Thousands of people hike the trails at FENCE each year and most have no clue just how much work it takes to keep them passable. For the past three and a half years and on and off for over 30, much of that work has fallen onto the shoulders of Chuck Hearon. Chuck is the volunteer “Trail Boss” for FENCE though he prefers to be called “maintainer.” Chuck says being “boss” would make people think he has a crew. For the most part, it’s just Chuck who is out on the trails taking care of business. He can ask for help from Joey and Roy, the FENCE maintenance crew members but they have enough on their plates taking care of everything else the nearly 400 acre nature center needs to keep humming along. So Chuck spends several days a week inspecting trails and maintaining them. It’s a never-ending job and Chuck enjoys the challenge and the work.

​It should be noted that he’s 76 years old. When I asked Chuck if I could use his age, he said, “Sure,” and then went on to say, “Hard work is good for you if it doesn’t kill you, but if it kills you, you get the next day off.” Chuck Hearon does have a great sense of humor.

​Chuck says he could use some volunteers and has a gentleman who has recently stepped forward. It’s not easy work and of course, there are those dangers associated with slopes, dead trees, creek crossings, and power equipment. It just isn’t enough to walk along with a pair of snippers these days, but he welcomes stick kickers…where people can enjoy kicking loose branches and twigs off the trails as they hike. Chuck thinks that could be a popular sport on day. He says he’s fortunate that FENCE has graciously provided the equipment needed to make the job possible including a Kawasaki Mule, tractor, chipper, bush hog, and an assorted of chainsaws, pole saws, and other professional gear. 

Chuck knows plenty about trails. In 1999 he became a member of an elite cadre of long-distance hikers when he backpacked the entire 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail in a single season. These days he’s happy just to be able to enjoy and take care of the five and a half miles of trails at FENCE.

Chuck has been involved with FENCE since its earliest year and is pleased to have known all of the founding fathers and has worked with most of them. Dave Kirby, one of those founders, was a special mentor. He says Dave had an amazing work ethic. If Dave Kirby walked with you along a trail and made note that something needed doing and then a month later noticed that the work had not been touched, he would say something to the effect of, “Haven’t we talked about this before?” Dave was a man who liked to see action and Chuck follows that principle to this day. Chuck sees the need and takes care of it. There’s always something to do. The December snow we had followed by the ice left years worth of work to be done. 

Chuck works closely with Tracie Hansen, the FENCE executive director, but for the most part he’s his own shop. He sees a need, makes his notes, collects the gear, and starts to work. His pay comes from seeing the delight of hikers walking and running and experiencing the outdoors at FENCE.

​Chuck says it’s a thrill when he’s coming or going and sees a family about to start out on their own adventure or a couple taking a stroll with their dogs. It brings joy to their lives and that makes Chuck beam with pride. Chuck says seeing these people using FENCE is his reward for his work. It makes it all worth it.

​Chuck experienced how the trail towns he passed through on his AT hike had a welcoming feel to hikers. He wants FENCE to be that welcoming place for hikers when they’re out on “his” trails. Dave Kirby had a favorite saying, “If you love the outdoors, come love it at FENCE.” Chuck takes that to heart and he’s determined to help you love your nature experience at FENCE. 

More to know

FENCE is located at 3381 Hunting Country Road outside of Tryon and its trails are open from dawn to dusk 365 days a year. Check FENCE.org for information on upcoming programs. Volunteers are welcome and Chuck would be happy to have you giving him a hand out on the trails. But if you’re out on your own, feel free to kick some sticks off the trail.

My lucky day today to find a big yellow school bus parked next to McDonald’s in Columbus. While all NC school buses look pretty much the same, this one was lettered with the school name – Lake Lure Classical Academy. Since I did regular freelance work with them for a bit over two years, I decided to investigate. I knew school was out, so just curious why this bus would be parked at McDonalds’s at 10:30 AM. It seemed a little early for lunch.

It ends up Gayle Youngblood, the school librarian (who also doubles as bus driver and other assorted duties) had this brainstorm to bring learning to where the Lake Lure Classical School kids live so that they don’t enter the dreaded brain-drain during the summer months.

The bus was packed with books from the school library and Gayle and Kristin Collette, the elementary school counselor who happened to be dressed as Cinderella, were there to check out books, read to kids, let kids read to them, or read to each other. 
 
The yellow “library on wheels” will visit McDonald’s almost every Wednesday this summer in Hendersonville, Columbus, Forest City, and Spindale … all towns served by the school. Gayle says you never know what to expect when the bus shows up. Cinderella this week, could be Darth Vader next.
Gayle’s official name for her fun program is “Meet Me at McDonald’s and Read.”
 
What a great idea!
 
You can learn more about Lake Lure Classical Academy at: https://llca.teamcfa.school
​

Pictured on the right: Gayle Youngblood with Charley Shirah who is ready to read!

