Up and Down the Hollers

Lake Powhatan, Asheville, NC

We left Tennessee and headed for the Appalachian Mountains. Rather than drive thru Smokey Mountain National Park, which we've done before, we decided to drive through little mountain towns. We stopped several times along the way to play in and check out the Ocoee River. (And yes, Tom you are right - all owned by the TVA.) Interestingly enough, we also saw a fair amount of solar farms so maybe that's the new trend toward rural electrification.

One of my bucket list items (yes, they are fairly modest) was to bike the Little Tennessee River Rails for Trail. I'd read an article about it a few years ago and it looked so quaint meandering next to the Tennessee river with several bridges criss-crossing over the river. As luck would have it we just "happened" to drive thru Franklin, North Carolina. It's a fairly easy 11 or so mile bike ride, but what it lacks in mileage it makes up for in scenery. The trail was heavily scented with thickets of blooming wild honeysuckle, the sweet perfume so strong it was almost heady. This trail hooked up with a couple of other little trails all hugging the Little Tennessee River. The temperature was just about 80, so even though we were riding this in the mid-afternoon it wasn't too hot or oppressive. It's a great ride, up and down and a couple of fun hills, over a covered bridge and just enough variety to keep it interesting. Definitely the highlight of my day!

After this little escapade we drove for about another hour and a half and are camped just outside of Asheville in an awesome USFS campground. Ironically, this is the place we will be over Memorial Weekend so it was kinda cool to check it out. First thing we did was hop on our bikes. This place has so many mountain bike trails it's ridiculous. We rode down to the beach area and then took a trail through the woods. We didn't have a trail map so it was a bit confusing (not to mention a work-out) to figure out where we were. Safely, but exhausted, we made it back to the campground in time for a "Cheers Norm's Amber Ale" for Ned and a glass of Pinot Grigio for moi.

Tomorrow we head to Raleigh, NC to meet up with Sam the owner of Videri Chocolate. Sam was one of the other chocolate makers with us on our recent trip to Trinidad and Ecuador. We are really looking forward to seeing his operation and spending some time with him before heading back up to Asheville. My only regret is that we won't have any time to see my niece, Cassie, and my great-nephews Jessie and Brent. Such cute boys!!! Next time, Cassie - I promise!

p.s. I also threw in a couple of pictures that show we are definitely in "Cue" country - pork bbq that is. I love all the interesting regionals areas that make up the US. So fun!

Tennessee Whiskey Trail

Harrison Bay State Park, TN

It was sure hard to pull down the top and roll out of this camping spot. I especially enjoyed the different type of bird activity that was going on this morning. Without even trying you could spot colorful woodpeckers tapping away at the tree trunks and summer tanagers flying by. I'm not a birder and completely ignorant about bird life, but I was really getting a kick out of listening to their various calls back and forth.

We left "Bama" behind us and drove due north into Tennessee headed into the general direction of the Tennessee Whiskey Trail. Several years ago we took the Jack Daniels Tour in Lynchburg and really enjoyed it. Since we were close enough to the Whiskey Trail (what's a couple of hundred miles when you're driving across country...) we thought it was an excellent excuse to check out another distillery. We decided on George Dickel Whisky Distillery. Note that there's no "e" in the Whiskey at this distillery. It's because George claimed his whisky was so darn smooth that it tasted like Scotch Whisky, which is spelled without the e. Sounded good to us.

The drive through the backroads of Tennessee on this gorgeous hot summer day was pretty fun. I had no idea that so much wheat was grown in this part of the country. We drove up and down thru rolling green hills, past newly planted green wheat fields and too many trailer homes to count.

The George Dickel Distillery is not an easy place to find. It's definitely tucked in the back hills of Normandy, TN in a place called Cascade Hollow. It's much smaller than the Jack Daniels Distillery, but very charming. One side of the road is the General Store, Post Office and Visitors Center - all in one building. Across the way is the very small distillery. The big difference between this operation and the Jack Daniels is that everything is done by hand. Their motto is "handmade the hard way". No kidding. As a bean to bar chocolate maker we sure appreciate when something is handcrafted. However, we don't go out of our way to make it particularly hard. It seems like they pride themselves on doing things the exact same way it was done in 1959. For example, the charcoal ricks are burned in the open (up a hollow), hand bagged with shovels, driven with a pickup to the distillery and then walked bag by bag upstairs.
Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the distillery so the only shots we have are of the outside. The warehouse where the barrels are being aged and stored smells AMAZING! It was one of the best parts of the tour. We also learned that Sterling Winery in Napa gets their used barrels, which are only used once.

