Hi Again from the Hills of Arkansas:
Early this morning about 10:00 we headed out to breakfast near our hotel to a highly recommended little restaurant called the Colonial Pancake House. We were steered correctly. It was an adorable place but crowded. We waited about 20 minutes for service, but were not disappointed or sorry that we waited. Buckwheat pancakes and ham and eggs good hot coffee and tea with what tasted like fresh squeezed orange juice. But our most enjoyable experience was the two lovely southern ladies that sat next to us. Peggy and Leenetta could have been characters straight out of a Southern book. One owned a flower shop and the other already retired worked there as an assistant. Younger than us but perfectly done hair crisp blouses, rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces. They both had thick southern accents and carried large flowered bags. They were very friendly and made pleasant conversation with us inquiring about our trip. We parted after breakfast but not before posing for the picture and taking our blog address. We hope to keep in touch.
Next on our agenda was our trip to the "Baths". Neither one of us knew what to expect so we went early to the desk to find out the details. Lucky for us they were able to take us early and so we parted me for the ladies side Chirss for the mens. I was ushered into a changing room and given a terry wrap to put on after disrobing. I only had sneakers with me so picture me in my wrap with my sneakers on. Oh life on a motorcycle doesn't provide for extras. Then I met Glenda who ushered me back to a large bathtub full of water with a whirlpool pump on the side and swirling water. She took my wrap and helped me in, gave me a cup of mineral water and left me to soak and swirl for 20 minutes at which time she came back, held up my wrap discreetly looked away as I got out of the tub and rewrapped myself.
Then she asked if I wanted the steam room or sauna. I declined both as I was too hot already. So she led me to a padded table. I layed down and she wrapped my arms and legs in warm towels and put a cold towel around my head. Heavenly!! Again left me for 15 minutes to relax. Then she came back helped me up and took me to GiGi who was to give me my massage. That is exactly what she did from head to toe.
MMMM good. Then she put my sneakers back on indicating that our time together was done. Too Bad. Now I know all about the hot baths etc.
Not bad, not bad at all.
We also planned to take the duck tour. Not a ride on a little duck but on an amphibious vehicle. However they did capitalize on the duck word in their advertisements. About 20 people on one of these open air vehicles rode through the streets of Hot Springs listening to our humorous driver telling us details of the city. Then he continued to Lake Hamilton ( a large lake just outside of the city) and into the water we went. SPLAT. Fun to suddenly go from land to sea. We sailed around the lake looking at beautiful houses with great histories that he recounted for us in his humorous way. Then back to the place where we started and our ride was over. Very enjoyable afternoon.
Now we were starting to get hungry and on the Duck our driver recommended "The Bistro" for dinner. We walked the short distance to the restaurant and elected to eat outside. Again other couples around us and Rhonda our waitress joined in an interesting conversation regarding where they were from and our motorcycle trip and future destinations that we might try. Fun for all and a good meal to boot.
It was now early evening so we took a walk over to the hot springs across the street. Along the way Chriss was drawn to an antique Buick parked in the street by the hot springs. Quite a restoration project it was beautiful. After a walk around the spring and meeting again a lady and her daughter who we had met the day before in the same spot, we walked back to our hotel and so ended our second day in Hot Springs. The weather was beautiful today temp probably in the low 80's this is quite a treat for us since in the past weeks it has been significantly higher.
So as Santa says, and a good night to all. Time to jump into bed.
Love, Carol and Chriss
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Hot Springs, AR
Happy Birthday Janet
Hello again from the road. We left Russellville, Ar about 12:30 after a nice free breakfast at the Holiday Inn. Our waitress was talking with us as she also was a motorcyclist. Seems her husband is a musician and will be playing in a band in Hot Springs Saturday evening and she invited us to go meet her there and listen to him play. We just may do that. So we exchanged phone #’s and who knows.
After packing up the bike in very cloudy weather we headed down Route 7 towards Hot Springs, Ar. Nice road and occasionally a few drops of rain on our shields. We made it most of the way and got out of the State Park before the heavens opened up and we got doused with a mighty rain storm.
