Greetings, We are still here in T
ownsend with our retired Pilot friends and their wives. We have had such great weather, not at all fall
like at all, warn sunny days and cool nights. I have to admit that this adventure has really been a wonderful
experience! John can hardly wait to go again!!
The other day John and I took a drive through the Smoky Mountains again. We began our trip on the Foothills Parkway, which is an unusual road since it's located outside the park, but is administratively part of it, and offers a panoramic
perspective found nowhere else.
The 18-mile drive follows the crest of the
Chilhowee Mountain, an unusually long and uniform
wrinkle in the plain beyond the Great Smokies.
Chilhowee is an unusual mountain: one continuous narrow ridge almost 30 miles long and 2,700 feet high.
Along this drive you find no better views of the great bulk of the Smokies. The lowlands below are another of those relatively flat geologic oddities called a cove. Miller Cove- about 8 miles long and scarcely a mile wide- is a fertile lowland bounded by the abrupt rise of
Chilhowee Mountain on one side and the
knobby foothills of the Smokies on the other. The views were wonderful!
From the Foothills Parkway we ended up on Route 129, also called the Tail of the Dragon. This is a place that the bikers in the area love to ride as there are 318 curves in 11 miles. One really does not get to enjoy the view as you are so busy concentrating on the road ahead!!!
We then drove by the Fontana Dam and Lake. The water level is very low as they are also in a drought in this area. We finally came to the Newfound Gap Road. This drive across the mountains is the park's most traveled road. Once again the views are so memorable. As you follow the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River up from the 1,462-foot eleveation at Sugarlands to 5,046 feet above sea level at Newfound Gap, then descend 3,000 feet to Oconaluftee, 16 miles away. It's an easy ascent, although the road requires two tunnels and an unusual 360-degree loop over itself to make the climb.
We ended up in Gatlinburg, Tn. This is a real tourist town! John and I had stayed here on another trip that we took on the way home from attending a NASCAR Race in Martinsville, Va. We remembred the cute resturant that we had dinner in that night along the river, we were going to stop for a drink but they were not open so we continued on through Pigeon Forge and finally back to Townsend.
Last night we finally had some rain! We were going to leave today and head up to Virginia to see John, Aimee, John and Morgan, however last night we discovered a leak in the water system so we are waiting a repairman to see just what the problem is???? Just like boating, always something just when you think all is okay..... well stay tuned for more information later. We hope to be home by Monday or Tuesday.
Until later..... Candy and John
, and then on to Haymarket, VI which was not far from John and Aimee's. We had fun with them for the weekend, unfortunatally John was not able to come home from Columbus, Oh. as he had to work but we spent time with Aimee and the kids.
