Surf City, NC a Near Disaster

September 30, 2012

We left Trantor's Creek Resort around 11:00 am and headed to Surf City, NC.  We are headed south on US 17.  this route will take us through several towns, so we had a lot of stop and go on this trip.

Lanier's Campground is directly on the Inter Coastal Water Way. It has 487 sites, most of which are taken by folks that rent sites annually. All of the stop and go made the 98 mile trip longer than expected and we arrived about 1:30 pm.  But, little did we know, we had just avoided a disaster! 

After getting set up, Kitty mentioned she thought she saw something on the inside of both back tires of the RV while following me here.  So, we checked the tires and found bubbles on the inside of three of the four RV tires.  That makes all four tires bad since we had to change a tire in Hatteras for the same problem.  Only the one in Hatteras went flat, the other three tires are still holding air- at least for now.

Our first priority is to find a tire store close by.  We located a tire store in Holly Ridge about 6 miles away.  Since today is Sunday, they aren't open.  But, we will be paying them a visit Monday morning.  Our tires are original equipment and are only three years old.  We weighed our rig last May and have not added any heavy items since then, so we feel we are not over weight.  These Load Star tires were made in China, and that may explain why the tires went bad in only 3 years and less than 10k miles.  I check tire pressures before each trip and we keep tires covered when we are not moving. So, these tires have not been neglected.  These RV tires carry 110 PSI and when they blow at highway speeds, bad things happen.  Not only bad things, but expensive things!

There was nothing more we could do today regarding the tires, so we took a walk around the campground in the warm humid salt air, and took some pictures.  The campers are really packed in here and it's a popular campground for those that like to fish.  There's a mixture of campers, boats, golf carts, and park models here.  But, this campground is not as well maintained as Trantor's Creek.

 

 

These local fisherman are cleaning today's catch.  These fish looked pretty clean to me!  Ha!

 

 

 

Since it was still early, we decided to jump in the car and do some sight seeing.  We drove into town and headed north along the beach.  All of the beach area for several miles is private access only.  We saw a lot of nice beach homes, but they all blocked our view of the ocean.  We headed back to the campground and fixed supper.  It wasn't long before it started raining.  We did some reading and went to bed.

 





 

Monday, October 1, 2012

 

 

After having our morning coffee and breakfast, we headed to Holly Ridge Tire Pros.  I had already received tire prices from Camping World, so we know what to expect for prices.  The folks at Holly Ridge Tire were very helpful but I wouldn't call them tire experts.  However, they were able to order the Good Year G614 14 ply steel belted tire we were looking for.  These are expensive tires, but we didn't want to put a price on safety.  The tires would be delivered to their store no later than Thursday.  We were scheduled to leave here on Friday, and they do not have a mobile service to install the tires at our campsite.  So, we will have to pull the fifth wheel the six miles to their store and hope we don't have any blow outs.  If all goes well, we will be on the road Friday afternoon headed toward Georgia. 

 

We made a couple of stops on the way back home.  It's raining on and off and we really can't plan any outside activities today.  More rain is expected tomorrow and possibly Wednesday.  So, we did some reading and took a walk between showers.  It was supper time before we knew it.  We are looking at some options for tomorrow in case it rains all day.  Stay tuned for more later. 

 



Washington, NC Visiting

Friday, September 28, 2012

Our plan today was to drive about an hour to Kinston, NC and visit with Bill.  Bill and I worked together for a couple of years in Effingham, Illinois.  Bill, Sondra & Kitty were all Master Gardeners.  Sondra & Kitty worked together in the Effingham master gardener group.    Bill's wife passed away last year, and this visit would give us a chance to pay our respects as well as catch up on how Bill's retirement is working out.  The plan was to meet at Bill's house early afternoon, chat for a while, then go to dinner.

Earlier that morning, I was getting something out of the fifth wheel 'basement" storage area, when I noticed a problem.  The "basement" is the main storage area in fifth wheels.  It is a large compartment that is located under the bedroom/bathroom area and goes across the width of the fifth wheel.  We have fourteen plastic totes full of 'stuff" in that basement.  Stuff such as excess dog food, winter coats, seasonal decorations, extension cords, water hoses, outdoor chairs and tables, etc.