As far as distillery tours go we enjoyed the Maker's Mark and Jack Daniels tour better. I think George Dickel whisky is darn good, but our tour guide was a bit of a sourpuss. There were only 4 of us on the tour, so it wasn't as if we were an unruly crowd. The best part was the whisky tasting at the end. After 4 shots our guide did seem to loosen up a bit. (Feedback to George Dickel Visitors Center - have your guides take the shots BEFORE giving the tour). Ned and I had a great time being whisky connoisseurs - sniffing, sipping, swirling and smacking our lips. The barrel select is their very finest, (for the very discerning whisky drinker), but obviously we don't have discriminating palates when it comes to whisky. Our favorite was No. 12. It had great buttery notes. Ned took one for the team and drove this afternoon. He was in much better shape than I was. Go Ned!

Enjoying the Southern Hospitality

Joe Wheeler State Park, AL

It was as if a switch was thrown and we went from cool days, always chasing a storm, to the hot days of summer. We woke to birds singing their hearts out, almost ridiculous with the amount of noise they were making. I think they too were thrilled that summer had finally arrived.

Ned and I were up past midnight playing backgammon (yes, we've become addicts) so it felt good to just take our time getting up, enjoy the bright summer day and have this heavily wooded campground to ourselves.

Our first stop of the day was the small Mississippi town of Holly Springs. As far as small towns go, this one was somewhat thriving. The ubiquitous court house in the town square was humming, there were cars parked everywhere and the shops around the square were definitely open. Nice. After driving thru so many Texas and Oklahoma towns where the town square was nearly vacant and the shops boarded up this felt hopeful. After a quick visit to the Chamber of Commerce, we picked up a map of the antebellum homes in the town and decided to do a bike tour of them rather than the driving tour. This town was occupied fairly early in the Civil War and it's amazing how many of the homes survived. It's not a particularly affluent town, but the huge magnolia and mimosa trees lining all the streets really added to the ambience of Southern charm. One antebellum house that particularly struck me was occupied by General Grant and his family for a year during the War. Just think of that, "Hey, honey I'm going to war. Pack up the household, servants and kids and join me." One of the brochures made a point that General Grant brought with him his slaves. I'm definitely going to do some research on that to see what that was all about.

After our antebellum biking jaunt, we continued to take highway 4 across Mississippi driving through one sleepy Southern town to another. We eventually hooked up with the Natchez Trace for awhile. Several years ago we took the Natchez Trace for several hundred miles. I'm still in awe of the beauty and history of this stretch of land. Just imaging first buffalo, then Indians, then trappers walking this trail.

Crossing into Alabama our next little adventure was visiting the birthplace and childhood home of Helen Keller. We've seen some pretty cheesy "birthplace" spots before (Judy Garland in Grand Rapids I'm looking at you), but this spot was amazing!
Besides being able to tour the home, cottage and see the original pump where Helen Keller made the connection to water, the photographs and documents were quite interesting. Some really fascinating facts I learned: The basic system of sign language was first developed by Spanish monks to communicate without breaking their vow of silence; Braille was created in 1825 by 16 yr. old Louis Braille for night reading by the French army; Alexander Bell met Helen when she was a child and helped make the connection between Helen and her lifelong friend and teacher, Annie Sullivan.

Our final destination is Joe Wheeler State Park in Alabama. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is the best campsite of the trip so far. We are camped right on a lake and as I write this blog Ned is cooking up some brats and yams on the grill. We are talking about doing a bike ride tonight to check out this expansive State Park. Goodness knows I need to get in some saddle time so we can keep up with Owen and Brian (my great-newphes) when we visit them in a few weeks!

42 and Me

Wall Doxey State Park, MS

We really took our time this morning getting on the road. It felt quite luxurious to hang out for several hours and just enjoy the quiet time in the campground. We were about an hour and a half from Little Rock our first destination of the day and not in any hurry to get there.

