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| Are we there yet, Mama? |
Saturday, April 25th
After a medium sized drive from Savannah to Chattanooga, we are slightly bummed to see that rain is in the forecast for today. Neil is really worried about messing up his new hairdo, but we decide to see if we can squeeze in a hike in the morning before the rain shows up. After a little research, we find a hike that is only 11 minutes from the campsite - score! We head over to Johnston Woods, which is a church retreat area but is open to the public. We are excited to find another great biking/hiking hybrid trail that is about a 3 mile loop. So, we (including Hamilton the dog) set out on the trail and figure that the rain will come at exactly 1.5 miles - right when we are at the furthest point:)
Although the sky was gray, it ended up being a perfect walk through the woods, with only minimal sprinkles. Hamilton also did a great job on the walk, and we have figured out that he is pretty good at hiking as long as we let him sniff and pee on everything in the first 5 minutes of the hike.
Feeling like we have beat the weather, Neil decides that we should try to push our luck - there is a disc golf course that gets great reviews and it is only 25 minutes away in Athens, TN... As we are driving there is starts raining. And keeps raining. And a little more. Needless to say, we decided to cut our losses and head back to HQ. However, the course looked awesome, and we will be back when the weather is better!
Although we are all bummed about the current situation in the world, we are pretty happy that we have found Zoom. We finished off the night with a great hangout with Anne's parents, Pam and Tim, in Florida. Also on the Zoom were Anne's sister, Suzi, and her husband, Pritts, in Seattle, her brother TJ in Tokyo, and Pritts's parents and sister in India! So cool that we could talk with all of those people around the world!
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| Anybody seen the weight room? I'll check it out... |
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| Pretty nice trail today! |
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| We can fit this hike in before the rain comes... |
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| Partners in crime - Hamilton and Stella... |
Sunday, April 26th
With disc golf fresh on the mind, we head out to check out a few disc golf courses to see if we can squeeze a game in before the rain comes again today... It doesn't look too bad, and again, it isn't supposed to rain until late this afternoon. As we set out to the first course we are greeted with yellow caution tape. Park closed due to covid - the moose out front should have told you. Oh well, time to head to another course, this one is at another church, and we have had good luck with those. Well, this one has opened, but it looks pretty janky. None of the holes are marked, and is a total mess with downed trees and branches. After some research, we realize that this area was hit with some really bad storms a few weeks ago, and things are a total mess around the entire area. And, here comes the rain... Oh well, time to head back and make it a laundry day.
At the campground, we have to make an appointment to do laundry because of Covid and there are no open slots today, so we decide to head to a laundromat so we can get it done on this crummy day. We don our masks and head to a laundromat in the area, and it is practically empty. Score! So, we do a couple loads, play our computer Dominion game in the car like the nerds that we are while we wait, and because the machines are awesome, we are in and out in a little over an hour.
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| Hamilton's spot where he sits the entire time we are gone, eagerly waiting our return..."Is that them?? Are they back??" |
Back at the homestead, we decide to do a movie night. The rain is still coming down, so it seems like a great evening to kick back on the recliners and watch one of the movies on our list. We decide on Parasite, and we both enjoyed the movie a lot. This kind of camping really isn't too bad at all. Recliners? check. Movies on demand? Check. Popcorn? Check. This home on wheels is pretty sweet.
Monday, April 27th
Monday morning, back to a little bit of reality. Our house is under attorney review, and the buyers are asking for some concessions. We have a plumbing issue that needs to be fixed, and we really need to deal with some business this morning. Thank goodness for our amazing real estate agent, (Tracy Dillard with @Properties in Chicago - hit her up for your RE needs!) as she has made it possible for us to navigate this sale from the road. After we finish up, we have some lunch and head out to the disc golf course. We have a beautiful day today.
We play the 18 hole course in Athens, TN - and it was a great course. It has 2 sets of tees and 2 sets of baskets, so it could actually be 72 different holes! It is incredibly well marked, and one of the best courses we have played so far. But also one of the toughest. We got a ton of exercise, because it was hilly and quite difficult. Neil only had to wade in the water for one of Anne's frisbee throws, and we made it out without losing any!
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Ready to play... finally a sunny day!
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Seriously tough layout and seriously tough course!
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| Just had to take picture of this sticker at one of the tees. I guess Snoop Dogg plays disc golf! |
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| A view from the top of this disc golf course! |
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| Look at me! I can throw a frisbee!!! |
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After finishing the course, we decide that we actually still have some gas in the tank, so we decide to pack the bikes and head to downtown Chattanooga to bike around. We had an amazing time, and we both really loved Chattanooga! What a cool town. Between the bluffs, the river, the bridges, the MLK district that we biked through and the Margaritas to go, we had a great visit. We both want to come back when the world is back to normal - it looks like this town could be quite vibrant.
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| View from the Bluff View Art District - Lots of cool sculptures and great views of the river. Biking down from the Bluffs = fun! Biking back up hill to the Bluffs - not so fun, but Neil biked the whole way! Anne walked her bike back up that hill! |
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| Biking the bridge across the Tennessee River |
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| The bridge in the background is a pedestrian-only bridge, but was closed due to covid. |
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| Biking MLK - Would have loved to hit the breweries on this street! Time for to-go margaritas! |
Back to Ronald Vincent Vega for an evening of Dominion with our friends Jess and Jeff. We love playing the card version of Dominion, but we might even like playing the computer version better. It is so much easier than having to pull out 4 Dominion expansions, select the cards, set up each round, clean up the cards... And, we can play with people all over the world. Awesome.
