We left Lakeside Village on 8Jul for Carolina Beach, where we boondocked for one night near Driftwood Villa. We walked the boardwalk, enjoyed the setting sun and the lights from amusement area. We settled in to sleep comfortably through the night.
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| Carolina Beach at sunrise |
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| As the song goes, Good Morning Sunshine |
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| Nice way to start the day |
We woke to a nice coolish morning, walked over to the beach with our coffee and camera. Took our time then set off to Fort Fisher State Recreation Area to walk to Bald Head Island. We saw a new turtle nest that was marked as 61 and an saltwater alligator on the beach at marker 48. We walked 12+ miles from the parking lot to marker 59 on Bald Head, put down our sheet and windbreak. We spent several hours playing in the sun and water then walked back to the RV.
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| Salt Water Alligator impression, after he ran into the water |
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| Fort Fisher Beach on our return |
We made it up to Raleigh to see Deborah and Brian before heading to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We enjoyed our time with them, touring around Raleigh. While there we made dinner plans to stop at Amanda and Scott's place, nice home and another fun time with them.
It is time to get back on the road, as we take country roads heading westerly in North Carolina. We stopped in Apex, to spend a couple of days at Jordan Lake to relax and swim. The lake is really beautiful with a short hike to the water. The people we chatted with were very nice, spending the day swimming and laying out in the sun.
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| Hike in from the main road |
Jordan Lake
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| Watched the sunset closing another beautiful day |
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| Hike in the next morning |
After a swim and 'bath' we head off for Pittsboro, we had hoped to see Jenny but timing was off. We stopped for lunch at The Plant but it did not open until 16:00, so continued moving west in North Carolina to a small rural town called Elkin.
Amanda recommended we stop at South on Main, run by her family but the only one there was her niece who was working in the kitchen. Food was very good, traditional Southern style cooking in this quaint little town on the railroad.
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| Driving through Pittsboro, we were reminded we are in the Deep South. |
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| We parked behind South on Main by the tracks |
We took a walk about the small railroad town to get a feel for it quaintness, Amanda's family is from here and gives us a personal glimpse into her roots. The area is rich with history pre and post Colonization. Settlements developed along the flowing together of the Yadkin River and Big Elkin Creek drawing people to the area of what is now Elkin, since the coming of the Paleo-Indians 10,000 years ago. The Sioux Indians settled along the Yadkin River as early as 500 BC. The first English colonists came in the mid-eighteenth century along with some colonists from Ireland. Cherokee Indians were also in the area, although the Cherokees had been active in the French and Indian War, they had joined in treaties with the English in 1763, followed by the events of the American Revolution.
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| Downtown Elkin |
| Beautifully painted mural, hidden gem on a basketball court across from the brewery. |
| Depicting the feeling of hiking Forest Bathing Trail groomed in 2021 at Grassy Creek Vineyards, about 10 minutes north of downtown Elkin. On this trail, you disconnect with technology and re-experience nature's sights, sounds, smells, and beauty. |
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| Keith's chilling while I do my thing taking photos |
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| The Liberty houses the brewery and Coley Hall (an entertainment venue) |
It's 14July, we are back on the road destination Boone, NC of course with a stop along the way. We had the most amazing experience at the Northwest Carolina Visitor Center off 421, Stacy was an amazing help, full of information and knowledge on hiking, biking, kayaking and swimming holes in the area. We walked away with a huge amount of maps, brochures, print outs on the area.We made it to Boone by 14:00, found Earth Fare for supplies, a must go to for Organic and Vegan food, bulk food and anything that suits the need. We left the RV there in their parking lot and walked around Boone and Appalachian State University. We walked into a pottery studio with magnificent lighting and objects we would have bought if we had a stick and bricks home.
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| Deep Gap near Jefferson, NC |
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| Walked around Boone enjoying this university town full of arts |
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The Appalachian Theatre, now known as Appalachian Theatre of the High Country, is a 999-seat theatre which opened November 14, 1938 with the movie “Breaking the Ice” starring Bobby Breen & Charles Ruggles. The admission price was 25 cents for adults, 10 cents for children. Beautiful example of Art Deco buildings.
