Cruiser travels continue so now is where it gets interesting.
October 3, Monday, The dense fog has lifted from the valley and off we go. We are trying to make it into Asheville, NC today so that I could have a good cell signal as I had still been totally connected to the office and still working.
So as we drive through Gate City, TN on our way to Asheville Annie receives a text from our oldest son asking if we were anywhere near Bristol TN. It turns out he had purchased a couple jackets from LC King(maker of Pointer Brand Clothing) and they were way too big for him. He wanted us to slide by LC King to see if they had anything his size. Wesaid we would turn around and head over to Bristol. I found a parking lot to turn around in. We looked up and noticed a sign on the building ahead of us.
I had to see what was going on here so in I went. Once inside I met Junior, Leonard and Booger. I was told how the Pickin Parlor used to be a musical instrument store but now was a revolving Jam Session.
Leonard asked if we wanted them to play us something so naturally we said yes. We entered the back room which was like a 1960's era sunken living room. The boys started to play and we were treated to about 6 songs. AWESOME!!
After we visited the guys some more, Junior went to his truck and got us some tomatoes fresh out of his garden and we were off again. Here is Annie with the guys and her bag of fresh tomatoes.
Once we get to Bristol TN we obviously accepted the offer of getting a tour of the 103 year old LC King workwear clothing factory. We really enjoyed the lady who took us through and had worked there 32 years. It was really only a skeleton staff still working as we could see the empty sewing machine spaces the the sparse stock room in the shipping area. Shocking to see how manufacturing has disappeared.
We found Zak his jacket, and Annie picked out 2 jackets off the seconds rack, this workwear is expensive thanks to the Hipsters :Wow1:!!
Off to the stop that we've been working towards since we woke up this morning . Annie had found a quilting shop in Jonesborough TN called Tennessee Quilting, with over 6000 bolts of fabric. It was a beautiful 2 story shop that had a whole little room of sale fabric as well! She stayed till 5:30 closing and bought a stack for her stash. We decided to drive through town to find a place to park over night. The town was highly decorated and ready for the Storytelling Festival they have hosted for the last 10 years. Over 17,000 people come to this oldest town in Tennessee for the event. These small towns sure work hard to promote tourism! We happen to drive by Tennessee Distillery, in this beautiful old brick building.
We parked across the street and hope to find somewhere to eat. Well, we get a tour of a distillery that this young guy has set up. He took 5 years of college chemistry, was heading to medical school and instead bought the brick building and built a legal moonshine still with his brother! Stephen was quite the character. We tasted, bought 2 jugs, and we decided to go out for supper with his wife and friend. After a tour of the Cruiser and a walk down Main Street , where we were introduced to the town policeman then we went to a Mexican restaurant. We had great discussions with these two young entrepreneurs but by now it was getting quite late. They said we could park our Cruiser by their business for the winter if we liked! HaHa, I think we will need to get home, but maybe next time! We found a Lowe's Hardware store that was perfect to park for the night.
October 4th, Tuesday,By morning I was already thinking of the fabric that got away, so we went back to Tennessee quilting for a second round!! We got there for 9:30 opening and I parked strategically in the customer parking lot out front.
By the way, this was a staged photo this isn't where we were parked, LOL.
After about 10 minutes of Annie being inside the quilt shop there was 5 hard raps on the Cruiser door. I opened it to find a police officer, not the same one we had met last night, standing just past where the step extended. I asked him to come inside and he said "no sir!" He then said "can I ask you what you all are doing". I quickly replied that I was hanging out it the camper while Annie was inside the quilt shop. The office then said "so you all are customers of the quilt shop?" I said that we were, just as the owner of the quilt shop came pacing towards the camper door. "what are you all doing" she said. I replied that Annie was inside the quilt shop shopping. "Oh, no" was her reply, "is she the lady with the long dark hair?" "She sure is" I replied. She was thoroughly embarrassed and gave Annie a free yard of fabric for her troubles. Thsi was the only time we had someone call 911 on us as she thought we were a suspicious vehicle. All good though as it makes for an interesting story. Annie said she would take the free yard of fabric apology any day, LOL.
Now, off to Asheville, NC. On arrival in Asheville we head to a market to stock up on some food before the Overland Expo weekend as we knew once we were parked on the grounds we would not want to leave. Trying out Uber for the first time got us to downtown Asheville. After walking the streets and looking in stores, and listening to a big variety of live music, we grabbed some desserts and sat in a blues bar. We didn't really like the loud band except for the one girl as vocalist song, now that was awesome. Uber once again back to the Cruiser where we met a young lady and her 1.5 year old toddler walking around our truck. We thought it was unusual at first but ended up being a little chat and they left. She was the security guard of the parking lot we were parking in overnight and she said we were good to park there all we wanted.
October 5th, Wednesday, When in Asheville, go to the Grove Park Inn. First a stop at the Oakley Laundromat to drop off our laundry. It was so worth the $25 to just drop and go. Thank goodness the Grove Park valets had no problem giving us an over-sized parking spot off to the side so that we could enjoy breakfast there on the deck overlooking the Smokey Mountains. Absolutely the feel of relaxed luxury in a rustic architectural setting.