But as luck would have it after a little while there was a church on that road in the town of Jessieville with a Roof over the entrance way that provided a wonderful escape from the rain for us and we waited about ½ hour until it ended and on we went into Hot Springs about 8 miles up the road. We rode through town and found the The Arlington Hotel that our waitress had recommended to us and now we are in our room and Chriss has set up his own private Chinese Laundry to dry our clothes. Won’t the maid be proud of us….
Time to go out exploring the area. Across the street was a nice park with a hot spring there waiting for us. People were around a small pool with a stone edge. The water temp was almost too hot to put your hand into. Some people were actually putting arms and hand into saying you got used to it. We just found it to be too hot. When we left there we went strolling up the street and found a little place on the second floor called the Exchange Café and had a catfish dinner, after that it was off to an ice cream internet store for dessert. Then back to the hotel Arlington for hopefully a good nights sleep. Since it is supposed to rain tomorrow also we will be here Saturday night too. Then leaving on Sunday for parts unknown but definitely west.
Our bike is parked and we will explore again tomorrow on foot.
From Beautiful Hot Springs Arkansas, Carol & Chriss
Hello again from the road. We left Russellville, Ar about 12:30 after a nice free breakfast at the Holiday Inn. Our waitress was talking with us as she also was a motorcyclist. Seems her husband is a musician and will be playing in a band in Hot Springs Saturday evening and she invited us to go meet her there and listen to him play. We just may do that. So we exchanged phone #’s and who knows.
After packing up the bike in very cloudy weather we headed down Route 7 towards Hot Springs, Ar. Nice road and occasionally a few drops of rain on our shields. We made it most of the way and got out of the State Park before the heavens opened up and we got doused with a mighty rain storm.
But as luck would have it after a little while there was a church on that road in the town of Jessieville with a Roof over the entrance way that provided a wonderful escape from the rain for us and we waited about ½ hour until it ended and on we went into Hot Springs about 8 miles up the road. We rode through town and found the The Arlington Hotel that our waitress had recommended to us and now we are in our room and Chriss has set up his own private Chinese Laundry to dry our clothes. Won’t the maid be proud of us….
Time to go out exploring the area. Across the street was a nice park with a hot spring there waiting for us. People were around a small pool with a stone edge. The water temp was almost too hot to put your hand into. Some people were actually putting arms and hand into saying you got used to it. We just found it to be too hot. When we left there we went strolling up the street and found a little place on the second floor called the Exchange Café and had a catfish dinner, after that it was off to an ice cream internet store for dessert. Then back to the hotel Arlington for hopefully a good nights sleep. Since it is supposed to rain tomorrow also we will be here Saturday night too. Then leaving on Sunday for parts unknown but definitely west.
Our bike is parked and we will explore again tomorrow on foot.
From Beautiful Hot Springs Arkansas, Carol & Chriss
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Russellville, AR
Hello again:
Once again we are on the road and traveling west. Pretty scenery a flat at first then hills like NJ then back to curvy roads. The temp drops 10 degrees as we go into the mountains. Our interesting event was lunch today at a roadside restaurant called the Front Porch owned and operated by a lady who was a biker when her husband was alive. She was well into her 70's and operating a restaurant by herself. The food was good and $7.00 each for a hot buffet dinner with dessert and salad bar.
We are at a Holiday Inn tonight and too tired to go out for dinner so we had a large salad with grilled chicken here in our room and now we are ready to go to sleep. Will write more tomorrow. Our plan is to go to Hot Springs, Ar. in the morning if it doen't rain. However RAIN is predicted so we will see. We may be held up here for a while.
More tomorrow, good night for now,
Carol & Chriss
Once again we are on the road and traveling west. Pretty scenery a flat at first then hills like NJ then back to curvy roads. The temp drops 10 degrees as we go into the mountains. Our interesting event was lunch today at a roadside restaurant called the Front Porch owned and operated by a lady who was a biker when her husband was alive. She was well into her 70's and operating a restaurant by herself. The food was good and $7.00 each for a hot buffet dinner with dessert and salad bar.
