Knoxville & Wartburg

July 29, 2006









Our visit to Knoxville was limited to a drive through of the downtown and a lengthy stop at the Knoxville Zoo, where we once again took advantage of the free admission reciprocal agreement we have as members of the Miami MetroZoo.

The Knoxville Zoo was a pleasant surprise, small but well maintained with some excellent exhibits. Our favorite was the really interesting display of naked mole rats. These hairless ugly creatures live in the same sort of communities as bees and termites, with one queen and a colony of mole rats to assist her. The zoo had two colonies on display in a clear sort of habit-trail design that allowed you to see them as they went about their lives. They have a live cam where you can log on and watch the mole rats if you care to see them. The zoo staffer Megan, seen below with Kathy, was extremely knowledgeable and helpful in answering the myriad of mole rat queries we had.

Kathy & Megan

The zoo had excellent black bear and primate exhibits and they had my favorite animals, prairie dogs as well. All in all it was a fun day at the zoo.



We left the zoo and decided against following I-40 towards Nashville, opting instead to drive a smaller back road through Oak Ridge into the Cumberland Mountains. We saw a sign for Frozen Head State Park and drove over to inquire about camping. We were thrilled to find the campsites virtually empty. We had our pick of the sites. We set up camp and were going to drive to the Fork River Bluegrass Jamboree held each Friday night in Wartburg, but found it was canceled due to the Relay for Life event going on in town, so we went there instead. We ended up seeing Bluegrass and then some as most of the community turned out for the Cancer Cure fundraising event. We met all sorts of fun locals, including those pictured below; who it seems will go to great lengths to raise money for the cause.

Relay for Life- Wartburg

This is a beautiful area, full of great people. The park is in the hazy Cumberland Mountains and has over 50 miles of hiking trails. We plan to do a little hiking today if it ever stops raining. It rained pretty hard most of the night. Thankfully our tent did an excellent job keeping us warm and dry.



View Naked Mole Rats Live cam at the link below:

View Naked Mole Rats Live cam Here!!

Great Smoky Mountain National Park

July 28, 2006





After 2 nights camping near Asheville, we hit the road again. Not before stopping in to see the new home of our friends, Key West residents Alison & Victor Heymann. They recently purchased a home in Asheville, a popular spot for Key Westers, and were here preparing in to be rented. We had a nice visit before heading off towards the Smoky Mountains, a short drive away.
Alison & Kathy

After stopping for the obligatory boiled peanuts and fresh peaches at a roadside stand, we drove through the Cherokee Indian Reservation into the town of Cherokee, a gateway community for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We had lunch there and walked around a little. It has all the sort of touristy Native American stuff you would expect to find, and is somewhat overwhelming.



We continued on into the park and traversed the road that leads from Cherokee to Gatlinburg, TN. The park itself is beautiful, spectacular vistas and views of the hazy mountains that give the park its name. We made one lengthy stop, at Clingman’s Dome which at 6643 ft is the highest point in the park. We hiked up the ½ mile path that leads to the observation tower. Thankfully the view was fairly clear; it can get really cloudy and hazy there. We then continued on through the park, stopping to check out one of the many beautiful mountain streams.

Clingmans Dome



We were going to stop in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge for the night, but if we thought Cherokee was overwhelming, the Tennessee gateway communities are over the top. Kathy described them as Duval Street on steroids. It was a mass of commercialism and tacky tourist traps, arcades, small amusement parks, etc. We just were not in the mood for such an onslaught after the peace and tranquility of the park. It’s hard to imagine such a totally opposite experience from being in the mountains. We drove on, and stopped just outside of Knoxville.

Asheville, NC

July 27, 2006





We have finally started heading west, so far we have made it about 200 miles to the outskirts of the city of Asheville in western North Carolina. Nestled along the Blue Ridge Parkway near where the Appalachians and the Smoky Mountains converge, Asheville is a cool small mountain city with a lot going for it.

We found a great campsite along the Swannanoa River, which runs right through the center of our campgrounds 10 miles east of Asheville, before heading past the Biltmore estate and through town. For some reason there are very few tent campers here and we pretty much had a pick of choice campsites and there is no one in our vicinity which is great.

After settling in and setting up camp, we drove the short distance into town where we explored the many cool shops and galleries before selecting a place called Barley’s Tap Room which we picked out of a wide variety of excellent restaurants due to the fact that they had a huge selection of local microbrews and they had live bluegrass. The band, Boss Hog, was made up of kids from Asheville & Boone and they were great.

Yesterday we were up early and off to explore more of the Asheville area, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway into town, stopping at the Folk Art Center, which was somewhat disappointing in that it was not what we had expected. I would call it more a traditional art center, because it was full of things like pottery & quilts etc, which though nice can be found at most any folksy art gallery in the Country.

