Solo Adventure Vol. II
Northward Bound
10 days delayed, but Sitka and I made our escape from SoFlo heat July 26th. Today is our first reprieve from the heat. We are holed up in a campground in Cherokee, South Carolina waiting out severe thunderstorms. I really want to see the Smokey Mountains and thick fog is obscuring any views. So, waiting it out makes the most sense. Today, a logging truck broke in half… yep, the bed snapped in half that was more excitement than I wanted to witness on mountain roads.
Our first and only mishap, I hope happens a few hours into the trip. When I stop for gas I see the brakelight connection for my storage case has fallen out, dragged along the ground and is now destroyed. As I come into Homossasa Springs, I see this place Mike's Custom Trailers. 5 minutes to closing, he rewires it for me, cost free and sends me on my way! Over the top customer service! How often does that happen these days?
My intention on this trip is to overnight at as many free from charge locations as I can– boondocking. In previous posts, I detailed the two groups I belong to: Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts. I stay on other RVers properties and farms, wineries, ranches and museums and all sorts of interesting layovers. Leaving Cape Coral, the mercury was registering at 95º and heat index was 106º. Deciding to leave at noon was smart on our part as we drive all day in the air-conditioned ZiOsmobile. The first stop is a Boondockers Welcome site in Alachua, Florida. These folks have a a little campsite under oaks dripping with Spanish moss and kudzu threatening to eat us alive. It has electric and water. I run the air-conditioning all night long. It’s a night where I don’t sleep well, waking at 1:30am and only falling asleep for an hour around 5am. I wake up to Gerard’s text, telling me his mom made her transition. God speed, Marie. She passed in her sleep just as she wanted. The family was prepared for this event, Marie believed it was her time. I will be rendezvousing with Gerard in the Twin Cities in a couple weeks.
Time to get moving. US Highway 441 is our trek all the way to Athens, Georgia. What a beautiful road and seemingly secluded. I rarely pass a vehicle as I wander through peanut and tobacco fields, while eagles soaring guide me north. Our landing spot is another Boondockers Welcome location–a coffee roaster! Jittery Joes offers a shady place and the opportunity to run the generator to run the air until 7pm when a rain storm cools us down and I can sleep with everything open and no noisy gennie or air that sounds like a 747. However, the train that runs directly behind us blares its horn at the intersections–only once at 3am and I easily fall back asleep making up for the sleep shortage the night before. Best part is the amazing coffee and the wonderful staff. Sitka was in love with the staff and doesn't want to leave. They serve me up a great morning brew. I buy a pound of that very Nicaraguan Honey process coffee to take along – the least I can do for a free nights stay.
Friday morning, I wake to a forecast of severe thunderstorms in the Smokey Mountains. I really want to enjoy the vistas and an opportunity to stop along the way to Dandridge, Tennessee. My friend Candice’s father lives there and they offer me space to overnight with him. I would have had to book it and leave much earlier to beat the rain. Right on schedule, 11am the heavens let loose. The clouds descend and envelop everything in fog. I find a campground in Cherokee, North Carolina, the jumping off point for the Smokey Mountains. Most campgrounds are booked. I am grateful to get settled in to our spot before the deluge. I message Candice and hope she can get a message to her Dad, because I have no cell service and the internet has gone out. It is a wise decision as I had more excitement than I wanted going up a mountain road. A logging truck snapped in half. Yep, the flat bed collapsed. I was in the left lane and didn’t have to slam on brakes, but scary to witness.
I am glad to be here, don’t usually care for full hookup resorts, especially this early in the trip. I don’t need to empty tanks yet. But I will take advantage of what I am paying for being here. I am directly across from the mountain stream and cable TV is welcome today…an afternoon of Pitbull and Parolees. Poor Sitka, he needs to get some movement. This detour allows for a visit to Cade’s Cove. It was a destination on last year’s trip that I had to forgo due to the heat; it was over a 100º. I believe tomorrow is supposed to be dry and a good day for mountain travel. Hoping I can get Sitka walking around then.
Once again we forego Cade's Cove. What was I thinking? It is a weekend in the summer in the busiest National Park in the U.S. I decide to just return to the Smokeys and the Blueridge for more thorough exploration someday soon. Arriving in Dandridge at Jeff's, he takes me on a brief sightseeing trip of the local area. The town of Dandridge is quaint and old–established in 1783. It is the only town in the U.S, named after a first lady, Martha Dandridge Washington. The Tennessee Valley Authority constructed a dam between the downtown and Douglas Lake. The dam rises almost immediately behind the Town Hall, and runs roughly parallel to Main Street. Jeff and I grab sandwiches and head up above the dam for amazing vistas.
This trip is maybe moving a bit fast for Sitka. Like last year, he doesn’t handle the winding, twisting mountain roads well… well, he tolerates the ride. We rise early and take off at day break. I figure we need a break in today’s travel. I remember a fellow teacher lives in Lexington, Kentucky, who I haven’t seen in 34 years. Leanne says come on over and she makes me a beautiful brunch that we enjoy in her garden amongst the tomatoes and flowers while diving into 34 years of conversation, like we never missed a beat. We can’t let anymore time go by. We have to get together for an extended visit in the very near future.
The drive from Lexington into Indiana is through the beautiful country estates of the Bluegrass. Beautiful horse farms have been part of Kentucky since the region was settled. The roads leading to the Ohio River are ribbons wrapping this picturesque countryside. I cross into Indiana through Madison established in 1810. It is the largest city between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. It had busy early years due to heavy river traffic and its position as an entry point into the Indiana Territory along the historic Old Michigan Road. Madison's location across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a slave state, made it an important location in the Underground Railroad, which worked to free fugitive slaves. George DeBaptiste's barbershop in town became a nerve center of the local group. As always, there is never enough time to dig into all the history all my stopping points have to offer.
My overnight is Chateau de Pique a winery in Seymour, Indiana. Tucked into the rolling farmlands Chateau de Pique stands among 80 picturesque acres of beautiful rustic countryside. Housed in a quaint 19th century horse barn, the main facility was restored and designed to be a warm, inviting place to enjoy wine and a place to enjoy a peaceful evening after a long drive.
It is late enough in the day that I have Angel's undivided attention to learn about the history of the vineyard and have a wine tasting. I purchase a 2011 Chardonell, gala apple opening to earthy, buttery body with a dual oak & crisp fruit finish. The wine is aged in bourbon barrels, making a white not quite white. The morning brings low lying mist shrouding the vineyard. A train whistle close by is the only disturbance to a walking meditation before we pack up and move on. I will amble down country roads and Sitka and I will take a break at my uncle and aunts just over the Illinois border before making it to the family homestead where we will settle for several days before moving on to Minnesota to celebrate my mother-in-law's life and of course time with the g-babies!
I can't help but post a ton of winery pics... this was such a beautiful overnight.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It