Scaly Mountain

Today was a day to visit old friends from our community in Florida. We’ve known Lola and George about six years and we enjoy each other’s company. We are similar in age but dissimilar in life experience. That’s what makes it interesting.

Lola and George live in Scaly Mountain NC. They have owned a place on the side of a mountain for over 30 years. It’s the place they used to take their daughter and son for family camping before the house got built. It’s now their favorite place, the place they call home.

Scaly Mountain is 56 miles from our place in Cleveland GA. However, we took the long way by 24 miles getting over there, going north on SR 75, then east on Hwy 76 to Clayton, then north to Dillard. Scaly Mountain is midway between Dillard and Highlands NC. Lola does her shopping at Highlands, only a few miles up the road from Scaly Mountain. We arrived at Lola and George’s place on Miller Rd with no directions, having been there only once before.

We were supposed to pick blueberries on the mountain, but the rain nixed those plans. It was more than a drizzle and we must have driven 35 miles through a steady mountain downpour. Lola must have anticipated because she presented us with a quart of freshly-picked blueberries so we didn’t have to get our hands all blue. That was mighty nice of her.

As we visited for a few hours, George told us how their mountain home developed from a small cabin to a fairly expansive ranch style home. Over the years they added on to the home as well the property lines. Just last year they added a new room, new kitchen floor and new roof. It all looked terrific.

We lunched at a local restaurant in Dillard, owned and operated by a Greek family out of Chicago. The food was great and the service was very friendly and attentive. We got in a lot more visiting before we departed for home. Just south of Dillard we stopped at a roadside stand and bought fresh tomatoes, green beans, peaches. green pepper, apple-raisin bread and ears of corn. Cost: $10. What a deal!