The first thing you notice about Sam is that he is the slowest talkin' man in North Carolina. The second is his quiet, unassuming way. The third is his wry sense of humor. Because I asked everyone I met about snakes in these mountains, he told me about professors at Appalachian State University (in Boone, our nearest "big" city) trying to reintroduce the rattlesnake. To this he said, "My question to them is, why don't we start in your yard?" Oh, and the answer to that question from most everyone was that I didn't have to worry about snakes at 4,200 feet. Whew!
Sam is a logger, but with that business drying up in NC he's getting more into excavating. He was recommended to us as the man who could find the best path into the property as well as where to site the house. We were armed with a compass and topographical maps, Sam was armed with his cup of McDonald's coffee.
Because the land is so wooded, we entered near the back of the property near those Christmas trees I mentioned earlier. It seemed to be the levelest spot and we wanted to be far from the road anyway. Sam said, "I think we should start walking out here." We tied a ribbon on a branch and waded in. A machete would have been helpful. He took us up, down, around, over, under and even through some thick rhododendron bushes, tying ribbons all the way. We came out very near the middle of our road frontage. Sam never spilled a drop. (See that sagging pocket on the front of Sam's T-shirt? We later learned that that's where he parks his coffee cup all day when he's operating heavy equipment.)
We told Sam we'd be back in March to clear the land and be ready to start building in April or as soon as our house sold. Ha!
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