then the ferry ride was fun. And when we got to the island, we had four-wheeled carts available to schlep our stuff from the ferry to Sea Camp, about 0.5mi away. Damn! talk about spoiled. Note for Amy and Pat, Tom and Brenda, and those of my friends who will have munchkins within the next few years: Cumberland is *utterly* accessible camping, with running water and toilets, and a perfect deserted beach that just BEGS for the world's biggest sandcastle.

Our spot was beautiful; we were down a berm from the dunes, nestled in gnarled oak trees dripping with spanish moss (known to some as Old Man's Beard... must be a Southern thing), rising from a forest floor covered in palmettos.




























The campsite was a stone's throw from the boardwalk, which stretched for maybe 200' over the dunes to the white sand beach. Did i mention that the beach was DESERTED???? It took my breath away. The beach stretches for 17 miles, a wide expanse of sand stretching to meet the blue ocean. Empty. It reminded me of Crane's Beach, except more of it, and with warm water ;)




We played in the waves. We cooked over a roaring campfire. We slept. We hiked out to the crumbling ruins of Dungeness, a castle built on the island sometime in the 1880s. We saw wild horsies (there are about 150 roaming the island). We flew a kite. We watched the sun set from the dock on the bay side of the island. At one point, catching sunset from the Atlantic side of the island while floating in the waves and watching the pink sky reflect on the waves lapping on the beach , I felt like I was a part of the sunset.


























and no, D, there was no photoshopping of these pictures! :) Just mother nature at her best.

Several times on the trip, one or another of us remarked about how it felt like we were kids playing in the neighborhood on a Saturday. That's a pretty good Saturday, if you ask me!!

Cumberland Island is a little gem that every outdoors-loving person should see. I regret that I didn't paddle my kayak out to it, and that will happen on a future trip, for sure. Because I foresee that this is far from my last trip to this little paradise :)

Moose gained five pounds!!!!!!!

Everyone who is caretaker to a creature needs a good vet. They can be supertough to find; veterinary medicine these days is as much about drugs and profit as human medicine. If it says anything, you can currently buy insurance for your pet (and it sucks just as much as human insurance!!)

I have been exceedingly lucky to have found an excellent vet, Dr. Linton Dangar, who currently cares for my creatures Moose and Billy. Dr. Dangar has my respect for many reasons, among which are his 40 years of experience and his preference for home-remedies and conservative treatment. Some things to make you think:

- His treatment for Moose's pancreatitis last xmas was a fast, a few (six) pills, and a food switch. Worked like a charm. Alternative: MRI, biopsy, exploratory surgery.

- Moose's cancer: He counseled me to not bother with an expensive pathology report and chemotherapy; he has seen her type of cancer so many times, he already knows the prospectus. Alternative: obvious.

- Moose's nosedive in August: he gave me a straight-up and realistic assesment, and told me how I can improve her geriatric years. I can't tell you how much I love that my vet told me to feed Moose yogurt, after her antibiotics, to help her immune system. And scrambled eggs. Which Moose totally digs.

- Today's checkup: he checked out her paw, and told me to not worry about her toesie bc it's an arthritis flare (suggested ibuprofin); for her bilateral ear infection, he told me to wash her ears with Selsun Blue then do a white vinegar rinse every day for a week. I'll post how that works; as a biochemist, I can tell you right now, DUH!!!!! Of course it'll work!! Alternative: xray of foot ($$$), ear flush and meds. Having done this no less than a dozen times, I can tell you that ear infections and their purportedly requisite drugs get expensive. Vinegar. Flippin' vinegar. OMG.

And today he didn't charge me a dime for the checkup. What kind of vet does that?

Answer: A good one who is really in it for the creatures.

He has had a successful business for 40 years. Because he knows, his happy patients will refer more. As I have referred four others to him.

This is my kind of business model :)

Lake Jocassee - deep water soloing!

One of the most fun forms of climbing is deep water soloing, where you ascend a rock face directly out of a body of water, with no rope, no nothing. You climb as far as you wish, then POP! Sploosh!!