We are at a Holiday Inn tonight and too tired to go out for dinner so we had a large salad with grilled chicken here in our room and now we are ready to go to sleep. Will write more tomorrow. Our plan is to go to Hot Springs, Ar. in the morning if it doen't rain. However RAIN is predicted so we will see. We may be held up here for a while.
More tomorrow, good night for now,
Carol & Chriss
Mammoth Springs, MO
Hello Again:
You know when you wake up in the morning you just never know what will be in store for you that day. It really has been an amazing day for us. We left Dyersburg, Tn today about noon. The day before was very frustrating for me as Best Western had a poor wireless hook up and Chriss and I had a very hard time hooking up to write my daily letter in spite of help from their tech person. Anyway a new day and we will move on. Had breakfast at Perkins which was connected to Best Western and off we went. on Rte 155 toward Arkansas in the nice bright sunshine temp in the 80's. Crossing the Mississippi was interesting. I did take a picture while in motion. No Jan, I didn't dip my toes in it, the bridge was too high. Almost our whole trip today was on Rte 412 and it was a nice ride with multiple stops for gas and gatorade. A road sign told us we were close to Mammoth Springs so we made the detour to view that wonder. Very interesting no gushing water but some very pretty water falls from ponds fed by the spring that overflowed making some gushing falls to view. Then we returned to the town of Hardy, Ar to stay at a Best Western that had a Kopper Keddle restaurant across the street. We dumped our stuff in the motel Got the bike parked comfortably under an overhang with the help of a very nice motel owner who kindly supplied an old shower curtain to protect it from any rain.
Nice lady. Then off to the Kopper Keddle for a tasty Chicken Cesar Salad and a delicious choc. pudding, cherry, and crushed oreo and whip
cream concoction that was called dessert. We ended up talking to
everyone in the restaurant including the owner and other diners. Could be because we were dressed in our black silk shorts and shirts with black knee high socks and boots. One person asked if we were some sort of dance team. Yeah, sure! not in these boots. Anyway after a good laugh we just said we were on a bike and it was too hot to wear the whole outfit and the restaurant was closing soon so we were in a hurry and left the hotel in just what we were wearing. There were two couples about our age at a table in back of us that started to talk to us as we were getting ready to leave. Well we ended up sitting down again with them and telling them about our trip and our Blog and they wanted to read about our adventures. I took e-mail addresses and names. Seems they were vacationing at a nearby time share.. They originally met at the time share and had been coming back for many years. One couple from Kentucky and the other from Chicago, Il. Really nice people and interesting. When the restaurant closed we went outside and continued talking in the parking lot. Then they asked us to come to their time share house for dessert. We finally agreed and they drove in thier car about 5 miles to their place where we spent the evening and had peach pie and ice cream. Now it is 1:00 AM and I am typing away and Chriss is doing laundry in our Motel room. See what I mean, life on the road is so unpredictable.
We only got half way across Arkansas today but I did see Cotton growing and also soybeans. After a few mountains in the eastern part of this state it is very flat, huge fields that go on for miles and miles. Now however we are back in the hills and I like it better. It was a great day. Tomorrow our plan is to continue on Rte 412/62 to Harrison, Ar. then sought on Rte 7 to Hot Springs. Rte 7 is supposed to be a very scenic road. We will see.
Will write more tomorrow,
Love, Mom and Chriss
You know when you wake up in the morning you just never know what will be in store for you that day. It really has been an amazing day for us. We left Dyersburg, Tn today about noon. The day before was very frustrating for me as Best Western had a poor wireless hook up and Chriss and I had a very hard time hooking up to write my daily letter in spite of help from their tech person. Anyway a new day and we will move on. Had breakfast at Perkins which was connected to Best Western and off we went. on Rte 155 toward Arkansas in the nice bright sunshine temp in the 80's. Crossing the Mississippi was interesting. I did take a picture while in motion. No Jan, I didn't dip my toes in it, the bridge was too high. Almost our whole trip today was on Rte 412 and it was a nice ride with multiple stops for gas and gatorade. A road sign told us we were close to Mammoth Springs so we made the detour to view that wonder. Very interesting no gushing water but some very pretty water falls from ponds fed by the spring that overflowed making some gushing falls to view. Then we returned to the town of Hardy, Ar to stay at a Best Western that had a Kopper Keddle restaurant across the street. We dumped our stuff in the motel Got the bike parked comfortably under an overhang with the help of a very nice motel owner who kindly supplied an old shower curtain to protect it from any rain.
