Month: January 2023

Cooper, Bob, and I headed to another nearby trail today before more rain heads in this week. It’s called the Thermal Belt Rail Trail, and it’s a 13.5 mile paved trail that runs from Forest City, past Rutherfordton (where we walked the other day) to Gilkey. We were checking it out, not just for a good walk, but to see if it might be a good option for my long training runs in preparation for my May marathon.

We were very impressed. The trail itself was well paved, looked new, and there were mile markers along the course.

Bob and I went to our first Gardner-Webb University basketball game this afternoon. The Bulldogs (The Dawgs) are currently fourth in the Big South Conference with an 11-10 record prior to this afternoon’s game. They went up against the High Point University Panthers with the same record.

We enjoyed the game, although not terribly impressed with the officiating (at least 2 very bad calls) or the announcer who was difficult to understand, as if he talked too closely into the mic. The band was fun, and it’s always interesting to see the different activities that schools do during timeouts. Best of all GW won!

We also had a couple of surprises just looking around the gymnasium. First, we learned that the University of South Carolina Upstate, the college near Boiling Springs, South Carolina, that we had walked around during our house sit there, is also in the Big South Conference. We also learned that Artis Gilmore, a former NBA player, attended Gardner-Webb for two years before transferring to Jacksonville. I had never heard of him, but Bob had.

We also got a surprise early Valentines gift from Cooper today, though we think his owner placed the order.

We are still in a weather pattern where every 2 to 3 days we get a full day of rain. No complaints, as it hasn’t stormed, but it does make for restlessness among our human and canine household. Yesterday was another rain day, and Sunday looks to be another one.

Today, however, was beautiful, so we drove about 25 minutes to the cute town of Rutherfordton (population 3,600) to check out the Purple Martin Greenway. We took Cooper along to get some new smells and a little variety in his walks.

The Purple Martin Greenway is a lovely paved trail system named for the Purple Martin bird, which appeared on the family crest of the gentleman for whom the town is named. The three of us had a lovely walk and saw others out walking as well.

Today we had our first car excursion with Cooper and drove to the nearby Broad River Greenway to get an initial introduction of the park. The greenway is about 4.5 miles from the house, straight down Main Street. I hope to run to it sometime.

The Broad River Greenway is 1500 acres along the Broad River and contains 15 miles of natural surface trail for hiking or horseback riding. There are also picnic facilities. We had a great initial visit, as even with a number of cars in the lot, we had the portions of the trails that we walked to ourselves.

Below are some photos from our visit.

The logo for the town of Boiling Springs is one town, one university, one community. The university is Gardner-Webb University, a private, Christian, liberal arts university that is about a mile from the house. The campus historically began as the site of the Boiling Springs High School in 1905. It became Gardener-Webb College in 1942 and evolved into a university in 1993. The current buildings all look very new, and enrollment for all programs is just over 3,000.

The name of the university comes from Governor O. Max Gardner and his wife Fay Webb Gardner who were instrumental in the development of the college in 1942.

We walked from the house to and around campus on two different days. On Wednesday, we walked the Stadium Drive on the outer edge of the campus, and today, we walked around more of the interior.

The campus is the site of the springs for which the town is named, although they no longer boil or bubble. Our goal for today’s walk was to find the springs and the informative sign. We were only partially successful.

Two lovely walks on two lovely days. Otherwise, we are hanging with the delightful Cooper, rehabbing Bob’s hip (He’s doing great), training for an Australian marathon this spring (but fall there), cooking homemade meals, and keeping up on the new, local news.

About 12:30 today, Bob and I headed out for an initial perusal of Shelby after dropping Cooper off with the neighbor.

Shelby, North Carolina, is the county seat of Cleveland County with a population of about 20,000. We wanted to visit the public library to get some reading materials and then walk around the town square. It is about a 15 minute drive to Shelby from the house.

Even though it was a rainy day, we had a nice visit to Shelby (after having to drive back when we first got to the library because I forgot the library card).

Across from the library is a great park called City Park with a golf course, train, carousel, children’s playground, among other amenities.

After driving around the park, we drove to the town square to check it out and the shops around the square. We also stumbled on a visitor’s center and popped in there to get some information. During our short walk we checked out a couple of cute shops and learned about some hometown heroes from Shelby.

Bob and I have had a few quiet days getting settled in Boiling Springs, North Carolina partly due to weather and partly to help Cooper get used to us and his new situation. Cooper is a nervous dog who has had a lot of changes in his living situation over the past two years, so we have taken turns leaving the house over the past few days so that he wouldn’t be alone while still adjusting to his mom being gone.

We feel like we’re bonding with him, and he’s a great little walker and sleeper. We walk him a couple times a day in the cul-de-sac neighborhood and have met a few of the other many dogs and their people. We also do a longer walk into town everyday. Tomorrow he is going for a playdate with the neighbor, and Bob and I are going to head to nearby Shelby to the public library and check out the town square.

In terms of getting settled in ourselves, we’ve done our first grocery shop at the local Ingles grocery store down the street and visited and joined the YMCA.

Bob and I had a lovely drive through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina yesterday afternoon on our way from Chattanooga to Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Below are some scenes from the car and the North Carolina Welcome Center that we stopped at. The Welcome Center was unwelcomingly closed, but they did have some brochures outside to pick up.

We arrived in Boiling Springs at our housesit house just before 5:00 pm. Note: This is our first housesit in North Carolina, and we have only done one sit in South Carolina, each in the town of Boiling Springs. What are the odds?

Boiling Springs, North Carolina, is a small town of about 4,700 people, located in Cleveland County about 50 miles from Charlotte. It is home to Gardner-Webb University and was named for springs, now located on the university campus, that no longer boil.

It also has a great YMCA that we hope to use and a small library and a very good Mexican restaurant. Most importantly though, it is home to Linda, the homeowner on her way to Italy to teach English for four months, and her adorable dog Cooper. More to come on our record-setting housesit here.

Bob and I had a beautiful day for a art-filled walkabout around Chattanooga. After temps at or below freezing this early morning , the temps climbed into the low 60s by the time we made our way back to the hotel.

Today, we walked away from the river and into the central city and then out again to explore the City Center, Southside, and University Districts. We walked 6 plus miles, which is the longest stretch Bob has gone on his new hip. The hip did great, but he was pretty tired by the end of our excursion.

Tomorrow we head to Boiling Springs, North Carolina, to meet our new homeowner, her dog, and her neighbor, who is our local resource. It will be a 4.5 hour drive to the house, and Bob will drive the homeowner to the Charlotte, North Carolina, airport on Thursday.

Bob and I have spent a great day and a half in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A city of about 182,000 just across the border from Georgia and made famous by Glenn Miller’s 1941 song, Chattanooga Choo Choo. We have found it to be a fun, artsy, growing city with a lovely 15+ mile path along the Tennessee River.

Bob and I are staying in a Residence Inn in the Riverfront District. We explored the Riverfront District yesterday after our mid-afternoon arrival. We lost an hour in our travel from Montgomery due to crossing a time zone.