June 9-11
We arrived in Boone, NC, at the appointed time--3:30 p.m. When you travel with a caravan, the leaders and parkers need to arrive first and are given time to see sites along the route ahead of you. In our caravan, typically we are to arrive between 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Once again, we are staying at a KOA. We have no WiFi and no cable. Welcome to North Carolina mountain area! (That means I didn't get to see Game #3 of the NBA Finals--oh, well!)
What we do have is a lovely mountain setting, cool-ish breezes, and wonderful air to breath. We are north of Boone about 3-4 miles, which provides us with access to a college town with many amenities.
We spend June 9 shopping at the Mast General Store in Boone (the original is in a town called Valle Crusis). We then drove to Blowing Rock, NC, which we have visited before. We simply love this area. Blowing Rock has many small, independently-owned stores and restaurants. For lunch, we ate at the Village Cafe, which was a story of steps down between buildings in a nice, shaded grove. The key is knowing where to look for all of these gems!
We visited the Martin House, again, one of my favorite little houses full of shops. One of the shops sold dulcimers, and Brad encouraged me to purchase a hammered dulcimer, so I did. It is a small instrument, so hopefully, I can figure out how to play it well enough to take it traveling with us.
Today, we are headed for Grandfather Mountain. Grandfather Mountain is part tourist "eco-friendly" attraction and part state park. Historically, it was all tourist attraction. We had tickets as part of our caravan activities, so we took Alma and Bob Powell with us, playing the CD given to us at the gate, traveling all the way up the mountain and stopping at the nature center, seeing the bears and otters. As we began the last set of hairpins turns, I felt my vertigo on the edge of kicking in. I looked down, unfortunately, and that was it. I told Brad to stop the truck, let me out, and the rest of them went on up the last set of turns. They walked the bridge, took pictures, and then came back to pick me up!
We traveled back to Boone, stopping at the original Mast General Store and Annex in Valle Crucis. The prices weren't similar to history as everything was very expensive, but on the other hand, you could purchase old-time candy like Sugar Daddies and Neccos--$1.69/pound.
We spent the evening at the KOA Group Rally Room, talking with each other, telling jokes, sharing stories, and planning for the next day, our travel day to Galax, VA.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Taste of the Blue Ridge Caravan: Asheville, NC
June 4 - June 8
Traveling in Airstream "caravan style" on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) was utmost in our minds on June 4 as we left Cherokee for Asheville, NC. Key components of this type of travel include the understanding that you are no longer just one unit (or RV). A caravan means just that--traveling in groups of 2-3 Airstream units, leaving at staggered times from the Cherokee KOA at approximately 15 minutes apart, and making sure that 2-3 Airstreams travel close enough together to use CBs to communicate the desires of the passengers for stops, roadside help, etc.
The morning of departure, there is a group breakfast, and then units prepare for departure. First out of the campground are the Caravan Leaders and "Parkers" for the next destination (in this case, Asheville). There are units assigned as "Deparkers" who double-check the drivers as they exit the campground, making sure the details like "steps up," "antennas down," and "lights working" have all been taken care of by the drivers. They also double-check all of the RV sites to make sure no one left anything of value behind.
We had three units including ourselves to complete this leg of the journey--Bob and Alma Powell (they have been on 20+ caravans), and John and Anne DiBella (they have traveled on 4+ caravans). Because the first section of the BRP was two-lane only with no passing for the entire day, making sure we kept enough distance between our group of three units was important. The typical driving speed is 35 mph, but the BRP is so curvy, that often we traveled no more than 25 mph. Overall, the speed limit is 45 mph. There are many overlooks and pull-offs along the way which provide wonderful photo shoots, and as lead unit, we had to make sure there was enough room for three units to pull into the overlooks. CBs were used to communicate among the vehicles. Waterrock Knob provided vistas of four mountain ranges. Our lunch stop was Mount Pisgah, which has a wonderful restaurant overlooking the mountains. In all, this leg of the BRP was approximately 95 miles. We exited off at Asheville, stopping at our next camping destination--Bear Creek Campground.
After a catered BBQ meal upon arrival at Bear Creek Campground in Asheville, we were provided our tickets for an Audio Tour of Biltmore Estate for Friday. Bob and Alma asked if we would drive them as their GPS was not working well. We spent the day at Biltmore Estate, and enjoyed all of the new buildings--shops, wineries, creameries, etc. they have added over the years. The Audio Tour of the mansion is the best way to go as it provides professional docent commentary as you walk through the mansion.
http://www.biltmore.com/
Saturday was designated as free time, so people could pick and choose to see what they wanted to see. We walked the grounds of the North Carolina National Arboretum, seeing an excellent Bonzai Garden as well as nature trails.
http://www.ncarboretum.org/about-us/
On from there, we traveled the BRP to the Folk Art Center, where artists from around North Caroline showcase their creative works in a museum and store. We happened to visit on "Clay Day" and people were creating their own works of art using clay.
http://www.southernhighlandguild.org/pages/folk-art-center/general-info.php
All in all, a wonderful day spent in Asheville, NC.
