Travels And Tribulations Of Motorhoming by R & R

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.