There is a niece's wedding in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania on the 24th, and a Road Scholar program in Chincoteague, VA the 9th-12th. They are the main events, and we'll fill in others as we go.
78 degrees as set out on this month's travels, but this is at 8 AM. It has been very hot and rainy here for the past month or so. They are also predicting rain all across the south for the next few days, so we have decided to go north to Texarkana and then across to Memphis and north, rather than drive in rain along the Gulf all day. We see blue sky as we reach Texarkana!
We do hit some showers here and there and are glad for the cloud cover because even then we are into the low 90's. We reach Arkansas at 1:25 and continue past Little Rock on I40 to the Mike Freeze Wattensawman Wildlife Management Area, a few miles off I40, near Hazen. We have a nice area to ourselves as we eat dinner, go for a walk and try to sleep.
Monday 9/3/2018
This morning we have some cereal and fruit and decide to head towards the Smokies, thinking that it will be cooler in the mountains (and we love the area) and it is kinda on the way. Long drive, so we stop at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage near Nashville for a break. He was our 7th president, serving from 1829-1837. Now on the $20 bill - but maybe not for long!
Aa President, Jackson was pretty popular and was known for fighting for the common man and his determination to preserve the union (I think it was South Carolina that tried to succeed during this time). He was an orphan at 14, became a military leader and won the Battle of New Orleans in the war of 1812 - a very big deal at the time as this new nation defeated the mighty British. Jackson was quite a war hero. He was against the rule of the "aristocracy" that he perceived existed in Washington DC. He was the only President to pay off the national debt, and was the first to survive an assassination attempt. He also survived being shot in a duel!
Unfortunately, he is mainly remembered today for supporting slavery and initiating the infamous Indian Relocation program which included the Trail of Tears. Easy to be judgmental now, but unfortunately few were "enlightened" during those years.
The Hermitage was built on 1200 acres in 1821 and rebuilt after a fire in 1837, adding the front columns. Some of the items and wallpaper were original, but much was "of the period".
There were lovely gardens and a beautiful monument where he and his wife are buried.
There were several other buildings which included slave quarters, a summer kitchen, stables and more. Temps are back to 90, so we don't linger outside.
We called ahead and found that there were campsites available at Cade's Cove in the Smokies so continued through Tennessee. A few rain showers and lovely rainbow, almost double, welcomed us to the Smokies!
We reached the campsite among the tall trees about 6:30.
Tuesday, 9/4/2018
We slept well last night and decided to drive the Cades Cove Loop early this morning before doing breakfast. It is an 11 mile, one-way road through a mix of wooded and pasture land.
The typical low clouds "Smoke" blanketed much of the meadows early on. White and wispy clouds, flowing with the winds, till the sun eventually made them vanish. Lots of bejeweled spider webs.
And we spotted wild turkeys,
Wild Hogs,
Two lively black bears (till one was chased off).
They looked young and favored a large oak tree.
Also spotted a few deer with beautiful tawny coats.
We stopped at the site of an old Mill and recognized the white-haired, white-bearded mill worker from a previous visit (he's been working there for 9 years).
Cantilevered barns, an old house, smoke house and more made for a nice walking tour.
A few Summer flowers still put on a show here and there. An occasional tree had a bit of color and some were already shedding leaves - looks like a case of location, location, location...
We moved on into the heavily wooded area of the park, stopping for a hike in to Laurel Falls. Lots of mountain laurel here - must be gorgeous in the Spring.
A ranger we spoke with on the trail said this was a very slow day, though there were quite a few people on the trail with us. Glad we weren't here on a busy day!
A few more stops and I experimented a bit with my new toy - a crystal ball ( still need some work)!
We next stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center where a friendly ranger named Jan provided some recommendations on campsites and places to eat. We didn't want to hassle with the congestion of Gatlinburg and the busy "tourist" area and thought one more night in the mountains sounded good.
We headed towards the northern end of the park and Cosby campground, stopping on the way at Alamo Steakhouse for a late lunch/early dinner on Jan's recommendation. Tasty!
Cosby Campground is in a much less busy part of the park and was probably less than 1/3 full! We found a nice campsite and then headed back out the road a bit to Cosby Run, a private campground that sells showers. Nice and hot, ahhhh.
Relaxed with some snacks and wine and even had to use a blanket in the wee hours of the morning!
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