Rain and serenity 9/29/2015

Today was an opportunity for us to see the beautiful hills of Virginia//Kentucky in a different way. It started raining early on in the day, so we took our umbrellas and headed out to explore Breaks. Breaks Interstate  Park is administered by both Virginia and Kentucky as it emcompasses land from each state. It was first envisioned by some to be a national park, but Congress denied funding. So the two states set this land aside as a state park. It is considered to be a "resort" park, with a conference center, a lodge, cabins, campground, water park, pool, and restaurant located here. I had originally thought we could go to the restaurant here to celebrate our anniversary, but after Labor Day, the restaurant is closed on Mondays and tuesdays. Many people use the facilities here for business

conferences, weddings and family reunions, and those functions usually have people arriving here on Wednesday or Thursday. When we arrived, there wwas virtually noone in the park. We were the only campers along with 2-3 others in the entire campground, where there are a total of ta least 100 sites.

There are a number of short trails that lead to overlooks that provide sweeping views of the valleys below. This area is incredibly beautiful. The valleys between the mountains here are not wide and flat, but very narrow. Most roads are nestled in the hollows with hills to either side, with a creek to the side of the road. Any homes are built across the creek, and are connected to the road by a small bridge. While this is not always the case, it is very common. This is the heart of Appalachia. Coal

country. From up on the high overlooks at Breaks, we were provided an incredible view of all the mountain folds, their hollows, the changing fall foliage, the river and the railroad that carries coal out of the area. Clouds were low in the hollows.. We stood there in the quiet (we were the only people there), rain coming down, umbrellas in hand, mesmerized by the serenity of the moment. Ray mentioned that it would be great to have our lounge chairs there and then to sit in the silence, sipping a cold beer, and feel the

peace of the place.

We visited all of the overlook trails, and started down one other longer trail, but it started to rain even harder. It was getting to midday by then, and we opted to return to the RV, at least until the rain stopped. We had lunch, read a bit, surfed the web (using our phone signals--there's Verizon 4G here), and I took a short nap while listening to the rain patter on the roof of the RV.

The rain did stop later in the afternoon, and we decided that a hike would be too soggy, so we revisited  a few of the spots we had so enjoyed that morning.

Our anniversary day finished with dinner and a movie in our little retreat in the woods.

Thanks, Garmin! 9/28/2015

Behold Kentucky Route 611

Around a hairpin turn leaving Big South Fork.
I was following in the Elantra.

Our ultimate destination today was Breaks Interstate Park that sits on the border of Kentucky and Virginia. In leaving the Big South Fork campground, our only choice if we wanted to shave at least 1-2 hours of extra driving, was to go out the way we came in--up and down the sinuous curves we negotiated on the way in. To make it easier, I drove the Elantra, rather than hooking it up to the RV. That made it a bit easier to go around those hairpin turns. Ray drove the beast like a champ, and we traveled the 4 miles from the campground down to a place where we could connect the car. It took 15 minutes to go 4 miles.

