July 2004

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Today was a busy day at work. After I got home, I decided napping was a really good idea, so I did just that.

After I got up, I started looking at some websites I was curious about, beginning with this one, for an art gallery that's having a show this summer of work depicting scenes of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

That road has some family connections for me, most notably that Robert Lee Doughton, who was instrumental in getting the Parkway to exist as we know it, and who was chairman of the US House Ways and Means Committee for a number of years, was my great-grandmother's brother.

In this article, Marse Grant notes he was called "Uncle Bob" Some of those who called him that weren't relatives, but two who were nieces were my mother and her sister. Had he lived longer, I would have called him that, too. He died shortly before I was eleven months old.

And yes, I do get my stubborn streak from his side of the family. We don't doubt that the "Muley" nickname of his was well-deserved.

If your travels take you along that Parkway, particularly the portion in Alleghany County, NC (where you'll find Doughton Park, by the way), you'll be in one of my favorite places on earth.

And you might even meet some of my relatives. A number of cousins of mine live in towns not far from the Parkway, and we all are grateful to Uncle Bob for his efforts on its behalf.