Four States in One Day - Part 2

 After an evening of lots of conversation and laughter and a good nights rest, Cheryl fed us a delicious breakfast before we said our goodbyes.  It was a cool morning but still no rain.  We drove through Smoky Mountain National Park.   It has been years since we have been in this park.  Again, the weather cooperated and gave us a sunny, cool day.

We started the day in North Carolina, crossed into Tennessee in the park, drove north through Virginia and are spending the next two days in West Virginia.

This part of the USA is  with beautiful with covered mountains which the interstate weaves and curves around, up and over.  It was a very pleasant drive which took about two hours.  Then it was another two hours to drive through Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville,  It was bumper-to-bumper traffic and the sidewalks were lined with tourists.

This time of the year, the elk herds are in the meadows.  The bull elk are trumpeting trying to attract the females to form their own herds.  This guy put on quite a show but while we were watching, he didn't attract any females.

Smoky Mountain National Park

We took I-40 East to I-81 North and I-77 north.  Again, the scenery was beautiful.  As we crossed into West Virginia, it began to rain. I pulled up the weather map and found that there is a 100% chance of rain tomorrow which is the day we planned to visit New River Gorge National Park.  I think Ian may have caught up with us.  With the rain, the temperatures dropped so we turned on the heat in the motel room.  It is the first time this trip we didn't run the air conditioner.  Hope the weatherman is wrong about all the rain; but, no matter, we are here and will see the park despite the rain.  Ate supper at Outback Steakhouse.  It had been a long time since we had eaten at one and we could walk to this one, so it was a good choice.   We are in for the evening.

BFF Reunion

 Today we continued to drive ahead of Hurricane Ian and left South Carolina.  South Carolina is preparing  for a Cat 1 Hurricane Ian. During the day the sky was blue and nearly cloudless.  It was only 250 miles from Columbia to  just south of Rocky Mountain NP where my best friend Cheryl Thomas lives.  We have not seen each other for over 50 years and for the last three years have  been trying to find a time and way to meet.  Part of the route to her home took us on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It was a beautiful day to be driving 45 MPH over mountains and around curvy roads.

Here we are best friends since 1961.  We survived high school together...we are Mary Freeman Mulvany and Cheryl Burgess Thomas.  

Cheryl and Her husband Bob live just outside Smoky Mountain National Park.  These steps lead to the Appalachian Trail.

We enjoyed meeting Cheryl's six rescue cats and seeing the mountain she lives on.  We got caught up with each others lives .  We decided it was probably at least 50 years since we had seen each other.  Cheryl had been inviting us to her home  but when we go to Florida, we are usually in the motorhome and there is no way we could get the motorhome up her driveway.  When we ended up driving our car, we were able to make that visit possible.  It was a sweet reunion.  

Congaree National Park, South Carolina

 We stayed at a Best Western Plus Motel just outside Savannah, Georgia.  They serve a very good hot breakfast.  We had sausage and scrambled eggs, fruit and coffee/juice.  They also had pancakes but we didn't try them.  We got on I-24 in South Carolina headed for Congaree National Park.

We turned off I-26 and followed a rural highway through fields of cotton.  This field had already been harvested and plowed.  This part of South Carolina has the red soil that looks so pretty.

Congaree National Park is really off the beaten path. You will not just happen upon it.  You have to consciously look for it.  It was originally named Congaree Swamp National Park but the word swamp was taken out and it was renamed Congaree National Park.  That is a better name because it is not a swamp but the largest remaining tract of old-growth hardwood forest in North America.

The park has an unusual speed limit.

Today the mosquito meter showed a mild concern for mosquitoes. We did not encounter any.

We saw lots of spider webs with huge spiders working to improve their web and catch a meal.

We took a 2 1/2 mile boardwalk trail through part of the forest.  Fortunately, there were several benches on which to stop and rest.  Three week ago, I couldn't even walk to the corner in our neighborhood without being out of breath; but, today I managed to walk the entire trail (I did take advantage of several of the benches!).