The Appalachian Theatre also had a very small part to play in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The theater started out as a whites-only theater, but when new manager Robert Agle arrived in 1948, he changed the rules, making it a segregated theater permitting black seating in the balcony—a fairly progressive move for a small, conservative mountain town in the South. Local tradition holds that when Agle woke up one morning in February 1960 and read the news about sit-ins at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, he came to work and announced to staff that the theater would no longer have segregated seating.
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We camped over night at the Cracker Barrel in Boone, then we went for Elk Knob State Park in the morning. Not strenuous, made it to the top went to the north view first then south view. We did 4.00 miles hike in 3 hours today. Beautiful day to hike in the mid to high 70’s, partly sunny, hazy skies but gorgeous vistas of the Appalachian Region, Grandfather Mountain. It was a nice day to hike in the woods, less humid at higher elevation.
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| Nice gradual hike up in elevation |
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| Not many people on the trails, feel like we have the place to ourselves |
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| the view of Grandfather Mountain |
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| We made it to the top, look at this view |
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| Driving out of Elk Knob on Meat Camp Rd |
We walked to The Inn at The Ragged Gardens for Shelby Rae concert on the lawn, Music on the Lawn, free concert. Music was very good covers from the 1970's and 1980's. We left about 20:00 towards downtown Blowing Rock. Lou took us on a tour of Blowing Rock. We stopped in Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, photographed the sun setting in the clouds Bass Lake and two guys fishing. We went to dinner at Six Pence Pub with Lou. Walked to Kilwins for ice cream then went to the RV at The Middle Fork of the Greenway (newly constructed portion of pedestrian and bicycle path to connect Boone and Blowing Rock).
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| Sunset Moses H. Cone Memorial Park |
Day 10, 17July of our trip South westerly in NC, we moved back to Cracker Barrel in the morning. We met other boondockers and chatted in the parking lot with Sadie, Andrew and Sarah before we headed off with Lou, a local who wanted to show us around the area. We were grateful for his offer and were able to see more of the area from a local perspective.
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| View of Boone and Appalachian State University from Howards Knob |
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| Lou and Keith at the over look of Boone, NC |
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| Lou, Keith and Wayne at Howards Knob |
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| Panoramic of Boone from Mount Jefferson State Natural Area |
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| Keith at Mount Jefferson taking in the beauty of the valley |
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| Enjoying the view |
Hiked Mount Jefferson at the State Natural Area then Boondocks Brewery for lunch. The best meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Afterwards, we watched the old timers antique car cruising rally down Main Street West Jefferson. Drove to a real gem at the Church of the Frescoes, St. Mary’s Epsicopal. Ben Long frescoes of Mary, John the Baptist and Jesus on the cross and ascending.
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| Old timer pick-up on the side road |
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| Hot Rod below mural in West Jefferson |
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| Us by the Dairy in West Jefferson |
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Jesus on the cross and ascending
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St. Mary’s Epsicopal Church, Ben Long Frescoes
In the 1970's, Ben Long painted frescoes in small mountain churches throughout the NC High Country. Ben Long, a native of North Carolina, apprenticed in Florence, Italy, under Maestro Pietro Annigoni for nearly eight years.
Here is the story of the High Country Church of the Frescoes: |
Faulton Hodge was the pastor of two small Episcopalian churches in the High Country that had fallen on hard times: St. Mary’s in West Jefferson had dwindled to only 13 members and Holy Trinity in Glendale Springs had no parishioners and a crumbled wall. So at a dinner party, Long was introduced to Hodge and made his oft-repeated offer. “We’ll take it!” the minister exclaimed – quickly adding: “What is a fresco?”