Pictured below: Gayle, Kristin Collette, Delaney Cullen (rising 3rd), Charley Shirah, (rising 2nd), and Evie Malone (rising kindergartener).

​Mitch is a Polk County native. He knows just about everyone and pretty much everyone in the county knows Mitch or at the very least one of his relatives. Think Stott’s Garage, Stott’s Corner, Stott’s Ford, and his dad, Bobby Joe Stott owned Stott’s Chevrolet, which for years sat on the NC-SC state line.
 
By age 13 Mitch was working after school and summers as an auto mechanic at Stott’s Garage on Landrum Road. But even before that he was training as a mechanic. Some of his earliest memories are of assembling plastic models and taking apart and putting back together just about anything he could get his hands on. And all of these years later, Mitch is a professional mechanical engineer and he rightfully boasts that he’s self-trained. 

There are a lot of stories you could get from Mitch, but this short story will touch on just two. For six years Mitch was a professional drag racer and was named one of the Top 100 drivers of all time by Drag Illustratedmagazine in 2015. He was picked for this honor for being the first to break the 6-second threshold of racing a drag car on a quarter-mile track in Darlington in 2003. With Mitch in the driver’s seat and crew chief Ted Chavarria on hand, their car reached a speed of 231 mph to make the quarter-mile in 5.985 seconds. This time is still hailed as a milestone and the record itself held for several more years.

As Mitch was transitioning out of the racing world full time into other things, he found he had more free time to enjoy other hobbies. One of those was flying remote control planes. In 2008 while Mitch was flying one of his planes he found himself a bit frustrated with how the pneumatic landing gears were or in some cases were notworking. The gears started turning in Mitch’s head and all of that mechanical engineering and his incredible sense of how things work caused the proverbial light bulb to turn on in his head. He felt he could design and engineer electrically operated landing gears that would be reliable every time. The commonly used landing gears remote control planes use are pneumatic and depend on air pressure. They’re prone to leaks and other issues and the air tank has to constantly be replenished. So what often happens is the landing gear might deploy but there’s not enough air to keep it locked in place. The remote control plane, not an inexpensive item at all, comes in for a crash landing. 

Mitch set out to see if he could turn his hobby into his next profession. He solicited the help of a former crewmember of his, Ron Word, to help him come up with the electronic module that would be needed to run electric landing gears. Ron said he was pretty sure he could do this and in 2008 the two of them started “Down and Locked,” the business that would make a difference for model plane pilots across the world. Mitch had since bought out Ron’s share of the business and operates it today out of the end of a real airplane hangar tucked away in Green Creek that sits adjacent to Mitch and Joyce’s home. Yes, Mitch does fly real planes himself and has held a private pilot’s license for years. There aren’t many people who have a 1,700-foot airstrip next to their house.

Down and Locked is an amazing small business that remote control pilots all over the world depend for safe landings. It’s fair to say most people in Polk County have no clue this business exists. Mitch’s product is in remote control planes all across the world where people fly RC planes. His shop is filled with UPS boxes of all sizes ready to ship his product. It is an engineering marvel, but there’s also a constant battle to keep up and on top of competition. Cheap products out of China are an issue just like it is for thousands of US companies. Mitch cautions people that you get what you pay for with those cheaper imports. He stands behind his landing gears and other custom designed model plane parts. Mitch talks about the importance of customer service and that’s something a would-be user is not going to get when ordering a cheap part from overseas. The day I went over for the interview I could see Mitch’s customer service in action. While I was taking photos Mitch was making multiple phone calls on behalf of a customer who was in Florida to fly in a competition. The customer needed a replacement part and needed it that day. Normally, Down and Locked would have picked and shipped the part overnight even if they had to do a custom machining of it. But the pilot needed the part now, not tomorrow, so Mitch was calling one shop after another to see if he could get a machine shop in the area of the competition to machine this small $3 part to Mitch’s specifications so the pilot could get his plane back in the air and back in competition. 

​Just listening to the excitement and passion of Mary Adams telling me about The Sanctuary at Red Bell Run had me huffing to catch my breath. Bouncing around in her “Kawasaki Mule” checking out each of the “group homes” spread over 200 acres was a love, understanding, and patience. Mary knows each of the equines in her care and there are a lot of them. Make that a LOT of them – 125 as of the day of my visit. 
 
Each equine has an individualized health plan. A veterinarian from Tryon Equine Hospital comes out every week to make regular house calls and is “on call” for any issue whenever needed. This is not an adoption agency. While some are here on request of other rescue groups on a temporary basis, most of these beautiful animals are here for life no matter what health and emotional issues they face. They run the gamut including donkeys, miniature horses, hinnies, mini-mules, and larger horses and mules including three mammoth mules. They live in “group homes” depending on their needs and equine type. 

