Dreams Can Become Realities
It was one of those first’s in my life. Our older (wise age of 39) son sat me (wise age of 60ish) down and asked me just how much thought had gone into my desire to leave a condo in sunny South Florida and buy a log cabin in the Smoky Mountains. Of course, he and I both knew the answer to that: None . . . Zero . . . Zip.
Until that beautiful April day, enhanced by the spring blooms of Tennessee’s dogwood and red buds, I had envisioned Ron and me retiring in a condo with little maintance. That was before our daughter-in-law and I had toured some overpriced, under-designed condos on a lake and a golf course in TN.
The following day Fred and I visited some condo complexes in the city of Knoxville. They may have been more in our price range, but not one of them held any promise for a wheelchair user. All our hopes seemed to have gone askew until I started looking through a local real estate magazine, and my eye zeroed in on a log cabin with the caption, Handicap Accessible.
Fred and I, and our realtor, Ina Painter, headed east to Townsend, one of the entrances to the Smoky Mountain National Park. After following a winding road, up and down and around, we saw it: A perfect, 1200 sq. ft., 2 bedroom, 2 bath, log cabin in the mountains . . . without any steps!
After I’d been inside about two minutes and had inhaled the knotty pine fragrance and checked out the fireplace, I announced, “We’ll take it.” Of course, neither Ina or Fred paid any attention to me; they continued looking around, so I followed them.
Fred took lots of photos with his digital camera for Ron. I finally came to my senses and decided that I wasn’t going to buy our retirement place without Ron. (Give me some credit, Fred.) But to my defense, Ron fell in love with the log cabin just from the photos.
(According to the Log Home Living Institute, log home sales have nearly doubled in less than a decade, making the industry top $4.1 billion. Currently there are more than 500,000 log homes in the U.S. and Canada.)
Two weeks later we both returned, looked at a couple of other cabins for price comparison, and made our offer. (Of course, all the others had steps and none of them were brand new like ours.) The builder, Matt Kobolak, had purposely built the cabin to be accessible or easily converted to be. He was thinking ahead to the boomer population getting ready for retirement and that very few cabins on the local rental programs were accessible.
The cabin has wide, 36″ doorways, a Jacuzzi tub and a freestanding shower in each bathroom. The closets are walk-in or roll-in. The clothes rods could be put at any height. Even the door to the back deck is 36″ wide and accommodating, and the doors all have lever handles instead of knobs. The only thing missing in our cabin was the use of rocker switches instead of typical light switches. More and more builders around the country are using *Universal Design as they build.
Retirement or handicap living can be in the mountains and near natural attractions. Townsend even has a special handicap picnic area along the Little River. And just yesterday I realized that unlike in South Florida, I can always find a Handicap Parking space. And the electric cart in Target was almost brand new. It ran perfectly. And the Smoky Mountain National Park even has an **Accessibility Guide.
We are 18 miles from a major airport, 16 miles from Maryville that has all the medical care and shopping that we could want or need and 17 miles from Pigeon Forge with its tourist attractions. Yet we have “the peaceful side of the mountain” in Townsend, including craftsmen, artists, the Heritage Center, food, music and recreation. (I need to get a job working for the Chamber of Commerce!)
Selling our 2,000 sq. ft. house and moving to an 1150 sq. ft. condo in 2005 was our transition into downsizing and soon to be retirement living. Fewer steps immediately made a difference for me with my post-polio. I had been using my power chair almost fulltime in our larger home. Now when post-polio causes my leg to give out, I am able to easily use my power chair.
Thank goodness, “Handicap Accessible” is becoming more and more available. Don’t limit yourself. Be aware. Look for a builder and/or a realtor who will listen to and accommodate your needs. The options are out there, but it’s up to us to discover them.
When your children or your friends sit you down for a little talk about your desire for something different for your housing choices, tell them about Ron and me. We’re loving it. We’re glad that we didn’t settle for the ordinary or usual. However we did settle only an hour away from Fred & Sue and their kids. Grandchildren Gerrit & Carolina have already claimed the loft in our log cabin as their territory!
By the way, if you take a left out of our driveway, and then another left, you’ll find a brand new cabin for sale, AND it’s handicap accessible!
Ina Painter, Re/Max Preferred Properties, www.inapainter.com
Matt Kobolak, TN State licensed builder, 865-388-9258
* Check out Universal Design Living Laboratory at www.udll.com
**Smoky Mountain National Park has an Accessibility Guide available at Visitor Centers or by calling 865-436-1200 or visit www.nps.gov/grsm. The guide details parking, restrooms and various sites in the park. It indicates such things as, “A paved and packed-gravel trail of about 100 yards make the mill accessible with assistance.” OR “The historic buildings along the loop road are not accessible due to steps, lack of hard-surfaced walkways, and distance.” Even campsites have accessible units that have been modified with paving, specialized tables, and fire grills.
There is no charge for visiting this national park, and as you may remember it is the most widely visited park in the country. However, while visiting the park, if you are a U.S. citizen and have a permanent disability, you can obtain the Golden Access Passport, which allows free admission to all federal areas that do charge entrance fee