This morning being Sunday, we decided to attend the local United Church of Christ, which we found to be First Congregational in Asheville, Ohio.
http://www.uccasheville.org/
We received a warm welcome by a huge crowd and enjoyed the service, communion, and sermon a great deal. The message was "on point" and we then drove the short distance to Grove Park Inn, an historic inn in Asheville.
http://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park
Lastly, we spent today learning another new card game called "hand and foot." One round took two hours, and we thank our friend Roberta for the person lesson this afternoon.
Tonight, we have a social, with music and games. Tomorrow morning, we leave for Boone and Blowing Rock. Rumor has it that Craggy Gardens is in full bloom, so I am hopeful for many pictures!
Traveling in Airstream "caravan style" on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) was utmost in our minds on June 4 as we left Cherokee for Asheville, NC. Key components of this type of travel include the understanding that you are no longer just one unit (or RV). A caravan means just that--traveling in groups of 2-3 Airstream units, leaving at staggered times from the Cherokee KOA at approximately 15 minutes apart, and making sure that 2-3 Airstreams travel close enough together to use CBs to communicate the desires of the passengers for stops, roadside help, etc.
The morning of departure, there is a group breakfast, and then units prepare for departure. First out of the campground are the Caravan Leaders and "Parkers" for the next destination (in this case, Asheville). There are units assigned as "Deparkers" who double-check the drivers as they exit the campground, making sure the details like "steps up," "antennas down," and "lights working" have all been taken care of by the drivers. They also double-check all of the RV sites to make sure no one left anything of value behind.
We had three units including ourselves to complete this leg of the journey--Bob and Alma Powell (they have been on 20+ caravans), and John and Anne DiBella (they have traveled on 4+ caravans). Because the first section of the BRP was two-lane only with no passing for the entire day, making sure we kept enough distance between our group of three units was important. The typical driving speed is 35 mph, but the BRP is so curvy, that often we traveled no more than 25 mph. Overall, the speed limit is 45 mph. There are many overlooks and pull-offs along the way which provide wonderful photo shoots, and as lead unit, we had to make sure there was enough room for three units to pull into the overlooks. CBs were used to communicate among the vehicles. Waterrock Knob provided vistas of four mountain ranges. Our lunch stop was Mount Pisgah, which has a wonderful restaurant overlooking the mountains. In all, this leg of the BRP was approximately 95 miles. We exited off at Asheville, stopping at our next camping destination--Bear Creek Campground.
After a catered BBQ meal upon arrival at Bear Creek Campground in Asheville, we were provided our tickets for an Audio Tour of Biltmore Estate for Friday. Bob and Alma asked if we would drive them as their GPS was not working well. We spent the day at Biltmore Estate, and enjoyed all of the new buildings--shops, wineries, creameries, etc. they have added over the years. The Audio Tour of the mansion is the best way to go as it provides professional docent commentary as you walk through the mansion.
http://www.biltmore.com/
Saturday was designated as free time, so people could pick and choose to see what they wanted to see. We walked the grounds of the North Carolina National Arboretum, seeing an excellent Bonzai Garden as well as nature trails.
http://www.ncarboretum.org/about-us/
On from there, we traveled the BRP to the Folk Art Center, where artists from around North Caroline showcase their creative works in a museum and store. We happened to visit on "Clay Day" and people were creating their own works of art using clay.
http://www.southernhighlandguild.org/pages/folk-art-center/general-info.php
All in all, a wonderful day spent in Asheville, NC.
This morning being Sunday, we decided to attend the local United Church of Christ, which we found to be First Congregational in Asheville, Ohio.
http://www.uccasheville.org/
We received a warm welcome by a huge crowd and enjoyed the service, communion, and sermon a great deal. The message was "on point" and we then drove the short distance to Grove Park Inn, an historic inn in Asheville.
http://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/asheville-grove-park
Lastly, we spent today learning another new card game called "hand and foot." One round took two hours, and we thank our friend Roberta for the person lesson this afternoon.
Tonight, we have a social, with music and games. Tomorrow morning, we leave for Boone and Blowing Rock. Rumor has it that Craggy Gardens is in full bloom, so I am hopeful for many pictures!
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