McGaffs On The Fly

One last, actually first and last, hike outside of Asheville before heading south to Charleston. We hiked Chimney Rock, it was the sight of several scenes in The Last of the Mohicans. Although only around 4.5 miles round trip, it was quite an elevation climb with the bonus of over 500 steps to climb the last segment. I really didn’t get why Joanie and Brettski decided to skip their evening workout…really sucks, this is the one I was going to join them. D a r n.

Asheville turned out to be a really great town, we finished our last evening having a bottle of wine and a smorgasbord of cheese at South Slope before heading to New Belgium Brewery for a nightcap. Seems to be a pattern since we picked up Brett, hikes every so often but pretty consistent drinking…she is such a bad influence.

Today we drove 4 hours to Charleston, what a beautiful city. Can’t wait to explore tomorrow…

What a great day.

I spent this morning trying to get my pictures and blog to download while Brett and Joanie started their workout regiment. I don’t know what their legs feel like but my fingers feel like putty.

Since we all worked so hard we took in a great breakfast at Biscuit Head, a great recommendation…and another carb high. Hiking tomorrow and not eating for two days, we’re still over our weekly goal.

Best of the day, visiting the Biltmore Mansion. Who would have thought there was anything like that in the US much less little Asheville?! When we were at breakfast our waiter questioned the $70 price tag for entrance but validated the cost…I would say it was well worth every cent. Unbelievable views, halls, ballrooms, fancy smancy interior, and man caves…Vanderbilt was one incredible redneck.

Big, long hike tomorrow…I’m sure we won’t eat or drink as much tomorrow, I just know it.

After picking up Brett we drove south on our way to the Carolinas and found an awesome RV Park in Floyd, VA. Our wonderful “find”, Chantilly Farm Campground and RV Park, provided all of those things you look for when out on the open road. That is if you are looking for an open air wedding where the bride rides in on horseback followed by flower girl on a pony, neighbor is a travel trailer full of soccer moms partying it up while away from kids, 8 year old riding up every 5 minutes to say “watch this”, and a beautiful evening of bonfire and s’mores…muy bueno!

The other good news is that we found that wonderful fall weather we had been chasing…unfortunately it was followed by a 40 degree evening and plenty of chill in the morning. I’ll take it though, better than the August 100+ weather in Tejas.

Just made our way to Asheville, NC and another great RV park “find” although the name kind of throws you, Mama Gerties Hideaway Campground.

Today we have been sitting in Little Al all day as slow Sally makes her way across us heading north. She was slow to get here but now that she’s here we can’t get her to leave.

We decided this morning to extend our stay one more night with Pocahontas because of the wet weather. She was more than gracious to accept our request, seems no one wants to camp out in the monsoon with us…it’s just us and a few toads.

Yesterday we were fortunate to have lunch with Joan’s first cousin once removed (take that genealogy fans), Hugh and Diana Ames who live near Richmond VA. Such a nice couple and great for Joan to be able to talk about ancestry with Hugh, he did tell us a few stories but we had to pinky swear not to retell…I know I can keep a secret, Joanie?!

With Hugh and Diana’s recommendation we took a drive to Berkeley Plantation, a great choice with all of the history in this area. Turns out not only is this the real location of the first Thanksgiving dinner but also where Taps was written and first played for the Union troops.

Onward north in the am to get one step closer to our baby girl…

Today we have been sitting in Little Al all day as slow Sally makes her way across us heading north. She was slow to get here but now that she’s here we can’t get her to leave.

We decided this morning to extend our stay one more night with Pocahontas because of the wet weather. She was more than gracious to accept our request, seems no one wants to camp out in the monsoon with us…it’s just us and a few toads.

Yesterday we were fortunate to have lunch with Joan’s first cousin once removed (take that genealogy fans), Hugh and Diana Ames who live near Richmond VA. Such a nice couple and great for Joan to be able to talk about ancestry with Hugh, he did tell us a few stories but we had to pinky swear not to retell…I know I can keep a secret, Joanie?!

With Hugh and Diana’s recommendation we took a drive to Berkeley Plantation, a great choice with all of the history in this area. Turns out not only is this the real location of the first Thanksgiving dinner but also where Taps was written and first played for the Union troops.

