Tuesday morning. Very light dusting of snow here in Statesville. TV talking breathlessly about snow in Raleigh and other parts of the state. Called Mike and found out that sure enough they were on a snow day - schools and many offices closed. Thanks, Karen, for the weather alert. We could have been snowed in in the Parker's Creek campground - not the worst situation in the world, but still glad to be this far along on our trek home.
Tuesday was pure relaxation, watching the inauguration festivities. We barely left the motorhome. It was cold, 15 in the morning.
Here's a picture of another motorhome in the campground - Tuzigoot3? Or, 8? Hmm. Ain't she cute!
Update on sideswipe incident. Way back in the first week of our trip (also known as tripfromhell week), you may recall that Tuzi got slightly sideswiped while we were driving through MS on the way to Red Bay, AL. I had talked briefly to my State Farm rep just after the accident, but hadn’t followed up, what with cruising and everything else going on. While in Cary, I talked to State Farm again and they told me I should report the incident to the other driver’s insurance company. Also, I should not have the damage repaired until an evaluation was made by that company. Based on that advice, we canceled plans to go home via Red Bay to get damage repaired by one of Tiffin’s guys who has his own moonlight RV body shop. I e-mailed that insurance company and told them about the incident. On Saturday I got a call back. Rep said the other driver had not reported the accident, but when contacted, claimed it wasn’t his fault. I said I’m pretty sure I was in my lane, but because I wasn’t looking in rearview mirror at the time I didn’t see him overtake and hit me, so I can’t be absolutely certain. This rep said she was just making an initial quick response from the weekend desk; I would get an official response Mon or Tue. She said I should file claim with State Farm in case her firm denied my claim.
Well, Tuesday I got the call. Agent didn’t say anything about blaming me for sideswipe, but asked if I had a repair shop in Albq that I would use and said their claim rep would contact me when we got back to town, with the implication that they would pay for the repair. We shall see.
Wednesday morning we filled up with propane, handled some business via FedEx, and continued west. From Statesville we took I-40 to Asheville (US 64 meanders all over western NC, so we abandoned it) and then angled SW to the very tip of NC.
For the most part US 19/74 in SW NC is a four-lane parkway, The Great Smoky Mountain Expressway. Then, all of a sudden, you're plunged into the Nanatahala Gorge. No more expressway. This parkway photo is from the inernet.
The gorge contains the Nanatahala River, a noted whitewater river. Judy and I were through here years ago and learned that the Olympic kayak and canoe teams trained here at the time. Susie and I came through the gorge in TuzigootOne a few years back. For about 20 miles the highway is narrow and winding. Lots of river-running and rafting outfitters along the way and warnings to watch for slow-moving rafting buses. Not much traffic, though, this time of year vs. the summer tourist season, so it wasn’t difficult, just slow. When traffic piles up behind me, I like to find a spot and pull over, but in these tight stretches there aren’t many opportunities, and those that are there pop up so quickly that you don’t have time to stop. Here's an internet picture.
We had plans to spend the night near Chattanooga, but we spent more time on local roads than anticipated (still standing my pledge to reduce our time on Interstate highways), so started to look for a campground while still in NC.
After the Natahala Gorge, just past Murphy, NC, at about 4 pm, we spotted a large, very modern RV park (all hookups conveniently placed in one fixture – wow!). Only two RVs parked there, though, out of more than 100 slots, so the campground looked closed. Nevertheless, we were ready to stop, so took a chance and turned in to the entrance. OPEN the sign proclaimed. Just fill out a registration, deposit money, and park. Water, electricity, and cable operable. No wifi that evening, but did get a connection the next morning.
We wouldn’t have turned in if the park had been empty, but two rigs were enough of a lure to get us in. Susie speculated later, since there were apparently no people in either rig, that these were just decoys, like a duck decoys on a pond, designed to lure travelers in. The parked rigs were really just ones that the campground owners are storing and using as a decoy. Whatever, it worked and we enjoyed our stay. Here's a picture taken the next morning - still cold, in the teens.
Susie had expressed the desperate need for a hair cut, so that was another reason to stop – we’d seen a few hair salons driving through Murphy. After we settled in at the campground, Susie got her hair done - she looks mahvelous - then we had dinner just across the parking lot from the salon – southern cooking: ribs and meatloaf.
Thursday. Still cold. Low Th morning was 15 degrees again.
At Murphy, we had rejoined US 64 (on which we had driven from Jordan Lake to Statesville, for those who are following us on your maps). Continuing west on 64, just into TN, we went through another narrow, winding gorge. This is the Ocoee River Gorge, actually tighter to drive than the Nanatahala with rock overhangs to watch for and oncoming trucks. This is the site of the 1996 Olympics whitewater events. Big parking lots and vantage points along the way. The river is nearly dry right now. Flow on the Ocoee is controlled by three TVA dams, so it can be dialed up or down, as needed.