After a brief stop in Oneida for gas and few groceries, we set off using a directions list Ray had printed out from the Good Sam Club (an RV club) website. Issue #1: we missed the turn for a state road going east. When we realized this, we checked our state paper road map, and saw that another road would connect us to the Interstate to which we were heading. We headed down that road. From that point, our Garmin (specifically designed for the needs of RVers) had a different route mapped out than the Good Sam route. Which to use? Issue #2: we chose the Garmin. All was fine until Garmin directed us to turn onto Kentucky Route 611. Let me stress here that our Garmin specifically routes RVs on roads that are RV-safe. Issue #3: Route 611. OH. MY. GOD. This route made the entrance to Big South Fork look like the Interstate. Route 611 looked to be just slightly wider than our driveway, and a whole lot more steep and riddled with curves and hairpin turns. The road was JUST wide enough for the RV. No other cars. JUST our RV. So Ray carefully (there's really no other way), guided the RV down route 611, through what I imagine the towns depicted in Justified looked like. (Harlan county is actually just south of this area.) And then... Issue #4: THE SCHOOL BUS. To our extreme horror, we came around a bend, and beheld a full size school bus coming down the road directly at us. We couldn't back up. There was no place to go. We couldn't move over to the right. Our passenger side wheels were at the very edge of the pavement, and there was a 2 foot drop off directly at the pavement edge (can you spell "snapped axle"?) we stopped. Our blood pressure spiked (at least mine did). The bus driver advanced...slowly, and eased the bus by, putting his wheels onto a sliver of grass on the other side of the road, with about 2-3 inches (not an exaggeration) to spare between our 2 vehicles. We assume that this bus driver has done this before. we drove on this hellish road for about 8 miles.It seemed like an eternity. In some places, the edge of the road had collapsed, narrowing the already too-narrow road. We met a few cars coming form the opposite direction, and they politely stopped and moved to the shoulder to let us pass. Thanks Garmin, for the great RV directions!

Finally we arrived at Breaks and at our campsite. With some difficulty, we leveled  the rig in our full-hookup spot (water, electric, sewer), and were somewhat surprised that there were no other people on our campground loop. We're all by ourselves. In the pitch dark. In the woods.

Boulders 9/28/2015

Boulders at the falls

An unusual thing happened yesterday morning. When I woke, my cell phone app clock (I use my cell phone as a bedside clock as it charges), read one time, and the cell phone itself read another. We are probably parked just yards away from the line between Central and Eastern time zones, and my phone was confused!

This was another lovely day in eastern Tennessee. It started out cloudy, and evolved into a warm, sunny day. The hikes we had planned today were in the southeast area of the park. The first was a 4 1/2 mile walk along the Big South Fork River to Angel Falls, essentially an area of hazardous rapids in the river. In the 1950s, some local fishermen figured they would be doing a good thing by blowing up some of the big boulders in this area to improve the course of the river, and also the fishing here. What they actually managed to do was to create some of the most hazardous rapids in an eastern river.

The path along the river was pleasant, following the river the whole way, with some interesting rock walls alongside. We passed a coal seam in the rock wall just short of the falls. If we hadn't walked past the falls overlook area (a small opening in the trees), we would have missed the larger attraction on the trail. Just a short distance down the trail, we descended to the boulder-strewn river bed. This time of year, the river had shrunken to a fraction of its springtime flow. We were able to hop from boulder to boulder along the stream bed and track back up the river to the place where the  falls (rapids) were easily visible. The massive boulder field must have been rock fall from the surrounding hills. After poking around the boulder field for a while, we retraced our route and returned to the car, and drove to a gorge overlook where we ate lunch.

We then decided to hike to what was billed as "an outstanding view of the Big South Fork River", a short 2.6 mile hike. That view might have been "outstanding" many years ago. The trail ended in a rocky outcropping that did, at some point in the past, probably offer a lovely view of the river and gorge below. Now tall trees have obscured the view almost completely.

Coal seam

We returned to the campground, had a beer, and then took a stroll around the campground loops. In campgrounds we like, we like to scope out which sites are best if we decide to return some time. Most of the spaces here are large and private, but after looking, I think we got one of the best spots. Since it was Sunday, most of our neighbors had packed up and left, leaving us almost alone in this loop. All we can hear are crickets and cicadas. Lovely!

Rain, Arches and Caves 9/27/2015

Friday we woke to pouring rain, packed up in pouring rain, and drove for a bit before it abated. When we stopped for groceries in Maryville, about 20 minutes away, the rain had let up for a while, only to begin again when we arrived at bandy Creek Campground at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. It poured as we set up. What a blessing to be able too take refuge in our dry, warm, comfortable rig, once we were all "plugged in"! This campground is a beauty. Our site is huge and private, and has water and electric.