​Most equines are placed with Red Bell Run by other equine welfare organizations with some coming via law enforcement agencies. Some have been abused, some have been saved from feedlot slaughter, some have come from hoarding situations, many are elderly and weren’t wanted anymore. But all have come to the right place. They are lucky to have found Mary and her dedicated crew at The Sanctuary at Red Bell Run.
 
The Sanctuary at Red Bell is on the property of what was once an orchard run by the Mise family in the Chesnee Road area of Green Creek. Forty acres of the property are still used as a working vineyard with the grapes being sold to area wineries including Biltmore Estate. Mary says it was just lucky that she found this property at the right time. She was running an equine rescue in Winter Haven, Florida but knew she wanted a place with less brutal weather. When she was traveling the region looking for something elsewhere, she passed the for-sale sign for this acreage and in two weeks the property was hers. She had a master plan to start the sanctuary and build it up slowly moving horses up from Florida as the new facilities were readied. But Hurricane Irma in 2017 changed those plans. With the storm taking aim there wasn’t time to wait for every single barn, paddock, and run-in shed to be built. Within three days the remaining 56 equines were moved up to their new home in the North Carolina Foothills. 

It was exactly one year ago today when I posted my first “real” story as Foothills Faces. That was the story about Martha’s Amish Bakery and it was a perfect choice for my start. So today is my lucky day that the first anniversary of this blog and donut day at the bakery ended up being the same!
 
By the time you read this, the donuts might be gone. It’s a sellout every Saturday and Saturday is the only day they make their incredible melt-in-your-mouth treats.
 
Even though the bakery had been going since 2014, the name change just happened about the same time I went in looking for my first story. While I don’t necessarily plan to revisit each of my past stories as this next year progresses, I wanted to stop by the bakery just to check in. My sharing their story helped get flour sack full of new blog followers.

Gay Barefield has been a busy person for much of her life. She was once in upper management in a software development firm faced with pressures of deadlines, finding clients, and a never empty in-box. Gay knew something needed to change and the sooner the better. She made a fateful decision to give up the corporate life, go back to school (while still working), start her own business, and move to a farm in the Green Creek area. She’s never looked back.
 
The farm is a certainly more than a hobby farm but the work brings her great joy. Gay and her husband enjoy taking care of their two horses, a donkey, and a couple of dogs. They also raise a lot of their own food and get most of the rest from local growers at the farmer’s market. And all of that was part of the “slowing down” Gay knew must happen.
 
The farm life is just part of the path Gay took in moving from corporate life to a life less stressful. And in the process she’s learned a lot and is now helping others find their path or trail to a simpler life. In fact, she calls herself a “Life Journey Trailblazer” and Zen Chick is her “company” name. But now the company is just Gay and is far removed from the big business rat race. 

More to know
Gay can be reached at gaybarefield@gmail.com.

Phone is 864-680-1604.

Her massage therapy business, “The Healing Touch,” is open Tuesday through Friday. Check out the Zen Chick website at: www.ZenChick.com.

I wasn’t expecting to find a story today. It was sleeting as I left home to run a couple of errands. I wasn’t expecting the sleet either. As I was leaving the store, I spotted a guy sitting at a table under cover out of the sleet having a cup of coffee. Behind him was a fully-loaded backpack, a well-worn hiking stick (not your fancy trekking pole, but a stick), and a water jug attached to the pack. The gentleman was dressed to ward off the cold the best he could. It was 33 degrees and the sleet was continuing.
 
I decided my days of being chicken to approach strangers were over! So I walked up to him trying to figure out what to say. Basically I asked where he was headed, assuming he was a backpacker and perhaps was planning to get back on the Palmetto Trail which runs through town.
 
He was a bit apprehensive about my question but was willing to talk. However, he wasn’t willing to have his photo taken. He did say I could take a picture of his pack. His name is William Glenn Gibson and he said he’s been on the road since August. He doesn’t appear to have any destination in mind though he mentioned going to the town library to get out of the cold. He then said I could take a photo of his sign, which explains it all. He pulls out a carefully lettered and folded cardboard sign and sets it up for me to photograph. Mr. Gibson says that sign says everything he needs told. 
 
I took my photos, gave him a small donation, and wished him luck. Maybe our paths will cross again and I’ll discover more.
 
Take care William Glenn Gibson.

​Lyddie still has her Etsy store online and a year or so ago she opened up shop in “Workshop Vintage Market,” a business in downtown Shelby filled with an eclectic assortment of dealers. Right now this works well for Lyddie as she works to build the business into a full-time career. But now in addition to running her shop, helping when she can at home, and other tasks a young entrepreneur is faced with…Lyddie is holding down three jobs while also enrolled at Western Carolina University. She’s a nanny to two families, manages the local Loft Outlet’s Instagram account (and occasionally works there on weekend as well)…all the while finding every chance she can to go pickin.’