The basement floor was wet.  I had noticed this a few weeks ago, when it was just a small damp area by the access door.  I figured the door had leaked when it rained the previous night.  However, it had not rained for several days and almost the entire basement carpeting was wet.  Help!  We have a leak!

I quickly took all of the totes out and put them under the camper.  One of the items we carry in the basement is a small portable carpet cleaner.  I used it to suck up the water, and started looking for the leak.  I checked all the pipes I could reach or see and couldn't find a leak anywhere.  I removed the paneled partitions to get access to more of the plumbing.   I found a leak in a shock loop with (the shock loop keeps the pipes from banging when the water pump is used).  One of the screw connections in the shock loop was loose and water was leaking out onto the basement floor.  That was an easy fix, I just tightened the connection and continued to suck as much water out of the basement as possible.  I left both access doors open, and went inside to get ready for our visit with Bill.

After getting cleaned up, we headed to Kinston to see Bill.  We left the fifth wheel with both basement access doors open, a fan blowing on the carpet, and all our "stuff" stacked in totes under the fifth wheel.  We needed to be sure the carpet was totally dry before putting the totes back inside.  On the way out of the campground, we stopped at the office and told them we don't normally live with such clutter underneath the camper and access doors open, it's just temporary.  We had a water leak, but I fixed it, or so I thought.

We were a little later than planned getting to Bill's house.  But, we still had plenty of time to visit and tour Kinston.  The moment we drove up to Bill's house, it was obvious he is a master gardener.

Here's picture of his front porch and the rest of his yard is equally as beautiful!  Also, there were special touches of Sondra throughout the yard and house.  She had a very special knack of decorating with plants and embellishments - that was very obvious in her Effingham home as well as the Kinston house.

 

 

Here's a shot of the three of us on Bill porch.

 

 

 

Bill gave us a tour around his house explaining what each plant was.  In spite of having taken botany in college, I know nothing about plants.  But, when he mentioned he had killed two copper heads this year, he got my attention!!  Man, I was carefully watching every step I was taking looking for any signs of a snake.  Any little movement on the ground, and I am out of there!  I always let Kitty go before me.  She thinks I am such a gentleman.  Don't tell her it's because I'm afraid of snakes!

 

Bill gave us a tour of Kinston, including the Children's Garden with a special memorial for Sondra. As dinner time approached, we headed to the Farmer and Chef for supper.  What a great place to eat!  If you are ever in Kinston, you must stop here and eat.  It's fantastic.

 

After dinner, Kitty and I headed back to Washington.  It was dark when we got home and the access doors were still open, our stuff was still under the fifth wheel, and the floor was wetter than when we left.  Darn! Must be another leak!  It's late now, so the leak search will resume in the morning.

 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

 

 

I woke up and went out to check on the leak.  There was an ever growing puddle in the basement.  It was starting to rain, so I went inside and had some coffee and breakfast.  By then, the rain let up and I was in the basement checking all the pipes again.  After a couple of hours of looking for the leak and sucking water out of the basement carpet, I noticed a slight drip where the fresh water hose connects to the camper.  There is a drain inside this compartment that allows any water that collects in this compartment to drain to the outside.  But, some of the caulking around the drain was missing allowing water to seep into the basement.  I caulked the drain and we'll see if that fixes the problem. 

 

The leak issue and the rain forced us to cancel our kayaking plans.  Darn!  But, hopefully, the leak is fixed.  We'll know for sure in a couple of days.

 



Washington, NC, a Necessary Day

Thursday, September 27, 2012

This is our first full day at Tranters Creek Resort in Washington and it's what I call a necessary day.  That means we get to do all of the necessary things that need to be done whether or not you are traveling or staying home.  The fifth wheel and both of our vehicles were covered with salt and sand from being in the outer banks for several days.  So, I got out the pail, brush, and soap and started washing.  We also had some shopping to do, and we needed to get another set of RV keys.  I lost my set somewhere in Dawson Springs, Kentucky and we've been operating on one set of keys since then.

Later, we walked around the campground and took these pictures.

 

This is the dock on Tranters Creek that runs through the campground.

 



 

Here's more pictures of the creek.

