Southern Hospitality

 Our next Harvest Host was an artist’s farm. William Mccollough, a well respected local artist. We were excited to meet him. After driving through sown cotton plantations and rural scenery we pulled up to his farm. There were horses and roosters to greet us, but no people. There was a long daunting driveway ahead but I didn’t know if I could get the rv in and back from it. After feeding some roosters that were hanging out, we wanted to leave. But because we boondocked the day the day before, our phones and all of our chargers were dead. We didn’t know exactly where we were or where to go from there. We needed to be hooked up. 

Just as we were leaving a woman pulled in. Christine got out and talked to her. She told her our story and said we had reservations there but the woman told us the artist was out of town and there was no hook up there. The woman saw our desperation and offered her bed and breakfast down the road for free. Electricity and water were available. Wow! We were flabbergasted! So off we went and not down the road as she directed, but about 15 minutes down the road. ( nothing is down the road….) We pulled into her property and immediately loved it there. As soon as we were hooked up we began painting. It felt so good! It was peaceful and the chickens that escaped their coop kept us company. The owner Currie Mccollogh and her daughter Chloe, a Marine, pulled in to feed the chicken. We had a nice chat and they took us inside to see the bed and breakfast. The house was in her family since pre civil war. Editions from different eras were added on. She carefully explained each edition and how she has been renovating it all. She did it by herself…another strong woman! She explained that the shack out back, that we ended up painting, was called the drinking shack. One of her great uncles was a soldier in WW2 and came back with terrible PTSD. His relief was drinking the memories away but he wasn’t to be dealt with while drinking so they banished him to the shack when he needed to relieve himself of his demons. 

She offered us her shower and laundry and we gratefully accepted her invitation and got all of our clothes washed! A luxury! She even gave us a dozen fresh eggs from her coup! We were speechless!

The next two days there were very peaceful and happy. I got two paintings in and Christine did 3! This was a plan executed! We felt fulfilled as we left! Things felt like they were going as planned.