Day 4

 Saturday-April 24

Up early, coffee and cereal at our campsite, and on the road by 8:15 AM.  Last night was much warmer than the previous one; I think we’re done with the cold camping.  I must admit my hands were cold, however, as I made coffee on our picnic table.  Gloves were definitely a necessity.

 

Our final destination for today was the Elkmont Campground in the Great Smoky National Park.  Our route today took us through Mount Airy, North Carolina, the home of Andy Griffith and his inspiration for Mayberry.  We’d been there before and it’s hardly worth even a detour of five miles.

Leaving Mayberry as quickly as we could, we continued through a heavy rain and stopped in Asheville for lunch at the very funky Sunny PointCafé.  Another repeat visit and well worth the 30 minute wait in the rain for a table.  Two mimosas made the wait very tolerable, and our waffle and fried chicken thighs sandwich garnished with pimento cheese, bacon, and barbecue sauce rewarded our patience.  

It was still raining when we finished lunch so we visited the Grove Arcade, Joni purchased some stocking stuffers (yes she starts here Christmas shopping early), and I took advantage of the free WiFi and posted Day 4 of my blog, and visited the shop where I purchased a mountain dulcimer several years ago.  This time I restrained myself and bought only 5 picks.

The ride to the national park was a hilly one with the trucks passing us on the downhill slope and we passed them on the uphill.  Once off I-40, the roads got narrower and more windy, and we really got a sense of Appalachain poverty, almost to the point of feeling guilty that we were vacationing there.

To get to our campground we had to drive through  Gatlinburg.  If you’ve never visited this town I recommend you put it on your bucket list, especially if you seek crowded cities filled with tacky souvenir shops where thousands of people walk shoulder to shoulder with only maybe one person in 100 wearing a protective mask.   Any video you saw of South Beach during this year’s spring break pales in comparison.

 

We arrived at our beautiful national park campground around 6:15 PM with 310 additional miles on our vehicle.  The serenity of our campsite quickly washed away the hee-bee gee-bee’s of Gatlinburg.

 

We dined at the campsite on Irish cheddar cheese, fresh bread, and rosé wine.  Delicious, but hardly worth a photo.