“Into the woods we did go, to clear our minds and feed our souls” (paraphrased from John Muir)

 

Five days we spent in The Great Smokey Mountain National Park without Wi-Fi, cell service, sewer connection or electricity (except for solar panels and the occasional generator.)  We have stayed in the park before but this was our first stay at Elkmont Campground. Aww...the peace and quiet. At night the only sound was the rushing of water in Little River.

 

Little River

After sunset light came from campfires scattered throughout the campground or from flashlights as campers trekked to the Porta-Potties. (ABN was grateful we had our own facilities in The Wanderer.)

We will return!

Elkmont is located a few miles from Gatlinburg, but we were not at all tempted to visit that world. (In fact, we have visited The GSMNP at least a dozen times over the past 25 years but have been to the tourist town only once.) We prefer the quieter side of the Smokies. 

After a couple of nights at Elkmont, we moved to the more familiar campground at Cades Cove where a couple of our good friends from home joined us.

 

Cades Cove is a popular tourist destination in the park so it is not as quiet. The road paving during the day added noise and congestion. Still the nights were very dark and quiet. During the day we entertained ourselves with hikes (or walks, depending on one’s definition of a hike),

 

"Does that mean us?"

Abram's Creek

and a bike ride around the Cove. You may recall our posts from previous stays at Cades Cove. Traditionally the cove is closed to motorists for a few hours on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, providing a safe place to bicycle. That was not the case this time.  Closed most of September for road repair; it reopened Tuesday afternoon with miles of traffic waiting to get in and was open to motorists again on Wednesday morning. Wanting to cycle the 11-mile cove but not deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic, we elected to ride early in the morning. At day-break we saddled up and peddled through the fog and the cool temperature.

 

We applauded ourselves that not only could we still do this, but not one of us had to walk the hills.

In the evenings we sat around the campfire, telling retelling stories of previous camping, hiking, and biking adventures; over the years, there were many. If you are reading this and you were a part of those adventures, you can bet your stories were told (and probably embellished a bit.)

Since the sun doesn’t rise until around 7 a.m. and we usually wake around 4 or 5, with no paper to read or social media, we started reading Bill Bryson’s The Lost Continent.  Not surprisingly, we have different opinions of the book; Captain thinks it is hilarious, ABN thinks Bryson traveled around our country searching for support for his biases. We both agree, his travel experiences did not mirror ours.

 Just to be clear, we did find a cell signal at a high spot one day and on the last day of our stay we discovered there was a guest Wi-Fi at the camp store, so we were able to do a couple of quick checks for messages.

On Friday Roger and Duncan headed home and we headed to a full-service campground in Walland to do laundry and catch up with the real world. (Actually it was so Captain could watch another disappointing A&M game.) After a week of really good camp food, (thank you, Bonita) Roger and his wife, Jean, treated us to a delicious fried chicken dinner in their beautiful mountain home.

We were pleased to find the folks that own Dancing Bear restaurant and lodge have replaced a really bad Italian restaurant in Townsend.

There we caught up with ABN’s cousin, Susie and husband Don.

After lunch, we visited their beautiful mountain home for the last time as it was recently sold. They will be spending time in their Kentucky home and promise to visit us (if they can catch us at home.)

Folks have asked us if, during our travels, there is any place to which we like to return. The answer is yes, there are a few. The map below will tell you that East Tennessee is one of those places. Each color represents a trip in The Wanderer these past 6 years.

 

Moving on toward Texas; without further distractions, we should arrive later this week.

 

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We have explored the Eastern Seaboard

 and this is what we learned.

• We are not “beach people.” What is there to do at the beach if one doesn’t swim, surf, kayak, or have a boat BIG boat, except walk on the beach and look at the sunset, maybe take a bike ride (if it isn’t too windy or raining,) and sweep sand out of the coach?

•  Don’t plan to eat out or shop on Mondays or Tuesdays, you may or may not find anything          open. (During this time of labor shortage, check before you go as hours and days open seem to change daily.) 
• If one is planning a trip to the beach around a holiday, make it at the end of the holiday and avoid the traffic returning to the city.

• Take the Go Pro on a bike ride. You never know what you might see, and besides there needs to be some documentation. Great ride from Delaware Seashore State Park to Rehoboth Beach, 17 mile round trip, no photo.

•        If the peddling is easy going out, expect a pay-back on the return
•        East Coast is bike friendly with wide bike lanes even in congested areas.
• ·    Exception; Bike paths in resorts and urban areas are not the most relaxing ride for tandems; due to many stops and sharp curves.     