There is a dump station in the park, so we can get rid of black and grey water when we leave. Because we have a federal Golden Eagle pass, camping here is 1/2 price: $11.00 a night. Such a deal.

This federal land is a network of hills, hollows, rocky ridges and river valleys, and the Big South Fork River itself flows through a deep gorge. It's really not close to any metropolitan area, and while it's hard to tell based on this time of year (it's probably busier in spring and summer), it's not heavily visited.

Our trip into the campground was interesting. It seems that snaky roads are the norm in this part of the country. Ray did a stellar job maneuvering our beast and tow car around hair pin curves on a road that is barely wide enough to fit 2 cars comfortably across its width. The snaky part was at least 2-3 miles long. We took the road at 10-20 mph, the maximum safe speed. The ride out will be "entertaining" as well.

Yesterday (Saturday), we ventured out to check out the area. We headed up to an area on the west side of the park, about 20 miles from the campground. Once we got off the "main road", we followed a one-lane dirt road down about 4 miles, to arrive at a lovely spot where we hiked to Twin Arches, double-sandstone arches.

One of the Twin Arches

These are the largest natural bridges in KY and TN. Having visited Arches National Park, we just didn't consider the existence of arches back east. These arches are impressive, and made more lovely by their wooded setting.

On our return to the car after this hike, we ate lunch, then drove to the trailhead for the Slave Falls Loop trail. This is an easy 4 mile walk that took us to another arch and a trickling falls by some neat rock formations. These rock "caves" sheltered runaway slaves, as legend tells it. The weather was lovely--low 70s, if a

Needle Arch

bit on the humid side. One cool thing about both the hikes we did today was the complete quiet on the trails. Noone was here!

As we drove the local roads, we noted the large number of horse farms, lodgings, campgrounds, ranches, and the like in this area. People staying at this campground can leave their horse(s) in the nearby stable for riding in the area.

Tomorrow we will check out the river gorge.

Snaky roads 9/24/2015

Today we decided to investigate the southwest side of Smoky Mountain national Park, an area that is less used by visitors. We started out by taking the Foothills Parkway, a 2 lane road that runs roughly parallel to the western boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs along a ridge, and has offers stopping points along its length that give lovely views of the mountains to the east, and the valley to the west. Another beautiful day greeted us with temps in the low 70s. We did stop at a number of the viewpoint turnouts, and took the time to take the short walk up to Look Rock, an observation tower that offers 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape.

From the Parkway, we continued on to Route 129, a popular road for motorcyclists and sports car drivers. We found this out after we had started down this road, and found that there weren't that many cars and trucks, but LOTS of motorcycles. And the cars that we did see were little convertible sports cars. We soon found out why. See that squiggly line in the southwestern side of the route? That's Route 129. It is a succession of 318 curves in 11 miles. It's not called "Tail of the Dragon" for nothing! Check it out here. No one really seemed to be interested in the 30 mph speed limit, so we found ourselves pulling into the many turnouts to let cycles and sports cars by. (We were negotiating the curves at a zesty pace of 2nd and 3rd gears.) As we came around one sharp curve, we found ourselves face to face with a guy sitting under an umbrella pointing a camera at us. There was a huge sign by his chair: 129photos.com. We quickly realized that cyclists and sports cars drivers buy the pictures that these guys take of their car/cycle as it comes zooming down the road. Maybe by the time you look, a photo of our snazzy light blue Elantra will be posted on 129photos.com! But it wasn't just that company. As we progressed down the road, there were 2 other competing companies: 129slayer.com (here's one of the pix from 129 slayer--with their copy protection on the photo--clean copies are $7)

, and killboy.com, both of which had people with cameras stationed along the road to snap pix of riders. Check out their websites too. We may be their featured photo!

The road itself is quite beautiful, passing through mature deciduous forests, with occasional breaks to reveal the gorgeous mountains in the distance. This trip was really a lot of fun. We stopped for lunch at a rest area just before the Fontana Dam. It was a wonderful spot on the river that we had all to ourselves.

