September 21, 2015, Baker's Creek, the International Day of Peace

From Pauline to Clinton, I am listening to Beethoven's last movement of his 9th symphony, the Ode to Joy.
(It takes about 25 minutes).  Leonard Bernstein directed this symphony in Vienna in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and changed its name to the Ode to Freedom ("I am sure Beethoven would support this", he said).  The words were written by Friedrick Schiller and here is an exerpt:

"Joy, joy, moves the wheels
In the Universal time machine
Flowers, it calls forth,
From their buds,
Suns from the firmament,
Sphere, it moves far out in space
Where our telescopes cannot reach
Joyful as his suns are flying..."

It is a call to brotherhood on this day of Peace.

Baker Creek State Park is past McCormick, SC for 4 miles on the Huguenot Hwy or 378. Soon on Oct 1, it will close for the winter.

At the office, I meet a young man moving picnic tables, wearing a brown State Park T shirt.  He is the maintenance employee.  He tries to find me a trail map and tells me the story of his abcessed tooth which was extracted, his jaw that swelled so badly, that a friend lanced it, how the infection has spread into his ear and throat.  I think he should go to Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood and have himself admitted but he thinks he is recovering.  He goes to the maintenance shed and brings back a map. Meanwhile I meet a couple from Lexington with their Blue Heeler, who are visiting all the state parks.  The man tells me that he is from the Pee Dee area and as a boy rode his bike, sleeping bag on the back, along with his friends into Little Pee Dee State Park and would sleep on the ground, spending the night or the weekend.

The Ranger comes along and tells us that the 10  mile trail is partially unmarked now. He has just bush hogged a long part of it.  He tells us that last year he had cleared the trail at Hickory Knob and found that someone had turned the trail marking arrows all around to the wrong directions and he could even see a little trail hikers had made into the woods in the wrong direction.  He fixed the arrows.  He advises me to take the Nature trail which loops around the camping area.  I do take this trail and it is pine needle covered and well marked following Thurmond Lake for a while and then rounding back to the campground.

A man at a trailer tells me he comes here to hunt and fish with his nephew. Down on the lake are two pontoon boats and on the shore a table with 26 fishing rods.  The host couple at their trailer tells me they come in March and stay until the end of September.  There is good fishing and it is peaceful and quiet.

It is beautiful. There is the sound of crows and blue jays, another chortling bird call I don't recognize.
The lake is the deep deep smooth green of old wine filled bottles.

I meet a man dressed in blue walking with concentration on the hilly roads. "I walk for exercise on the hills and for thinking and stress relief". His name is Eric. Eric from McCormick.

I return up the Huguenot Hwy and stop at Earth Connection Outfitters (864-993-0109 EarthConnectionOutfitters.com) no one is home at the old house festooned with kayaks of pink, blue, purple and orange.  I discovered from posters that there is a Savannah Valley Railroad Trail nearby, opened in 2011.  (864-378-77032 or 864-852-2835).

At the MACK artisan shop and Katura, fronted by a path of blooming vincas, I am greeted by Belinda Ramsey, coordinator of the fiber workshops at the McCormick Art Council where women are making quilts.  She tells me about the Elijah Clark State of Georgia Park, just over the Savannah River Bridge down 378 past Baker's Creek.  Katura was the old hotel frequented by railway engineers and staff.  Fannie Kale's Country Inn and Restaurant is next door, not doing so well now, she says. Again there is the ubiquitous quilt patch painted over the doorway.

In Greenwood, at the Subway with the deck overlooking the lake, a small, blond pony tailed girl makes me a "Flatizza" while telling me that she has been a vegetarian for the past three years. "I have become anemic, but I love animals". Medics from MUSC have parked their ambulance outside and are waiting in line.
"Try Indian food", I say, "Beans and rice make a whole protein".  The medics and I sit on the deck and enjoy the view while eating our lunch.

Time to go home now.  I pass the church nearby with the sign that says: 'How Can I Tell If I Hear the Voice of God or Satan?'

In two days, it will be officially Fall.