 

 

 

 

 

After checking our this beautiful creek with moss covered trees, we decided it would be neat to explore the creek in a kayak.  We already had plans for Friday, so we were planning to do it Saturday. Little did we know at that time, but our plans were about to get changed.  You can find out what happens in the next blog.

 

 



Washington, NC, A "Ferry" Nice Trip

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

We were up at 6:00, had our coffee, and breakfast, visited with a neighbor, and left the campground by 8:30 am.  We are taking two ferry rides to get to our next destination in Washington, NC.  Making the trip from Hatteras to Washington by road would be about a 161 mile trip taking 3 1/2 hours.  But, by ferry going as the crow flies and we will only be about 48 miles from our next campground.

We got to the ferry dock, a few blocks from our campground, by 8:45 am and boarded the 9:00 am ferry to Ocracoke Island.  We had planned to take a later ferry, but we were early for a change.

 

Here's some shots of the ferry trip to Ocracoke. It's a little tight!

 

 

Here's a couple of happy passengers.

 

 

Our plan was to arrive at Ocracoke Island in time to make the 12:45 departure to Swan Quarter, NC.  But, we actually arrived early enough to make the ferry departing at 9:30am.  We had to hustle to get on this ferry, and they held up closing the gate until we were on board.  Whew! That was close!  But we'll arrive earlier than we planned, and that will allow us to get set up earlier than planned at Tranters Creek Resort and Campground.

 

 

The ferry to Swan Quarter was much larger than the one going to Ocracoke.  It is wide enough for four lanes and has a massive passenger lounge on the upper deck.  The view from up there was really great.  Check out these shots.

That's our 5th wheel on the left









 

 

Our rig is on the right.

 

 

 

 

We arrived at Tranters Creek Resort and Campground about 1:45 pm and had some R&R time after getting set up.  Tranters Creek resort and Campground has about 180 campsites.  It also has a lot of very attractive park models with extra porches and rooms added.

 

 

Here's we are on site 216.

 

 

You may be asking yourself how we could be in site 216, if they only have 180 campsites?  If you, indeed, asked yourself that question, it means that you are very smart and payed close attention.  Give yourself a pat on the backside.  There's actually more 250 sites here, the rest being annual sites with park models.



 

 



 





Hatteras, NC day 4

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

This is our last day in Hatteras, NC.  We will miss the beaches here, but we need to keep moving if we are going to be in Florida by November 1st.  Our mission today is to find a small statute of Cape Hatteras & Ocracoke light houses so we can add it to our collection on the fire place mantel.  We also had to finalize our travel plans for tomorrow, and, most importantly, spend some time on the beach!

We thought we might find a light house statute in the visitors center of the light house.  So, we made the 12 mile trip to Cape Hatteras light house.  But, they didn't have what we were looking for.  While we were there, we took a picture of the light keepers double house.  It is now a museum with items inside that reflect the history of the outer banks, but not much about the light house and keepers quarters.  The double keepers house was built to house two families, in addition to the single keepers house show on our blog dated September 22, 2012.

Here's a picture of the double keepers quarters at Cape Hatteras.

This is the single family keepers quarters for the Head Lightkeeper.



 

As we worked our way back to Hatteras, we stop at a couple of gift store and found the light houses we were looking for.  Here they are on our fireplace mantel.

 



Next, we finalized our travel for tomorrow.  We will take the 40 minute ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island, then take a 2 1/2 hour ferry to Swan Quarter, NC.  From there, we will head west on US 264 to Washington, North Carolina where we plan to stay for a few days.  We made our ferry reservations and fueled up the car and truck for an early departure tomorrow.

Now that the necessary things were done, it's time to hit the beach one last time.  We'll spend a couple hours in the late afternoon sun enjoying the beach.  We've been to the beach so much the last few days, we are on a first name basis with the sand crabs!  Ha!

Hatteras, NC Day 3

Monday, September 24, 2012

Today is "get the tire fixed" day.  Good Sam was suppose to call at 8:00 am with information on who was coming to fix or change the flat fifth wheel tire.  After waiting another 45 minutes, I thought perhaps they didn't realize we are on eastern time, not central time.  I waited another 30 minutes and still no call.  So, I called Good Sam and found out the ball had been dropped, and another person started working on it right away.

