Author: Easin' Along

For the past eight days we have been Easin’ Along the Blue Ridge Parkway and have enjoyed some of the most scenic views in America. We have greatly enjoyed being up high and away from the crowded interstate highways.  Our campgrounds have been in some very remote areas with creeks to listen to and trails to hike.  We’re blessed.

Nevertheless, we have had almost no access to cell service, Wi-Fi, or the internet.  Today (Thursday) we drove from Bassett, VA and the Bolar Mountain Recreation Area to Front Royal, VA and arrived around 7:00 pm.  We finally have some (slow) internet access, but it is too late and we’re too brain dead to give a thorough accounting of the beauty we have enjoyed so far. Trust me, we want to share this and will do so when we arrive in Gettysburg, PA to begin a five day stay in that area.  Please come back and join us.  I have posted a few pictures…there will be more.

We’re back on the grid and we’re still Easin’ Along.

 

Our stay at Down By The River Campground near Newland, NC has been delightful. I visited this area many times when I was doing some property inspection work a few years ago, but had no time for exploring.  Helen (adorable wife) and I made a vow to change that on this trip.

Helen, the activity coordinator extraordinaire, called a dear friend who has a home near Blowing Rock, NC for suggestions on what to see and do while here…good move. After the conversation, Helen came away with a list too long to complete on this trip, but would give us a great start and many reasons to come back.

Our first stop would be Linville Falls where we would get the opportunity to test our newly acquired body parts consisting of Helen’s two replaced knees and my new left hip, now seven weeks old. The hike to the Falls was moderate and we did very well. The pictures came from the upper portion of the waterfall. Our hike was 1.2 miles and, upon completion, we were quite proud of ourselves and felt great. We finished our day of sightseeing with a drive into the town of Linville, a charming resort community with a few shops and a lovely golf course.

Our next day started with a visit to the Linn Cove Viaduct, a bridge constructed over a great ravine in the Blue Ridge. The views were great, but there really was not much to see from underneath the bridge except for the flowers along the trail. (For an awesome view, drive over the viaduct and get out the cameras). We then moved on to explore the town of Blowing Rock and have lunch at the Village Cafe.

Blowing Rock, NC is a busy place.  There are a lot of shops to browse and eateries to sample, and our plan was to do just that—if we could find a parking place. After driving around for an extended period, we decided to park in a church lot several blocks and a long hill away from town. While walking up that hill, Helen spotted two couples about to leave from a choice spot in front of the Village Cafe. She asked them if they would leave slowly then directed me to hustle back to the church and take their spot. I hustled my new hip down the hill. When I returned with Bert (our truck), Helen was having a grand time with her new friends who’d waited for me. There sure are some nice people in this world.

The Village Cafe was full of folks having great food amid a large amount of engaging conversation.  We waited about forty five minutes for a table, but the wait paid off. Sarah waited on us and was a lot of fun.  Everything on the menu was enticing, but we went for two different sautéed trout entrees. I chose the sandwich and Helen went straight up with broccoli and carrots on the side.  Helen ordered a Peachy Vodka cocktail, and I, the driver, ordered an Arnold Palmer (tea and lemonade mixed). Both meals were excellent. We walked off our lunch by browsing the shops and paid a visit to the Prayer Tree, where visitors wrote notes asking for needed prayers. I left one for my stepfather who is in frail health at the moment. Blowing Rock is a town definitely worthy of a return trip.

The next morning we were ready for some more hiking. Our friend had suggested the trail up to Beacon Heights for a view of the Blue Ridge. This trail was another 1.2 mile trek and steeper than our previous hike. We were in a canopy of trees the entire trip but at the top, everything opened up to a magnificent view of the mountains. While there, Helen made friends with a couple from Germany who happened to be from Wurzburg where we lived in the early 1970’s. We also met a couple who had lived in Budapest for twenty years serving in a Christian Ministry. We made the hike back down without difficulty as evidenced by Helen’s big grin.