Marty - Why we moved to the foothills

​My wife and I were looking for a place down South because we were tired of the New York winters and when we saw Tryon we thought what a beautiful area this is. The proximity to the mountains, the isothermal belt…all sold us on the area. We loved the natural beauty of the Foothills and we loved the people we’ve met.

​It’s a very artistic community and we’re just thrilled to be here. I’m a teacher and I teach in Greenville and it’s a fairly easy commute to go down there. I’m just very, very happy that my wife and I can both be in this area.

Dad’s Collectibles in Saluda is filled top to bottom, corner to corner with history and it’s obvious that owner Mark Ray is not just a shopkeeper. He’s part historian and part storyteller and can tell you the background of each item crammed into his shop. When you leave, you will have been enlightened.
 
On first glance you might think Dad’s Collectibles is a toy store. Not at all, though of course any of the items could be played with. And there are certainly items that children would love to get their hands on. Mark has Hot Wheels and is even a Breyer distributor for their line of equine items.
 
But this is most certainly a treasure store for adults. Mark has always been an enthusiast of die cast models whether it’s planes, trains, or automobiles. If it rolls or flies there’s a good chance Mark has it. These items are incredibly detailed down to the last bolt and they are truly collectibles.

He lives and breathes this passion for keeping history alive. In fact, he set up shop in the Historic Saluda Depot so that he could help keep the museum portion of the depot open on a daily basis. And if you wish to dig a bit deeper, Mark was also one of the influential folks who helped convert the old depot building into the museum that more than 10,000 people a year visit. 
 
Mark has had a love affair with models since childhood. What’s nice, he says, is that “what one can’t afford in full scale they can afford as a model.” His parents were involved in various forms of transportation. His mom was a flight attendant (called stewardess back then) for a few years back in the mid to late fifties until she married his dad and was forced to give up her job. His dad worked with Ford Motor Company for many years and was also a regional sales rep for Winnebago. His granddad worked as paymaster and treasurer with Queen City Coach out of Charlotte. It would seem natural that his parents’ and granddad’s work experiences led Mark to this hobby, which led to this being his work. 

To most people, they just dream about turning a hobby into their profession! To Mark, it just seemed natural.

Mark would love to see kids put down their smartphones, iPads, and Bluetooth headphones and see them instead get dirt under their nails and sunshine on their faces. Collecting something like a classic car, plane, or train could start that new interest in something other than electronics. 
 
Mark reflects, “At the end of the day, Dad’s Collectibles is my way of remembering some of the past and some of those treasured times in my youth and this is one of the few stores that puts you back in that era. You can’t move forward into the future if you don’t know your past.”
 

Sandra’s dad, James Blackwell, started putting on this festive show in 1973. At the time James was head of maintenance at Bigelow Sanford in Landrum and was put in charge of decorating the company’s property. That set off a spark in James’s mind and that ignited an idea to start decorating the home that was built in 1884. James’s wife, Doris, must have given her nod of approval because decorating the Blackwell home was underway. And now, 45 years later it is one of the most visited winter attractions in the Upstate. Officially the house is now referred to as “The Christmas House.” It’s an obvious choice.
 
Bill & Sandra took over the house and grounds decorating in 2005 and have made this a mission of love. The live for this season, which begins the second weekend in October when the first decorations are moved from their storage buildings to the grounds. Setting up for something of this scale takes a small army made up of relatives, neighbors, and friends. On some days as many as a dozen elves are on-site helping with the setup and late in the evening it might be just Bill out there taking care of ever last detail. 

This is no small operation. Every single item is checked and repairs or rebuilds are made when necessary. Just about all of the displays are homemade and even store-bought items are reimagined to make them better. Bill and Sandra estimate that this year’s display contains over 100,000 bulbs. Their power bill nearly triples during this season but they say it’s worth every penny to see the joy it brings people. Folks have told them that they came as a child and now they bring their own kids. No doubt in thirty years from now, those kids will be bringing their own wide-eyed youngsters. 

Bill keeps photos of each year’s display to help remember just where they had everything placed the year before. But things change. New ideas are constantly brewing in their minds. Bill mentioned a couple of ideas already on the drawing board for the 2019 version but I’m sworn to secrecy.  It’s all about being organized and being creative. Bill and Sandra live for this and see it as one way they can remind people that Jesus is the reason for the season.
 