Finally, we received a call indicating a provider had been located and was on their way.  They arrived about 1:45 pm and started working immediately to get the flat tire removed.  Upon inspection of the tire, we could see there had been a bubble on the inside of the tire wall, and the bubble burst, rendering the tire unrepairable.  The service provider said they could get a replacement tire and would call with a price.  I am thinking this could cost a small fortune coming from the outer banks. 

The outer banks is a series of islands connected by bridges and ferries. So, everything gets trucked into the stores from the mainland making price higher than normal. The closest tire service is in Kitty Hawk, an hour and a half away. Good Sams pays the service privider to change the tire, but we have to pay for the replacement tire.

We see what magic price they will quote tomorrow and then make a decision on the best way to proceed.  If their price is reasonable, we will take the fifth wheel up to Kitty Hawk when we are scheduled to depart on Wednesday, or we can drive or take the ferry to the main land (with no spare tire for the fifth wheel) and find a better option.  We'll make that decision on Tuesday after we get all the facts together.

Now, it's back to the beach.  We stayed on the beach for about an hour and a half watching the birds, the waves, and the sand crabs.  We had to move our chairs back a couple of times because the tide was coming in and tickled our feet a couple of times.

We made our way the short distance back to the fifth wheel and washed the sand and salt off, threw some things together for supper, took a walk, visited with a couple neighbors and watched a little Monday Night Football until it we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer.  The fresh salt air seems to bring the sand man on earlier than normal.

If you still haven't figured out the mystery picture from yesterday's blog, here's another clue.  It's a body part of a mammal that lives in the ocean.  Some of you have had a "whale" of a time trying to get the "right" answer.  Send us your guesses, we like to hear from you.

Hatteras NC, Day 2

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Hey, get up, it's time to hit the beach!  So, right after breakfast we headed to the beach for about an hour and half of relaxation, watching the waves and the birds and enjoying the ocean.  The tide was coming in so we had to keep moving our chairs back.

Despite the pretty beach, there's always a beach bum to be found.  Yep! Here he is!

 

 

 

After we had all of the relaxation we could stand for one day, we went back and cleaned up, had lunch, and drove a short distance to get on the Ferry.  We are headed to Ocracoke Island.

 

Ocracoke Island is a narrow strip of land just south of Hatteras.  It is about 16 miles long, and is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Park, except for the village at the southern end of the island.  It's a 40 minute ferry ride with Pamlico Sound on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side.  The Pamlico Sound is very shallow in some spots, so the ferry has to stay within the channel.

 

 

Here's Kallie enjoying the ferry ride.

 

 

This is the light station on Ocracoke Island

 

 

This light was established in 1823.  Through the trees on the right, you can see the Keepers house.

 

Next, we made a stop at the marina.

 

 

 

Guess what this is and you will win a special prize!

No, I am not talking about Kitty and Kallie.  Guess what that thing on the left is and we'll send you an autographed picture of it!  Ok, I'll give you a clue.  Ready?  You have to get the "right" answer to win.  Send us your email and will let you know if you guessed "right".

 

On the way back to the ferry, we stopped and took this picture of the wild horses on Ocracoke Island.  While in the wild, they eat grass and sea oates and use their hooves to dig for water in the sandy soil. In the winter, they use their hooves to dig through the snow for grass and oates.   Of course, these guys are taken care of by the National Park Service. 

 

They don't look too wild, they're not horsing around!

 

 

Haven't figured out the mystery picture yet?  I'll give you one last clue.  It's a skull.  But, where did this skull come from?  Get it "right" and you win!

 

 

Well, we took the ferry back to Hatteras arriving about dusk.  It was a great day and we enjoyed every minute of it.  To top it off, the Bears beat the Rams 23 to 6.  It just doesn't get any better than that folks!

 

 

 



Outer Banks, NC Day 1

Saturday, September 22, 2012

We left Williamston, NC around 10:00 am and headed east on I40, then took US 64 east to the outer banks of North Carolina and went south on NC12.  We drove the 148 mile trip with one stop at a visitor information center, and arrived at Hatteras Sands Resort around 1:30pm.  The drive here included several bridges and a few spots where the road was partially covered with drifting sand.