Got into the Chattanooga area in time for brunch and recorded-book exchange at a Cracker Barrel, then took freeways, rather than US 64, through Chat. Magellan took me off I-24 on to US 41A, continuing west to reconnect with US 64. 41A turned out to be another thriller – very steep (7% grade), long, winding descent from the Cumberland Plateau to where we joined US 64 which, here and on west, is (in large part) a 4-lane parkway. If I’d gone a few miles further on I-24 to next exit, we would have had a parkway instead of the 41A joyride.
The US 64 parkway is called the David Crockett Parkway. David? .
Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee
Greenest state in the land of the free
Raised in the woods where he knew every tree
Killed him a b’ar when he was only three
David, David Crockett
King of the wild frontier
Just doesn’t sound right. However, I read on Wikipedia that Crockett preferred David over Davy, so the parkway namers honored his wishes.
That song ran through my head all afternoon. Why is it I can remember that and I can’t remember what I went to get in the bedroom a few minutes ago?
Much more of 64 is parkway than my 2005 atlas shows, so it was mostly nice driving, but there are several gaps where construction is happening, or land is being cleared. This is beautiful, rolling farm country. Also many nice multi-columned Tara-like, or -lite houses in the country and attractive small towns along the way. Sure hope the Obama stimulus package has funds to expedite completing the David Crockett Parkway. That’ll be a great drive. We drive the Memphis-Nashville I-40 route fairly often. It’s mostly tree tunnel. Next time I’ll take a US 64-based routing.
By afternoon the weather is much warmer. Feeling good. Stopped for ice cream.
Our objective for the night was the Pickwick Lake State Park. The reason that was the objective is because the S.P. is adjacent to the village of Counce, which, our Road Food book says, is home to an outstanding and unique catfish restaurant, the Pickwick Catfish Farm Restaurant. The fish served are raised right there. Also, as an alternative to outstanding fried catfish, you can get “Pickwick’s marvelous cured and smoked catfish.”
Well, we parked Tuzi in the almost-deserted, very nice wooded campground , then headed into Counce to find the Catfish Farm. I had called the number given by Road Food and got a message that that number was inactive, so that was an troubling note. Made one pass through town and didn’t see the Catfish Farm. Went back to a grocery store, bought some vittles, and asked directions. Nice lady said, Go west about a mile or mile and a half, just past the RR tracks, down into a holler, and there it is – on your right, set back from the road. Really good catfish. We had gone that far and not seen a thing. With specific directions, surely we’ll find it.
By now, it’s dark and where we think we’ve been told to look there’s nothing with lights, period, much less one that suggested a place to eat. Went on down the road and turned around in a bar’s parking lot. Susie says, Go ask someone in there about the restaurant. Oh, yeah, they said. Go back the way you came, at the bottom of a steep hill, before you get to the RR tracks, there it is, set back from the road, in an old filling station. Really good catfish. I returned to car reeking of smoke - me, not the car. We still couldn’t find it. Turned down a couple of side roads, didn't find anything and in both cases we soon had a car behind us as we searched for a place to turn around. Well, in one case, wouldn’t you know it? when I pulled into a driveway the car behind me had to stop and wait until I got out of his/her driveway.
Susie says let’s try it again, so we go back and forth on this stretch of highway again. Nada. The place is only open Th-Sun, according to Road Food, but maybe they took this Th off. We’re departing on this route tomorrow and maybe then we’ll see the Catfish Farm and file it in our memory book for next time.
Nice lady in grocery store had said, if Farm is closed, the restaurant across the highway from the store has a catfish special on Thursday and it's really good, too. So, we followed Plan B. Restaurant was crowded, we waited and did enjoy the smalltown café atmosphere and the catfish.
Our route on Friday morning took us down the road where the Catfish Farm Restaurant was supposed to be and, sure enough, there it was. It was a building that was totally dark the night before. We had even turned in their driveway, but not where we could see the unlighted, hand-painted sign on the front of the building. Well, it turns out that we had been the victim of outdated information. The above website, which I hadn't Googled-up until writing this posting Friday night and miles away, says the restaurant is only open Friday-Sunday. Duh! We'll be back, if the Catfish Farm is still in business. The above website says the place is for sale.
The big business in Counce, besides catfish, is a PCA (Packaging Corporation of America) plant that makes paper from trees. That was of interest to us because son, Matt, used to work for PCA in Grand Rapids, MI. Other PCA plants convert paper to corrugated cardboard and boxes (packages). Matt had not been to this plant, so we took a picture. Looks pretty impressive and there is a steady stream of logging trucks hauling the raw material into the plant.
Well, this has gone on long enough, or more.
Cheers,
Susie and Rob
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