Fixing Diesel Truck and Finding Waterfalls

10/24 and 25:

Yesterday (10/24) Diesel Truck was making a noise when decelerating. So I took it to a local transmission shop and found the u-joints were going, so had them replaced. The morning was spent with Lynn caring for The Boys at the campground and I helped my friend run some errands. It was a down day but needed to get Diesel Truck fixed and good to help a friend. 

I found one 

On October 25, my friend Mary had a full day planned for us. We picked her up at 0800 and were off. 

Mary is a graduate of Brevard College and we made a quick tour of the campus. Then off to Pisgah National Forest. We stopped at the visitors center and I must say, what a great visitors center, well done interpretation of the area covering natural resources and recreation, many are hands on types of exhibits. There is also a nice gift shop and restrooms. 

What was of interest to me was here is the Cradle of Forestry in America. Here one finds the first forestry school in America. This was part of the Biltmore Estate where Gilford Pinchot was the estate forester. Pinchot was replaced by Carl A. Schenck, who then founded the forestry school. The Biltmore Forest School offered a one-year course of study, and the curriculum focused on providing traditional classroom lectures in silvicultural theory supplemented with extensive hands-on, practical forest management field training. Schenck's students spent most afternoons in the forest doing hands-on work and directly applying the theories they had learned in the classroom. Schenck was a demanding, but engaging professor, and his students took to him immediately, absorbing as much of the scientific forestry theories as they could.

This area is riddled with waterfalls and our plan was to visit a few of them. We first stopped by Looking Glass Falls located next to the road.  

Then we drove to the Moore Cove Falls parking area and hiked into these falls. The trails in this area are well marked, some areas could be a challenge if the rocks are slick.  The Boys enjoyed sniffing and trying to take us ever which way. 

Look at those PAWS!!!

One could spend a long time exploring and taking photos of these falls, but we had miles to cover, so we could get a good sampler of the wonderful natural elements of this beautiful area. 

We drove past Sliding Rock Falls, which is a fee area, where people slid on the slick rocks. We thought it a little cool for this activity today. 

Our route then took us to the Blue Ridge Parkway, making a stop at the Pisgah Inn to take in the views. The area seemed plenty busy for an off season Thursday. I can not imagine how crowded this area is in the summer time. 

While the fall colors were not at a peak as we had expected, the weather stayed warm delaying the color change, we were able to see patches of color here and there. 

We stopped to take in the views at several turnouts before hiking into Skinny Dip Falls, too cold for a dip, so we opted to have our lunch at the falls. 

This was my favorite falls we visited, it had many drops and pools. Again, one could spend a day there capturing the many aspects of just this one fall. We had a wonderful visit to this location and The Boys got plenty of attention and, as expected, Koda had plenty of “look at those PAWS” comments. 

We had received information the colors were nice along Route 215, so that is the route we chose to go to Asheville. We were not disappointed and found a waterfall next to the road and stopped for photos. 

Our Concierge Guide 5 Star Rated 

I am tired 

In Asheville, we had a great dinner at Tupelo Honey before returning to Johnson City, TN. 

We said goodbye to my friend Mary thanking her for the Executive Concierge Tour of her great area. 

Back at the campground we packed up Diesel Truck to make the  morning departure a bit faster. Glad we did as the rain started during the night and continued well into the morning. 

Roan Mountain Day

10/23

Today we will be guided about the area by my friend Mary.   I must admit this is a very pretty area with lots and lots of recreation opportunities. 

We met Mary at her house and all got into the truck for the day. First up is Roan Mountain State Park. We made a stop at their excellent visitors center, interpretation of many aspects of this park is very well done.  All in all, I have been very impressed with the Tennessee State Parks.  

Kenai following the Appalachian Trail, notice the marker 

We made our way to Carvers Gap trailhead, a low point on the Ridgeline of Roan Mountain. There is a nice parking area at the top, where we gathered our gear and hit the trail. Kenai carried water and food for he and Koda. 

We would be hiking the Appalachian Trail to a couple balds on the ridge line. A bald is a rocky grassy treeless place on a ridge. The first bald we came to was Round Bald at 5826’ in elevation. Mary explained this area reminds her, and many others, of The Sound of Music, where one wants to twirl and sing. 

This trail is majestic with the vast scenic vistas all around. The trees have not totally changed but we they are starting to change. I will say again this is a beautiful place with a lot of things and activities going on. 

We hiked on to Jane Bald, stopping for a snack along the way. Koda was getting a bit tired. Here Kenai posed for a picture or two and Koda was not interesting in being photoed at all.  

For a Tuesday there were a good number of folks out enjoying the trail and those we encountered commented on Koda and the size of his paws. 

Back at the car, we made our way down the hill, stopping at a location to see some of the colors. Diesel Truck had started a noise and the noise was getting louder and more frequent. More on that later. 

We then drove to Elizabethton, TN to visit and interpretive center for the Overmountain Men. Sadly we had just 7 min to speed read the exhibits in the center.  The Overmountain Men were citizen soldiers during the Revolutionary War. They were instrumental at the battle of Kings Mountain, and it was in Elizabethton, TN where they mustered.  A very interesting side story is that of Mary Patton. As gunpowder was in short supply and would be greatly needed by the Overmountain Men a source for manufacture was needed. Mary Patton was the daughter of a gun powder manufacturer from England. She had learn the trade as a girl and put this knowledge to work. Thanks to my friend Mary for these great historical tid bits. 