Families driving through are caught up in the moment and probably can’t appreciate what it takes to make this happen. Just last year alone they had to buy 15,000 light bulbs to make sure they had what they needed. Bill says one of the best things to happen recently was the invention of LEDs, making lighting the displays more energy-efficient. The extra expense is worth it. It’s a good thing their son-in-law is an electrician as plenty of upgrades had to be made over the years. Even with that, it’s not simple to get this show running. The miniature donkeys and a sheep get moved from the pasture into their viewing barn and then about ten minutes before opening, Bill has to flip 14 switches and plug in four outlets. Then he and Sandra retreat into their beautiful home (also decorated) and watch a Hallmark Christmas movie as the real entertainment outside begins.

LJ Meyers runs Homeward Angels and his angels are white doves. A white dove release is an impressive site and one that can help heal, bring great comfort, and some needed joy to those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. And a white dove release can help celebrate a wedding, a major anniversary, a memorial service, and other landmark family events.
 
This story isn’t meant to give you the science and facts behind a dove release except to say that these are all homing birds and are trained by LJ to return to their loft at the end of a release. And in all cases these doves are safely back at home before LJ gets to his driveway even if their starting point was hundreds of miles away. 

LJ grew up in New Jersey but has called the Foothills home for over 30 years. He discovered the Carolina mountains and foothills when he was a Boy Scout and his troop would take spring trips to new and interesting places. He thought if he ever moved he would have to check out this area.
 
LJ has had a love of birds and other animals ever since he was a child. When he was just seven years old he rescued a common pigeon he found stranded under the Route 23 Highway Bridge over the Pompton River near his hometown in New Jersey. His dad let him keep and take care of the bird. It was then that LJ learned that his dad used to keep birds and his dad knew of a man down the street who had racing birds. A new hobby was launched.

LJ works as a finish carpenter for his profession and he’s a superb craftsman. I know that firsthand. But LJ’s always looking ahead and he was thinking it was time for those birds to pay their way. He has over 100 of them and they need feeding and care every day. LJ was familiar with dove releases through his contacts in the racing community and thought that maybe this was something he should do. His mind was made up one weekend while sitting in his garden. He wasn’t looking for a sign from above, but out of nowhere on two occasions people approached him and asked if he could help do a dove release. One was for a wedding and the other for a funeral…two completely different occasions but both people were looking for a way to bring special meaning to their event. And from that point LJ knew that this was the right thing to do.
 
LJ had no idea what path this would take him, but he didn’t hesitate to start the journey. Now 11 years later he knows he’s made the right decision. He has no plans to retire from his carpentry work anytime soon, but he knows his work with the doves will continue well beyond that. LJ’s Homeward Angels have helped families and communities celebrate landmark events across 18 counties in three states. 

You’ve probably seen Tyrone Perry’s bright red coffee trailer parked somewhere on the side of the road. He’s become a familiar site in the foothills. I’ve enjoyed a cup of Tyrone’s coffee at the Farmer’s Market in Columbus, another cup somewhere in Landrum a year ago, and for this story I found him at Toby Wolter’s “details – luxury home furnishings” business on Ashville Highway between Tryon and Landrum. Toby invited Tyrone to set up Java Up at his shop’s location and it has worked out well for both businesses. It’s a generous offer for Tyrone who had to rent space when he first opened up his coffee window. 
 
Tyrone developed his love of coffee while serving in the Navy, which is where he headed after graduating from high school. He served nine years in the service including three years in Europe where he honed his coffee tastes. After his military career Tyrone landed with the Ralph Lauren Company and that led him to the foothills where he became the manager of the store in Gaffney. Tyrone decided fifteen years with the Ralph Lauren group was enough and finally found a way to drink on the job when he became the manager of Openroad Coffee Roastery in Columbus for a year. And that helped set up the move into being his own boss.

Maybe Tyrone will have his own fixed coffee shop at some point, but for now he’s playing it smart. It helps being able to scout out locations (location, location, location), keep overhead down by operating out of a food trailer, and not having to worry about employees. That could all happen one day, but for now Tyrone’s working hard to make his Java Up business a success. And it’s happening. He’s at the Asheville Highway “details” location on Fridays and has a regular stream of customers, many being local artists who come together at 10 o’clock for a meet and greet at Toby’s shop just feet away. On Mondays through Thursdays Tyrone and his mobile coffee can be found at Sherman College of Chiropractic in Spartanburg helping fuel and sometimes caffeinate students, faculty, and staff. Most Saturdays during the season you’ll find him at the Farmer’s Market in Columbus, and the rest of the time he can be anywhere. In fact, businesses occasionally bring him on site as a special perk for their employees. Yes, Tyrone hires out for special events of all types.

Java Up has been his business since August 2015. Tyrone cooks up a variety of coffee drinks including lattes, espressos, and other coffee specialties. He also can whip up a smoothie, serve killer lemonade, brew a cup of tea, and open up a bottle of some specialty waters and other drinks. All the coffee drinks are freshly ground each day. He does have a few packaged snacks if you need a little bit of sustenance. 
 