Nice lady. Then off to the Kopper Keddle for a tasty Chicken Cesar Salad and a delicious choc. pudding, cherry, and crushed oreo and whip
cream concoction that was called dessert. We ended up talking to
everyone in the restaurant including the owner and other diners. Could be because we were dressed in our black silk shorts and shirts with black knee high socks and boots. One person asked if we were some sort of dance team. Yeah, sure! not in these boots. Anyway after a good laugh we just said we were on a bike and it was too hot to wear the whole outfit and the restaurant was closing soon so we were in a hurry and left the hotel in just what we were wearing. There were two couples about our age at a table in back of us that started to talk to us as we were getting ready to leave. Well we ended up sitting down again with them and telling them about our trip and our Blog and they wanted to read about our adventures. I took e-mail addresses and names. Seems they were vacationing at a nearby time share.. They originally met at the time share and had been coming back for many years. One couple from Kentucky and the other from Chicago, Il. Really nice people and interesting. When the restaurant closed we went outside and continued talking in the parking lot. Then they asked us to come to their time share house for dessert. We finally agreed and they drove in thier car about 5 miles to their place where we spent the evening and had peach pie and ice cream. Now it is 1:00 AM and I am typing away and Chriss is doing laundry in our Motel room. See what I mean, life on the road is so unpredictable.
We only got half way across Arkansas today but I did see Cotton growing and also soybeans. After a few mountains in the eastern part of this state it is very flat, huge fields that go on for miles and miles. Now however we are back in the hills and I like it better. It was a great day. Tomorrow our plan is to continue on Rte 412/62 to Harrison, Ar. then sought on Rte 7 to Hot Springs. Rte 7 is supposed to be a very scenic road. We will see.
Will write more tomorrow,
Love, Mom and Chriss
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Dyersburg, TN
Hello again.
Today was a travel day for us and we are just about out of Tennessee. It sure is a beautiful state but we must move on. Because bad weather was predicted in Memphis we chose to move north and cross the Mississippi into Missouri rather than into Arkansas. Well we just about made it. We are now in Dyersburg, Tn with just a few miles to go. But too tired to finish the state. So here we sit at a Best Western still in Dyersburg,Tn. At least the sun came out late in the afternoon, our plan worked we beat the rain once more.
Although the weather was overcast this morning the temp was great must have been in the high 70’s. The roads were nice although not in a park they were scenic and easy to drive. We ate at the hotel before leaving but by 2:00 we were in need of a break. Chriss pulled of into the entrance of Henry Horton State Park there was a building that looked like a restaurant but had a sign that said it only served lunch from 12:00 until 2:00. There was a coke machine on the side so we proceeded up the stairs to get a coke. The door was open and we peeked in and asked if we could get something to eat. The lady said “oh sure, come on in”, more Southern Hospitality for sure. Well it seems that this State Park had a restaurant that was an open buffet of hot food and salads that they were just about to close down but welcomed us to have lunch for the cost of $6.75 per person. Then proceeded to sit with us, get acquainted and tell camp stories. We spent at least 1 ½ hours with them laughing and telling stories of all of our experiences in the wild. This park is gorgeous has camping sites, a hotel, a restaurant, trails, and educational opportunities for just the price of camping at at state park, amazing. After that we left and continued on our preplanned route.
We were hoping to stop two towns before we actually found a town with an acceptable motel. So here we are having traveled 1400 miles since last Monday 8/4 when we left. As the crow flies I am sure the number is much less because we certainly have not traveled in a straight line. We have met some very interesting and nice people along the way and have seen some beautiful sights. Since Missouri is the Show Me state we are hoping to be shown some more. We are tired tonight after all our travels but will start again tomorrow.. The pictures are of the State Park and Lunch.