I thought this was a rather smooth trip until I noticed a flat tire on the fifth wheel,  The left front tire was almost completely flat.  We were able to maneuver into our site despite the low tire, narrow paved road and narrow site pad.  After getting set up, we called Good Sam Road Side Assistance to have the tire fixed.  But, no one was available to make the drive 50 miles down the only highway in the outer banks to our campground on a Saturday afternoon.  So, the plan is to have some one arrive at our site on Monday.  Hopefully, they will be able to fix the tire.  If not, we have a spare they can put on until we can find a place to get the tire fixed.  We just aren't having any luck with tires these days!

Here our site and the Canal that runs around the campground.

 

 

 



Here's a shot Kitty took while following me in the fifth wheel over one of the many bridges we took to get to Hatteras.  I don't even want to know how she took this while driving!

 

 

Our first priority, after getting the tire issue taken care of, was to hit the beach.  Here's some shots of the Hatteras beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After working up a healthy appetite, we headed about 12 miles north for some sea food in Buxton, NC.  We talked to a couple of people and they recommended Diamond Shoals Restaurant.  The sea food was great!

 

 

Next, we took some photos of Cape Hatteras Light House.

 

 

Here's the light keepers house.

 

 



Tomorrow, we will take a ferry ride and explore Ocracoke Island.  There is a light house there and some wild horses! 



Williamston, NC

September 21, 2012

We left the Greensboro Campground around 10:00 am heading east on I40.  Our destination is another overnight stay, this time in Williamston, NC.  It's a 180 mile trip east on I40, then US 64 east.  We made a couple of stops looking for a place to fuel up that we could maneuver through.  The first stop was too tight to make it through, so we continued on and found a larger station.

We arrived at Pierce RV Park around 1:45 pm.  Since we are only spending the night here, we did not unhook.  We are in an open field but have 50 amp service and water & sewer.  Just what we need!  This is an unusual campground in that they mix RVs sites with mobile home sites.  They have three or four mobile home together, then three or four camp sites next and so on.

Here's our site

 

 

Here's a nearby cotton field - there are several surrounding us.  We don't see these back home!  Also, the road kill here is leaf lettuce.  You find it laying around the roads, as you travel, where it has fallen from the local produce trucks.  Beats passing a dead skunk!

In the morning, we will head to our final destination, Hatteras Sands RV Park in Hatteras, NC.  It's about 100 miles to the outer banks from here, then another 59 miles south on NC12 to Hatteras.  The weather should be great there and we can't wait to get on the beach.  More later!

 



Greensboro, NC

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Today we are leaving Waynesville, NC and heading to Greensboro, NC for a quick overnight stop  Then, one more overnight stop before reaching our destination of Hatteras located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  That's our plan and we're sticking to it...so far. 

We had to extend our stay in Waynesville to have some work done on the 5th wheel.  It's the exact same stuff Collier RV in Rockford "fixed" July 17th (see our blog on that date).  We left the Creekwood Campground at 10:00 am and returned there at 10:01 am!  The "Check Tire Pressure" light came on in Kitty's car just as we were leaving the campground.  We didn't want to be traveling through the mountains with low tire pressure.  So, we turned around and went back to the campground. 

The light came on two days ago and I put 5 lbs of air in the left rear tire.  So, I checked the left rear tire and it was five pounds low again.  We carry a portable air compressor and I always check the tire pressures in the Truck, RV, and car before we depart.  But, Kitty was shopping when I checked the truck and camper, so the Saturn tires didn't get checked.

We aired up the tire and decided we would have the tire checked when we get to Greensboro, and were on our way by 10:15.  We made one stop for lunch in a truck stop and had the sandwiches Kitty had packed for our lunch.  We made the 200 mile trip to Greensboro in about 4 hours heading east on I40. Once we got over the mountain peaks we had 11 miles of  7% grade downhill.  The max speed downhill is 35 MPH, and there are emergency truck runaway ramps all along the way. Everytime we passed one of those emergency ramps, Kitty would get a little more nervous.  But, the tow/haul feature on our truck made the down hill run easy with little braking necessary.  On the other hand, Kitty is following me in the Saturn freaking out about losing her brakes.   After that, the rest of the trip was smooth going.

Here's our site at the Greensboro Campground.

 

As soon as we finished setting up, we drove a few miles to Halls Tire in Greensboro and had the tire fixed.  There was a small square nail in the tire, like a horseshoe nail or something similar.  We have no idea where that came from even though we've been horsing around a little lately!  Ha!

