Cross Country '09 part 1

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10/25/09
We left Agawam at before sunrise at 5 am. We fortunately made good time to Washington D.C. even though it was raining heavy most of the time. We managed to get two hours of clear skies while we were in D.C. We drove for another hour or two to the Shenandoah National Park entrance, arriving around 5pm. That night we got a campsite, made a fire and slept in the back of the Volvo.

10/26/09
We woke up early and went drove about 50 miles down the Skyline Drive. We stopped at the visitors center to find out where we could go for a hike and spend the night backcountry camping. The ranger told us about a nice 3 hour hike that allows dogs. The hike wasn't too difficult. It took us to the peak of Hawksbill Mountain (elevation 4050 feet). After the hike we got all of our gear and hiked into the woods. As we were trying to find a place to set up camp for the night we ran into a woman who told us there was a mother bear and her cubs about ten minutes down the path. Sure enough we saw them. They were about 50 feet away. Five minutes later, right after setting up our tent, another bear and cub came over the ridge where we set up camp and was about 25 feet away from us. I was in the tent when they came into view. Dave told me and I quickly jumped out trying not to be frightened. We spoke loudly to show we were there. Thankfully they just sauntered away in the opposite direction. After making dinner Dave hung our food from a tree. Going to sleep was a little difficult. Oscar and I were scared everytime we heard a noise. Dave thought it was hysterical. I finally fell asleep and lived to see another day.

10/27/09 and 10/28/09
In the morning we hiked back to were the car was parked and parked at one of the many overlooks. There we made some hot chocolate and ate breakfast. We headed out of Shenandoah after that and drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway. From there we found a campground in Natural Bridge Virginia called Yogi's Jellystone Park. We were finally able to shower and make a nice campfire meal. The rain was back when we woke up so we decided to spend the day covering some ground. We made it all the way to Knoxville Tennesse. After getting a room at La Quinta Inn we had dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant.

10/29/09 and 10/30/09
We left first thing the next morning, passed through Georgia and arrived at Oak Mountain State Park in Alabama at about 2 in the afternoon. After we set up camp we took Oscar on a few mile hike. The next morning we went on a strenuous 5 hour hike. We didn't run into any wildlife this time but the forest was gorgeous; there were ferns, streams lakes. We got lucky. The next day we drove 6 hours to New Orleans. Tommorrow will have a fun Halloween in New Orleans.

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Photos

Sonic
and yes they do wear rollerblades