Further on, we turned north on Route 19 at Cherokee, a road distinguished by its assemblage of pawn shops (there's a casino there), 50s motels

campgrounds, and cabins. Route 441 is a lovely ride that bisects the national park, with stunning views along its length.

If you are in this part of the country, we highly recommend this drive.

Clingman's Dome and Andrews Bald 9/23/2015

Today's travels took us to Clingman's Dome and Andrews Bald in Smoky Mountain National Park. The ride from Townsend, where we are staying, to Clingman's took about 1 3/4 hours. This to go all of 37.7 miles. The combination of the snaky, narrow road and construction delays made for an "interesting" trip. Weather was perfect for hiking, mid to high 60s.

Clingman's Dome tower

Clingman's is the highest point in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, the highest point in Tennessee, and the second highest point east of the Mississippi. Located along the state line ridge, it's half in North Carolina, and half in Tennessee. We drove up the access road, and hiked the very steep 1/2 mile up to the observation tower. Fortunately the hike is on a paved path, so it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, there were a lot of clouds obscuring the view, which on a clear day can reach to 100 miles and into seven states. Apparently, pollution cuts the average viewing distance to about 22 miles. Even so, the vistas up there are sweeping and spectacular.

After ascending to Clingman's Dome, we retreated down the hill a bit to start the hike to Andrews Bald, a mountain named for an early settler who hunted on this mountain. High elevation grassy meadows in the Southern Appalachian Mountains are known as balds.  For many years, this trail was very rough and rocky, covered with loose rocks, small boulders and eneven surfaces. Starting in 2008, volunteers constructed staircases out of wood and rock, installed drainage and elevated boardwalks. As a result, the trail is a pleasure to hike. Views at the top were great.

Blue-flowered heartleaf asters drifted along the edges of the trail, mixed with tall ironweed and what looked like yellow coneflowers. Beautiful! As at home in NH, fall tree colors are just starting to appear--there are just a few touches of red in the hills, and a few more golds.

Smokies 9/22/2015

Today we decided to take the Cades Cove Road tour, an 11 mile one-way loop road that circles Cades Cove, a broad verdant valley surrounded by mountains. The first European settlers to this area came in the 1820s and several of the homes and structures they built are still here, preserved by the National Park Service.

Our drive was leisurely, and we took the time to see each stop along the way, and investigate the particulars of the people that lived here and how they made a life here. One of the stops was the Primitive Baptist Church. This was one of the earliest church communities in the area, dating to 1825. The church staunchly backed the Union side in the Civil War, which led to divisions tense enough within the cove, that it was actually closed during the war. When we arrived at the church during our auto tour, a park ranger was just beginning his talk explaining some of the history of the place. He pointed out that if you look up at the ceiling of the church (built in 1887), you can see handprints all over the wood.

If you zoom in on the photo, you can see the handprints left on the ceiling from about 130 years ago.

The church was constructed from green wood, and the oils from the hands of the men and boys that had built it transferred to the wood and their handprints were preserved there. Pretty cool.
The ranger explained how important the church organization was to the structure and success of the community. This talk was a highlight of the day.

Cantilever barn: common in this area. A rainy mountain climate with high humidity for much of the year makes protection from damp a continuing challenge, which this design meets nicely. Rain falling on a cantilever barn's roof drips off the eaves at a distance well removed from the supporting cribs; the overhang protects both structure and livestock, while the space between the cribs works with the continuous vents in the upper loft walls to encourage air circulation, drying the loft's contents.

The day itself was spectacular--low to mid 70s, dry and breezy. We stopped at one point and ate lunch in the shade of a huge oak tree, and laid on the ground watching the clouds drift by. Absolute perfection!

