Heading South

When we went to check out of our motel, the friendly manager behind the counter said there had been some vagrants sleeping in a van at bthe back of the carpark last night, not far from our room. They had walked into the reception area as bold as brass and helped themselves to breakfast. As we went to ride off, two police cars cruised quietly by down to the back of the motel.

Leaving Lavonia this morning we headed south through Royston, the home of Ty Cobb a.k.a. the Georgiia Peach who is claimed by many to be the greatest baseball player ever.

After refuelling in Elberton we continued south through a string of small towns on a route that was far from exciting. The area was full of small farms which grew potatoes, cotton, soy beans, corn and other crops we did not recognise.

In several places although gently undulating, the road was as striaght as a gunbarrel for as far as we could see.

We stopped in Wrens for lunch at the well-patronised Peggy;s Restaurant.

South of Wanesboro the road became a dual carriageway, on which the speed limit of 55 mph seemed tediuosly slow. Indeed, we were travelling at 60 to 65 and were the slowest vehicle on the road. As we continued south we could see some serious cloud and rain ahead. We soon found ourselves on wet road, but managed to skirt past, under the trailing edge of the storm. The little rain that fell on us was only enough to cool us down.

There were no motels near Pembroke, our planned stop for the night, so we ode on through Fort Stewart to Hinesville. We found a budget motel and before we settled in too comfortably, rode down to a supermarket to buy dinner. Just as well we did, for it started raining the moment we arrived back at the motel, and continued to pour all night.

Three States in One Day

As much as we have enjoyed staying with Lynda, Elmerand Joel, we needed to be moving along.  It was a much needed rest. Elmer made pancakes (with real maple syrup) and bacon for breakfast.We said our goodbyes and rode off hoping to meet again during another metalart 'shindig.

Our first stop was at the nearby Brasstown Post Office to post some things back to Australia..

Our route today was planned to take in some scenic roads across North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina, eventually heading south. We retraced some of US 64 before turning south into Georgia on 69 and almost immediately east onto 66 to Lake Hiawassee.

We continued along a series of scenic roads through the Chattahoochee National Forest to Helen. This is a town that has an identiy crisis - it thinks it is aSwiss village.

We made our way to Clayton where we stopped for lunch in a diner.

Soon after leaving Clayton we crossed int South Carolina taking a meandering route south east to Westminster and then northeast to Walhalla. This is most inaptly named - no Norse God had any influence on its design. Its architecture, layout and general appearance is fairly nondescript. You would think people could make it trade on such a name. Imagine vikings, blacksmiths, swords, helmets etc.

 It was very noticeable as we rode along just how quickly the landscape was changing, from beautiful mountains in the early part of the ride to much flatter countryside. The vegetation changed from brilliant green deciduous trees to much darker pines and other species. 

Heading south we crossed back into Georgia on a short and unavoidable stretch of Interstate 85.

Our plans were to continue south another 20 or so miles to Elberton for the night, but our GPS suggested the only motels were in Lavonia.

 It was quite hot and muggy most of the day. We we happy enough to stop. We found a good motel and settled in. 

About 9:30 pm a severe thunderstorm came through the area.

The TV was flashing warnings of high winds and inch diameter hail. Fortunately we didn't get the hail.

How the other half live

This morning started late - but we have badly needed some rest, and were determined to enjoy it. Chris was feeling better already from his medications..

Lynda has recently forged a lot of steel railing for a luxury home being built nearby and wanted to photograph it now the last piece has been installed. She drove us to the remote location where we had a chance to see how the other half will live when this is completed. This house is HUGE - 6000 square feet (600 sq m) and is built over 3 levels. It is basically a huge log cabin with stone features including two enormous fireplaces and a tower for the stairs - where some of Lynda's railings are featured. Her other railing adorns the upstairs gallery overlooking the living room.

The house will be fullly computerised, and uses geothermal energy for warming the main levels. The photos taken, we returned to Brasstown.

Lynda had been a motorcycle enthusiast back in England, and was keen to have a ride on the back of our bike. So keen, in fact she dragged out her old leathers and polished them. Not only that, she had the route all planned out - no quick jaunt, but rather a round trip of 90 miles so she could really enjoy being back in the saddle.

Chris and Lynda rode from Brasstown to Franklin for a late lunch. Elmer stayed behind, because Joel needed to be picked up from school before Chris and Lynda's expected return. Wanda wanted some time on the computer.

Their trip was without incident and Lynda got a real buzz from it.

It was late in the afternoon, but there was still time for Lynda and Elmer to take us and Joel out to Fire Creek, a delightful public park alongside a clear and cold stream. Joel went swimming. The rest of us were content just to wade knee deep. Joel raced down the river on a float until it snagged on a sharp stone.

Lynda, Chris and Joel had fun skipping stones.

Wanda was drenched after trying to rescue a Tiger Swallow Tail butterfly.

A Royal Monarch butterfly.

