CHAPTER FIVE

The Resurrection Of Curtis Lowe

Ahh, day three with this mixed bag of nuts!

The sun beat my eyelids open again this morning! Apparently it did everyone else’s too! Up we got, breakfast done and over as this day was being planned much like the day before. There were several of us who wanted to go back out adventuring and driving through the Great Smokey Mountain State Park into Cherokee, North Carolina. We cleaned up the kitchen and got ready to go.

Doyle and Linda Anne rode with Scott and I, and Linda takes Wanda and Jack in her car. Off we go, cell phones in hand. Darrell, Lisa, Rita and Al were left to their own devices. Darrell was in his bedroom enjoying a back-scratch when we left. I think they may have taken advantage of the soak and poke while we were gone!

Cherokee, North Carolina, here we come! Up and over the Smokey Mountain ridge and trust me, that drive, is no picnic either! It’s a little on the ‘scary’ side if you ask me. I will say, the roads are wider, paved and well maintained, even so, it’s still high and treacherous looking! Linda Ann and I rode in the back seat of Little Red and this was ok by me, because as long as I couldn’t see, I didn’t get near as nervous. The minute I started watching though, I'd get nervous, so I just tried not to watch. As I glanced across the truck, I could see the nervous twitches in Linda Ann’s face too! We made it into Cherokee safe and sound though.
I called Wanda to find out where they were. They were ahead of us by about 4 miles. We made plans to meet for lunch and 15 minutes later met them in the parking lot of ‘Granny’s, a simple country buffet, nothing fancy. We asked a few opinions before going in and got decent reviews, so in we went.

What a rabble, Scott and myself, Doyle and Linda Anne, Linda, Wanda and bringing up the rear, the Grand Pooh-bah, Jack. Table for seven coming right up.

As I sat at the table, I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful bush. It was full of flowers from the top to the very ground it dragged on, all in white.

I commented "That is a beautiful bush, I wonder what that is? Wanda, Linda, do either of you know what that is?” They replied that they did not.

When the waitress returned, a young girl who looked easily in her 8th month of pregnancy, Wanda asked her, “Do you know what type of bush that is?” as she pointed out the window behind her.

The waitress did not, but said she could probably find out. A few minutes later, we were into lunch when the waitress returns, refills the tea glasses and relay’s that the name of the bush is called “Grandpa’s Beard”.

Without a pause, a breath or a hesitation, Doyle pipes up and says “Oh, I figured it would be called Granny’s Bush!“ Everyone choked! The waitress turned 20 shades of red, Linda just about spit tea across the table and Wanda turned purple! Linda Ann lowered her head and giggled so no one could see and Scott and I burst out! Even the grand pooh-bah got a big grin across his face and a chuckle under his breath that he could not contain.

Doyle laughed in his own way and acted all innocent when he looks up at all of us and says “Well…it is Granny‘s isn‘t it?” then broke out in laughter himself . We left the waitress a big tip.

We left out of Granny’s and headed on a shopping spree! Ok, not really, but we did tour the town a bit and go to a series of shops. We took the trip back up and over the mountain ridge, stopping like all good tourists do and snapped a few pictures here and there. The trip back was just as scary, and I was still in the back seat not watching. When we got back to the cabin, I was glad to be out of the truck though. Really I was.

Darrell had come to me the day before and said he was going to have Scott drive him down the mountain and come back up, so he could see this ‘treacherous’ ride we all kept moaning about. So, when we returned, Darrell and Lisa climbed in the truck with Scott and went for ‘the ride.’ I stayed at the cabin….I’d had enough mountain riding for the day.
We opened the wine and mixed up the margarita's getting a head start while Darrell was climbing the mountain. Doyle begins to feel the urge and goes out on the deck and starts calling the Indians home. This time, Wanda is out there with him and they break into song. It's time for the singing lesson! Doyle begins to tell Wanda how to project her voice and she took her turn at calling the Indians home. It needed work.

Before you know it, all but a few of us are out on the deck giving and getting ‘projected singing lessons’. Did we all shout for the Indians?? No, not enough wine in the world for that!

Doyle begins to sing out “Curtis Lowe, Curtis Lowe!” and we all joined in a few times. Doyle kept giving Wanda lessons about ‘projecting’ and would at any moment, standing over the edge of the deck come out with a verse to Curtis Lowe.’ He’d belt it out too! If anyone was within a 3 mile ear shot, they heard it!

‘play me a song Curtis Lowe Curtis Lowe well I got your drinkin money tune up your dobro people said he was useless but them people all were fools cuz Curtis Lowe was the finest picker to ever play the blues’

The lesson continued, Doyle and Wanda would both start up, belting it out across the mountain. They'd pour another glass of wine, and go at it again. Wanda kept trying and trying to 'project' and Doyle kept making her try to belt it out louder and louder.
Even though we would gather inside, or downstairs, once in a while, you’d see Doyle and Wanda jump up, run out on the deck put their heads together and start belting out “Curtis Lowe”.

I think they resurrected the poor man that night!

Now, it was time, we were in prime singing form, so we hauled Wanda’s karaoke machine downstairs and hooked it up to the big screen TV. Linda, Wanda and I had our go at it. Linda went first, I was next, then Wanda took her turn. The boys, who were upstairs, thought that it was time they crashed our party, so down the steps they come ‘moanin’ & bitchin’ about the ’catterwalling’ going on down there. Boy did they give us a hard time! Darrell even made himself a pair of earplugs to go along with the festivities!

Doyle belted out Curtis Lowe!

They laughed and made fun of us singing, so we packed in the Karaoke for the night. Darrell and I got into a game of ‘fooseball’. I had never played before, so had to call Linda over for some help. Darrell is pretty good at fooseball, so we didn’t stand a chance, but Linda and I had fun trying to take him on at least! Now we know why no one else would play him, we were the only suckers !

Wanda took a walk, and of course, Doyle had to go call her home. This time he did it with his ‘Indian call’, followed up by Curtis Lowe!

Oh yeah, ‘the ride’ that Darrell and Lisa took, they said “EH..that wasn’t bad at all, I don’t see what you guys were 'skeered' about"! He was of course, just trying to ‘get our goat’ but we let him. Then told him he was a liar!

And Doyle and Wanda belted out “Curtis Lowe”

Yours truly celebrated one of her birthdays this weekend. I'll not say which one, but Jack picked up his 'gitfiddle' and played Happy Birthday while the family sang along. Linda had brought me a birthday cake, so we enjoyed cake and then all broke into song. The girls; Rita, Wanda, Linda and myself sang a few while the boys played. We can do pretty good when we try! Linda and Rita have higher voices then Wanda and I, so it worked pretty well.

And Doyle and Wanda belted out Curtis Lowe. Over the mountain.

The rest of the night, we enjoyed the last of the wine , the final pitchers of margarita’s, music and food. Plans were discussed for next years reunion, things were getting cleaned up, packed out and put away. The music played on though, we would make that the last thing to put away tomorrow morning. And the mountain heard “Curtis Lowe’ belted out across it several more times. Our weekend was almost over.

As our last evening came to a close, everyone scattered to their rooms and we settled into our beds for the night.

No phones rang with pranks, no teeth were held captive.

From the bedroom, behind a closed door, Doyle belted out "Curtis Lowe' and from the living room downstairs, Wanda joined him for one last verse.

The house went quiet, the music ended and the strings of the guitars fell silent.
I’m pretty sure Curtis Lowe was resurrected though.

Chapter Six: A Mixed bag of Nuts

The closing chapter of our fun filled weekend and some extra pictures to laugh about!