Onward north in the am to get one step closer to our baby girl…

Some of the things Joanie and I have decided after over 45 days of living on the road is that the 3 most important items that matter the most when picking a spot to set up…location, location and location. By that I mean; location close to what we want to see or do, location that is along the route we are traveling, and most importantly location that is a desirable place to park, shower and feel safe.

Along our routes we haven’t accomplished the “desirable” spots we were hoping, in some locations, and will strike those off the list on any future trips. And some locations met some of the requirements but not all…we certainly won’t knock the Grand Teton camp sight because we felt unsafe, they can’t control what bears decide to eat.

What we have learned is that the best RV parks and most consistent in appeal are the State Parks each state allows us to camp in. We hit two home runs with Little Beaver State Park in WV and Pocahontas State Park in VA. Both are clean, beautiful in nature, quiet, and flat spots with water/electricity…we couldn’t be any happier. I, of course, hold my final judgement until we leave Pocahontas…found out today that they have bears. Spent this evening working sprint drills while Joanie was taking a shower.

Unfortunately, most of the distilleries were closed for tours or tastings on our drive. They were kind enough to keep the retail shops open for us, and it seems they raised their prices to offset the loss of $$ from the tours…nice gesture but no thank you.

We were able to get a tour and tasting from a very small batch distillery we found way back in the woods. The owner of Glenn’s Creek Distilling, OCD David Meier, spent about 45 minutes with with Joanie and I educating us on the ins and outs of running a small distillery and competing against the “big guys”. We did make a purchase here, made sense to us that small batch runs would cost more and taste better…great sell Dave.

Next stop…we don’t know but let you know when we get there. Five days to Brett time!

One last short 5+ mile hike at Mammoth Cave National Park then back to the campground to take it easy for the day. Just like most of our hikes, we plan for one thing and get another…this one was billed as a short 3 mile hike. Either way we got what we wanted, not too tough and pretty scenic…heck, they didn’t even paint the trees.

Today we left our campground without a plan other than move northeast and catch up with the Bourbon Trail. Since we left a little late and forgot about the whole time zone thing, I guess we’ll get in as many Distilleries that we can tomorrow…I have faith in us that we can do it.

We landed in Frankfort, no Donald the capital of Kentucky is not Lexington, and we will base here while we explore the area. Raining heavy now, hope that repair of the roof holds!

Ever since we were unable to go into Jewel Cave in South Dakota, Joanie has had on her list visiting Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. I mean what other way do you get over not being able to go into the worlds third longest cave system, you set you sites higher and actually step into the worlds longest cave system. For Joanie this was completion of her cave fantasy, for me it was…check, that’s off the list. I mean it was pretty cool, actually 54 degrees, and there were some great stories about mummies…but…check.

Unfortunately we were unable to get a site at the National Park, you know that whole flying by the pants thing, but we did find a great rv Park in Cave City. Our original plan was to stay a night and move on but after a relaxing evening actually sitting in some shade we most likely will stay a few nights.

If only we could find another cave, what are the chances of that in Cave City?

With a destination of Mammoth Cave National Park (stamp time for Joanie), we took a casual 3 hour drive East through Nashville then due north. Since it was our off day on quads and our on day for muffin tops, we decided to stop along the way and complete a full cycle; Joanie took down some fried chicken with fried green tomatoes and Marco took down a heaping platter of fried gizzards. For those of you who happen to end up east of Nashville at exit 192 on I40…on mid-belly workout day…we highly recommend The Loveless Cafe. Be sure to get extra biscuits, no chewing required, they melt in your mouth.

Some of the things we’ve learned along the way on our two escapes are, well, really what we haven’t learned. We really want to “boon-dock” and have the ability to really go off the grid. Now keep in mind for Joanie and I that is barely being able to to see the city lights…baby steps but we will get there.

A couple of things I have done to prepare us for actually getting to the next level are adding a “soft start” to our AC unit and purchasing a generator. I must have AC, laugh if you must…tonight is the moment of truth.

Which takes us to…Harvest Host. For the reasonable price of $79 per year, you can stay at thousands of wineries, farms, breweries, etc at no cost at all. Only thing, right, most require you to boon-dock.

We pulled into a great Winery called Bluegrass Vineyard in Smiths Grove, KY and are currently sitting in their driveway enjoying the mooing of cows, baaa’s of sheep and purring of my new generator. We’ll let you know how the AC runs tonight, wine does make me sweat.

PS…free parking only cost us $40 in wine.