Good Night,
Carol & Chriss
Today was a travel day for us and we are just about out of Tennessee. It sure is a beautiful state but we must move on. Because bad weather was predicted in Memphis we chose to move north and cross the Mississippi into Missouri rather than into Arkansas. Well we just about made it. We are now in Dyersburg, Tn with just a few miles to go. But too tired to finish the state. So here we sit at a Best Western still in Dyersburg,Tn. At least the sun came out late in the afternoon, our plan worked we beat the rain once more.
Although the weather was overcast this morning the temp was great must have been in the high 70’s. The roads were nice although not in a park they were scenic and easy to drive. We ate at the hotel before leaving but by 2:00 we were in need of a break. Chriss pulled of into the entrance of Henry Horton State Park there was a building that looked like a restaurant but had a sign that said it only served lunch from 12:00 until 2:00. There was a coke machine on the side so we proceeded up the stairs to get a coke. The door was open and we peeked in and asked if we could get something to eat. The lady said “oh sure, come on in”, more Southern Hospitality for sure. Well it seems that this State Park had a restaurant that was an open buffet of hot food and salads that they were just about to close down but welcomed us to have lunch for the cost of $6.75 per person. Then proceeded to sit with us, get acquainted and tell camp stories. We spent at least 1 ½ hours with them laughing and telling stories of all of our experiences in the wild. This park is gorgeous has camping sites, a hotel, a restaurant, trails, and educational opportunities for just the price of camping at at state park, amazing. After that we left and continued on our preplanned route.
We were hoping to stop two towns before we actually found a town with an acceptable motel. So here we are having traveled 1400 miles since last Monday 8/4 when we left. As the crow flies I am sure the number is much less because we certainly have not traveled in a straight line. We have met some very interesting and nice people along the way and have seen some beautiful sights. Since Missouri is the Show Me state we are hoping to be shown some more. We are tired tonight after all our travels but will start again tomorrow.. The pictures are of the State Park and Lunch.
Good Night,
Carol & Chriss
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Leaving McMinnville, TN
Hello:
We will be starting soon, leaving McMinnville, Tn (sorry about yesterdays misspelling, it was at a fold in the map) notice 2 nn's) anyway.
on route 55 South to 24 N to 64 S to 50 N through Columbia Tn up to 40W
1 exit to 13 N to 70W to 77W to 104W to 182 N to 155 W across the Mississippi.
I doubt we will make it all today but there is a storm south of us that is sure to hit Memphis by nightfall. and we are avoiding it by crossing the mississippi in Missouri instead of Arkansas. Anyway that is the plan for now. Thanks for joining us even vicariously it is fun to have your interest.. This is a geography lesson for the little ones, me to...
Love Mom & Chriss
View Larger Map
.
We will be starting soon, leaving McMinnville, Tn (sorry about yesterdays misspelling, it was at a fold in the map) notice 2 nn's) anyway.
on route 55 South to 24 N to 64 S to 50 N through Columbia Tn up to 40W
1 exit to 13 N to 70W to 77W to 104W to 182 N to 155 W across the Mississippi.
I doubt we will make it all today but there is a storm south of us that is sure to hit Memphis by nightfall. and we are avoiding it by crossing the mississippi in Missouri instead of Arkansas. Anyway that is the plan for now. Thanks for joining us even vicariously it is fun to have your interest.. This is a geography lesson for the little ones, me to...