It was a great day and we have a very tired pup. 

We were to have attended a trivia night, but the noise created by Diesel Truck had me worried. So with a bit of quick research, I believe it is a problem in the rear differential and made an appointment to get it looked at first thing in the morning. So we will see what is up. 

  

Missouri to Tennesse

10/20

We were up and at um early, getting things together to get on the road. In many ways I wish we were not leaving so early this morning, but miles to be driven make the days long. One other reason it would have been nice to have a slow morning in Bucklin, MO is the American Legion has a fund raising breakfast. One can not beat the real home cooking here in the heartland. But, alas, as I said we have miles to go before we sleep. 

Our route took us along I-70 past some very interesting locations -

Fulton, Missouri

The National Churchill Museum (formerly the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library), located on the Westminster College campus in Fulton, Missouri commemorates the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill. In 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous “Sinews of Peace” address in the Westminster Historic Gymnasium. In it was the line: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." This sentence caused the oration to become known as the ”Iron Curtain” speech. "Sinews of Peace" heralded the beginning of the Cold War. 

Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame, Wentzville, MO

Opened in 2007, with horseshoe pitching regalia dating to the 1800s, 21,000 square feet of exhibits, including lucky horseshoes, videos of some of the greatest horseshoe pitches of all time, and memorabilia from when President George H.W. Bush invited horseshoe pitchers from across America to play horseshoes at the White House (There are over 10,000 members in America's National Horseshoe Pitchers Association). The museum also has 32 indoor and outdoor horseshoe courts. There are currently 166 inductees in the Horseshoe Pitchers Hall of Fame, but only six from Missouri.

There is also OZARKLAND in Kingdom City, MO

Ozarkland is one of six retail tourist traps in the same vein as South of the Border. If you don't have enough souvenir shot glasses, thimbles or hillbilly crap, this is the place for you.

We passed through St Louis with ease and across the Mississippi River into IL. Our destination for the night is Archway RV Park in Mount Vernon, IL. Granted, it is 80 miles from “The Arch” in St Louis but it is a nice place to stop for the night. 

As you can guess, Mount Vernon was named after George Washington’s residence. It was founded at time when there were no roads to this village. After statehood, it became the seat of the 5th District Court of Appeals. When the Supreme Court was in session, the important lawyers in Illinois, including Abraham Lincoln, gathered in Mt. Vernon to argue their cases.

Frosty Morning 

Nice campground lake 

When we left Bucklin, my mother forced addition food upon us,  so our camper stores are full. We have lots of good leftovers for our camp meals the next few days.  

10/21

We had a somewhat leisurely morn as we made French toast before starting the days journey. 

Diesel Truck was in need of an oil change, so as we got to Evansville, IN, we located a Walmart and pulled in to the lube area. What was to have been an hour wait turned into 2.5 hours and delayed our day a good bit. 

Even with this, we carried on across Indiana, Kentucky and into Tennessee. 

As we crossed the Ohio river into Kentucky, the odor of mash filled the air and soon we drove past the Glenmore Distillery.  October 18-20th was the grand opening of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum. Darn it we missed it by one day, had we known, 10/20 was a day of an outdoor concert. The museum was closed when we got to the area. 

Anyway, we pushed on and made to the Bean Pot Campground for the night. With our Good Sam discount, it was only $27 for the night with full hookups. We got a nice level pull through site in the heavily wooded campground. Nice friendly folks checked us in, I set up the camper as Lynn took The Boys for a walk. We were barely set up and boom, it was dark. 

We decided to get rid of some leftovers for dinner and after another pup walk we were ready for bed. 

I did a bit of research and learned the why of “Bean Pot”.  Well, up until recently there was a local restaurant named the Beanpot. It was a popular stop on I-40 where one could order “aigs, taters, and sumpthin’ to warsh it all down with.” The Beanpot shut its doors on Feb.11, 2012 and was demolished in December of 2017. 

10/22 

We were up, doing the morning necessities, feeding pups, walking pups, breakfast etc etc and got on the road. Although it was a short day we planned on stopping at Smokey Mountain Knife Works, and the Lodge Cast Iron Outlet. 

Smokey Mountain Knife works is rather amazing as there are so many knife choices from inexpensive to high end knifes. It’s a Bass Pro, Cabelas, REI of knifes. I really can not describe all the choices offered there. My quest was a hatchet for a friend and a Smokey The Bear Swiss Army knife for me. It takes one a bit to find the section you are looking for, then finding just what one wants can take a bit of time. But I did find the two items and another camp knife for me. 

One note is the parking lot at GSMKW is not very RV friendly, actually this surprised me. So if you are pulling a trailer or driving a good sized RV keep this in mind. 

I then walked across the street to the Lodge Cast Iron Outlet. Knowing I had everything I needed and then some, I just did a quick tour of the shop. One good deal is the factory seconds, good selection and good prices. 

We next got some fuel and a bit of food and headed to Warriors Path State Park Campground where we will be for the next four nights. We got set up and a good friend stopped by for dinner. I made steak fajitas and apple pie. 

We had a nice evening talking and catching up and making plans for the next few days. 

The campground is very nice and we have a great site, with a water view out the back of the camper. 

One more puppy walk then sleep.