Until this past weekend, my favorite place to do this had been Summerville Lake in West Virginia, outside of the New River Gorge. Unfortunately soloing has been outlawed there. The last I heard, poaching climbing there was subject to a $1000 fine and a few days in jail. Serious bummer :(

So when my friend Bill told me about a 200' granite cliffline on the shores of Lake Jocassee, South Carolina, with a clean fall (aka deep water soloing) I was intrigued.

Access is by boat only (whee!!!! time to use Sunshine!) We took two kayaks and a canoe, four people, and one black dog. Her Highness got a new life preserver specifically for the occasion.














The camping spot was primo, right next to the cliffline up on a bluff with a perfect view of sunset over the lake.


















Soloing was fun - we did a little on Saturday, then more on Sunday. The rock quality was good. Much better than expected. Blocky incut granite, warmed by the sun, plenty of moderate climbing and traversing. Webster was the gutsy one of us, he climbed up about 30' and jumped, repeatedly :) I did a lot of climbing around, but downclimbed to about 10-15' to jump. (Some of you will recall that as a child, I couldn't muster the courage to go off the high dive in Kokomo except just once!) Hit the play button for a sample:



Note that the cliff bands are two colors, the water level is still pretty low due to the drought here in the South. That's about 25 feet. Yeah, wow.

What a fun weekend. It was a calculated risk by me, since I had final exams the four days following our trip. But everything turned out fine, I even rocked an A on PT (didn't expect that!!)

I would love to return to this place, and i'm sure at some point I will. I wish I had found it two summers ago. But for now, the weather is finally turning - it's getting too cold to spend a day swimming.

Besides, there are so many other places I need to explore before I leave Georgia. Like, for instance, Cumberland Island, which is on the southeast Georgia coast. And, on the way, Savannah......

Marietta is almost out of gas.

Finals this week yet again. Which means that I am procrastinating, reading the CNN news on the web. One of the stories featured something about a severe gas shortage in the southeast, and the city featured was........... Marietta, Georgia??

I had 1/4 of a tank, which according to my aunt and my late grandfather means it was past time to feed my truck. I also had to pick up a cartridge for my printer. So, off i went - to see what this was all about.

On my short drive (entire loop, less than seven miles) I saw eleven gas stations that were completely out of gas - including the QT across from my subdivision. I found one open Shell station and filled my tank, and I wonder if I would have been able to do that later this afternoon.

It is, of course, an interesting note that I have access to so many gas stations per square mile around here. But I'll get back to that.

No gas? No big prob for me, I have a bike to get to and from school and enough gas to get to and from work on Friday, if replenishment does not arrive. But it makes you think..... especially in the context of a potential looming depression / financial collapse of the US economy:

How is it, exactly, that we have become so very accustomed to convenience that when it is gone, we are lost? Is this what being an American is all about? In short, yes.

As for the question of whether we are dependent on foreign oil: I wonder how many people will not make it home this evening, or not be able to finish jobs that require trucks or other gas-eating transportation. I wonder if the easy availability of gas, will in fact be the nail in the coffin - why would we try to live without it, when it is so easily available?

So, I had to visit three places to pick up a printer cartridge. Microcenter was out of the model I needed, and Office Cheapo was anything but. I mean, why pay $80 for a replacement laser cartridge, when you can buy a new color printer for $28 at WalMart?

I think that pretty much embodies the problem as I see it. Me, living on student loans, driving an SUV and feeding it $4 per gallon gas, visiting three dealers of luxuries to buy an item on credit, that I want but strictly speaking don't need. Guilty as charged.

Walking through WalMart, I looked around me at all of the products on the shelves and I felt like an alien - and thought about how things were when I was a kid, how things were for my parents' generation growing up, and how things were for my grandparents. America = consumerism, and this consumerism is not counterbalanced with sufficient production, as evidenced by the state of the economy. I think Ayn Rand wrote a book about this............

