Today we had a simple plan: a leisurely morning at the motel, a short drive to Owensboro, a tour of the Green River Distillery (the Westernmost distillery on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail), lunch in downtown Owensboro, and then a three hour drive home. We executed flawlessly.

Now we are snug at home after a quick stop to pick up milk and mushrooms for breakfast tomorrow. I’ve had my celebratory glass of St Louis water (tastes great and less filling) and I’m ticking off the final to do item of both the day and the trip.

Until the next adventure!

Tags: NC2021

Today started with the alarm going off at 6 AM. Ugh. Retirement means you only set an alarm on vacation (there went any sympathy). We needed to make it to our tour at Mammoth cave at 8:45 AM.

The River Styx tour took us from the top to the bottom of Mammoth cave, which is 400 miles of caves that basically are now dry underground streams that drained water from one side of a plateau to the Green River on the other side. A cap of sandstone and flint kept the upper levels from eroding away leading to its enormous size but kept water from leaking in, leading to a near total absence of all the formations you associate with caves. In other words, we walked two and a half miles of dry creek beds, just under ground. At the bottom we came to an actual wet creek, AKA the River Styx. Then we turned around and walked back out. We only got to hear the Charon waterfall, but we did get to see a sunken boat in the creek, 350 below ground.

I made it through Fat Man’s Misery which was more like Svelte Man’s Discomfort until I came to the spot where the floor abruptly rose and then it was Old Man’s Stumble. In some ways the highlight of the tour was our guide, Greg.

Tags: NC2021

Today is going to be a short post since basically all we did was drive. And eat. And check out of the Airbnb. Ha ha, bazinga! You don’t check out, basically you clean up after yourself (one place we didn’t even have to do that, but we’re middle class midwesterners so we still did anyway), leave, and message the owner. Then we review them and they review us. Oddly enough, “clean” is always included in the reviews of us. I admit the place in the mountains this trip was different since we had to take our trash to the local recycling center.

So today we went back thru Tennessee and the unavoidable Knoxville, and in the middle of nowhere we set out on mostly two lane roads to Cave City KY and our rendezvous with the Sleep Inn there. I hate driving through Tennessee because so many drivers think they are in a NASCAR race but I have come to find out that’s only on the interstates and in the big cities. In the countryside they drive like your maiden aunt wearing white gloves and a frown. You don’t want to get too close to the speed limit because you might inadvertently exceed it.

Tags: NC2021

Erin took the day off to be with us, so we started the day by her going to CrossFit and me going for a run while MBH held down the fort. I’ve done a couple of workouts with Erin before and could walk only in great pain afterwards, so I sadly felt compelled to decline her invitation for a charming time despite her promise of no dynamic warm ups. Then it was off to Fort Mill South Carolina for lunch and our 21st state visited during the Pandemic.

We got the nickle tour of SIM USA where Erin works. Despite the name they send missionaries world wide. It was nice meeting some of her coworkers and hearing how great she is. Then it was back to rest up at our Airbnb awhile before heading back out to dinner in downtown Matthews. We said our goodbyes to Erin as tomorrow we pack up and head for the hills, the hills of Kentucky that is.

Tags: NC2021

We went to church with Erin, then came back to our AirBnB before a late lunch where we got to meet a friend of Erin’s, then a walk in the park (Freedom), then a stop at Lidl for cereal (and visit an Aldi rival we’d never been to before), then got back together for dinner and relaxation. When a young person picks the places you go, you see a lot more young people than when somebody my age picks.

The street layout of Charlotte is like a bowl of spaghetti thrown against the wall (see The Odd Couple) – roads wiggle every which way without rhyme or reason. Uptown (Charlotte calls its downtown Uptown) is laid out on a grid. Beyond that, it’s every road for itself, with roads frequently changing names, a maze that was made for turn by turn directions.

Tags: NC2021

Today dawned in a new location so we had to learn all the quirks of a new Keurig (company motto: no two alike!) and cooking bacon and eggs and mushrooms on a hot plate – I discovered after a while turning it to the max setting was the most important thing.

Then it was off to Erin’s and then Home Depot for supplies to add storage space on Erin’s attic. No plan survives first contact with the enemy and that’s all I’m going to say about that except sorry. And she has no more space than yesterday. And I was told I’d be replacing a ceiling fan with no mention of attics. Okay now that’s all I’m going to say.

We spent the rest of the day together, ending up at River Jam at the National Whitewater Center with a couple of her friends and their dogs. We never could agree what style Justin Fedor & the Denim Denim play but to me it was laid back country.

Tags: NC2021

Last night we decided our one last hurrah in the mountains would be to drive to Mt Mitchell (the tallest mountain east of the Rockies) and then off to Charlotte. This morning we were greeted with low overcast skies (again) and decided to head to the mountain on the hope it was below the clouds. So off we went through Spruce Pine to the Blue Ridge Parkway (again). The many bicyclists out for a ride on the parkway only added to the fun of a twisty mountain road with occasional rain and fog. When we got close we could see that Mt Mitchell was enveloped in cloud, so after a quick consult with our paper trip planning and map app we decided to drive past the turn off to the mountain from the Blue Ridge Parkway and head to the pinnacle crag trail.

