Home

We are back home. Due to the rain, fog and cold we decided to head on home. We had a few days with beautiful weather, and had a great time, but with the incoming weather from the west, to call it quits. This signals a break in the blog for awhile. Thanks to all for reading.

Cade's cove loop

Tonight wednesday, we are camped in Williamsburg, KY. Stayed 2 nights in Cade's cove campground. Monday and today was a very good day for our weather. Tuesday it was terrible, it rained all day. We walked on a nature trail for about an hour. The rest of the day we sat in the camper and read. Here are some of the many pictures we took. Did not see a single bear. Click on a picture to get a larger view.



7



Wild turkey


















This General Lee merged in front of us going into park.

Gatlinburg, TN

This has been our campsite in Pigeon Forge, TN for the last three days. Been spending our time walking around the town and hitting the nice restaurants, 4 so far this weekend. It is very difficult to get across the main street when traffic is bad. You can only cross at traffic lights, which must be a half mile apart. We have reservations to camp in Cades Cove in Smokey Mountain national park for the next 2 days. This time of year reservations are recommended. This campsite is where we will have $10 campsites with no electricity or internet.






Here we are eating a meal in downtown Gatlinburg.






It took us 2 hours to get the five miles from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg.







This is a picture of a rock slide that has been in the news that has closed I40 for a month or more. I think this happened sunday morning at 2 am. We crossed this spot on friday afternoon.

Linn Cove Viaduct

We had four beautiful days, seen the highlight of trip so far, the Linn cove viaduct on thursday, then Friday it turned bad with rain and fog. The blue ridge parkway is no place to be when it gets foggy. We had stayed in a campground in Julian Price Memorial park. Left the parkway and drove down to I40. From there we went over to Gatlinburg , TN. We are staying at a campground in Pigeon Forge for 3 days. It is very nice but expensive at $42 per night compared with the national park campgrounds at $8 per night, we have the national park passport card that gets us half price at park campgrounds. Here is some of the many pics we took.

Blue ridge parkway 1

Barb hiking Appalachian trail




















Butterfly sat on my hand.




















































I'm walking on Appalachian trail

Skyline drive

Had a good time driving the skyline drive. Finally found a good place with a strong signal to send these pictures. We are overlooking the Roanoke VA valley at present. The one pic that you may not understand is called stoney man.

Sunny day finally

Yesterday we headed back up the mountain bound for the Shenandoah NP. Got to the entrance and was told the park was closed due to ice and snow on the roads. Headed back down the valley south to Luray, VA. We camped at a beautiful Yogi Bear's Jelleystone campground. $34 per night. Today we are headed back into the national park. It is a beautiful sunny day with the temperature headed up. It was 32 when we got up. This is a picture of the campground. As you can see the leaves are not in peak yet.

Overlook view

This is the view overlooking the shenandoah valley. We are in a cloud. Yesterday, drove about 5 miles into the park to a visitor center. It was too foggy to go any further so we went back down to the Walmart store and then to our campground. We are going to wait until Sunday to head back into the park. It is supposed to clear then. Kinda followed the Ohio State game on the internet today. That didn't go too good either, and it is still raining. We did manage to get in a little hike around the campground. Things will get better tomorrow.

2009 Fall trip Front Royal, Virginia

Started a fall trip yesterday Oct 14. Drove in rain all day yesterday, and it is still raining tonight Oct 15. Stayed at a campground in Somerset PA. last night. Tonight we are staying at the Front Royal campground. It is a few miles from the north entrance to the Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. It is supposed to be peak season for leaf peeping, but with the rain it doesn't impress. We are sure it is bound to get better tomorrow. Here are a few pictures of our campsite, and me in my office on the bed above the cab. If and when we head into the park, the campsites have no electricity, and probably no cell phone or internet service, so it may be several days to my nest post.