Our original plan was to view the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum at noon, but it turns out it didn't open til one. No problema. Six years ago when we first visited Little Rock we had taken a short bike ride on the River Trail. It was just taking shape and apparently had great plans. Well, six years later it looks great! Even though it was a bit cool, in the low 60's, and overcast we took our chances on no rain and decided to go for an hour ride on the trail.

I love Little Rock. It ranks up there with one of my top 10 cities. It's a beautiful river city, with a brew pub on each block, and the people are super friendly. It seems as if there's always something going on here too. Today was some kind of film festival and the city was getting ready for their big Memorial Weekend River Music Festival. Flags were flying, tents were being set up and policeman on horseback were roaming about. Unfortunately, the River Trail was closed in some spots due to all this activity, so we just rode through the heart of town over a bridge and enjoyed the River Trail on the other side of the Arkansas River. It was fantastic! We ended up crossing back on an awesome bridge right next to the Presidential Library. Perf.

Aesthetically, the architecture of the Clinton Library is stunning. It overlooks the river and the park grounds are beautiful with walkways that take you around ponds and lots of foliage. The building is also a Premium LEED status. Once inside we toured 3 floors. I love history and politics so this was especially fun for me. Clinton's Presidential Limo was on display, there was a re-creation of his Cabinet room and the Oval Office. We also really enjoyed the movie, the timeline of events during his presidency and memorabilia. One of my favorite things was also seeing all the cool gifts that were received during his presidency. Many of the anecdotes and stories were really fun too. One of my fave was about when President Jiang from China visited. Clinton was giving a tour of the White House to President Jiang and showed him the Gettysburg Address, whereupon President Jiang recited it from memory! Who knew?!

Today was also the first day of the Dale Chihuly Glass Exhibit. Wow - his glass sculptures are breathtaking. It was fun to see his preliminary sketches and how he transformed his ideas into glass.

After hanging out with President No. 42 for several hours, we had to mosey on into Mississippi. We took backroads to get there, enjoyed crossing over the Mississippi River and connecting with our trip last year. For those of you following our route, we took highway 4 across Mississippi to Wall Doxey State Park. This little background was gorgeous. You really feel like you are in the Deep South. Lots of green foliage, kuzdo vine climbing up trees and taking over abandoned barns and pastures of newly planted rice, wheat and corn. Dang I love this part of the country!

We finally arrived at this charming State Park close to 8. It's appears to have lots of CCC stone structures, thickly wooded campsites and best of all a washer and dryer!!
As I write this blog we are doing are first load of laundry of the trip (wine time for me, beer for Ned.) Kinda luxurious to have 3G connection and do laundry while camping. Things sure have changed since I started blogging our trips 6 years ago. It's such a joy not to have to drive around in search of pirating wifi. Fun day, but then again it's always fun hanging out with Ned and doing stuff.

Opting Not to Take the Cure

Lake Ouachita State Park, AR

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning, or should I say the lightbulb in the five gallon bucket so prominently displayed all night by our neighbors, finally lost its bright glow. I never can figure out why grown men need a campsite lit up all night, especially when everyone is all lined up in their 5th wheels. But, I digress...

Beaver's Bend State Park was jam packed last night and every other campsite seemed to be sporting some kind of hot rod. First thing this morning a parade of the street rods took a ceremonious lap and finally all parked on the community green. Apparently, it was the big weekend of the "Rod Run". We didn't stick around, but decided to move on for Arkansas was calling. We did enjoy watching the late street rod arrivals as they came past us into the meet.

Our big outing for the day was visiting Hot Springs, particularly the National Park. The weather was a cool and breezy 60ish perfect weather for soaking in the baths. We packed a backpack with bathing suits and rain gear figuring we had the bases covered. We enjoyed walking down Bathhouse Row and reading about the history of these houses in their glory days. We knew a couple of them were still operating as bathhouses so were eagerly looking forward to "taking the cure". Our first stop was at the official National Park Headquarters where we were able to tour the Fordyce Bathhouse. This establishment was thought to be the best of the hot spring bathhouses and people came from all over to cure everything from liver ailments to syphilis.

We began the tour with a very dated movie about the history of Hot Springs and how the springs geologically occur. The building felt very Victorian and had lots of tile, marble and stained glass. The wood work was gorgeous, particularly in the women's dressing room. However, as we went from floor to floor to floor and began to really see the baths and the techniques used we started to get a little creeped out and even a bit queasy.