Sometimes you have to formulate and take plan C on the fly, like when they close the road you are on at the turn off you no longer want to take. I suppose we could have returned to plan A, crawled along the road to the peak in dense fog and hope eventually the cloud went away, but we decided instead to head back the way we came and take a road to the south and lunch. So back we went, back thru the bicyclists (I only had to come to a stop once for a car passing a couple of bikers), past the overlooks that only gave a view of clouds, until we reached a ridiculously steep and winding road (NC 80) that took us south to Marion, around the flatbed tow truck crawling down the mountainside, to flat straight roads and lunch.

After a stop at Lake James it was off to Charlotte to deliver the three heavy tubs of memories to Erin. Everything else on this trip was secondary to that goal. After the three tubs were safely ensconced in her living room it was hugs all around and the fun of visiting began.

Tags: NC2021

Today again dawned gray and overcast. I know I sound like a high priest of the church of meteorology, but there is a skylight right above our bed so it’s kind of hard to miss, and the weather is kind of important if you’re spending most of your day outdoors or on mountain roads.

We decided to hike the Crabtree Falls trail. The trail was challenging and the falls amazing, so if you’re ever in the area go ahead and hike it, just wear your waterproof hiking boots so you don’t care where you put your foot. And yes, we drove thru Spruce Pine again.

I treasure all the people we meet along the way, but today was tough. Not the guy with the Texas plates and (maybe) customized van who looked like he was working remotely from a scenic overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Not the gal we met on the trail from Florida visiting Asheville for a bachelorette weekend who was getting her hiking in before her unathletic friends showed up. Not The waitress at the Chalet Restaurant in Little Switzerland (what a view!) who discussed life in the mountains and, yes, the weather. No, it was the three older people, well just the older gentleman who did all the talking. We first caught up to them just where the loop trail split and I’m just going to leave it that after four different conversations I came to the conclusion that he was utterly clueless yet always wrong. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

I’ve noticed that most people drive pickup trucks up here in the mountains of North Carolina, what a surprise I know, but I am surprised at how many Subarus I see on the roads here. Honda CR-Vs, not so much.

Tonight laundry, Tomorrow Charlotte

Tags: NC2021

Today dawned grey and overcast but not raining. So I went for a run, at least until a dog defended the far side of a bridge against me and with memories of an evening misspent in the Fannon County Regional Medical Center due to a dachshund bite I turned tail and bravely ran away.

By the time we set off for Blowing Rock the sun was shining and blue sky outnumbered clouds. What a difference a day makes. What a difference great weather makes. What never seems to change is everyday we drive through Spruce Pine. At least we were on a different stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway today – alongside Grandfather Mountain.

When we stopped at Price Lake to admire the view we decided to take the 2.3 mile loop trail since it shouldn’t take longer than 45 minutes. Why bother putting our hiking boots on, the trail just goes around a lake, not up a mountainside. Somehow we forgot what happens after days of rain culminating in one final day of deluge so it took over an hour as we were delayed by avoiding all the muck and flooded parts of the trail.

We had a nice lunch and strolled around the touristy part of Blowing Rock and forgot all about muck. We bought a tri-scented candle we were assured would burn for 150 hours. I’m a little bit more of a record keeper than the average bear but I think I’ll just take their word for it. By the time we split a piece of cheesecake I forgot all about yesterday’s rain too.

And then it was time to leave before our full bellies put us to sleep. So we headed back down the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Rough Ridge trailhead. This time we put the waterproof hiking boots on and we were glad we did. There was a waterfall right at the parking lot and the trail itself was a stream flowing down the mountain. The trail’s claim to fame are two pride rock overlooks and then a view from the crest of the ridge into the valley opposite the trail head. We decided the view into the other valley wouldn’t be materially different than the valley we were already looking at so we turned around at the second overlook.

One the way home we followed a semi for miles. Normally I’m a trifle unhappy when stuck behind one but we were amazed at how fast he could take even the tightest curves and just the skill of his two lane mountain driving. When we got back to the Airbnb we sat out on the deck until the sun got too hot. Today really was a special day.

Tags: NC2021

Fred is not playing nice with us. It was raining when we woke up and it’s raining now and it will rain until sometime tomorrow morning with the all too infrequent break. I’ve kept a lookout on a couple of rocks in the creek across the road all day – when both went underwater I started to keep track of the biggest one and now it’s almost underwater. Fortunately we are perched high above the road so as long as the whole house doesn’t slide down the hillside we will be fine. As we sit here watching TV tonight, when the rain gets heavier we lose the Dish signal and the lights blink. Yeah, I know, first world problems. Keep Haiti and Afghanistan in your prayers.

Jammie time lasted extra long this morning until MBH said let’s go out for lunch. So we put our game faces on, clothes too, and drove to Spruce Pine again for lunch and were surprised that place was hopping on a rainy Tuesday (it is Tuesday, isn’t it?) noon unlike a nice Sunday night. I kind of like the drive there because you can consistently go 55 mph on the stretch on NC 226. The start on 226A and the end on Roan road I briefly make it to 35 mph. When we head to Charlotte on the interstate I won’t know what to do with myself.

Pictures today are from earlier in the trip.

Tags: NC2021