•     Dogfish Head Beer is good,

But Thompson Island Glazed and Confused is better (think donut infused pastry stout brew.)

•     It is perfectly okay to zig back in-land for a little bit of history; even if it means crossing the           Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

            So we zigged back in-land to revisit Monticello

Thomas Jefferson was a most interesting man. Monticello was designed in the Neoclassical and Palladian style and appointed with his finds in Europe. His inventions include the polygraph and multiple book stand as shown in the photo. The bed was designed in an alcove so the air could flow through.

This was our 2^nd time to visit Monticello; we noticed the tour now includes information on Sally Hemings. Apparently she was a half-sister to Jefferson’s wife. The story is, she accompanied Jefferson to Paris to care for Jefferson’s young daughter. Since France did not recognize slavery, she could have stayed there and been free. However she agreed to return to the states if she did not have to do hard, field work and if any children he fathered in the future would be freed upon his death. He kept that promise. She was 16 at the time she returned to Monticello and was pregnant. 

Although Jefferson was anti-slavery, he owned around 600 slaves during his Monticello days. On his death 5 were freed, the rest were sold to help pay off the his huge debt. (He lived way above his means.)

Monticello is well worth a visit. 

• Harvest Host stays are not necessarily the least expensive,

     but they tend to lead to more interesting stays and finds.

Goat Climbing Tower

            Tipsy Tuesday friends, look forward to Wine Slushies next summer.

•   One never knows where one will find inspiration. Inspired (well that would be ABN) at a Harvest Host stay at Dirt Bag Brewery in Hope Mills, NC.

We do have the bikes!

  

• There are more bugs in the east than in the west. Keep a cover on your wine glass if sitting outside.

•  Light houses no longer have “keepers”, the signals are triggered by photo cells that turn on the lights at dark. We could see this one flashing from our campsite at Oregon Inlet Campground in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

 

Bodie Lighthouse
N.C. Outer Banks

Our Eastern Seaboard excursion ends and our Friends and Family Tour continues in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Eastbrook High School Class of 1967, look who we found on the Island!

We also caught up with former Paducah friends, Jill and Carl. (To be clear, Jill and Carl are current friends who formerly lived in Paducah.)

Sunset from Carl and Jill's patio.

 

Number 44

The Wanderer is now pointed toward Texas.

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What to do in Maryland

Eat Maryland Crab Cakes of course. Well that was the plan, but at $30 each, we decided we would just have a little on our fries and on club sandwiches (which were delicious!) It seems as though there is a crab shortage due to the lack of pickers. Our waiter said they had to pay $58 a pound for crab, so they lose money on the crab cakes.

Rural Maryland is lush, green and rolling, much like central Kentucky Horse Country. We parked The Wanderer at the farm of our friends near Frederick, MD. Their granddaughters ages 6, 4 and 2 gave us the farm tour and introduced us to their goats and chickens. We were quite impressed with the young ladies. They seemed unusually articulate, inquisitive, observant and engaging for their ages. They are expecting a baby brother to arrive in a few weeks.  Oh, and they are home schooled. 

We met Greg and Juanita in Fredricksburg, TX about a year and a half ago. You may have remembered them from a blog post last fall when they parked their rig at our house for a couple of nights. We introduced them to our local brewery, Dry Ground, and they introduced us to their Flood Zone. Our timing was fortuitous as water had just receded from Ida the day before.

Not far from Frederick is the Civil War battlefield, Antietam; so off we went for a little history lesson. Antietam was not the bloodiest battle of the war (that would be Gettysburg) but it was the bloodiest one day battle with about 23,000 casualties. Even though the Union lost more men, they were given the victory when Gen. Lee withdrew and crossed back over the Potomac River. The win gave President Lincoln the encouragement he needed to announce the Emancipation Proclamation.

Reading history is interesting; visiting historical sites make it real. The Union lost 359,528 soldiers to the war in battles, diseases, accidents and prison camps.

Rarely is the price paid for freedom for the slaves mentioned.

Of course we couldn’t be so close to Arlington and not stop in.

Greg and Juanita are Boondockers Welcome hosts. It was our fortune that a Boondocker couple was also parked on the farm.  Janine and Matt, formerly from the Frederick area, are now full time RVers. Janine is a hooker (she hooks rugs, okay) and an amazing artist. From her photos she sketches designs on canvas fabric and hooks them to make amazing pieces of art. 

I stole this image from her blog. 

You can see more of her pieces and read about their adventures on her blog,  Joyful Wonder, 

Both Greg and Matt work remotely, while Juanita and Janine drive their rigs. They were doing this long before the COVID lockdowns. 

