“If it’s rockin’, no knockin” is a humorous phrase used in the RV world intended to mean … well, you get my drift. This morning, as I was in the front of the motorhome working on the blog, Kay was in the back catching up on email and news. I felt the RV rockin’ as it does when someone jumps or otherwise makes a big move, and just assumed Kay was moving about on the bed to find the remote control or something. She thought I was moving about in the front of the coach. Except this time, the rockin’ went for several seconds longer than what we normally feel. About an hour later, Kay noted that there was a 5.1 earthquake in Sparta, NC, some 150 miles from us, as the crow flies. This is the third earthquake I’ve personally witnessed, all over 5 on the Richter scale, and it’s a weird feeling! After this jolt, we got an earlier start than usual preparing, eating, and cleaning up after breakfast.

A second cup of coffee later, we drove to Junaluska. The wildflowers, butterflies, and two-mile walking path around the lake were too appealing to do only once (see blog post, Saturday, July 25). It was crowded, but about half the people were masked and most “socially distanced”. The area near where we parked had the best wildflowers and butterflies, but we walked the whole 2.1 miles, with the camera-mounted tripod (shy of 10 pounds) gouging holes in each shoulder—gotta remember to bring the padded tripod sleeve.

After the walk, we strolled through a natural garden filled with native plants, but it was too dark to attract pollinators, thus, few photos were made.