The longer we poked around the more it felt like we were in some kind of torture chamber. For example, the Hydro-Therapeutic Room touts. "It's equipment includes sun-ray cabinets, frigid cabinets, devices for sprays, douches, Sitz baths, electric baths(!) and the like." And how could one not want to partake in the Chiropody Room where foot problems are treated in a number of ways. "Painful cysts between the bones on the bottoms of feet would be crushed and slid off with sideward knuckle punches." And let us not forget the Hubbard Tub Room where underwater treatments were given for...we're not quite sure what. However a sign did say that this room was formerly used to administer mercury rubs once a standard treatment for syphilis. Great....can't wait to soak in that tub!! Ned got really freaked out about the firehouse on the wall near the tubs. Not really sure if these were used to fill the tubs or give enemas. Ahhhh....At this point Ned and I found our way out of the building and decided to forego taking "the cure" and decided to pig out on BBQ. Smoked ribs and coleslaw were such the better choice!

Tonight we are camped at Lake Ouachita State Park. Even tho it's cool and threatening to rain the campground hopping. We had the choice to take the last electrical spot, which is basically in a gravel parking lot, or opt for the tent campsites. Guess which we chose. Tent campers don't like rain so we got a great spot in an almost empty campground loop over looking the lake. It feels good to just hang out read and play some games. I'm teaching Ned backgammon so he'll have a chance to beat me at something else besides Skip-O.

Experiencing the Chisholm Trail

Broken Bow State Park, OK

After eating dinner and posting the blog last night, we decided to head to the wide open range where we had spotted the bison and prairie dogs earlier. Bingo! What a treat we had watching the bison migrate across the road, get frisky with each other and interact with their calves. The sunset over the wide open prairie was pretty spectacular too!

This morning we purposely got up earlier to do an "easy" bike ride in the park. Note to self, any bike route labeled easy with the name "Mt. Scott trail" one should take with a grain of salt. It was far from easy, but at least we got a good cardio work-out!
The wildflowers are abundant in this park and and it was beautiful to ride past fields of colors. We were also treated by seeing longhorn out grazing and more bison. Sweet!

After that little jaunt was out of the way, we headed for the Visitor Center and took in a movie and had fun with looking at all the exhibits. A park ranger did clear up for me what that sweet little red bird was last night. It was called a Summer Tanager. We've been to many National Parks and this Wildlife Refuge rates right up there with the best of them. In fact, I much preferred this to the Waterton Peace Park in Canada. The only thing that park had over this one was the lodge, but the camping and wildlife viewing were far superior here.

The big highlight of the day was stopping at the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center. If anyone is ever around Lawton, OK I definitely encourage you to check out this super fun museum. It was very interactive and we enjoyed roping cattle and learning all about the history of the Chisholm trail. There were also two theatres. One was an animatronic (think Abe Lincoln at Disneyland) little sketch with Jesse Chisholm and a cowboy, Tex, out on the range. The other was a real hoot!! We were seated with a gazillion school kids and watched a film about what it was like to drive cattle for 100 days on the trail. The kicker was that it was SUPER interactive. When it rained, water was sprinkled over us; when the wind blew on the prairie, we felt wind blowing on us; when the rain and thunder blew our seats shook; when bacon was frying, we were supposed to smell that (that part was a bit lame), but we definitely smelled all the wildflowers on the range. At the end of the movie we participated in a sing-a-long with the school kids. Tons of fun!!

For the majority of the day we drove across Oklahoma. It was interesting to see the topography change from dry and arid, to wide open prairie and then the lush rolling hills with swollen rivers and creeks of Eastern Oklahoma. We are camped tonight at the biggest state park I have ever camped in. It is enormous, with about 395 campsites spread out over 100's of acres. There is also cabins, restaurants, paddle boats, hay rides, train rides, tennis courts, golf course and goodness knows what else.

We are in a very wooded campground and poor Winnie is dwarfed by the 5th wheels and pick-ups. As I write this there is country music playing, smokers going and lots of "howdy-do's" and "thank-you ma'ams" We have definitely left the Southwest and have officially entered into the South. Perfect. Kinda getting us prepared for our venture into Arkansas tomorrow. I expect we've left the land of beef and will be entering into the land of pork bellies, hush puppies, grits and sweet tea.