All of Tyrone’s coffee comes from Leopard Forest Coffee Company out of Travelers Rest. He says they are great roasters and has worked with them since he got started on his own. Tyrone sells their coffee both as whole bean and ground. 
 
Tyrone is taking it one day at a time. One day he might add another coffee truck or a coffee trailer; he might even open is own shop. But for now managing this and being a husband and father is more than a full-time job. Tyrone and his wife are parents to eight children. They homeschool their kids and his wife, Angela, runs most of that and also has a couple businesses of her own. That will have to be a story in itself.

​Tyrone does have advice for others looking to start their own business and that begins with doing your research. He is thankful for the help he got from the local SCORE organization, which provides free mentoring from working and retired business professionals. 

​Paul knows just about every customer by name which is quite an accomplishment when you only see some of them for fifteen or twenty minutes once every month or so. He does have a group of regulars who come in like clockwork – every week or two. Paul says they like to “look the same” from week to week. I can understand the reasoning as I’m one of those who shows up only when my hair gets too shaggy. Paul mentions that his shop isn’t just for the men…he has about a dozen ladies who come to Paul’s Barbershop for their regular trims.

​Paul Heyer probably didn’t believe being a barber would be his life’s vocation when he gave his first haircut in Florida. But over 31 years later he says, “I wish I had started five years earlier.” It’s good to know Paul loves his job that much, especially when he holds your entire “looks” in the palm of his hand. 
 
Paul has been a barber in Columbus for almost 20 years and he’s been my haircutter-of-choice for all of those. I do need to mention that he has a part-time assistant, Frank, who is there two days a week and you can’t go wrong with either. But it’s Paul’s shop as can be observed by the sign on the building. 

Paul is very supportive of our men and women in uniform. His two sons are on active duty…one in the Marines and the other in the Navy and he helps spread his pride by displaying a license plate on the front of his truck that reads, “Navy/Marines – House United.” A sign out front proclaims, “Thank you Veterans.” Paul does his part to pay it forward to our current and past service members by giving discounts to veterans on Veteran’s Day and free haircuts to all active duty members of the military. He also gives a discount to retirees…and I’m happy to be able to take advantage of that. And on the other end of the age spectrum, a baby’s first haircut is always free.

Paul is a master of carrying on conversations with customers over whatever is the topic of the day or whatever the customer might bring up or that Paul might remember from a past visit. He has a devoted group of people who claim Paul’s Barbershop as their own. However, there was one lone time when Paul did have to tell one old grouch that he needed to find another barbershop. And no, that wasn’t me!
 
Over these past twenty years, Paul’s Barbershop has become a fixture in downtown Columbus. And that’s because of Paul. It’s nice to know some good things never change.

The shop is owned and operated by business partners Jeaneen Cobourn and Debbie Denton. Jeaneen is there all the time and Debbie comes in on most Saturdays. The two ladies started the store in 1995 and do it all. They always have. Jeaneen’s husband comes by to cut the grass and take care of other chores from time to time, but it’s Jeaneen and Debbie’s pride and joy and they make up the entire staff. 

The store overflows into three buildings within just a few feet of each other. Each of these buildings is crammed full of interesting treasures. In addition to antiques (and there are a lot of them), The Country Peddler also sells other items one might expect from a “general store.” So next to antiques you’ll find salves, liniments, Fuller Brush items, candy, toys, corn meal, and grits. Jeaneen says she has regulars who drop by just to pick up some salve, or oilcloth, or a bag of meal. The Country Peddler is so much more than just another antiques store.

​If you’re not from this part of the foothills, you might not know that the area has become an antique-lovers paradise. It’s a destination for antique seekers from Greenville, Spartanburg, Asheville and places in-between and farther afield. It takes a bit of knowledge to find this one because it’s just a bit off the beaten path and that’s what drew Jeaneen to this location. She and Debbie had batted around the idea of starting some kind of business together and this was their choice. Jeaneen said, the “location spoke to me. It’s quiet and rural and I didn’t want to be in the middle of a city somewhere. This location was perfect.”

You will find the Country Peddler at 305 Depot Street in Campobello, South Carolina. It’s open 10 to 5, Tuesday through Saturday. There is a website (www.countrypeddlersc.com) and basic info can be found there. But if you really want to know what they have, you’re going to need to get yourself there. Phone: 864/ 468-5200.

It was a sign on a car that made me do a double take a couple of months ago at the Ingle’s Gas Express in Landrum. The sign read “All Pets Training” and pictured several different animals and wording alluding to training available from the expected dogs to cats, parrots, reptiles, exotics, and even rats. I figured there had to be a story that went with that car and I was going to find it. Well, as luck had it…when a car is getting gas there’s got to be someone nearby pumping it and I met Ron Mascis. He quickly informed me he was just putting gas in the car and his wife, Cherie, is the trainer and animal behavior specialist.

