The temperature really dropped overnight, down to 44*F and the wind is gusting quite strongly at times. Looking forward to more warmth and sunshine! As a footnote, the Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles along the crest of the southern Appalachians Mountains. It is a high ridge (more like a plateau) at an average 2500 feet but we have gone as high as 5500 feet, the highest point being 6060 feet. The hills are slow climbs so not too hard on the truck. The scenery is absolutely breath-taking and we see lots of little ranches/farms. It starts at I-64, near Stanton in Virginia and ends at the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. We travelled just a small portion of that but it was well worth it. There are a lot of bikers and bicycle riders on the road and we’ve seen a few deer crossing the road. We’ve also seen wild turkeys today and more deer. It is a slow drive at 45 MPH maximum although I have reached 50 in some places.
We were on the road by 8:45 AM, a good start under cloudy sky and cold temperature (45*F); it soon warmed up to 50* F and that was it for the day! This part of the drive took us up to 5500 feet in altitude. We made a few stops again, looking at the scenery and even a rock museum, “the Museum of North Carolina Minerals”, explaining how these mountains came about and what can be found in them. We made a stop in Spruce Pine for fuel @ 3.99. Coming down to Asheville, it became extremely foggy hence I had to slow to 25 MPH at times with lots of switchbacks, it was very thick yet some turkeys were driving with no lights!? Go figure! We fuelled here @ $4.19, it began raining so we decided to forgo the Parkway and took I-40 to Hwy 74, a nice 4 lanes highway, and headed south-west once more. We finally stopped at 3:30 PM in Bryson for the night and paid $25 for a spot right alongside a river. We had a good day and glad to be off the road. The rain finally stopped and we are enjoying football on TV. For some reason, I have no power to half the trailer. The GFCI plug will not reset in the bathroom and none of my electrical outlet on the right, rear and kitchen will work yet I have TV, power to the outlet to the computer, light above the sink but no light and fan in the dining room, everything that is hooked-up to 12 Volts is working fine...GO figure!!!? I check all the breakers and fuses and all is well!?
We travelled 200 miles in 5
hrs @ an average 40 MPH
N 35* 25.909’W 083* 25.491
Alt: 1736 ft
I was up at 6:30 this morning and Val at 7:30 AM. Don’t ask me why I was that early, don’t know! It is cloudy and windy outside and cold, 44*F! We headed south west on 19 then 74 by 9:15AM. The drive was quiet and we stopped for breakfast at a McDonald then continued on. The highway eventually became 2 lanes then we drove through a canyon with lots of tourist attractions for kayaking and rafting (all closed for the season) and gorgeous scenery. Near the Alabama State Line, we took SPUR 60 south and crossed into Alabama, AND SUNSHINE, eventually arriving on Interstate 575 then I-75 which took us right through Atlanta, a big city with beautiful Highrises. We turned West on I-20 and arrived at our Park, Yogi Bear Campground, a Passport member, in Bremen off Hwy 27, around 3:30 pm and paid $55 for 3 days. I was just finishing hooking up and setting up when this guy came by and asked me if I would move his fifth-wheel as he didn’t have a truck and had to move it today; he even offered money which I took and went to help. It turned out to be an old relic with bits and pieces hanging down. We hooked it and took it to its new destination. The guy had told me it was only a few miles; it turned out to be over 25 miles there and back! Anyway, there were no problems and I got back by 4:30 PM, just in time to get an earful from Val as I had told her I would only be gone 15-20 minutes!! We had supper and I hooked up the Dish satellite. There are satellite dishes all over the park with connections for each spot. We pay $3/day to have a connection; they provide the Dish satellite receiver and we just hook up our TV to it. Good deal! By the way, the wind has really picked up with strong gust and it is cold still although the forecast is for warmer temperature later in the week. The news in New York and New Jersey sure doesn’t sound very good and we are glad to be this far south and west of hurricane Sandy.
We travelled 227 miles in 5 hrs @ an average 49 MPH
N 33* 42.159
W 085* 11.653
Alt: 1300 Ft
By the way; my electrical problem seems to have solved itself. Val went in, tried the GFCI which reset then we had power for everything. I will have to have that checked out though!
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