Then I come home, and look around. All of my toys, all of my furniture, all of my "stuff" that I'm so not looking forward to packing up to move. How did I end up with this much? By and large, from student loans, and from the generosity of my family. And from easy availability, in a consumerist society that allows those who have not produced, to consume.

Sure as crap I need to get the hell out of school and to start producing something. Unfortunately, what I will produce is an intangible product - and a luxury, at that. In times of economic woe, the luxuries go first... If we do indeed enter into a depression, I think I am going to have a pretty hard time starting up a practice.

Good thing I have a secure job at REI to fall back on. Because sometimes I worry about the practical value of the two doctoral degrees I will soon possess.

Area 51 (the Georgia one)

Whew. I'm tired. Boards part 3 was yesterday morning, I slept most of yesterday afternoon (instead of going out to party, would you believe??). So this morning when I woke up I was feeling pretty OK. My poor Siren has not been out to play since the first day of summer, bc it is just too damned hot in Georgia to ride in the summer, unless you are on the trail at 7am, and I'm just not there. you know how i feel about mornings!

It is now mid-September in Georgia, and it's still upper 80s plus humidity. Ugh. Feel free to remind me of this next winter when I am freezing my arse off...

I got to the trailhead at about 1030. My friend Wale is trying to convince me to race with the Life U team at Dirty Spokes in a month, and i've been doing a lot of climbing lately but no biking, so i figured i'd better see if i can put in some miles, right? Well, I did, and I'll tell you, it hurt. I was in granny gear for about the last 2 miles of it. I seem to remember Doug and I predicting that the Area 51 trail would really hurt in the opposite direction? (to minimize erosion, the right-of-way direction changes daily on trails at Blanket's Creek) Oh. Yeah. Can we say, mild heat exhaustion? I nearly threw up, several times. When I got to the car, I flopped on my back and just stared at the sky. And when I tried to get up, i almost passed out. Again with, life in the south... I'm thinking i might be sore tomorrow. And I'm thinking I need to drink a lot of water for the rest of today. All in all.... what an awesome day!!!!!!!! It was good to be out again. I will look forward to hitting the trails again when the temps drop about ten degrees or so.

In other news, Moose is doing much better - still skinny, but i think she is putting on some weight, which bodes well. She still can't make it up the stairs, so I have been sleeping on the couch for a month. It's getting old. Thank goodness my chiropractor fixes the damage :)

Lab finals this week, then finals next week. I swear this program is just one exam after another. I'm so over it.

Well, one more part of Boards to go: the licensing exam. That will be in mid-November. To my surprise, I have not been assigned to take the test here in Georgia - instead, I have to fly to San Francisco to test at Life University West. Aunt C says she will fly up to SF to visit, since it's only an hour for her and she can fly first class out of Burbank :)

Funny, I swore i'd get some cleaning done this weekend. Oh well. Such is life. I guess I needed the downtime.

Ghost dresses

About a year and a half ago, I gave my high school junior and senior prom dresses to my friend Carly, who volunteers with an organization that donates occasion dresses to girls who otherwise wouldn't have them.

Carly has been my friend Tatum's roomate for a year. She very recently moved out of Tatum's apartment, and some of her stuff has been discarded in corners (ostensibly for "someone else" to pick up).

Today I went with my neighbors Aryn and Celeste to Tatum's for dinner. Aryn is Tatum's boyfriend. (Everyone following here?) We walked in the front door and I was standing in the middle of the living room when I looked up and had a very strange experience - My junior prom dress was hanging in the corner. It took me a minute to realize that yes, in fact, it was mine - because out of sight, out of mind, I had forgotten that I had given them to Carly! So I decided to have some fun: I turned to Tatum said Hm, yeah, those are mine! You can imagine the confusion.

Apparently my old prom dresses are not "cool" enough to even donate. I bet you that if I held onto them for another 5 years, the styles would come back into vogue ;) One is a Gunne Sax, the other is Laura Ashley. Oh, yeah, I can hear you ALL laughing; yes, in fact, I went to two proms wearing girly and frilly creations!!

