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April 6, 2010 | Happiness
I woke with another craving for more grits. After I packed up my truck and checked out of my campsite, I stopped at the local restaurant for my third helping. Um, um, good! After breakfast, I headed to downtown Chattanooga for a bike ride around the riverfront. Once again, it was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day.
Once I finished my ride I stopped in for a bite to eat at one of the local coffee shops and then prepared for my departure.
The day before, while visiting the Raccoon Mountain Pumped-Storage Plant, the volunteer that I spoke with told me that I should take the time to visit Fontana Village, North Carolina. I had seen most of North Carolina, but I had never visited Fontana Village.
I headed east on highway 64 but then detoured onto highway 411 due to recent rock slides. I drove north on highway 411 until I came to highway 39. Then I navigated onto several different roads, which brought up and over the Tennessee mountains into the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests. Since I was on ancient Indian land, I put on Deb’s necklace once again.
I also played my Sacred Spirit: Chants and Dances of the Native Americans CD. I had not seen the hawk since the Mississippi River, so I just knew that I would see it on this day.
As I continued over the mountains, I stopped at the various kiosks and overlooks to try and get a feel for the area.
After forty-nine days of traveling, I was finally in my home state. As a welcome home present, I received the following message from one of my very dearest friends Sandra: “I just read your postings of the past couple of days. And have been meaning to write and share something that happened on March 30 when Morgan, my mom and I had lunch after her lacrosse game (at a Chinese restaurant here in Durham). We get our fortune cookies and my fortune, which I read aloud, said: “a loved one will soon show up at your door” and without missing a beat, Morgan said, “Uncle Chris!” which I of course was also thinking it could be you – anyway, we continue to talk, I explained a little about your journey and it turns out that she has always thought you and I were related in some way – I told her well, we are — you could consider us soul mates.”
I made it to Fontana Village about an hour or so before sunset. I stopped at the lodge and registration desk and obtained my campsite for the night. After paying my $20.00 fee, I drove about a mile and a half down the mountain, to the campground. Fontana Village was stuck out in the middle of nowhere. My campsite was even more remote.
As I circled the campground, I quickly discovered that there were no street lights. The only lights in the area came from the Fontana Dam, which was about a quarter mile up the river. Luckily, there was one group of fishermen camping in the campground. Otherwise, I would have been all by myself.
I had not seen any wildlife the entire day, not until I arrived at the campground. After I parked my truck, I walked down to the edge of the river and discovered four Canadian Geese. It was the mating season because they were running around chasing each other and making the loudest sounds. When I looked up their Shamanic meaning, I was thrilled with their message.
Geese offers the following medicine:
- Movement along ones soul path
- Understanding the power of community
- Assisting others through illness
- Happiness – Copyright www.animalspirits.com
Then I walked back towards my beautiful, red chariot, I looked down and saw a four-leaf clover.
Then, as it was getting dark, I had another visitor. This time it was a bat. It flew directly over my truck, back and forth, around in circles until it finally caught my attention. And it was the message from the bat that helped me understand why I had been lead to this particular place.
Bat offers the following wisdom:
- Shamanic death and rebirth
- Pollination of new ideas
- Transition
- Initiation
- Viewing past lives
- Understanding grief
- The use of vibrational sound
- Camouflage
- Invisibility
- Ability to observe unseen – Copyright www.animalspirits.com
Note: Keep the messages above in mind as you read the next several journal entries.
I then proceeded to work on my journal until about 11:30 PM. At that point, I returned to my dark, dark, dark campsite, down by the river. I settled into campsite No. 14. I heard an owl off in the distance and then crawled into the back of my truck to go to bed. As I drifted off to sleep, I had the extreme sense that I was sleeping on ancient, sacred Cherokee land.