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Published: June 15th 2013
Drove hard for a few days across the dreaded tornado alley and made it...im sure you'd'a heard otherwise if we hadnt...
We slowed down the caravan in western North Carolina at the base of the Blue Ridge Parkway and started our slow journey north up the 469 mile scenic parkway...a curvy hilly road that meanders through the forested hills of the Appalachian mountain range....good distant views of the layers of hills that do seem to have a blue haze. We've done many short hikes off the parkway and are greatly enjoying the landscape and the weather. This is the landscape that reminds us of home, green forests, streams, rivers and the crisp fresh mountain air. The weather we both agree couldnt be more perfect, mid 70's during the day with sunshine and a few wispy clouds above, nights are nice, sleeping with only the screen tent around us and a light blanket.
We both agree and dare we say this might be our favorite place we've found....every place we've visited is distinctly different and uniquely beautiful, but this is our roots and its nice to feel familiar surroundings after spending so much time in the dry hot crispy desert
environments. The landscape, perfect days and the general lack of traffic and tourists make this a nice slow ending to our trip.
On numerous hikes we've found waterfalls which as we've found out is a feature of the area. Big ones and small ones. Kona and I took the liberty of exploring the lower falls on one occasion, refreshing for sure, the water was coming down so hard it felt like needles poking at your skin, fun.
All and all we're really liking the Blue Ridge Parkway and the accompanying weather. Home is creeping closer and we both want to keep pushing it away to continue the freedom and relaxation of the trip but there are other aspects we are eager to exchange; like 3 persons living out of a van, being able to sit up in bed without hitting your head on the roof, the choice of 1/2 inch plywood or an air mattress for a bed, having all your toiletries clothing and personal stuff crammed in a bin of 6 cubic feet, dealing with wet coolers for all our refrigeration needs, public restrooms, no restrooms, irregular showers, iky showers, not having an oven, doing dishes in
a sink and we digress. However, we have not and will not let these tribulations of the open road take away from our overall experience of seeing the country together and visiting these amazing places we've shared with you along the way. Shannon and I (and Kona) have certainly become closer in every respect and are much more grounded and appreciative of the things we have and the things we can easily take for granted. We love our trip, we dont want to come home, and we do want to come home. (Although we dont have a home anymore....but we're not thinking about that for another week) Still more to experience as we still have the rest of the parkway, Shenandoah National Park and a special birthday celebration in New Hampshire before the OPN-RD crew pulls into Hampton Beach on 6/23.
Pictures as always....
JP
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Auntie
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Tribulation is one of Joani's vocab words this week. Looking forward to June 23!