The sound of water is instantly relaxing.

We ruturned in time for Joel's bedtime, and set about having another barbeque to use up the rest of the steak.
Elmer and Lynda relaxing with their furkids. We looked at their blacksmithing books.

A Trip to the Doctor and a Lesson in Clog Dancing

Chris has been coughing badly for several weeks now. Lynda suggested he needed to see a doctor, and being sick and tired of this nagging problem, he acquiesced quietly. Elmer took him to a medical practice where the diagnosis was asthmatic bronchitis - a bacterial rather than viral problem.

A course of antibiotics and anti-inflamatories was prescribed. The doctor faxed it to a nearby pharmacy to be made up while we drove there.

We picked up some groceries for the next two days and then the medications, and returned to Lynda and Elmer's home.

Chris and Elmer went to pick up his truck after some repairs. Elmer's mechanic, Ed Payne, had an interesting collection of motorcycles including a 1942 Harley Davidson and a chopper powered by a Honda 750/4 engine, along with a yard full of interesting cars quietly rusting while they await restoration.

Lynda had to go to a parent/teacher interview and then pick Joel up after his first day of school.

Later that afternoon Lynda went to the John C Campbell Folk School to practice clog dancing with a number of friends who travel widely demonstrating this very English art form at festivals. Clog dancing is like tap dancing except that the sounds are generated by wooden soled shoes. Some routines resemble River Dance (with hand held rigidly at the dancers' sides) while others involved waving batons and dancing in formations more like Morris dancing.

A small four piece band added to the atmosphere.

Seeing this sort of thing is very special - it is something tourists would never see, and reminded us yet again how privileged we are to share a little of the daily lives of our friends.

Later in the day we had a barbeque dinner on the deck and sat up late chatting about journeys made - and yet to be made.

Heading to Brasstown

We left our motel in Sylva heading down US 64 towards Brasstown in the southwest corner of North Carolina to spend a few days with Elmer and Lynda and their son Joel. They hosted the Shindig for our metal art group in 2008, so we were in this beautiful corner of the world two years ago.

The road was not particularly busy and we made good time, arriving in Murphy, the main town in the area and just a few miles from Brasstown.

We took the opportunity to wander around the town and re-orientate ourselves. We were pleased to find the town seems to be weathering the recession well. The Moose Hollow Trading Company is a great store.

We stopped for lunch at The Daily Grind, a coffee and wine shop a place we remember well from our previous trip - it was one of only a few places in town where we could buy wine. One of the cups in the stoe is inscribed "Life's too short to drink bad coffee or bad wine".

After lunch we headed into Brasstown. When we were here in 2008, there were a lot of roadworks and bridge works re-aligning US 64 just north of Brasstown. The roads are all now complete, but our GPS knew nothing about the new road. Fortunately we didn't need it to find our way into Brastown, and we arrived to a warm welcome.

Joel has grown so much in the last two years and is now 7 years old. He is a super little boy.

He loves motorcycle helmets.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up on the last two years, and talking about our journey. The weather was cooler than in previous days. We were able to enjoy dinner out on the deck as we watched the sun setting.

After Joel went to bed we chatted on late into the night despite the fact that Linda needed to be up earlier than usual because Joel had started school.

Whitewater Falls

We left the Sweet Briar Motel in Maggies Valley. It was perfect weather. There are quite a few homes built on the hillslopes. They would enjoy the cool summers with night lights below.

 

We backtracked onto the Blue Ridge Parkway which is not known as "America's Favourite Drive" for nothing.

No commercial vehicles are allowed on the Parkway. It has a modest 45 mph speed limit - which is hard to keep to unless you are following an RV. The views are breathtaking and we had a wonderfully clear day with a cool breeze.

The stretch of Parkway we were on includes the highest point on the road.

 

We met Tyler from Peoria, IL who regularly takes time off to travel and camp in some of the most beautiful places. 

After about 20 miles we turned off onto NC215, a narrow strip of blacktop that snakes its way down from the ridge. At the top it was fairly rough, and a little further down there were lengthy road works, but after that it was a wonderful motorcycling road.

At Rosman we stopped for brunch at the Country Skillet diner, a popular meeting place for the locals. This is obviously.....

From there we turned west on US 64 through Lake Toxaway and turned south on WV 281 to Whitewater Falls. This is the highest waterfall on the east coast of the US - at 411 feet, it is twice as high as Niagara Falls, but of course the volume of water is much less.

Turning north on NC 107 we headed to Sylva where we planned to spend the night. On the way we passed vast spreads of kudzu. This is a notorious creeper imported from Asia in the 1920's as a ground cover to control erosion and reduce mowing. Unfortunately it finds the climate here much more to its liking and has now gone completely out of control. The natural flora appears to be totally choked.

 

Kudzu grows so fast you can almost hear it. It blankets everything, including power lines and uninhabited homes, smothering everything underneath it.

We spent the night at the Blue Ridge Inn in Sylva.