We have always wanted to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway in Smokey Mountains National Park and the the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park so this fall we decided to do it. We left Dallas on Sept 17th and drove to Greenville, MS for the night. The next day we picked up the Natchez Trace Parkway near Mathiston, MS and stayed the night at the campground on Davis Lake. On Sept 19th we drove the rest of the Natchez Trace to the Nashville end where we picked up I40 heading east. We stayed the night at the Nashville Welcome Center. Continuing on I40 we spent the next night at the Knoxville Sams Club.
On Monday, Sept 21st, we drove through Smokey Mountain National Park to our campsite in the park at Smokemont.
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| Campsite at Smokemont in Smokey Mts NP |
We spent 2 days in Smokey Mountains NP. On the first day we took a hike to an overlook near our campground and drove the scooter for a ways down the Blue Ridge Parkway. The second day I took the scooter to Cades Cove at the other end of the Park. I came back to pick up Liz and we went together to Clingmans Dome to get an amazing view of the Smokey Mountains.
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| Hike from Smokemont campground |
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| Clingmans Dome overlook |
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| View from the top |
On Sept 24th we left Smokey Mountains and drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Julian Price campground. We stayed there for 3 nights making trips up and down the Parkway on the scooter each day. On Sept 26 we went to Linville Falls and hiked to the falls and cascades on the river.
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| Upper Linville falls |
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| Linville falls gorge |
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| Lower Linville falls |
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| Blue Ridge Parkway |
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| Blue Ridge Parkway overlook |
On Sunday we left Julian campground and headed to Roanoke,VA where we spent to night at Sam's Club. On Sept 29th we went back on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Peaks of Otter Campground. When we got to the campground we knew a storm was coming so we quickly unloaded the scooter and took a ride down the parkway that afternoon. On the way back the storm caught up with us and we arrived back at the campsite in a rainstorm thoroughly drenched. We warmed ourselves up in the motorhome and rode out the storm which lasted the entire next day.
On Sept 30th we left Peaks of Otter and headed to Big Meadows campground on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. On our way we stopped at a laundromat to do our laundry. At Big Meadows we met up with our good friends the Graves who drove over from their house in Williamsburg, VA. We stayed at Big Meadows 4 nights doing day trips to see the local sights and taking the local hikes. The first day Robert, Liz and I hiked the Dark Hallow Falls loop trail. It was about a 5 mile round trip along some beautiful cascading streams.
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| Dark Hallow Falls Trail |
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| Skyline Drive overlook with out friends the Graves |
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| Me with my "bandana" for quick masking |
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| Liz shopping at a local produce stand |
On Sunday Oct 4th the Graves left and we headed for home. We spent the first night in Charleston, WV Sams Club, the second night north of Nashville at the welcome center. After Nashville we picked up the Natchez Trace and spent the next two nights at Davis Lake, MS campground where we explored the area and the Trace on the scooter. On Thursday we resumed our trip home, staying that night at the Texas Welcome Center in Texarkana (a really nice place to stay with separate RV overnight parking). We arrived home on Friday, Oct 9th with great memories of the beautiful eastern parkways and of wonderful times with our best friends.
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