We spent much of the rest of the day at the Biltmore House & Estate. This huge home, the largest private home in the USA with over 250 rooms, is amazing. Built in 1895, by George Vanderbilt, the mansion still contains all of the original furnishings, including an incredible art collection. The massive 8000+ acre estate also is home to huge gardens, a working farm village, one of the largest Wineries in the Country, and a massive luxury hotel and resort.




We toured the house, which took literally hours and was somewhat overwhelming in its incredible excess. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch at the Stable Café, which is located in the former stables, which have transformed into fine dining. Next we explored the huge gardens, designed by Frederick Olmstead, the same person who designed Central Park in New York. Lastly we took the tour of the winery, complete with a nice wine tasting of the current offerings. It was a long day and there was still a great deal we did not get to. In the evening we returned to the campsite, went swimming and relaxed after a long day. We considered returning today, but have opted against it, in favor of getting back on the road.

Pilot Mountain State Park

July 25, 2006




Our time in this area of North Carolina has ended and once more we find ourselves on the road. Our final couple of days here were mostly spent hanging out with family, swimming, relaxing and doing such mundane things as packing and paying bills. We did manage to take in a movie, The Devil Wears Prada, but most of the time was spent is less thrilling tasks. It’s hard to believe how spread out all our gear can get after being in a place for only a week.

We did manage to get in another day of hiking, this time selecting a different, but still nearby state park, Pilot Mountain State Park. Located in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina…or Mount Pilot if you are a fan of the Andy Griffith show, the park features the most prominent mountain in the Sauratown Mountains, Pilot Mountain.

Pilot Mountain (elevation 2,431) juts dramatically in a rocky summit offering spectacular views of the surrounding foothills. Named Jomeokee or the Great Guide or Pilot by the Saura Tribe, the mountain is still used as a landmark for pilots landing at the airport in Greensboro when navigating.

The park itself is divided into two sections, the mountain section featuring trails leading up and around Pilot Mountain and a less visited river section ten miles to the south along the Yadkin River. We visited both. We hiked up and around the knob of Mount Pilot in a light drizzle first. It did not really take that long, so we decided to drive to the river section which was way less developed to hike the Horne Creek Trail. The creek winds through the park and the one dirt road in actually passes through the creek three times meaning that if you want to hike; you need to drive through the creek. Thankfully there hadn’t been much more than the drizzle rain which had stopped when we arrived so traversing the creek was no problem.



Both areas offered good hiking. I enjoyed the beautiful creek hike because of the beauty and abundance of wildlife we saw, plus the fact that we were the only people in that section whereas there were a bunch of people hiking the popular Pilot Mountain.




Today we are off again, heading to Asheville and the Smoky Mountains. Our time here has been wonderful and it will be hard saying goodbye to Marika, Brian & Marta. They have been wonderful hosts. Marika & Brian are both flying out to Colorado to attend the Folks Fest next month with us. We just have to get going to make sure we get then in time to meet them.

Dirt Track Saturday Night

July 23, 2006





When visiting rural North Carolina there is probably no better experience one can have to get the true flavor of the place than to attend a race at one of the many local speedways that can be found in many communities. This area is where NASCAR racing was born from local moonshiners creating cars fast enough to outrun the law and then creating venues to race the cars they created.




That spirit is still alive at the new 311 Speedway in Madison. Billed as the “Daytona of Dirt”, the track puts on a full bill of dirt track racing every Saturday night, something better experienced than described. I enjoy Indy Car racing, but I had never seen anything quite like this. Marika, Brian & Kathy had never been to a dirt track either, but we braved the threatening weather and headed out to watch the action.




Our incredible weather luck held, and though storms raged around us, creating incredible lightning shows, they missed the track and the entire slate of racing went off without a problem. It was hard to follow exactly what was going on, there were a series of qualifying heat races in various classes followed by the actual 20 lap features. The racing was fast and furious, the cars sliding through the turns kicking up waves of red dust in their wake, bumping and maneuvering to try to get o the front. It was something. Perhaps the most fun is when they invited fans on the track to race their personal cars between the races. Sadly we did not take or car, because we certainly would have participated, but somehow Marika’s Volvo station wagon did not quite fit in with the local’s selection of trucks and hotrods.



Earlier in the day, I had added another battlefield visit to my list of historical sites. Kathy opted to stay at home and read, so Brian & I drove over to Greensboro to visit the Guilford Court House National Battlefield. It was the first Revolutionary War site I had been to and was the site of a costly British victory in March of 1781 which led to their ultimate defeat later that year at Yorktown. The British led by Charles Earl Cornwallis defeated the Continental Army and local raw recruits led by Nathanael Greene, but the British lost so many men during the fight that they were unable to win the war itself. We watched the movie and then toured the battlefield which was also significant personally because it was the last battlefield my father visited shortly before his death.