What transpired during the next several months is nothing short of miraculous. On one of the St. Mary’s walls, Long appropriately wanted to paint an expectant Madonna and he found a perfect model nearby to give the resulting fresco even more reality. Long subsequently completed two more striking frescoes at St. Mary’s: John the Baptist and The Mystery of Faith, a striking crucifixion/resurrection scene. As Long was completing these frescoes, an equally eerie event was unfolding over at Holy Trinity church, according to Sheila Turnage in her book Compass American Guide: North Carolina. A stranger pulled up to Holy Trinity saying it was his mother’s childhood church, and upon seeing the church’s dilapidated state, donated $1,500 – $1,400 to repair the church and $100 for the supplies for Long’s next fresco, The Lord's Supper. Today, not only are the two churches thriving – so are the communities surrounding them. In fact, many old homes have been converted to quaint bed and breakfasts to accommodate the thousands of visitors who are drawn here every year from all across the country.
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| St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Jefferson |
The rain did not detain us from going to The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Glendale Springs, NC fresco of the Last Supper by Ben Long. We walked into the basement to view a student’s fresco of Mary Magdalene washing Christ’s feet and “The Departure of Christ”.
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| The Last Supper at Holy Trinity Church in Glendale Springs, NC |
Holy Trinity Church sat idle since the 1946 when it closed, members removed began removing furnishings. In the 1970's Faulton Hodge began a campaign to restore the church. In 1980 Ben Long painted the fresco “The Lord’s Supper” behind the Altar at Holy Trinity. Long and 20 of his students spent three months completing the fresco while the church was still undergoing renovations. Area residents began taking an interest in what was taking place and were supportive of the work. The church is vibrant with all its original pews, furnishings, altar and pump organ.
We woke on 18Jul to a quiet morning in the Cracker Barrel parking with another camper, we had made a connection with Andrew and Sarah last time we met, we spent a couple of hours sitting on the curb then chairs chatting in the shade of the trees. We all decided to buddy travel and headed off on the journey first to The Mast Store Annex in Valle Crucis. While we were there we walk a short way from the annex to the original Mast Store in Sugar Grove, NC just up the road a piece. This is a retailer selling a broad selection of goods, including food, apparel & outdoor gear, since 1883. (We have actually been to others on our jaunts around NC).
During our conversations with Sarah and Andrew we found out they did the mural in Elkin, NC that we admired, plus some others across the country. Fitting their art concept into the community with purpose and words.
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| The Original Mast Store |
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| Still in operation U.S. Post Office in The Mast Store |
The continuing rain did not stop us from going to Pisgah National Forest and Linville Falls. We were lucky despite the inclement weather, so we parked both rigs and hiked to falls in our rain gear, Keith and I laughed about it, thinking of a time in MI when we did a hike in the rain with Karen & Martin in the Upper Peninsula.
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| Low level rain clouds over the Blue Ridge, what a beautiful day! |
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| Linville Falls trail, look at the river of water |
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| Linville Falls |
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| Keith and Wayne selfie time at Linville Falls |
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| Our travel buddies, Sarah & Andrew |
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| Linville Falls |
After the hiking we drove 4 miles from the entrance of Linville Falls down an old State Road to Wiseman’s View. This gravel road was in good condition for us to travel at times we had to slow down due to the rain and switchbacks. Andrew and Sarah joined us boondocking, we chilled out trail looking over Linville Gorge from Wiseman's View (named after LaFayette 'Uncle Fete' Wiseman. This was his favorite camping area.)
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| Old NC State 1238 before the Blue Ridge Parkway |
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| Wiseman's View up Linville Gorge, cloud formation were incredible |
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| The trail leads to this amazing view of Table Rock Mountain, Hawksbill Mountain, Shortoff Mountain and Linville Gorge. (35.9053415, -81.907820 Nebo, NC Grandfather Ranger District, National Forests of North Carolina) |
19Jul we made coffee then walked to Wiseman’s View for sunrise. We watched the clouds rise from the gorge and the sun peek through before the entire gorge filled with clouds.
Got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, went through Little Switzerland Tunnel. Drove to Crabtree Falls then hiked the loop. It started to downpour while hiking, found a couple of “umbrellas” trees to get some cover before running to the campground. We found a roof for shelter staying dry, while the rain thundered down under the roof of the mens room. We dried off a little but the rain did not let up, so we ran to the RVs.