With another beautiful day forecast, we decide that we are going to go check out Cloudland State Park in Georgia. Anne has found us a 5 mile hike that is supposed to have some great views, so we pack up Hamilton and head back towards Georgia.
Wow is all we can say to this hike! This is definitely the most difficult one that we have done so far, but we are up for the challenge! We drop down about 1000 feet into the canyon and back up to the West Rim trail. It is an amazing 6 mile loop trail that has some of the best views we have seen for awhile. Hamilton was a total rock star, and he made it the whole way. He is crazy - he gets so close to the edges of the rocks! We are glad that he is on a leash, we can just fish him back up if he slips off the edge. After 3 hours, 2200 calories and 2 times down and up the canyon, we finish the hike. It is still light out, and Neil reminds Anne that there is also a disc golf course at this park.
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| We are hiking to that hill across the way? Really?? |
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Stick that gut out! A few more hikes like this and it will disappear!
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| One of many great lookouts... |
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| Hamilton - don't go so close to the edge! |
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| Is this thing on? |
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Of course what we need after a 6 mile extensive hike is an 18 hole round of disc golf! We power through this course, because it is quite a bit shorter than the one we played yesterday. It is well marked, the holes aren't too tough, and why not? Hamilton makes it through the entire 18 as well, and we are all pretty tired. We decide to take the scenic way home - a great decision!
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| After a snack, ready to play some disc golf! |
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| Why is Neil so serious all of the time? |
We head down the Lookout Mountain scenic byway, and we are both BLOWN AWAY by the views along this road! It literally looks like it drops 2000 feet off the side of the mountain, and we are both surprised by the fact that it is quite residential. Some people seem to literally have decks that are on the side of a cliff. So cool. We make our way to Lookout Mountain, TN, and this town is equally impressive. Towering over Chattanooga, we are lucky that we have a clear day - it looks like you can see forever. Apparently from the Point Park (closed due to Covid), you can see parts of 7 DIFFERENT STATES! Crazy! After walking around what is probably normally a bustling area, we are both ready to crash. We head back home and all of us are exhausted. We logged 25,000 steps today! What a great day.
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| On top of Lookout Mountain |
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| Lookout Mountain with no one blocking the view |
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| Right at the top of the Lookout Mountain - there is a train that comes up here at a 72% grade! |
Wednesday, April 29th
There are thunderstorms in the forecast (again...) so we decide to find a short hike close by. Hamilton is still worn out from yesterday's hike so we leave him at home, he finds his spot on the RV dashboard, and we head to Red Clay State Park. It's a nice 2 mile hike to a lookout (though nothing scenic at this lookout). But, it's a great trail, and we think that we can fit it in before the rain comes. Along the trail we hear gunshots nearby ... Should we have worn orange?? Ah, Tennessee. We finish up the hike pretty quickly and explore the rest of the grounds at this park, which was apparently where the Cherokee council had some meetings. We are both reminded of how sad some of our history is - this is supposedly the beginning of the Trail of Tears.
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| The "non-scenic" lookout |
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| Chase Yo Dream! |
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| On the hike, we saw a toad and this colorful lizard. |
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| Replicas of Cherokee house and barn. |
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| Replica of Red Clay Council structure where Cherokee council would meet. For a few years, the state forbade them to meet unless it was to sign a treaty that would remove them from the land. |
After finishing the hike and seeing the clouds thicken, we decide that a scenic drive might be the best option (even though Neil pouts about not playing disc golf again), and it was DEFINITELY the right choice. We head up the Ocoee Scenic Byway, and find out that it is actually the first road to be designated a scenic byway by the US Forest Service. It goes right up the Cherokee National Forest along the white water rapids, with some great lookouts, and a few great stops along the way. Although many of the roads are closed, many are also open, and we were pleasantly surprised with how cool this drive was. Along the drive, we find out that our attorney review on the house is complete! One more step closer to closing on our house... Exciting!
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| Waterfall right off the highway, so time for a stop. |
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| No rain yet, so we get in a short impromptu hike along the falls. |
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| Soooo windy up here! Don't blow over |
Thursday, April 30th
As April comes to a close, so does our time in Chattanooga. Although it wasn't even officially on our itinerary, we were both amazed at the natural beauty in this area. We had pretty good weather, some great hikes, some great disc golf, and an all around good time. We have decided that the next place we want to go is Asheville, NC. This WAS on the original itinerary, and even though NC is not reopened yet, we have heard that there are some good hiking trails that are still open. We are crossing our fingers that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will reopen. But we figure that we can pop down to South Carolina or drive a few miles back to Tennessee if we find too many closures.
After about a 3 hour drive, we are set up in our new home for the next 5 days about 12 miles west of Asheville. The weather is a bit colder tonight, but it looks like the weekend will be beautiful. It is always tough to fit in too many activities on a travel day, as it takes a bit of time to break down the house, drive to the next place, and get it set up again. We find ourselves at another KOA, and we are both excited to find that there is a 1 mile hiking trail AT THE CAMPGROUND! After leftovers for dinner, we are able to get a quick 30 minute hike in, and we are settling in to the new spot. We decided to splurge on this campsite ($4 per day extra) and get the KOA patio. We are both stoked, as we have Adirondack chairs, a patio, and a fire pit. S'mores, baby!
We hope everyone is staying happy and healthy out there. Thanks so much for following along with us, and until next time...
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| Our new home near Asheville, NC - S'MORES BABY! |
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