Wednesday, June 8, 2011

The Long and Winding Road

Today was almost a one-liner: "love it here at Coneross COE Campground and decided to stay."  We did hang around till after 10:00.  Gus and I hiked a mile, signed a geocache, then I went swimming in Lake Hartwell while Brenda cooked breakfast.  After breakfast we took our time getting ready to travel.  It really is a pretty park and site 59 has a gorgeous sunset view.  But we did leave finally - and took a wrong turn out of the park!

We ended up back down the road in Clemson which was OK since we had bypassed the campus on the way in.  We drove right through the middle of the campus today and boy is it impressive.  Did you know that the Clemson who started the university was the son-in-law of John C. Calhoun who led the seccessionists in the 1860s? 

We followed the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Byway up the mountain to Highlands, NC which meant lots of beautiful scenery.  We pulled off into a scenic overlook to watch a storm come over the mountain and had a snack (the last of Linda's cookies) while listening to the rain on the roof and watching the "smoke" rise up over the mountains as the storm passed us. 

Back on the road we drove in to Highlands to find it filled with tourists.  It is a lovely town but it did remind me of Gatlinburg and just not interesting.  We followed highway 64 west toward Franklin, NC to stop for the night.  We followed the scenic waterfall route (or some such name as that) and actually drove Seeker under Bridal Veil Falls!  Well, I drove her so of course the Goddess didn't get to ride under the falls because someone had to get out on the side of the road and take the picture.  And if you don't think I'm still hearing grief about that you just don't know the goddess. 

Speaking of the goddess, I think her sphincter muscles got a good workout today.  To say she gets a little nervous as I manuever Horizon Seeker around tight mountain curves on narrow winding roads while other cars come racing toward us from the opposite direction, well, that would be an understatement.  Once she tried to reach out and pick a wildflower off an overhanging boulder I think just to prove her point. 

In the end I think she really enjoyed the views along the way, but she was tired by the time we finished visiting the Scottish Tartan Museum in Franklin.  So we went just a few miles down the road to stop for the night at a quiet rv park just outside the Cherokee National Forrest.  Free wifi!  We'll be up all night.

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