Hey, September 20th, that's a very special day.  We were married on this day 32 years ago.  So, we went to Outback and celebrated our anniversary.  Kitty deserves a lot of credit for putting up with me that long!

Tomorrow, we'll drive about 180 miles and spend the night, then on to the Outer Banks Saturday.

Historic Waynesville NC and Senior Moments

Saturday September 15, 2012

Today we decided to see downtown Waynesville, North Carolina.  So, we jumped in the car and headed south on 276, then west on 19, then south on 276 again, then made a right turn to somewhere.  Wherever we were, it wasn't downtown Waynesville.  So, when all else fails, get out the GPS.  Even the GPS had trouble finding it, but after making a couple of circles, we finally made it to downtown.

The sign said "Historic Waynesville" but darned if we could find any history there except for several old buildings.  Actually, the downtown area is nice and is filled with all types of little shops and several interesting restaurants.  We walk up one side on main street and down the other side and even hit a few side streets stopping in several interesting stores.  But, the only thing we purchased was some dog treats for Kallie.  They are made to help keep her teeth clean and freshen her breath.  After all that walking, that was our only purchase.  Kitty says, "shopping with her husband is like hunting with the game warden!"  Hey, if she asks me if I like something, I just say no and she moves on.  I only had to say no about 14,000 time in two blocks!  Ha!

 

Here's a couple of shots of downtown Waynesville, NC.

 

 

 

These sculptures were made from industrial scrap material and is there to commemorate the musical history of Waynesville.  Maybe that's the history part of "Historic Waynesville"?

 

 

 

 

After all that heavy shopping, we had really worked up an appetite.  So, we had a very nice lunch at a restaurant called "The Sweet Onion".

 

 

Ok, now for a rare senior moments.  Since this campground is full of seniors, we all get a chuckle of sharing our senior moments with each others.  So, we thought we'd share this one with you.  Here goes.  The other night Kitty was trying to put some eye drops in her eyes, but kept missing her eyes.  So, she asked me to help.  I tipped her head back and opened her eye lid just like I'd seen the eye doctor do, and sure enough, I missed her eye too.  The stuff squired out at an angle instead of straight out.  So, I tried to wipe off the tip of the eye drop container figuring something was blocking the hole.  We tried it again with the same results, missing her eye even more than before.  Then it dawned on us what was wrong... the cap was still on the bottle.  We just stood there and laughed for several minutes.  Please don't tell our children, they already think we are crazy!



Blue Ridge Parkway

September 13, 2012

We left Creekwood Farm RV Park and headed south on highway 276, the west on highway 19 to get on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Blue Ridge Parkway starts at mile marker #1 in Virginia's Rockfish Gap at the southern terminus of Shenandoah National Park's skyline Drive.  It ends at mile marker #469.1 Oconaluftee in Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  Construction started on the parkway in 1935, and is a two lane winding road through the mountains, often in elevation over 5-6000 feet.  There are 26 tunnels, all but one in North Carolina.  Some of the tunnels have low clearance issues and tall RVs like ours would have to drive through the center of the tunnel and hope no one is coming the opposite direction.  So, we left the RV at the campground and made our drive in our car.

We entered the Parkway near mile marker 451 and were heading towards Virginia.  We stop at this overlook and took this picture.

I wanted to get that sign in the picture to help us remember the name of this overlook.  But, I didn't realize I was standing in front of the sign and now we can't remember the name of this overlook.  A senior moment I guess!

 

Here's some shots of the road from another overlook.

 

 

 

We drove a little farther and decided to stop and have lunch.  We stopped at The Orchards Overlook at 3810 feet elevation.  I know that because I included the sign and nobody standing in front of the sign this time!

 

Here's some more shots from this overlook.

 

 

 

 

There is no advertising signs on the Parkway, which makes the trip even more beautiful.  But, you need to have a booklet that tells what's at each exit so you know where to stop for shopping, food, or gas.  The Parkway is always going up or down hill and some of the grades are steep with sharp curves.  The max speed is 45 MPH. 