We stopped at Black Mountain Overlook at elevation 3892, in Burnsville, NC. We sat outside chatting in the beautiful weather as the clouds danced along the valley below. We call it a night at 21:30.
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| Good morning Pisgah National Forest, Linville Gorge |
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| Fog rolling into the gorge |
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| Keith and Wayne watching the sunrise and clouds come in, taken by Sarah McWilson |
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| Andrew and Sarah enjoying the peace after the clouds pass |
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| Crabtree Falls hike with Andrew and Sarah |
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| Crabtree Falls |
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| Andrew & Sarah break to enjoy the falls and a needed snack |
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| We were so soak, the wrung out their shirts. |
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| Water soaked mushroom on the trail. |
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| Good evening Black Mountain Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway |
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| Marshmellow and Untethered buddy camped |
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| Morning has broken on the Blue Ridge |
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| The fog and clouds breaking in the afternoon, we spent the day here |
We spent three days and two nights in Asheville, NC. We moved to River Arts District along the French Broad River. Really beautiful area along the water. We did have to call the police once when a guy holding a machete knock on the door of the RV. We have never felt unsafe anywhere we have parked. We moved the RV and called the police, they had already had complaints.
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| There are many murals throughout this cool, hip, vibrant city |
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| Chicken Alley mural has a lot going on |
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| Bronze cat on the wall with a real bird, timing it everything |
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| Walking down the hill with our to go boxes |
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| Woolworth is now an artist gallery with the actual lunch counter still operating. We had to stop for a malt. |
Woolworth Walk is a uniquely Asheville experience; a privately and locally owned gallery in the the heart of downtown, located in a historic building and representing local artists exclusively. It is without a doubt "Worth the Walk".
After leaving Asheville, we traveled to the Tennessee basin and Cherokee Indian Reservation at 18:15. We were able to get tickets to 'Unto These Hills' performance for the performance at 19:30, we arrived at the ticket office at 19:05. The performance was informative and well done with much action.
We ended up parking and slept by the river at Oconaluftee River Park. Spending two days in Cherokee, We went up to the Oconaluftee Village taking the tour then meeting Chipper at the Council House, very informative and helpful for Keith to discuss family history and recordings. They take DNA sample from children at age 2, their parents and grandparents as well.
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| Entering Cherokee, NC |
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| Unto These Hills production |
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| Oconaluftee River Park |
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| Beading inside the village |
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| Original housing used by the Cherokee |
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| Council House |
We traveled down the mountain to the Museum of the Cherokee, nice museum going through time of the Cherokee people, Trail of Tears, Thomas Legion during the US Civil War to present. Nice journey through Cherokee history. We finished all we wanted to explore in Cherokee, off to Smoky Mountains and Tennessee.
We started our route to Tennessee, stopping at the highest elevation we have been with RV at 6310’ to Clingmans Dome, Bryson City, NC. We hiked to the observation deck 6643’ built 1960. It was clouded in but interesting to be there. We stayed to see the sunset and overnight.
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| Oconaluftee River |
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| We made it to the Great Smoky Mountains |
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| Clingmans Dome was one heck of an uphill hike to the actual dome, then it was fog in. We had a good time anyway. |
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| Selfie sunset at Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains. |
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| Sunset over Bryson City, Clingmans Dome. We spent the night here |
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| Sun starting to set as the clouds roll in |
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| Sunsetting over the ridge |
Next morning after photographing the sunrise we drove to Newfound Gap, UNESCO site since 1983. This is the boundary between NC and TN. Elevation 5,046.
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| TN/NC State lines at 5,046' |
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| An amazing view from here of the Smokies |
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| Can't believe we are in an UNESCO World Heritage Site |
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| Untethered in the Great Smoky Mountains |
We stopped at the visitor center and found out about the Alum Cave Trail to Mount LeConte Lodging 6,593’. Made the hike in 3:01:06, 5.18 miles up to the lodge. Walked .2 over to the Cliffs from the Lodge for an amazing view, plus we saw good size doe. The hike was somewhat moderate to strenuous. Started hiking down at 15:35, 11 mile hike in 6 hours and 16 minutes.
