West Virginia to Georgia

24 Sept – Our first stop of the day at the Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia was at the “Lodge” where we had some internet so we published the last blog. On thru the great valleys and hills of the Allegheny Mountains (part of the Appalachians) thru beautiful forests and towns to Cass where we will take a scenic train ride tomorrow. Our friends, Sue and Don from Connecticut, had wised us up to a private little camp near Cass which we found easily. The train goes right passed the camp so we watched it go by.

25 Sept – Back down to the town to pick up our tickets for the Cass Scenic Train trip. Before the train left we looked into the General Store. Cass was a logging town where there was a large sawmill and where the train brought the logs down from the mountains. Our trip was up to Bald Knob, 11 miles away but all uphill. The engines here are all steam and specially designed to tackle the up to 9% gradient of the trip. The engines are a “Shay” design meaning that the pistons (3) are vertical and drive a horizontal drive shaft which transfers the power thru cogs to six sets of wheels. This means that they had lots of towing power without losing traction.

The carriages are converted logging wagons and open sided giving great views. The fall colours of the trees were beautiful ranging from brown, gold and red to even almost magenta. The noise, smell and smoke from a steam engine working hard was fantastic. It took 2 ¼ hours to get to the top. On the way we stopped to pick up our packed lunch from another train and to top up with water. The engine uses 4 ½ tons of coal for the trip. At the top it was very cold as we were at 4700ft. The day was overcast but the view over West Virginia was still great. On our return trip downhill, there were brakemen on every carriage applying the brakes and leaning out to check that the wheels were not locking up.

We stopped at an abandoned logging camp where the living quarters of the men and their equipment were on display. The trip lasted 4 ½ hours and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Back at the little camp the rain has started.

26 Sept – It rained all night and but it had stopped as we left and drove 10 miles to the Green Bank National Radio Astronomy Observatory. After a look around the interesting exhibitions we went on a tour of the radio telescopes. This was quite a contrast to the 1900s technology just 10 miles away. These are a series of huge dishes listening to the faint radio signals radiating from the stars. The site of this facility was selected because the area is very sparsely populated and therefore there is little interference for the sensitive receivers. The most spectacular is the huge Green Bank Telescope built in 2000 and the biggest trackable radio telescope in the world.

It is also the biggest moving object on land in the world. It is 14 stories high and the dish is 120m x 100m easily fitting a football pitch. The tour guide was a scientist and was very good with lots of facts that may have gone over the head of some of the old ladies. Unfortunately we could not take photos (interference) from right under the telescope but it was an awesome sight. Back on the road thru the hillbilly valleys of West Virginia. We are at a small state park in the Watoga Forest where it is raining again.

27 Sept – A little more “Deliverance country” before it turned into rich farming land, mostly dairying. We stopped at the visitors centre for the New River Gorge National River where we talked to a ranger and watched a video. No idea why it is called the New River as it is ancient. We followed down the gorge and camped at the Pipestem State Park. It drizzled off and on all day. We took inside photos for sale purposes at the end of next year.

28 Sept – We drove to the lodge which is on the rim of the gorge but the mist is down and the views were not as great as they should have been. We used the internet and the mist lifted a bit so we took the gondola ride down into the gorge. Back on the road and over the West Virginia/Virginia border. Then it all turned a bit pear-shaped as the road we were following suddenly was closed for repairs. We followed a 16 mile detour along a very narrow windy country road. The farm country was very nice however! After a lunch break at an intersection (with many funny looks from the locals), we continued on up and down and up and down another very windy hilly road until we eventually found our planned overnight stop at Hungry Mother State Park. No idea why it has this name. The camp host was amazed that we had come on that route. “Nobody comes here via ‘The Dragons Back’” she said. Well named we thought.

29 Sept - We drove thru the very populated area around Bristol (where we did our last grocery shop for this year) and Johnson City on the I – 81. It was a bit hair raising drive as it was teaming and the trucks passing at 70 mph kick up a huge spray. At Bristol we also crossed the Virginia/Tennessee border. We stopped at the Davy Crockett State Park. This is where he was born and in a break in the weather we went to a museum and his log cabin, probably a replica! There was some internet so we upgraded our seats from L.A to Auckland and booked two state parks in Florida down in the “Keys” for next year.  Got some of the last sites.

30 Sept – We are headed to The Great Smoky Mountain National Park today. Before entering the park we drove thru Pigeon Forge. This is a 7 mile long stretch of theme parks, souvenir shops, restaurants and discount malls. It was a mercifully quick shop for gifts for the grand kids at one of these malls. The whole area was very tacky and we were happy to reach the National Park which was very busy.

At the visitor’s centre the ranger told us that the camp we had hoped to stay in was fully booked. This seemed strange as the weather was miserable with a bad forecast for the weekend. It’s all to do with a hurricane between the Bahamas and Florida. We decided to ignore the ranger and headed to the camp which was less than a third full. The sun came out briefly and we sat overlooking the river and read.

1 Oct – We drove the road that goes thru the Great Smoky Mountain N.P. stopping to walk a 2 ½ mile trail to the Laurel Falls. The falls were pretty but the views over the mountains were obscured by mist. Half way along the 33 mile drive we reached the top at Newfound Gap (5000ft) and crossed the Tennessee/North Carolina border. The mist cleared and we eventually got some views of the Smoky Mountains. Down in the valley we camped at Smokemont, still in the N.P. Our plan is to stay two nights here and do a lengthy hike tomorrow. Mid afternoon it clouded over and soon we had torrential rain, thunder and lightning. The nearby creek rose and became a torrent.

2 Oct – It rained all night but not as heavily and the creek went down again. We checked with the camp host who reassured us that the creek would not flood but that there was still heavy rain due for a few days. North Carolina has been declared in a state of civil emergency. It either rained or drizzled the whole day. So much for our planned hike! It is a shame that we have not seen the Great Smoky Mountain N.P. at its best.

3 Oct – We are sick of the rain so decided to head south towards Atlanta where we fly home from on Thursday. It rained all the way to where we are stopped for the night at a little state park just over the North Carolina/Georgia border. There was a lot of surface water on the road but no flooding. Hopefully the tail end of the hurricane will clear out tomorrow.

4 Oct – Overcast but not raining at last! We continued on for 90 miles towards Atlanta and stopped at another Georgian state park only 30 miles from an RV park in Atlanta which we have booked for Monday and Tuesday nights. We took the opportunity to open all the windows and vents so that “Ernie” can dry out the accumulated condensation. Hopefully the next two days will be fine and we can complete the process. We have a nice view of a lake and sat outside for a couple of hours watching a couple of turtle sitting on a floating log.

5 Oct – For the first time in ages it did not rain overnight and we walked around the camp before driving to our pre-booked RV Park in the outskirts of Atlanta.

6 Oct – Today is a pack up day and we spent all day cleaning, washing and closing “Ernie” down for the year. It was a nice sunny day so we could air all the bedding.

7 Oct – This is our last full day in the USA for this year. We will post this last blog, pack our bags, drain the tanks and drive to the storage place about 12 miles away. After completing the paper work and putting the bikes inside, we will catch a taxi to an airport hotel for the night. Our long, long flight starts on Thursday at 6:00am with a flight to Denver, then to L.A. and home a total of about 38 hours with the layovers.

We have really enjoyed this year’s trip. We have covered 12,000 odd miles and with totally different country. From the steamy south to the cooler Great Lakes and Canada. We will spend one more year exploring the east coast states and hopefully Nova Scotia. Where we finish our trip next year will depend on where we sell “Ernie”. He will be up for sale around the end of September 2016. Anyone interested???