Day 100, Tuesday, September 14, 2021, Tampa, FL (270 miles)

Home! Stats:

Coach miles: 4,825

States visited: 12

Family members visited: 15

Day 99, Monday, September 13, 2021, Tifton, GA (333 miles)

Travel Day.  Night spent at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture.

Days 95-98, Thursday-Sunday, September 9-12, 2021, Hendersonville, NC (127 miles)

We departed Townsend, TN, and headed to Hendersonville, NC, to visit Staci, Jon and Avery. The relaxing visit included a Mud Creek Stout at Dry Falls Brewing Co., take out from Beijing Chinese, Hubba Hubba BBQ and Umi Japanese. A visit to the NC Arboretum was very enjoyable with a sunny day and temps in the 70"s. We especially enjoyed the Bonsai exhibit.

Day 94, Wednesday, September 8, 2021, Townsend, TN 

Our morning event was an appointment at Mike Clemmer’s Wood-N-Strings Dulcimer Shop in Townsend. The shop has dulcimers made by Clemmer and by McSpadden. Rosemary played with some of each but did not purchase a dulcimer. However, she did purchase a music book and a hand made dulcimer necklace and earrings. We also went to the Smoky Mountain Dulcimers shop in Gatlinburg. Rosemary played the dulcimers made by Mark Edelman but determined they were not what she was looking for. We then drove about an hour and ten minutes to Jefferson City, TN, to visit our friends Edda and Mike at their new home. It was very nice to see them having last seen them in 2014 at their former home in South Carolina.

Day 93, Tuesday, September 7, 2021, Townsend, TN 

Today we visited the most visited National Park in the country, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I thought that after Labor Day the crowds would not be so bad. However, our first stop was to the Sugarlands Visitors Center where there was a line of people out the door so we picked up our trail map and left.  We drove the Newfound Gap Road and headed to Clingman’s Dome which at 6643 feet is the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi River. There was road construction which closed one lane of the two lane road which made for backups in both directions as traffic each way had to take turns using the open lane. After a picnic lunch, we hiked the .5 mile steep uphill climb to a spiral ramp to an observation tower on top of the dome It being the Smoky Mountains, at the top we were in the clouds and there was no view to be seen. Fortunately, there were overlooks on the drive up which did offer spectacular views. Next we did a short hike to the Cataract Falls but it was not impressive. We then headed to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail which is a narrow one way road through mountainous forest with a speed limit of ten mph. It was self enforced! We stopped at the Trillium Trail head parking lot and hiked the 2.6 mile out and back trail with a 550 foot elevation gain to see the Grotto Falls. The waterfall was worth the hike. A beautiful falls which allowed one to walk behind it. And although other people where there, it was not so crowded that we couldn’t get photos without others in the picture. We then drove around Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge on our way back to the coach.

Day 92, Monday, September 6, 2021, Townsend, TN (97 miles)

Easy travel day.  Checked into the Mountaineer Campground (FHU 50 amp) in Townsend just north of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Day 91, Sunday, September 5, 2021, Ewing, VA 

Rest day.

Day 90, Saturday, September 4, 2021, Ewing, VA 

About six miles from the campground is Virginia’s Wilderness Road State Park. The main feature of the park which includes the Wilderness Road Rail is Martin Station. It is an authentic recreation of the fort established in 1775 by Captain Joseph Martin and played a key role in the settlement of the west. The authenticity of the recreation included utilizing only tools and materials that were available in the 1775 construction down to the clothes the workers wore and the food that they ate. It is occupied by five costumed interpreters including, of course, a blacksmith. We watched the blacksmith finish making a pan and he then indicated he would make us a souvenir.  I said a pan would be nice but he indicated that would take abut 30 hours. So we took home a nail. Very interesting history lesson and the best part for us was we were the only park fort guests at the time. We did a little hiking around the state park and said hello to some bison along the way.

Day 89, Friday, September 3, 2021, Ewing, VA 

Another beautiful day for hiking. We hiked along the Wilderness Trail to the Gap Cave, 1.2 miles and a 230 foot elevation gain which seemed like much more. Although the Park’s cave tours were closed, we could enter about 50 feet of the cave. But even before we entered the cave, we enjoyed the 54 degree cool breeze coming from the cave. We continued on the Wilderness Trail to a small waterfall but the wooden bridge was labeled closed due to substantial wood rot. We went back to the car, drove to the Iron Furnace site, picked up the Wilderness Trail and then hiked back to the closed bridge to get a better view of the waterfall. Alas, the trees hindered the view of the waterfall so no photo. But yes, that is a photo of me on the rotted bridge which fortunately held me.

Day 88, Thursday, September 2, 2021, Ewing, VA 

A beautiful, sunny, cool day - perfect for our hiking adventures. We hiked the Gap Trail to reach the middle of the Cumberland Gap and then onward to the Tri-State Trail. We then arrived at the conjunction of the three states - Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Yes, we did stand in all three states at once. The hike rated moderate was 2.4 miles with a 540 foot elevation gain. Next we went back to the Pinnacle Overlook. What a difference a day makes as the views were all the way to the horizon.  We could see both ends of the tunnel and the gap became clear. We could also see Middlesboro, KY, which is the only flat land around. That is because Middlesboro is located in a meteorite crater from 200-300 million years ago. The meteorite is estimated to have been the size of a football field and made a four mile wide crater. Next we drove into the tiny town of Cumberland Gap, TN, and visited the Iron Furnace. The 30 foot stone tower is all that is left of an iron smelting business operating from 1820's to the 1880's. We then drove around Harrogate, TN, which is home to Lincoln Memorial University. The size of the University dwarfs the town. We then drove around Middlesboro. The cute downtown area has many closed up shops but the “suburbs” has the Walmart Supercenter and fast food row.

Day 87, Wednesday, September 1, 2021, Ewing, VA (62 miles)

We departed Sheltowee Trace Adventure Park in the rain and headed to the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. We approached the Cumberland Gap Tunnel just in time to see the sign: tunnel closed. Fortunately, it was a temporary closing for the passage of a ‘hazmat vehicle” which required an escort. The tunnel which is in the Park is .9 miles long, opened in 1996, closed the road which went through the Cumberland Gap and allowed the Gap to be restored to its 1775 condition. We checked into the Park’s Cumberland Wilderness Campground (50 amp E, DS with potable water) which is in the Virginia portion of the Park. We then went back through the tunnel from the Tennessee’s side to the Visitors Center which is in Kentucky.  We saw a film about Daniel Boone’s establishment of the Wilderness Trail. The Cumberland Gap was originally discovered by Thomas Walker, a surveyor for the Loyal Land Company, in 1750 but he did not go far enough to see the expansive west. Boone first went through the Gap in 1769 and came back in 1775 and blazed the wilderness trail to the west.  We then drove to the Pinnacle Overlook parking lot and made a short hike to the overlook. It was an overcast day and we were in and above the clouds at the overlook. We could barely see the town of Cumberland Gap, TN, which was directly below. Better weather is forecasted and we shall return to the overlook.