​Since I’ve only recently retired from teaching, the idea of an animal behavior specialist sounded intriguing as I was thinking of all the lost opportunities in the classroom with kids where Cherie’s training might have come in handy. The car sign didn’t actually mention kids but it said “exotics” and I thought possibly kids could be classified under that category. A few hours later Cherie and I were emailing but we didn’t get to sit down for an interview until just this past week.
 
I did learn that exotic doesn’t refer to “human” kids but more to lions and tigers, and yes, Cherie Mascis has worked with them. And she’s worked with just about every other kind of animal as well. It’s quite a fascinating story how her life has evolved over the past few decades. She has had an amazing set of experiences and it was easy to see how genuinely excited Cherie is to be doing her life’s work.

​Cherie brought one of her recent success stories with her to the interview. It was a rather large and laid back dog she’s named Sir Walter. This dog lived at the Foothills Humane Society for nearly two years without finding a home. Cherie works at the shelter a couple of days a week and knew this dog could be the right dog for someone and that she was that someone. Sir Walter now shares the Mascis’s home in Green Creek with three chickens and two cats and under Cherie’s kind and supportive training has learned to love them all. This isn’t the same dog that ached for his own family month after month.
 
To some, Cherie Mascis is a miracle worker. To Cherie, she’s just doing what she does best. It’s her life’s calling. She works with pets and their humans to find that perfect balance and it takes a combination of love, patience, and positive rewards be that a tasty treat or a favorite toy. She just wishes her would-be clients would call her early so that they can work on a situation before it actually becomes a problem.

It has been several weeks since my last Foothills Faces story was published. I am about 94% retired (just my estimate) but I’m totally immersed in about 4% of that remaining 6% of my working time getting ready for two summer trips. 
 
I do have lots of stories to get to. Some of my subjects “know” they’re going to be featured and others are on my, “Gee, this would be an interesting story” list.
 
It will be July before my stories start appearing again. In the meantime, let me know if you have someone in mind for a future feature. And yes, of course, you can suggest yourself!
 
If you’re interested in what I do for this upcoming bit of my working life, you can check out MindStretch Travel Adventures on Facebook.
 
Stay tuned.

Stan Yoder and I have something in common—we both love coffee. For me, I just enjoy it. But for Stan, it’s an obsession and a passion and you can tell that the second you step inside Openroad Coffee Roastery. And for Stan Yoder, it’s also an art. 
 
There’s are a lot of reasons the parking lot is almost always full. The great coffee, amazing treats, and incredibly friendly staff are just some of them. The atmosphere is another. Stan says that at Openroad, like most shops, customers can come in and be social and meet new people or old friends or find solitude in the midst of chaos – everyone finds a warm welcome and feels at home. Stan says that people create atmosphere and that’s definitely true inside this place. There’s no pressure to buy anything, but who can resist the coffee and the fresh baked goods prepared onsite daily beginning at 3 AM when the bakers arrive. And if you’re lucky, you’ll drive up and smell the beans roasting at the far end of the shop. Stan’s dad, Andy, does the roasting honors.

As a teenager and young man, Stan always enjoyed going into coffee shops. He loved the atmosphere and the diversity of the people who frequented the shops. The good feelings he got from the atmosphere and the taste of great coffee always remained in the back of his mind. His dream was to open a shop of his own.
 
Stan moved to this area in 1993 and worked in construction. He kept that vision of owning a coffee shop on the back burner as he figured out how to move the idea to the front. In 2000 he took the first big step and opened a small coffee shop in Landrum called Inside Out Coffee Bar. It was his start in the business and the learning curve was steep. Stan didn’t even have a set cost for the coffee or the other items he sold. There was a small box on the counter and people could put in any amount they wanted. “Sometimes they might put in 20 bucks and other times leave nothing.” That was part of the experience and he learned from it, but it wasn’t paying the bills. He went back to doing construction, but his goal was definitely headed toward coffee. Stan met his wife Julia at his Landrum shop. She was a customer at the time. 

It was nine years before Stan opened his new coffee shop, Openroad. He originally began in a location on US 176 as you leave Tryon and head toward Saluda. That building was already in use by a church ministry as a thrift shop and Stan and Julia were just occupying a small corner as you entered. They built the business and continued the process of learning everything they could about coffee and baking. They worked on recipes (some liked the fabulous “Baked Oats” came from Stan and others like the scone recipe came from a customer). He learned the ins and outs of brewing coffee, of roasting beans, and of building a base of loyal customers. Stan says that connecting with customers and making those relationships is an important part of the business. In 2014 Stan made the decision to find a bigger location and took a huge gamble with a former office building. The move proved to be extremely advantageous and their business has grown exponentially. 

