Mobile East pulled into town to find Brian, the electrician for our partner station WCQS rigging up electrical outlets to a mossy tree trunk. The tree had fallen in Brian’s back yard so he decided dig a hole in the cement and install it to supply the MobileBooth with power. We learned that the ecological footprint of installing your average electric pole is so much smaller if you utilize a fallen tree rather than chopping one down.
Our first interview in town was with Gary Everhardt, Daniel Brown and Philip Francis, the three past Superintendents of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a two-lane highway that runs 469 miles through the truly Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. The parkway took nearly 50 years to complete and now is the most frequented place in the Park Service. As the men pointed out, Americans love to drive, so hundreds of miles of winding asphalt with no stop lights and lots of beautiful views is just about perfect for most Americans.
We are parked in the center of downtown Asheville and from the trailer door you can see the mountains circling the city. It’s Spring and the trees are blossoming, the bulbs are coming up and it’s hard not to fall in love with this little town in the hills. We look forward to hearing the stories of Western North Carolina..
April 19th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
StoryCorps is a great program and I was honored to participate. The entire experience was managed in a professional manner. I don’t think there is any way to measure the value of the stories being contributed through this program. But this informational data base will only appreciate in value as our children and their children and those who research to subject matter contained within have instant access to the wealth of information found in these interviews.
Thank you Storycorps and your sponsors and supporters.