“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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Trekking through the Carolinas

 

Aww….the mountains!

Our “friends and family” tour continued across the Carolinas, stopping in Greenville, South Carolina for a short visit with our longtime friends, Carol and Lee.

As always, Captain and Lee shared news of former co-workers and traveled down “Memory Lane.” Mostly they told jokes and shared memes that most folks would not understand.

Lee challenged us to a couple games of Smart A**, which Captain won with Lee a close second.

Crossing the North Carolina border we caught up with our Maryland friends, Juanita and Greg in Asheville to do a bit of brewery hopping. Sampling at these eight breweries, Wicket Weed Funkatorium, Wicket Weed, Burial, Hi-Wire, Twin Leaf, Wedge at Foundation, Bhramari and The Whale.

While The Wedge at Foundation in the River Arts District was quite interesting,

We voted Burial as our favorite, both for the beer and the ambiance.

If you are interested in doing a brewery hop, here are a few tips:

·       Ask for a taste; some breweries will accommodate, others will not. Don’t count on the bartender to make an offer. (Of course, after you sample, you are expected to buy a beer.)

·       Most breweries will do a 5oz pour, but if you don’t ask for it you will get a 12 or 16 ounce glass.

·       Flights are a good way to sample multiple brews.

·       If possible, walk from brewery to brewery to burn calories.

We said “goodbye” to Juanita and Greg with a campfire and promises to stay in touch.

Continuing west, we parked The Wanderer at ABN’s niece and husband’s cabin in Marble, N.C.

After a Saturday morning walk along the Valley and Hiwassee Rivers,

we settled in to watch some disappointing football. Well, it was disappointing for Captain, the Aggie, but Sue and Dave celebrated a win for their team, the Boilermakers.  

Their border collie, Pani, provided most of the entertainment.

Trekking west through the Appalachian Mountains, we have left the grid for a few days.  We are finally in the mountains without electricity, water, sewer connection, and cell service.

 

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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.

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list.