So things are finally mellowing out on Sesame Street, we are more or less moved in and with the exception of a dining room table and chairs, that have yet to arrive, it is feeling like home. I have begun to get a chance to get out and look around. Western North Carolina is an interesting place. A generation ago it the main industries in the area I now live in were furniture making and agriculture (mostly tobacco). As far as I can tell the most profitable industries now are construction and tourism. However, there are still a lot of locals whose families have lived here for generations. They are now sharing space with many retirees often from New England and often buying their second retirement home.A lot of them purchase their first retirement home in Florida (no suprise) and find that in the summer and during hurricane season the weather is less than the postcard ideal they were dreaming of. The solution for many is to purchase a second retirement home for the summer through late fall in Western North Carolina. The locals call them 'halfbacks' because North Carolina is halfway back home (New England) for them.
Waynesville is still a place where train operators regularly reorganize cargo from the west coast and southeast to be moved northeast. Last week when I was down at Panacea (a great hippy coffee shop in the old industrial section of town (called Frog Level)) having my mocha, there were six tankers parked across the street that were full of sulfuric acid...nice.
Also in a back alley in Frog Level is this great old fading Coca Cola sign painted on the side of a building.
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