Mountains of Thanks!

You know that old philosophical cliche, "If a tree fell in the woods and no one was around to hear it, would it still make a sound?" In the last issue of ROAM, we inadvertently raised a similar philosophical dilemma. "If ROAM added the North Carolina mountains to our coverage area and we didn't make any noise about it, would anyone hear about it?"

So, in the interest of editorial justice, this issue we're making a BIG noise about introducing ROAM to our friends in the mountains. We've got stories coming out Polk, Stokes, Surry, Caldwell/Watauga, McDowell and Wilkes counties — plus a few for our friends in the Foothills just so they won't think we're playing favorites. Here at ROAM, we believe in treating our counties like we treat our kids — equal love, equal love!

Of course, after all the floods and extreme weather this season's hurricanes spawned, we're just thrilled to still have some mountains to cover! Sure, Florida still has bragging rights in the "Can You Top This?" index, but the good folks here in North Carolina's mountains sure walked away with the first and second runner up and Miss Congeniality in this year's Misery in America contest. We wish you the best of luck in your recovery and our deepest regrets for your losses.

And as long as we are talking about mountains and misery, I wanted to take a moment to say a special thanks to ROAM movers and shakers Chris Starrett, Tera Jarrett, Carol Bracewell , Laura Brittain, Brittany Stultz and Leslie Cothren for their Herculean efforts in overcoming a mountain of obstacles to get this issue of ROAM out the door and into your hands. Some of the trials they endured to get this issue out were more painful that getting a tetanus shot in the eye — but they did it anyway — and God knows it wasn't for the fame and fortune. So why do we do it? I can only answer that with the immortal words of Bill Murray's Carl Spackler from Caddyshack, ""Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness. So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice." We hope you enjoy this issue! ("Gunga galunga…")

by Burt Dellinger