To amuse my friends, I decided to put on a fashion show. I think it's safe to say that not a lot of nearly 35-year old women can wear dresses they wore at 16 and 17 years old. Both of them fit me better now than they did 20 years ago - since now, I have the shoulders of a climber :)

I wonder what message the universe is trying to send me, with the resurfacing of 20 year old memorabilia dresses.


We were tossing around ideas of what I should do with these dresses. Anyone got any input? Celeste suggested that I dye the floral Laura Ashley dress dark blue, since it really fits quite well and I could actually wear it again.... we also tossed around the idea of tie dye, and of making the pink one into a Halloween costume a la "Carrie."

Raven Rock

Wednesday we had round two of OSCEs, a comprehensive clinical exam required for entry into level III clinic. Most of it went OK for me, but I think I bombed one of the sections. Well, if that's the case, I will have to take the consequences and do remediation, then move on from there. The world will not end.

My friend Matt H and I took the afternoon to travel to a swimming hole in North Georgia for the afternoon, as I was done with the exam at 1130 (it started at 730am). Raven Rock is rumored to be one of the best in the region, a five-star classic. So we plugged in the GPS coordinates into my little Garmin Nuvi, and off we went.

The pool is about a 45 min hike off of a forest service road. Matt's little Mazda didn't really like it... we should have taken my trucky, oops. The setting reminds me a lot of New Hampshire, except about 20 degrees hotter! The actual pool is about 30 feet across, by about 60 feet long, of running deep water, with a backdrop of a 100' wall of metamorphic rock (yes, climbable!). Cataracts bookend it. When we arrived, a group was passing thru on whitewater rafts, tho it couldn't have been a very exciting ride, since the water level is quite low.

It was a lovely, lazy afternoon. Good therapy.

Today the heat seems to have broken. Is it possible that summer in Georgia is done? This afternoon the sky was a deep, deep blue; it was the blue I remembered looking up at as a child.

Headed out shortly to my friend Annette's 30th birthday celebration, at a bar in Midtown. I won't be there long. We don't have smoke-free bars here.

Midterms this week. The slog continues... though a faint glimmer of the end is in sight!

104 degrees

Phew. It's days like this, that I know why Southerners move so slow. Moose can't even go outside in the heat of the day, it's just miserable. Ugh.

In answer to a challenge posed to me by my friend Gregg (yes, K, there are multiple people who are silly enough to spell Greg with two g's!!) and for good amusement for many of you: here's the count of my shoes.

Casual or sandals: 8
Boots: 9
Sport-specific: 16 (climbing, hiking, running, biking, rollerblading, skiing, and a pair of hockey skates)
Heels or dress: 18 (highest: 4.75 inch. When I wear them, I am 5'11" and i love seeing over crowds! a little tippy after a drink or two tho)

not by much, but the heels win. I'd have not thought that. This is just about as funny as seeing that according to surveys, I'm right brained!! apparently there's a side of myself that i just do not express very often. Most days I wear flipflops, I have a pair of Merrell kicks for the clinic and Chacos for REI. Alas, my heels tend to be lonely :(

I need to set aside some bags for Goodwill... :) I have a lot of thinning to do before I leave HotLanta...

Kayaks, crepe myrtle, and toes

Today I took my new kayak (her name is Sunshine!!) out on Lake Acworth. It was about a 2mi paddle, pretty easygoing, bc tomorrow I'm headed to Foster's Falls to climb, and I wanted to save the arms :) I will tell ya one thing: It is hot around here. Whew. I was pretty glad when some clouds showed up and occluded the mid-day sun.

The blooming of crepe myrtle is a marker of summer in Atlanta. When they bloom, it means it's officially hot!! I think they may be somehow related to jacaranda trees (sp?) that bloom in California in late spring. I'm not really a pink person, but these are pretty nice:





















The last part of the subject line? Wednesday I was babysitting baby Zooey, who is a little over one year old. I didn't realize that I had taught her the word "toe" until Bri came home and heard Zoo say it - I guess it was her new word for the day :) A good one to learn from Aunt Amy!