Yay! Water restored! 9/22/2015

We packed up yesterday morning in the pouring rain, and opted to try a fix of the water pipe leak in drier climes further south. The rain came down, hard at times, for about half our trip to Townsend, TN. The drive along I-81 is really beautiful as it runs through the Shenandoah valley. The expansive view you get through the gigantic RV windshield is pretty awesome. One thing we realized is that when you drive over bridges in a car, in many circumstances, all you can see is a concrete wall on either side of the bridge. With the RV, because you are up so high, you get a great view of whatever you're traversing.

Speaking of things you can see on the road, we saw this the other day:

The hand-written sign on the truck reads: "Flash a Trucker Day". 

When we arrived at our campground in Townsend, TN, we set up and Ray undertook the repair of the leaky water line. We had bought some tape that supposedly fixes leaky pipes (EZ Fuse silicone tape). He applied the tape, and voila! water! So far, the fix has held. Lest you think that Ray was operating in anything other than uncomfortable circumstances, let this photo disabuse you of that notion. This is almost representative of the position Ray was in when he was applying the pipe tape. He was actually further into the small compartment. This is a shot of Ray checking the fix this morning.

Our campsite is right on the Little River, just outside the entrance to Smoky Mountain National Park. We're looking forward to our first day in the park, and will be here for 4 nights.

Pinhole! 9/21/2015

Yesterday started out really well. We are getting more efficient at packing up the RV and hooking up the car. Before we left, I made sandwiches for lunch. Our plan was to stop at Manassas, VA at the Civil War battlefield on the way to the night's stay in Staunton, VA. We did stop there, and from what we could tell, it looked interesting enough that we made note of the tours, with the idea that we would spend a day there on our way back north next week. After lunch,  we headed down to Staunton, and arrived there at about 4;30 p.m. We set up, and then sat down to have a beer.

Ray was checking in to the Cowboys-Eagles football game on TV when he made mention that he heard what sounded like the noise from a pump. After ignoring it for a few minutes, he went out to investigate. Holy Crap!!! Water was gushing from the front storage bay where the water heater resides. Investigation showed that there appears to be a pinhole leak in the outflow pipe from the water heater. Water was spraying out at a good clip all over the bay. After turning off the water spigot supplying the rig, we considered possible fixes. One of our camping neighbors offered info on local stores that might have solutions (Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart). He was really trying to help in any way he could.  By that time, it was 7:00 p.m. On a Sunday. Lowes was closed. Home Depot (our best alternative at this point) would be closing at 8:00. So, we booked it over to Home Depot and picked up some tape that supposedly bonds to whatever you wrap it on (looks like cool stuff!).

By the time we got back, it was too dark to do anything about our leaky pipe. With no water in the camper, we filled up a bucket so we could flush the toilet, and filled a few containers with drinking water. That would keep us for a while.

Today, we woke to the sound of rain on the roof. The fix will have to wait til this evening when we stop at our campground in Townsend, TN.

Never a dull moment!

Bumper to bumper 9/19/2015

With about 345 miles for the first leg of our trip, we settled in for what we expected to be a 7 1/2 to 8 hour trip in the RV with the Elantra towed behind. What we hadn't planned on was traffic backup from 2 accidents along the way, one in Norwalk, CT, and the other about 25 miles from our destination. A traffic backup on the Pennsylvania Turnpike also added to the length of our ride. So 9 hours after our departure, we arrived at our first stop: West Chester, PA.

A couple of observations about RV travel:

• bathroom breaks are really easy-- (just use the RV accomodations)
• Want a drink or a snack? Just get up and hit the refrigerator.
• There are some gigantic trucks on the road! I saw a 53 foot Walmart truck on the interstate, not to mention the many double and triple trailers.
• Some roads are in a constant state of repair (like 293 in Worcester and 95 in New Haven). we can't ever remember a time when either of those roads has not had orange cones, construction barrels and jersey barriers distributed along the road's length.
• Toll lanes were not constructed with 8 1/2 foot wide RVs in mind. The RV fits, but those lanes look mighty small as you approach.

Next we're heading to Staunton, VA on our way down to the Smokies.