On The Road Again!

Yes, after 2 long weeks of being parked in the backyard Horizon Seeker is back on the road.  The Goddess and I loaded up Gus and some supplies and headed out late Sunday afternoon toward Chattanooga.  Our intent was to camp somewhere on the other side of all that Monday morning traffic in the choo choo town.  We rolled into Harrison Bay State Park just before dark to find it terribly charming and dark.  Dark because a heavy wind storm had just rolled through and taken out a tree that hit a power line.  No problem since we have a generator so we did spend the night nestled among the pine trees near the lake with only minor problems through the night.  Early Monday morning Gus and I hiked to an overlook, signed a cache log, and came back to load up and head into Georgia.

But first we drove through downtown Cleveland, TN and over highway 411 all the way over to the Ocoee Dam system on highway 64.  Just below #1 is the concrete scale model of the river that was built for the white water events in 1996.  Sadly we found it in disrepair but hopefully it will be restored soon.  Check it out at www.tva.gov/river/recreational

As we backtracked to 411 to actually start toward Georgia we had to stop and take a picture of a bead shop that looks like it would be right at home at Bonaroo this week!  No time to shop for beads this trip so we turned south on 411 and crossed into Georgia.  I prefer to travel the blue highways for a number of reasons:  traveling at 50/55 instead of interstate speeds saves gas, you see more unusual sights on the blue highways and if you pass one up it's easier to turn around, and I'm just plain older and slower these days.  So far we have had several unusual Jesus sightings (I saw a blue Jesus in a birdbath) and some great signs (a plumber who advertises that a "flush is better than a full house").

And sights we did see.  Didn't stop to take pictures of the Diamond C Ranch in Maysville, GA but since I don't have a cool $35,000,000 handy it didn't seem worth stopping anyway.  Take a look at the listing at www.luxuryrealestate.com/

We turned off 411 and on to 52 in Chattsworth to climb the foothills of the mountains with all the lovely views.  We had an unexpected stop to cool the engine about half way up (next time turn the a/c off before climbing a mountain) then stopped at beautiful overlook for lunch before heading down into Dawsonville for our next stop.  In case you didn't know, it's the birthplace of NASCAR and they are very proud.

From Dawsonville we did slip over to Interstate 85 and made our way over to Elberton to camp for the night and meet up with big brother Mike and his wife Linda.  We were beat from our long day on the road and went to bed early then up early this morning and heading out to meet up with Mike and Linda at the Georgia Guidestones. (http://www.thegeorgiaguidestones.com/)  We got there about an hour before them and set up a mini camp in the Seeker so that things would be cool for Linda who is just recovering from congestive heart failure.  We visited the site and visited with each other for a couple of hours, had a light lunch prepared by the Goddess with Linda's homemade cookies for dessert.  Then we adjourned to the Elberton Granite Museum which I highly recommend if you get the chance.  We found Dutchy there and I had to pose for a picture.  http://www.cityofelberton.net/

As the afternoon wore on Linda was tiring so big brother took his lovely bride home and we turned Seeker east toward South Carolina.  We stopped in Starr to fill up with gas prices at $3.34 without any special discounts!    In Anderson we stopped at the visitor info center to find out about the high school.  You see, that's where the statue of Radio can be found.

After leaving Radio we turned toward Clemson and just as we crossed the Seneca River we spied a campground run by the Corps of Engineers.  It is such a beautiful spot that we hated to do anything but sit and watch the sun set over the water.  But since I was behind in my blogging I decided to catch up and let folks know where we are and what we're up to (at least what we admit to). 

Tomorrow we are off to the Cherokee Foothills.

More later!