Jeannie's Journal at NextTribe

From fires to floods, it's been quite a month.

Jeannie Ralston
October 01, 2024

2 Natural Disasters in 2 Weeks

I thought I would be sleeping in my own bed by now. But two days after returning from three weeks in Portugal, I’m still on the road, living out of a suitcase. Because I can’t go home.

As you surely heard, Asheville has been hit by fierce Hurricane Helene. My guy Mike rode out the storm while I was frolicking with NextTribers at a drop-dead gorgeous vineyard in the Douro Valley. Mike lost power, water, cell service, Internet, but we were lucky because our house survived with no damage.

A tree smashed a neighbor’s car and house; Mike’s Trackside Studio is not in good shape.

Power is back on, but without water or Internet we can’t really function. So I’m going to my sister’s house in Tennessee for the foreseeable future. But I’m NOT complaining; so many people have lost so much. Including the artists who share Mike’s studio space in the River Arts District. The first floor of Trackside Studios was inundated with 5 feet of water, which destroyed hundreds of pieces of art and swept away fixtures and art supplies. (Fortunately, Mike’s art was on the second floor and was not hurt.)

Many of you have kindly asked me how to help out in Asheville. World Central Kitchen has arrived in town to dish out meals. We LOVE them. Also, for years Manna Food Bank has been feeding people in 16 counties in Western NC, and never have they been more needed than now. Also, if you’re an art lover, Trackside has a Go Fund me page to help rebuild and give something to the artists who have lost their livelihood and years’ worth of work.

And Before That: Fires

So, the flooding is the second natural disaster I’ve confronted in the past two weeks. I tell you this: Climate change is a bitch.

While in Portugal (following our first NextTribe trip there), I was driving (with NextTriber Alison) from Porto to Lisbon to pick Mike up from the airport, so we could have a romantic vacay for a week before the second NextTribe group arrived.

Top: Scenes from a Portuguese wildfire. Bottom: Celebrating a fire-free NextTribe trip one week later.

A pissed off Mother Nature had other ideas. I ended up stopped on a highway for 45 minutes while clouds of smoke and licks of orange flame approached—blotting out the sun. No one was moving and I tried to remember what my darling son Jeb (the Hot Shot firefighter I wrote about last month) had said about what to do if you’re caught in a fire. I was looking for a ditch Alison and I could lie down in, when police took down the guard rail between northbound and southbound lanes, so all of us could turn around and get away from the fire.

After that Alison and I were turned back two other times because of closed roads. The fires were raging all around us.

Eventually, we went back to Porto, found two of the last tickets on a flight to Lisbon (reminding me of Casablanca) and I got my reunion with Mike, who had been waiting at the Lisbon airport for 12 hours.

Some rain and a united effort by European firefighters put the flames out, so that we could proceed with our second Portugal trip.

We go to great lengths to make sure our travelers are safe on our trips. That’s why we make it a point to have locals as our “boots on the ground” in destinations we visit. We’re also training all of our trip leaders to handle all kinds of emergencies, climate-related or not, so you’re in good hands no matter who you travel with on a NextTribe trip! The most important thing we tell them (and our travelers) is to use common sense.

Off to Peru Next: Cross Fingers!

I have a lot I want to accomplish before I head out to Peru to hike the Inca Trail with a bunch of adventurous NextTribers. We have about 6 new trips to post (Jane Austen’s England, Greece, NYC, Seattle, Chicago and next year’s Portugal extravaganza), and 4 Info Sessions for other trips: Austin tonight. Scotland tomorrow night; Ireland on Monday, Oct. 7th; Umbria Creativity Retreat on Tuesday, Oct. 8th.