Love Mom & Chriss
View Larger Map
.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sweetwater, TN
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA A BIG 8 YEARS OLD TODAY
Hello my family:
Today was a fun day for us. We left the Comfort Inn in Sweetwater, Tn ( a somewhat less than spectacular hotel) but adequate and went to The Lost Sea Cave a few miles down the road. It was a cave with stalagmites and stalactites but little ones. The main interest here was the lake that was in the cave. 40 feet deep and 500 feet long with live rainbow trout in it that they feed because there is no living stuff in there except the fish. We walked through the cave and saw the formations of rock and stuff and then took a boat ride in the lake. Very interesting we took pictures but in a dark cave they didn’t come out too well. The one interesting thing they did was to turn all the lights out and give us the opportunity to experience complete darkness. They told us that in two weeks we would be completely blind as our retinas would die of overwork trying to find light. Bit of .Trivia Obviously we were glad it was only a few minutes. When we came out of the cave we were hungry and they had a little restaurant there so we had BBQ sandwiches appropriate for there since they have BBQ as often as we serve pizza. Then we did the bulk of our ride or so we thought. One of the Harley guys that we met yesterday told us about Fall Creek Falls and then today at one of our stops a man mentioned it to us again. So we thought this must be something special so we set about to find it. There is a town named Fall Creek Falls so signs were all over for it. But we wanted the falls itself. So after a few false starts and turn arounds we found the falls in a state park. It was sure worth the trip they were beautiful the pictures really don’t do them justice. After that it was getting late so we wanted to put some miles under our belts before finding a motel. We decided to head for McMinnville, Tn but we weren’t prepared for the roads. We went over 3 mountains with the curvey roads that they require.
What a trip. Poor Chriss really got a work out it was one turn and switch back after another that went on and on. We finally arrive at a Best Western in McMinnville Tn and are we glad to be here. We have a Jacuzzi in our room and it sure felt good to relax in that. If you want to Google Earth the roads that we took it was Rte 30 from Athens, TN to Mc Manville, Tn and it sure was curvey.. We covered the bike tonight because it might rain. 80% chance so we will see Supposed to be just cloudy tomorrow but we could see a front coming in as the sun set.
Will continue the saga tomorrow. Boy are we having fun..Love, Mom
(Carol) and Chriss
Hello my family:
Today was a fun day for us. We left the Comfort Inn in Sweetwater, Tn ( a somewhat less than spectacular hotel) but adequate and went to The Lost Sea Cave a few miles down the road. It was a cave with stalagmites and stalactites but little ones. The main interest here was the lake that was in the cave. 40 feet deep and 500 feet long with live rainbow trout in it that they feed because there is no living stuff in there except the fish. We walked through the cave and saw the formations of rock and stuff and then took a boat ride in the lake. Very interesting we took pictures but in a dark cave they didn’t come out too well. The one interesting thing they did was to turn all the lights out and give us the opportunity to experience complete darkness. They told us that in two weeks we would be completely blind as our retinas would die of overwork trying to find light. Bit of .Trivia Obviously we were glad it was only a few minutes. When we came out of the cave we were hungry and they had a little restaurant there so we had BBQ sandwiches appropriate for there since they have BBQ as often as we serve pizza. Then we did the bulk of our ride or so we thought. One of the Harley guys that we met yesterday told us about Fall Creek Falls and then today at one of our stops a man mentioned it to us again. So we thought this must be something special so we set about to find it. There is a town named Fall Creek Falls so signs were all over for it. But we wanted the falls itself. So after a few false starts and turn arounds we found the falls in a state park. It was sure worth the trip they were beautiful the pictures really don’t do them justice. After that it was getting late so we wanted to put some miles under our belts before finding a motel. We decided to head for McMinnville, Tn but we weren’t prepared for the roads. We went over 3 mountains with the curvey roads that they require.
What a trip. Poor Chriss really got a work out it was one turn and switch back after another that went on and on. We finally arrive at a Best Western in McMinnville Tn and are we glad to be here. We have a Jacuzzi in our room and it sure felt good to relax in that. If you want to Google Earth the roads that we took it was Rte 30 from Athens, TN to Mc Manville, Tn and it sure was curvey.. We covered the bike tonight because it might rain. 80% chance so we will see Supposed to be just cloudy tomorrow but we could see a front coming in as the sun set.
Will continue the saga tomorrow. Boy are we having fun..Love, Mom
(Carol) and Chriss
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Cherohala Skyway
Hello again:
A day like today makes me realize just how much I love fresh air, sunshine and nature. It was a beautiful sunny warm, not hot, clear day. I have been noticing many black butterflies in the fields where ever we go. They must be migrating by here and stopping at every wild flower possible. Not too many birds or other critters today. We were on the Cherohala Skyline almost all day it is Route 143 on the map. A nice windy newly paved road. The main difference between our landscape and NC is that when you view a mountain range in NJ you see a mountain.
