Sycamore Lounge

Nov. 27, 2004
We’re camped outside of Lexington, VA on the land of Donna Williams and Bob Smith. Bob and Donna are “Bear Dance Joinery”, a small custom timber framing company. They have a reputation throughout the Guild and the area for stellar work and tremendous attention to detail.

Sycamore Lounge is a relatively level piece of bottom land, undoubtedly an old field, now a lovely grassland with young and old sycamore and cedar trees. It’s bordered on one side by a babbling creek, and the other by the beautiful wooded hills that dominate the local landscape, generally referred to as “the Shenandoah”. Our Airstream is snuggled in to the lounge, while Bob and Donna’s yurt is perched up the hilly portion of their 30 acres. For the uninitiated, a yurt is a kind of traditional tent, originally developed by nomadic people in Asia. The modern incarnation provides wonderfully open space, round walls, and a conical roof. In Donna and Bob’s yurt, the walls are supported by a wood lattice, and the roof by rafters ~2”X4”, spanning from a compression ring (topped by a lexan skylight) to a cable on top of the lattice walls. It’s beautiful and livable space.

We left Gilbertsville, PA, bidding a sad farewell to our new friends the Witheringtons, last Friday 11/19, and spent three nights camped at Greenbelt National Park just outside of Washington, D.C. On Saturday we rode the Metro train in to D.C. and saw some of the sites. We did a bunch of walking despite the persistent drizzle. The boys seemed especially impressed by the Lincoln memorial. On Sunday we drove to Mount Vernon, or rather to a spot 4 miles north of it. There we unloaded our bikes and rode on a wonderful recreation trail along the Potomac River to George Washington’s home. This was definitely a worthwhile stop, and we all enjoyed getting to know more about the farmer, slave owner, and dapper gentleman that was the father of the country. Monday we pulled up stakes and headed out of D.C., but not before making a stop at Trader Joe’s for groceries. Next time I’ll be more selective about the parking lots I pull in to with our 31’ rig in tow. Getting out backwards proved to be, um, interesting.
The drive to Lexington was spectacular: at least it would have been if we could have seen it. We drove Skyline Drive, but the fog was so thick we caught only small glimpses of the views. The low flying clouds provided an interesting and eerie experience anyhow. We stopped for the night at a camp in the Shenandoah National Park, dry camping for the fourth consecutive night (no electric or water). The boys and I went out for a beautiful moonlight walk in search of night creatures, taking turns with the flashlight looking for glowing eyes. We were 8 hours too early: the next morning a 10 point buck, a doe, and fawn wandered next to our camp, eating apples from an old tree there. The next morning we decided to do a hike to a waterfall before leaving the park. It to proved foggy beyond what would be ideal, but the atmosphere was mysterious and strangely beautiful nonetheless.

Upon arriving at Bob and Donna’s we discovered what is undoubtedly the most beautiful place in the world- or at least encountered so far in our travels. The hills of western Virginia offer beautiful scenery, lovely river and creek valleys, and picturesque “hollers” around every corner. And the best part is that the folks here are welcoming, warm, and genuine. I can see why Donna and Bob chose to live in this place after years of traveling. Now, if we could just shake this rain that’s been dogging us since arriving here, I believe we’d be permanent fixtures here in sycamore lounge..

Bob has just returned from several months of work on a covered bridge restoration project in Maine. He seems really glad to be home, and we hope we’re not intruding on his time with Donna- but if we are, he’s being very gracious about it.
Thursday was Thanksgiving day- our second such celebration this year (our first being with Wil and Chris in Canada- their Thanksgiving falls in October). We believe this is the first thanksgiving prepared in a yurt and an Airstream. If anyone knows otherwise, don’t spoil it for us. We had dinner in the yurt; A fantastic meal and great time was had by all. The boys especially enjoy playing with Bob and Donna’s two cats, Wattle and Daub. They’ve also enjoyed abusing Bob’s drums and Donna’s electric piano. The cacophony is sometimes overwhelming, but also is lots of fun. Boys are boys.

For the past two days we’ve been playing in Bob and Donna’s shop, building things from bits of slab wood. This was all Donna’s idea, and we’re having a blast. Ansel is totally engaged using the schnitzelbank draw knifing legs for a bench that Bob is helping him with. Rainer is a bit young to play with sharp tools, but he seems to enjoy just hanging around singing us songs.

Friday evening we participated in Lexington’s annual candle light caroling procession through town, culminating with the lighting of the Christmas tree in a park. Saturday evening we toured two homes Bear Dance has cut frames for. The first being a design based on Jefferson’s Poplar Wood, and the second being the home of Guild members Grigg and Cindy Mullen. We had dinner with the Mullen’s, got the tour, and saw their (incredible) shop. In between all these activities we’ve gone for hikes (with another scheduled for this afternoon), made meals together, and generally been treated like old friends. It’s been great, and I think I’ll miss this place and these folks when we head down to Floyd, VA tomorrow.