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Published: July 17th 2006
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Finally, I am back out on the road. I actually left Florida last Friday, the 7th. My first stop was Johnson City, TN. I took back roads almost the entire way which caused the trip to be 12 hours instead of 10. I decided not to do any more days like that. From there on out, I would only do, at the most, 7 hour days. I stayed with my friend, Gretchen, in JC and on Saturday morning we decided to go to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Neither of us had ever been and she wanted to get away for the weekend. We got her parents Lincoln Towncar, their BP card and hit the road. Eight hours later, we were in Cedar Island waiting for the Ocracoke ferry. After a two and a half hour ferry ride (on which we sat in camp chairs…good thing we brought them…and drank wine coolers, we landed in Ocracoke. We managed to get in almost the entire Outer Banks over the weekend. It was very reminiscent of driving the Florida Keys. At least, all the little towns reminded me of the Keys. The Outer Banks have lots of dunes and the water is
not clear and green like the keys. We intended to stay at the Outer Banks Hostel, but it has apparently closed. We ended up staying at a small hotel in Kitty Hawk, right across the street from the beach. I went walking/running on the beach around 0630 and saw about 3 dolphins…that was cool. We stopped at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knolls…not much happening there. The $8 entrance fee should have been an indicator. On the way back to Johnson City, we stopped in Asheville (I love Asheville) and ate lunch at Tupelo Honey Café (thank you Rachel Ray) and went to Malaprops book store. Gretchen loved Tupelo and Malaprops is a cool bookstore (reminiscent of a San Francisco book store) and is has wi-fi. After returning from the Outer Banks on Tuesday 7/12, I stayed at Gretchen’s and on Wednesday we went out to Watauga Lake. Watauga is THE local huge lake. Her cousin has a cabin on the lake and is very generous about letting people use it. There was a pontoon boat, jet skis, a couple of those inflatable trampoline things, and a rope to swing out over the lake. It was my first time riding
Lunch on the beach
My friend Gretchen, somewhere in the Outer Banks. a jet ski. I didn’t flip it…which is good. It was also nice to go swimming without having to think about alligators. When we got back to JC, I said my goodbyes to Gretchen and headed to Gray, TN to spend the night with my friend Juanelle. We stayed up talking until around 0030. I headed out toward Kentucky the next morning, still not sure of my exact destination. I ended up at Mammoth Cave, KY. I found a mom and pop hotel in Cave City. On Friday, I took the Frozen Niagara cave tour. I think it had about 500 steps and some pretty steep inclines. All in all, it was a pretty boring tour. I wouldn’t recommend it. After the tour, I rode the Alpine Slide. For those of you that have never ridden an Alpine Slide, do it if you get the chance. It’s like a bobsled on concrete swerving down the mountain. All you have is a brake. FUN. Off to St. Louis. I arrived in Granite City, IL (my campground for the next two nights) around 2030. Granite City is about 11 miles NE of the Gateway Arch. I was pleased to see that the
campground had wi-fi. The connection is weak though. This is definitely a St. Louis destination campground that really caters more to RVer’s than tent campers. I met a nice young couple traveling from Raleigh-Durham, NC to Yellowstone NP. I thought I would be too hot to sleep but it cooled down enough that I had no problem. The really loud birds woke me up at 0530. I had enough time to get ready and watch a little of the Aristocrats before leaving to be at the Arch when it opened at 0800. A word of advice: If you are visiting the Arch in the summer, get there at 0800. There was no one there. I walked right on the tram to the top (it later broke for the day), and I had the museum almost to myself. By 1000, the crowds were arriving. There was a huge line to get in as well as to get tickets for the tram to the top. I recommend the ride to the top. What a view!! After spending 5 hours in the Arch, I drove around the different neighborhoods of St. Louis, then headed back to the campground for my final night. Currently
multitasking. It is HOT here. Over 90 degrees, so now that I am back from the Arch, I am sitting in the “lounge” of the campground, doing laundry, blogging, eating my Quiznos sub and listening to music. Tomorrow….Madison, WI???
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