Another evening sitting around, drinking wine and telling stories. Life is good.

The Eastern Seaboard is calling us and we are so close. Texas can wait.

43 down and still wandering

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Why Stamping Ground?

 

Located about 10 miles NE of Georgetown in Scott County, KY, Stamping Ground is a small town of about 802 (2019 census.) It was named for the herds of buffalo that once roamed the area.

This is what brought us to Stamping Ground.

ABN’s nephew and family live on a small farm with 2 horses, 6 chickens and 2 dogs.

Calamity Creek Farm

So much fun seeing the changes in the children over the past couple of years. Jack is a freshmen in high school and is a percussionist in the high school marching band. Samaya is in 7^th grade and is all about horses. She trains Emmet and Zip for competition.

The annual Horsey Hundred bike ride has been a favorite of ours these past 25 years. We had hoped to ride the familiar roads while we were there. 

(Thanks to Ida, we were not able to ride.)

But we did revisit Georgetown.

Leaving Stamping Ground, we skipped across ABN’s roots in Eastern Kentucky,

into

where we did a Harvest Host stay at Lambert’s Vintage Wines in Weston, WV.

Lambert’s Winery is about 10 miles down twisting roads from I-79. It is a popular wedding venue.

Our hosts, Debbie and Jim welcomed us most graciously by building a fire for us to enjoy as we sipped wine.

Later Becky and Mike from South Carolina, enroute to a family reunion in Pennsylvania, joined us. After dinner, Bonnie and Tom pulled up with their Scamp RV,  returning to their home in Lexington, KY after spending time with friends in Long Island, NY. After the winery closed for the day, Jim and Debbie pulled up chairs and we all had a fun evening exchanging stories. This is the best of adventure traveling, making new friends. Note to our neighbors at home, we anticipate more RVs parked in our drive. Note to fellow Harvest Host RVers, we highly recommend Lambert’s Vintage Wines in Weston, West Virginia.

Texas, we are on our way; but we are so close to Maryland, we should first pop over say hello to our friends in Frederick.

 

Embracing the Change

 

With COVID-19 and the potential for wildfires, we had no doubt the plans for our Summer 2020 Adventure would change. Those changes led us to discover new areas and new experiences.

Our return trek from the California Sierra Foothills across Nevada and western Utah, mostly on America’s Loneliest Highway, was uneventful. Once on I-70 East the drive became much more interesting.

Entering Colorado we parked The Wanderer in an orchard at The Peachfork Orchards Winery, a Harvest Host stay near Palisade.

We had a most engaging conversation with Phil, the owner, wine maker and fruit grower who happens to be from a small Kentucky town about 100 miles from our home. In addition to peaches, he grows grapes, apples and pears which he sells throughout the area and beyond.

The drive through Colorado was stunning!

It just happened that we were there at the peak of fall color.

We also saw the damage from the Grizzly Creek wildfire in August.

A little change in our plans to visit friends led us to White Star Campground nestled in the aspens and evergreen forest near Twin Lakes.

Look closely and you can see The Wanderer.

We were happy to, once again, get into our hiking boots and hike about 5 miles along the Interlaken Trail.

Finally we arrived at the beautiful mountain home of our friends, Steve and Adele

where we parked The Wanderer for a few days.

Words can’t describe and photos don’t do justice to the beauty, but here is a glimpse of their little piece of utopia.

Their solar array provides all their electricity needs.

Passive solar heats their new greenhouse.

Nearby Arkansas River

Surrounded by mountains on every side, hiking trails abound. Considering that we are flatlanders living at near sea level, Steve and Adele were considerate to take us on trails they considered to be relatively flat.

Road leading to the Continental Divide Trail Head

The best part of our travel adventures are the new friends we make along the way. We met Steve and Adele in Arizona in the winter of 2018.

We have stayed in touch and have gotten together as often as our paths can cross. We consider them to be among our dearest friends.

Getting away from the smoke was very much welcomed. Apparently the “shortness of breath” we experienced was due to elevation gain and not the first signs of COVID!

Spending time with wonderful friends in an imposing place was the perfect finale to our Summer 2020 Adventure!

Heading east, mostly on I-70 through western Colorado, Kansas and Missouri was a bit quite boring but we did have a refreshing respite at Cousin Joy and Shannon’s home in Lindsborg, Kansas. 

Thanks to Joy and Shannon, Coronado Heights is now checked off our bucket list!

Summer Adventure 2020 has come to an end.  For us, adventures that lead us to new experiences and to friends and family with whom we can share good wine is "living richly." 

 

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