Stan is happy to point out that while the coffee comes from various countries (Honduras, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and Peru for examples), the ingredients for his baked goods come from local sources. Fresh eggs from Thunder Ridge Farm and Bradley Farms, milk from Mills River Creamery, and kale grown hydroponically by Bill Barker are some examples. It might cost more, Stan says, but you can taste the difference. There’s a difference about everything at Openroad. 

Stan looks back on his successful shop and offers some words of wisdom to others looking at starting up a business, “You start where you can, not always where you want to be. You need to care about the product and all the details. You need to give it your all.” 
 
For Stan Yoder, this trip has been a journey and not always an easy road. But that “road” is open, running smoothly, and waiting for your visit. 

Sami Bolton had several stories to tell when we met at the Tryon Co-Op Coffeehouse. One story became two and two morphed into three. But in the end there was one overriding concern that Sami is passionate about and she is unwavering in her desire to get that story told. An interesting turn of events changed her life.
 
Sami is trying her best to bring back an extinct species of horse…and there’s a good possibility this is going to happen. Here’s how it all started.

​Several years back Sami’s husband, Barry Shreve, who had grown up around sailboats, convinced Sami to give boating a try. They bought a small sailboat and trailered it around to various lakes. That started this set of events that led to her life-change.

I could continue to relate all of the tales I heard from Sami about living on a boat and the remarkable adventures they had and that would make for volumes of interesting reading material. She even started a Facebook group called “Cooking on a Boat” that is still active today with nearly 10,000 followers. But I’m going to leave that for a future post and move on to the amazing real-world Jurassic Park part of this story.

​They were on their latest boat, Déjà Vu Too, anchored out of Marsh Island Harbor, the biggest of the islands of the Abaco Island chain of the Bahamas when their fates took a turn. Like everyone in the harbor, they were tuned into channel 68 on their boat’s radio to listen to a report of all the day’s happenings around the island. The word “horses” caused Sami’s ears to perk up like our horse would do when you unwrapped a peppermint. 

​Over the radio came the announcement, “Mimi says that Buck a Book is going to be open this morning and she could really use some volunteers to help the wild horses of Abaco.” Sami and Barry weren’t sure what Buck a Book was or what the wild horses of Abaco were…but they had the couple hooked after hearing the word, “horses.”

It ends up that Buck a Book is a used bookstore on the island and Mimi is Milanne Rehor who since 1992 has been desperately and untiringly trying to save the very last of a distinct horse breed now called the Abaco Island Horse. These horses are descendants of the horses that Christopher Columbus brought to the New World at the end of the 15th Century. The very distinctive horse, small in size and often with a splash of white on their faces (caused by a special gene), eventually made it to the Abaco Islands to serve as logging animals but were abandoned when tractors made them “too much trouble.” The horses managed to eek out survival on their own until encroaching civilization changed everything. All but three were slaughtered in the early 1960s. By the mid 1990s, Mimi, with mostly volunteer help, had brought the herd back to 35. But a hurricane pushed the horses out of their forest habitat into an unprotected area filled with man-made and natural hazards that would be their demise. 

When Sami and Barry first heard about this amazing story, the last of the Abaco Island Horses were down to just three old mares and one stallion. The clock was ticking and time was running out to somehow or other save this breed from extinction. But the horses were advancing in years and the inability to corral or halter any of these animals made checking on their physical condition impossible or at least very difficult. Sami was able to get a glimpse of Hadar, the last stallion, before he vanished like a ghost never to be seen again. 
 
Two more mares died and now the last chance for preserving this species relied on getting viable eggs from Nunki, the very last mare and that would take a team, hard work, money, and some good luck. This one part of the story is amazing in itself and one day I hope Sami or Mimi will write a book about all that went into this heroic attempt to save the Abaco Island Horse. 

​You might be asking about now, what good is viable tissue from a mare if there’s no stallion left? Enter Dr. Gus Cothran, a professor at Texas A & M University and a lead scientist with the World Equine Genome Project. It was Dr. Cothran who, based on DNA hair samples, had originally traced the Abaco Island Horse back to the original Iberian horses. He confirmed that what Mimi and the world had was very rare and very important. Dr. Cothran has identified a few stallions that most resemble the genetic make-up of the Abaco Island Horse. One of those stallions, Wayward Wind, lives in North Carolina and the owners have already agreed to give a straw of semen for this rescue attempt.
 

It was just about a month ago when I published a story about Joseph Letterio, an amazing person who has strengths we can only imagine. Joseph's first book had just been published. You can read that original post by clicking here.

Tonight Joseph had the first local book signing and it was my pleasure to be there. And of course, I got my personal copy signed.

A crowd was on hand at the Copper Penny Grill in Forest City and Joseph was beaming with pride as he signed cherished copies.

Joseph's Musings of a Wannabe Renaissance Man is available through Amazon.