Those 70ish Girls

I have always wanted to see the Blue Ridge Mountains so I was pretty excited to drive from Boone, North Carolina through some of the Pisgah National Forest, by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were driving the motor home and towing the Jeep, so it was slow going but we didn’t mind. We pulled off onto several turn-outs so I could snap some good pictures of the beautiful mountains and the trees which are already starting to turn.

The photograph below doesn’t look authentic, but it has not been retouched other than to crop it a little.

We were on our way to spend a couple of days near some friends who live in the Ashville area. 

Our friends had warned us that part of the parkway was closed due to the debris caused by the storms that had pushed up from the hurricanes. We got that message yesterday, so this morning Kip called to check on the road conditions and the recording said the road was open to all traffic.

The drive had been awesome, but we were ready to get out of the mountains. Imagine our dismay when with only two miles to go, the road was barricaded.

Remember, we were driving a 38′ motor home and towing a Jeep. I hadn’t mentioned this to Kip, but I thought I had detected a little bit of a smokey smell…like burning rubber from using the breaks constantly.

Thankfully, we had not gone past the road that led to the Mt Mitchell State Park. Surely we would be able to turn around there. 

It wasn’t as if we had a choice anyway, but we were a little disappointed to find out we had to drive to the summit of Mt Mitchell where the museum and gift shop are to find a parking lot big enough for us to get turned around. 

Once we got turned around, we had to back track about fifteen curvy miles before we got on a different road. (The lady at the visitor’s center had printed a map with an alternate route down the mountain.)

I don’t think I took any pictures while on that road. I was on the drop off side going down, and I was positive I could see smoke coming off the tires. We finally made it out and all is well that ends well, right?

Except the story doesn’t end there. I had searched for an RV spot close to Ashville where I thought our friends lived. I must have missed the ‘area’ part. You know…the Ashville ‘area’. It turns out we’re an hour and a half away. We’re closer to the friends we plan to visit next. We’re moving somewhere tomorrow.

If you see three dogs and a cat trying to hitch a ride, tell them Kip and MG need them. We need both of our brains and theirs to make it through the day. 

I guess what they say is true. Ignorance is bliss.