This is one of several large American Beech trees.

This tract of land originally had a large grouping of bald cypress.  Heavy cuttings before the land became a national park, left fewer trees.  Cypress tress have "knees" that grow up around the adult tree.

Two unusual "knees" near the boardwalk.

This is a "gut" and "slough" along the boardwalk.  These are low channels that disperse water throughout the floodplain when the Congaree River floods.

 

These are palmetto palms which are the state tree of South Carolina.

During prohibition moonshiners used this area for their stills.  This iron box is a leftover from a still.

Above and below ae two of the four deer that we saw on the trail

We spent nearly three hours in the park.  the boardwalk trail was very relaxing but I was tired when we finished.  I was proud of myself for finishing the trail

We left the park and drove to the western side of Columbia to a Towneplace Suites Motel for the night. It is very nice.  Our suite contains a mini-kitchen with a full-sized refrigerator, two-burner stove, microwave, and sink.  It has an office area, couch and king-bed.    We ate supper at an Olive  Garden and are relaxing the rest of the evening.  It has been a nice day.  The weather has been so nice for us that sometimes we forget that Florida is suffering through a huge, category four hurricane.  Talked to John this morning, and they were hunkered down watching it rain and blow.  The worse of it for them should be coming in tonight.  Hopefully, they will not have any damage to their house and will be safe.

I am glad we left Florida when we did.  We have been able to salvage the trip by picking up some of the places we had planned to see earlier in our trip planning before knee surgery shortened the trip.  There is a bonus on this trip because we will be able to visit one night with my best friend from high school.  We have been friends since 1961 but I don't think we have seen each other for over 50 years.  It will be a great re-union and evening of gabbing and catching up. She and her husband lives just outside the southern border of Smoky Mountain National Park.  South Carolina is preparing for the remnants of Hurricane Ian tomorrow late   We should be long gone before it comes through here.

Getting out of Florida before Ian Hits

Linda and the kids did not have to go to school today but John had a half day of work.  We took him to work at 8:00 a.m. so we could get on the road.  The secondary roads were not too bad but the interstates were packed.  John and Linda found a route going north out of Florida that would follow four-laned  highways through rural scenery.  It was a very nice drive; although, it took an hour of so longer.

Finally, a picture of the family who graciously allowed us to stay with them.
Katie, Linda, Aiden, John

This is a picture of I-4 headed east.  Glad we didn't have to get or drive on it.

Clouds were starting to move in.

There were a lot of large horse farms/ranches on  US27 north of Orlando.

A pretty little church along the way.

We saw hundreds of power trucks headed south.  Once Hurricane Ian moves through, these guys will be ready to restore power wherever needed in Florida after Ian does its damage.  We even saw trucks on the highways in Georgia headed to Florida.  I just heard on the TV that 30,000 linemen will be available.  If each of these trucks have one or two men in it, that is a lot of trucks!

Goodbye, Florida

Hello, Georgia.

We made it to our motel a little before three so we decided to eat supper before checking in.  This is "Bubbas Bistro"  

The chicken was delicious.

 We are settled in to a Best Western Motel in Richmond Hill, Georgia which is just south of Savannah. It is very nice.  They have a full hot breakfast which we plan to take advantage of.  We plan to relax for the rest of the evening.

We turned on the TV  so we could see what Hurricane Ian was doing.  Video of Key West was shown.  The waves were crashing over the southernmost point marker there.  Today was the first day we would have spent there and tomorrow we were to take the ferry to the Dry Tortugas National Park.  I have mixed feelings:  We would love to be there and we know we shouldn't be there!  Hopefully, we can try that trip again.  They are saying that Florida has not had a strong hurricane like Ian for nearly five years.  

One more thing:  On Saturday evening Carol was outside at John's getting something from the car when he saw a rocket with its smoke tail in the sky.  Hunter said it was a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying 52 starlink satellites.  Lucky him that he got to see it.

As I sit here, it is hard to imagine a hurricane is overpowering Florida.  Glad we left when we did.