 

While we were driving, Kitty kept saying "what if our breaks fail", or :what if we slide off the road.  They would never find us!"  The farther we drove the whiter her knuckles got.  So after only going about ten miles, we took an exit and headed back to the campground and some reasonably flat roads.  She is never going to be a mountain girl.  But, after seeing some of these mountain girls, maybe that's a good thing.  Ha!

Great Smokey Mountains NP

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

We left Somerst, Kentucky about 11:00 am eastern time and headed east to I75 south bound.  Just before reaching Knoxville, we stopped at a rest area and had a lunch Kitty had packed.  We can't stop at most restaurants due to my special diet requirements and we don't want to even think about trying to maneuver a 38 foot 5th wheel in some tight quarters.  So, we always pack a lunch and stop in a rest area.  We drove about 235 miles and reached Waynesville, North Carolina around 4 PM.  Creekwood Farm RV Park, in Waynesville, is one mile south of I40 and about 80 miles southeast of Knoxville, Tn. and 20 west of Ashville, NC.

It's a nice well kept campground with a small creek running behind our site and a larger creek along the eastern side of the campground.  They offer free WI-FI, cable TV, a dog run area, breakfast on Saturday mornings and live entertainment on Saturday nights.  They also have an RV wash station and the restrooms and laundry areas are spotless.

 

Here we are on site #38.

Kallie just finished her chores!

 

 Wednesday, we headed to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  We took US highway 276 south to highway 19 west, then US 441 north through the Cherokee Indian Reservation and entered the Great Smokey Mountain National Park via the southern entrance at Oconaluftee visitors center (say that three times real fast!).  Most people probably enter from the north going through Gatlinburg, Tn. and we wanted to avoid the touristy areas.

 

We are now headed for the highest peak in the Smokey's called Clingmans Dome.  It is 6643 feet above sea level.  We were lucky today, it didn't rain on us while we were up that high.  Clingmans Dome gets 8 feet of rain per year, and is often covered in clouds.  We took our rain coats just in case, but were glad we didn't need them, and there wasn't enough clouds to prevent photos. 

We are following the road to Clingmans Dome and the Oconaluftee river runs along side the southern portion of the road.

 

Here's Oconaluftee River

 

 

Here we are in the parking lot near the top.  We still have to hike a half mile trail to get to the observation deck.

 

It was 80 degrees when we started up this mountain.  Its now 57 degrees in the parking lot! 

These next several shots were taken as we walked up the half mile path climbing another 330 feet higher in the thin air.

 

 

At about 6500 feet high, the Appalachian Trail crossed our path.

Notice the dead trees in this photo below, and several other photos to come.  I will tell you later what's killing them later in this blog.

 

The thin air, steep climb, and my reduced lung capacity made us think about turning around a few times.  But, I needed to prove to myself that I could do this, so we rested a few times and continued our upward climb.

 

 Here's a shot of the observation deck that stands 6643 feet above sea level.

 

We stopped at the base of the observation deck to catch our breath.  Then, I started up the winding walk way to the top.  Kitty had enough exercise for the next few months, so she stayed at the base. 

 

Here I am, out of breath, but I made it to the top.  I did it!

I've been accused of having my head in the clouds, and here's proof of that!

 I don't know what the air temperature is up here, but I am guessing it is 50 degrees or less.

 

Here's Kitty at the base of the observation deck.  (No, she is not flipping me the bird!)

I had to zoom in on that photo so you could see who it is.  I am really higher than it appears.

 

These are photos from the top of the observation deck.

 

 

These photos were taken while heading down the trail back to the parking lot.

 

We made it back down to the parking lot.  It is much easier walking down hill than up hill.  Next, we are headed for Newfound Gap.  It's only 5046 feet high!

 

Here's some photos from Newfound Gap.

 

 

 

I am sure you noticed all the dead trees in these photos.  It's a little bug called balsam wooly adelgid.  It has killed over 95% of the Frasier Firs over the past decade.  The only way to stop it is to spray each tree individually, and that takes a lot of time and manpower.  We saw a lot of dead trees in South Dakota and Wyoming.  It is really alarming to see all of the devastation caused by bugs and fires.

 

There's lots more to see here, but it will be getting dark soon and we didn't want to be driving these mountain roads at night.  So, we headed back.

 

Tomorrow, we will take a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway!  Stay tuned.