 

After our hike, we drove to the summit of Grandfather Mountain for a panoramic view of everything we had seen for the past two days. While there, we walked over the swinging bridge, suspended 80 feet in the air and a mile above sea level. From there, we were able to look over most of the area and we agreed that Grandfather had showed us around the mountains.

For the final full day of our stay here, we took our friend’s suggestion to drive to Valle Crucis, NC to shop in the original Mast General Store, constructed in the late 1800’s. This, too, was a busy place. When we arrived a quartet of Bluegrass musicians were playing away on the porch of the store.  Nobody loves Bluegrass music more than I do.  I captured a video of their session and will share it with Easin’ Along readers at some point in the future.

The old store was filled with much to look at,  The candy section is laid out like the newer stores, but smaller. The store had several rooms of merchandise and we spent almost an hour browsing through them.  In the end we walked out with four Melamine dinner plates in an RV theme for Gracey (our trailer) and a cookbook titled On the Road Again—RV Cooking Made Easy. Great souvenirs for a great trip.

It’s time to wrap up this portion of our trip.  We have no Wi-Fi, internet, or cell service in our campground, so Helen and I will try to find a McDonald’s or someplace similar to get this post to everyone. Please know we’re doing well and looking forward to having you join us at Stone Mountain State Park in Roaring Gap, NC for the next leg of our journey.  Until then, we’ll be Easin Along.

By the time this article gets published, Helen (adorable wife) and I have been on the road for a day and a half.  We were fired up and ready by the time we pulled Gracey (trailer) out of our neighborhood around noon on Wednesday and pointed Bert (truck) east. We have been stuck at home recovering from knee and hip replacement since May and words cannot describe how grateful we are and how blessed we feel to be back on the road less traveled.

As I write this it is nearly eight in the evening.  We are in Pineola, NC, nearly 5,000 feet above sea level and sitting beside a roaring Linville River at Down By the River Campground, campsite C-1. Our site is about as relaxing and as picturesque as it could get. We’re wearing jackets in the chilly weather…so delightful.

We spent Wednesday night in Cherokee, NC at Happy Holiday Campground, not our usual spot in Cherokee, but it was very nice with clean showers and close enough to the Casino for Helen to get her shot at breaking the bank. That didn’t happen, but we had a lot of fun. By the time we returned to Gracey, the temperature was dropping into the 50’s and we slept well.

The entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway is just a few miles from our campground but a few thousand feet higher. Within a few miles of the access to the Parkway, we caught the first of a countless number of overlooks with views that I can only describe as breathtaking. I have taken a few pictures to share with Easin’ Along readers, but photos capture a small portion of the panorama.  Trust me when I tell you that the views are extraordinary and, when framed by an azure blue sky as they were on this day, the beauty was greatly enhanced.

Our drive from Cherokee covered about 150 miles. A young bear cub greeted us from the shoulder of the road, as did a wild turkey.  We made several stops along the way to take pictures and check into the Visitor Center near Asheville to pick up some maps and guidebooks. The speed limit along the curvy and somewhat hilly terrain varies between 35 and 45 mph so the trip took us nearly five hours to reach Pineola. Drained from holding Gracey on our side of the somewhat narrow Parkway, I looked forward to reaching the campground to rest my tense shoulders.

Helen and I were a bit apprehensive about our campground because there aren’t a lot of choices up here and we took what was available at the time I made reservations. Our worries turned out to be a waste of energy.  Down By the River Campground is a campers paradise.  Manicured grounds greeted us.  Pretty flowers are everywhere and the river I mentioned above is right behind our campsite.  We may not have hit the jackpot at the Casino, but Lady Luck blessed us here.

The hour is late now, and we have not had our campfire stew yet, so I am going to close.  We will be here for four days of exploring the area around Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain and will report back on what we uncover. Please come back and join us as we spend five weeks on the road…just Easin’ Along.