When you view the same thing in NC you see 6 or 7 mountains gradually getting hazier in the distance. Makes the near mountains appear to stand out separately. Not easy to get on film but very interesting to see. The air is so different on the mountain. It is clear, fresh and feels like it contains more O2. It smells good, as you descend the hill it begins to smell moist and earthy more like dirt...it is also cold on the mountain, I mean really cold and as you descent it gradually warms to HOT in the towns and valleys. Chriss bought me a shirt that says "The mountains are calling and I must go". Very appropriate.
We also met some very nice people today both at the Fontana Dam and on the road at a lookout spot. The Dam people were from NC and very happy to tell us some local folklore about the places we might visit. The lookout people were locals from TN out for a Sunday ride and also told us about Sweetwater, TN where we are tonight. there is a cave here with a large underground lake. They take people out in glass bottom boats onto the water to see fish and sights under the water. We will do that tomorrow. Then we have to make some time going west. We have finally gotten out of NC and are in TN at an Econolodge. We have done over 1000 miles but have not made much distance after leaving Luray. Too many interesting back roads. My world has few colors.... Blue and white sky, green trees, black road with yellow stripe but so pretty.
Our main stop today was at Fontana Dam. The largest dam in the east. I have not seen a dam of that nature before and it sure was big. On a beautiful lake with a very meandering shore line. Makes me really miss my kayak. The people at the tourist desk were retired volunteers and interesting to talk to. He was an engineer who worked there before he retired, then they full time RV for 5 years now they are volunteers.
I am so tired that it is hard to write sensibly. Fresh air, sunshine and activities really exhaust me. But we are really enjoying ourselves.
Love to all, Carol (Mom) and Chriss
A day like today makes me realize just how much I love fresh air, sunshine and nature. It was a beautiful sunny warm, not hot, clear day. I have been noticing many black butterflies in the fields where ever we go. They must be migrating by here and stopping at every wild flower possible. Not too many birds or other critters today. We were on the Cherohala Skyline almost all day it is Route 143 on the map. A nice windy newly paved road. The main difference between our landscape and NC is that when you view a mountain range in NJ you see a mountain.
When you view the same thing in NC you see 6 or 7 mountains gradually getting hazier in the distance. Makes the near mountains appear to stand out separately. Not easy to get on film but very interesting to see. The air is so different on the mountain. It is clear, fresh and feels like it contains more O2. It smells good, as you descend the hill it begins to smell moist and earthy more like dirt...it is also cold on the mountain, I mean really cold and as you descent it gradually warms to HOT in the towns and valleys. Chriss bought me a shirt that says "The mountains are calling and I must go". Very appropriate.
We also met some very nice people today both at the Fontana Dam and on the road at a lookout spot. The Dam people were from NC and very happy to tell us some local folklore about the places we might visit. The lookout people were locals from TN out for a Sunday ride and also told us about Sweetwater, TN where we are tonight. there is a cave here with a large underground lake. They take people out in glass bottom boats onto the water to see fish and sights under the water. We will do that tomorrow. Then we have to make some time going west. We have finally gotten out of NC and are in TN at an Econolodge. We have done over 1000 miles but have not made much distance after leaving Luray. Too many interesting back roads. My world has few colors.... Blue and white sky, green trees, black road with yellow stripe but so pretty.
Our main stop today was at Fontana Dam. The largest dam in the east. I have not seen a dam of that nature before and it sure was big. On a beautiful lake with a very meandering shore line. Makes me really miss my kayak. The people at the tourist desk were retired volunteers and interesting to talk to. He was an engineer who worked there before he retired, then they full time RV for 5 years now they are volunteers.
I am so tired that it is hard to write sensibly. Fresh air, sunshine and activities really exhaust me. But we are really enjoying ourselves.
Love to all, Carol (Mom) and Chriss
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)