We had a wonderful trip although it was filled with ups and downs and no pun intended. We visited Hiwassee, Helen, Brasstown Bald, Blairsville, Cherokee, Silva, Dillsboro, and Swannanoa
(Asheville). We went to a moonshine distillery and took the Moonshine
Express train for more moonshine and stayed at the Moonshine Creek
campground.. We have been to the two highest mountains in two states,
have seen the most beautiful land and enjoyed temperatures for a few
days in the 50's. I can't wait to share but first I must rant.
Let me rant and get it out of the way - Gas station etiquette, people. What happen to filling up the tank and moving the car before going inside. Now that we are towing a car, it is a real challenge when it is time to gas up. Few stations are big enough. And those that are seem to draw the folks I want to talk about (hint, they are not RVers.) Six double sided lanes and 8 had cars, trucks or trucks pulling utility trailers at the tanks with no one in the them. All in the store. We waited behind one for 25 minutes and he still had not come out of the store (Arby's, Cinnabon and another fast food place inside). I get that those places are slow, but come on, move your car. Rant over
The Journey
We took 121 up to Gainesville (a beautiful drive, if you haven't done it to a Gator Game, you need to Gator Fans) and then picked up 75.
We don't like driving interstates but we needed to get to our destination before dark and we had never been on the alternative route. We drove our usual 5 hours and stopped for the night. We stayed at the Crossroads Travel Park which is a quick on and off from I-75., both up and back It's our halfway point.
The ride to the next campground was a white knuckler. Lots of steep, winding, narrow roads. We had to go over the mountain and around to get to our campground, Enota Mountain Retreat.
We spent 5 days there, getting in on on Sunday and on Monday about 3:30 Big Bob checked under the hood of the motor home. He thought he had smelled antifreeze and he did. When he comes and says "Houston, we got a problem". I know we are in trouble. The coolant reservoir was cracked and that was a problem - if it blew, we did not want to be in the mountains.
No phone or internet service at the campground so we couldn't even google to see if there was anything close to us. We ended up driving 20 miles so we could get phone service .Then Big Bob called Walker Ford and they got it to us by Wednesday and then he had us fixed in no time. Once again, I realize his value. LOL
Because of the ride to Enota, I was determined we would go another route off that mountain. We talked to a local who lived in his motor home way up in the mountains and he gave us an option. Although we rode it in the car to be sure we could do it, we still got on roads I didn't want to be on after that. The road to our next campground, Moonshine Creek Campground, was another white knuckler. As we were in Georgia pedal to the medal and top speed was 26 mph and no where to pull over and drop the car.
And then there was the ride to and from our friends, Maggie and Fred. They have a summer home on High Top Mountain.
They picked us up to make it easier on my nerves. The road to their house is narrow and uphill over 2 miles. Going up, you look down a mountain stream with tubers.
Coming down the one way mountain road with no lights and
little room on either side, a car came around the curve and could not
back up. They pulled over as much as they could, and we squeaked by.
Maggie did a great job!
Once again, I vowed we would not leave for home the way we came in so when we left we took the interstate from Moonshine Creek for home but it was no picnic either. To get to it we had to go on the Smokey Mountain Expressway, which has it's share of ups and downs. One place has a 5" grade for 7 miles. Not fun when we are big anyway and then the toad slows us down. I don't like roller coaster or heights either. Once we could we got off the interstate, we did and took 129, a beautiful road, and then picked up I75 in Macon. We were back in the flat lands. Finally I could relax and see no more of the dreaded: You wouldn't see those on US98/19.
It's a Small World
I do have a few of those from our trip - all in NC. First our campground was mainly Floridians and many either from or had lived in Pinellas County. We stopped at Crazy Bob's Biker Stuff where I bought my helmet, and got to talking to the owner. He had lived near by us in Citrus County and still had land in Hernando, but almost at the county line. But the topper was when we were at the Asheville Harley. We got to talking to a man and of course it's the where you from. It turns out his wife graduated from Dixie like Big Bob but a few years later. When she told him her maiden name, he knew her folks had a heating/ac business and not only did he know her brother, he had actually ridden on the brother's bike. It always ceases to amaze me how small this world is.
If you want to check out our adventures, click here: Adventures in Georgia
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