A Car Trip With Cal

 

The sources recount a car trip through the mountains, a visit to a park restaurant, and a conversation with Cal Price.

Car Trip and Scenery

• The author and companions drove through the mountains, noting the changing autumn colors and the wind in the pines.
• The group drove along Spice Ridge, stopping to walk up a hill covered in dry leaves.
• The roads were described as "really not suitable for driving" and a topo map and compass were recommended for navigating them.
• The author noted that one area had an "indefinite boundary" on the map.
• They drove to a high hill overlooking the Greenbrier River.
• The drive included passing through a locked gate.
• The author noted driving up a steep hill, and that they needed to "have the nerve to drive here in our prissy Toyota".

Visit to the Watoga Park Restaurant

• The author visited the Watoga park restaurant with Bill and Reta Morrison Rose, where they ate dinner.
• They visited the restaurant because Cal Price, an environmentalist, was working there.
• The author states that they learned that Price kept a stuffed wildcat in his newspaper office and that people would take him strange bugs for identification.

Conversation with Cal Price

• The author spoke with Cal Price, who was described as an environmentalist.
• The author knew Houston related to the Price family.
• Price said he "lived next to his printing office".
• Price said he used to practice basketball with a little rubber ball in his living room.
• Price told the author that the state bought land in the early part of the century for about 50 cents an acre.
• Price also mentioned that the back roads of Canada took the author's fillings out of their teeth.
• Price was described as friendly to visiting city folk.
• Price was described as being an environmentalist, and also as a man who was friendly and loved nature so much it made him want to cry.

Additional Details

• The author also mentions visiting Simmons’ home on a hill overlooking the Greenbrier River, knowing Houston used to tell stories about the Price family.
• The author indicated that they knew Houston was a "second dad" to Cal Price, and that Houston used to practice basketball with a rubber ball.
• The author noted that there were few people in the mountains.
• A man named Eldridge McComb told them the state bought the land in the early part of the century for about 50 cents an acre.
• The author noted that there was a lot of deer and wildlife, and that some of the animals had come into the open areas to graze.
• The land was described as a "place mostly to themselves" where animals can live in peace.
• The forest was described as being "pure joy" with steep trails, and a place where the meadow grasses were going into the woods.
• The author noted that apples were on the ground, and there were trees that had been planted to keep the area open.
• Cal Price had a long-time farm and a staff to maintain it.
• The area was noted to be a place where people planted trees for animal feeding and left fields open.
• The author recalls Cal Price saying, "I have passed them through and I have seen them" in reference to his relationship with the animals.

These details provide a vivid picture of a trip through the mountains, a visit to a local restaurant in a park, and a conversation with Cal Price about the natural environment and land ownership.