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| We hiked the Alum Cave Nature Trail to Mount Le Comte |
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| The lower trail was rushing water and falls |
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| Made it to Alum Cave with 2.7 miles to Mount Le Comte |
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| Outstanding beauty even in the haze |
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| Still experimenting with macro photography |
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| Closer to the top |
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| We made it to LeComte Lodge 0.2 from the summit |
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| We made it to the Summit |
Afterwards, we drove through Gatlinburg, much like Daytona Beach and Myrtle Beach, we both could not get out of there fast enough, tons of people and not a mask to be seen. Ended up driving to Pigeon Forge and stayed the night in a Cracker Barrel.
We escaped Gatlinburg and Pigeon finding refuge in Knoxville, we had an appointment to get the speed sensor repaired. We stayed in Knoxville a couple of days, hiking and swimming.
Knoxville has a great greenway for hiking, running and biking, Knoxville Urban Widerness. We took out the bikes at Forks of the River. We went in one direction that was short then in the other direction Will Skelton Greenway past a small airport. It started pouring and we got completely soaked to the skin but we had fun.
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| Downtown Knoxville, narrow streets and no parking for us |
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| Map of Knoxville's Urban Trails |
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| The sun is shining |
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| Sunflower field on the bike path |
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| Mead's Quarry Lake |
Only minutes from downtown Knoxville is beautiful rolling woodlands of Ijams Nature Center featuring an array of exhibits, a museum store, over 10 miles of trails to hike, run and mountain bike, a quarry to fish, and during summer months, canoes and kayaks to rent for paddling. We enjoyed this area for a couple of days.
The clouds and rain passed so we took a swim in Mead's Quarry Lake after we filled the water tank. Water was warm and clear. After our swim we found out the RiverWalk trail was across the street. Walked along the River Boardwalk up to the end that was closed for repairs.
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| River Boardwalk along the Tennessee River |
We spent the last two days in Knoxville doing chores, laundry then hiking Fort Dickerson Park and swimming at Augusta Quarry.
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| One of the best-preserved earthen forts from the Civil War era rests on a knob just across the river from downtown, providing a high vantage point to get a full view of the downtown skyline as well as the high peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains. The overlook peers across the placid turquoise waters that pool in the 350-foot deep quarry. History buffs will enjoy wandering over to the historic Civil War fort to stroll around the interpretive trail. |
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| Restored canon on the bluff |
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| Keith standing in between the earthen mounds, the killing field |
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| Pit Viper Trail below the Fort view |
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| Flowers bordered the trail |
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| Fort Dickerson Park / Augusta Quarry |
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| Swimming in the quarry, perfect way to end the day. |
After the warranty work is completed at Mercedes Benz of Knoxville we are back on the road. We had a great time exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway off the parkway, since we decided to trail the complete Blue Ridge from Cherokee, NC to Fort Royal, VA.
Driving up Route 441 through Cherokee, NC we stopped at Mingus Mill, A large water-powered mill for grinding corn can be seen in operation one-half mile north of the Oconaluftee Visitors Center in Cherokee on US 441. The grounds are open daily.
Built in 1886, this historic grist mill uses a water-powered turbine instead of a water wheel to power all of the machinery in the building.
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| Mingus Mill, was the largest gristmill in the Smokies. Its 200 foot long wooden flume brings water to the mill's turbine. As early as the 1820's, more progressive millers began using turbines to power their mills rather than waterwheels. |
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| Mingus Mill |
We saw a herd of Elk grassing off the side of the road near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, or in the lowland fields along US 441 in the National Park. We entered the Blue Ridge Parkway at16:40 on 28Jul. The next chapter in the adventure starts.
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| Traveling from Carolina Beach on the back roads of NC from RVillage map |