We just love the Grove Park Inn and have stayed here a couple times in the past. Annie decides that getting tickets for the hop on and off Trolly Car was a good idea for us to learn more about Asheville, get down some skinny streets and give me a break from driving. We got off at the Artists area but by then my phone was out of power, and the new charge cord wasn't working. Between that and an over crowded, standing room only Trolly car, the afternoon ended on a low note. I guess you can't win them all. We picked up our clean laundry and then headed over to The Wedge to join in the unofficial opening night of Overland Expo East.
October 6th, Thursday, We have some items on the "to do" list for today so we get a good start with getting a $20 water fill at a KOA campground a few minutes form our Asheville Mall campground. It was a struggle to find a water fill, but these people were very kind about it. Now we are set to go to The Biltmore Estate grounds, which is where the Overland Expo East is being held this year. Check in for camp sites is at 1pm, so we get situated at the gates with our passes and grab a Starbucks coffee and WiFi before we go into the grounds and park. The grounds are beautiful and we are positioned in a grass field along side the French Broad River. As soon as we park we meet our neighbors , Carlos and Lisa.
Carlos had a million questions about the Cruiser and I really enjoyed the discussion! We walk down to the display/sales area to see how things are shaping up and what familiar faces there are from the Expo West people we've met in past years. This will be our 4th Overland Conference weekend! Time for a drink and cooking supper. The sun has gone down and it's time for a jacket , another stroll through the whole site, a little gab session with Carlos and Lisa and then off to bed. Forecast is for 66 degrees so we turned off the heater so that it doesn't kick in during the night and disturb the tenter beside us.
October 7th, Friday, Waking up in Biltmore Estate grounds with the mist hanging in the morning air was so relaxing. The campers had an early start with Expo beginning at 8am. There are lots of young couples and families at this event compared to the one out East at Flagstaff AZ. Ward had to field some calls so we stayed close to the Cruiser for the morning. Then we took off on foot to the Biltmore Estate for a tour. It is an amazing American castle!
Of course we always want to see behind the locked doors. We did remember the rooms from the last time we took the self guided tour 15 or so years ago. We got back to the Cruiser and had more curious visitors. I went over to have a nice chat with the 2 guys on the other side of our Cruiser. One of the guys had been travelling non-stop on his dual-sport since April. Amazing. After I made some wraps to eat we walked down to Anything Scout camp site and sat with them for the rest of the evening as Sean played his guitar and we sang along as much as we could. Another day done.
October 8th, Saturday, The grass was still damp for the day before. After visiting with a number of people that dropped by the Cruiser to check it out we had some lunch and got over to the theatre tent for a presentation on traveling in Norway. A talk that Annie wanted to hear for our possible trip next spring. We hung out at Anything Scout again and then showed off the Cruiser to an interested couple and drove them up to Antler Village. We said our goodbyes to them and promptly met 2 more couples from Milwaukee who are traveling in a regular motor home, needed bigger parking spot and want to see inside ours. So after the tour we all walked up to the winery and spent time together doing wine tastings. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with them and said our goodbyes with a possibility of seeing each other in Nashville on the weekend! From there we were hungry so just we grabbed stools in Cedric's Pub for a meal. After we left, a jazz band was playing their last song outside in the band shell, so we stopped for a romantic waltz on the lawn. We grabbed some ice cream and battled the wind walking back to the Cruiser in the dark. We found our way back to the Expo camping site. We took a bottle of Mead over to Mario from Adventure Trailers and sat with the boys in the FWC on top of the Unimog. I think there was 13 of us in there. Time for bed after such a busy day of meeting people.
October 9th, Sunday, It's egg day! I cooked a wonderful breakfast outside on the Skottle ( a propane wok on 3 legs) of bacon, potatoes and eggs.
We had a hard time eating it as we continually had people stopping by to check out the Cruiser but it was fun to meet so many people. It's the last day of the Expo and the sun is finally shining. We took a few more pictures and talked to more people. Had to stop in and see Ozrocket before we left and got a tour of his very cool ex-Ambulance turned RV. If you haven't met Bevan take the opportunity to. He is a fountain of knowledge and just a real nice guy to hang out with! We decided to wait around for Sean, and his crew at Anything Scout to spend the evening with them. We got all packed up, grabbed a burger and fuel
and drove out of town to Pisgah Forest to find a camp site. It got late as we had to stop several times so that their Suburban tow vehicle could cool off to make it up the steep hills. Finally they just unloaded the New Legend Scout from the flat bed trailer and drove it up the mountain! We made a nice fire and had a visit while Annie stayed in the Cruiser like a stick in the mud
. She was tired of being in the wind and cold and found refuge in the Cruiser.
October 10, Monday, Canadian Thanksgiving! We woke up feeling guilty that we were toasty warm and the rest of the crew were in cars or sleeping in tents. So we got up and started the coffee and made steel cut oats for all 9 of them. No one seemed in a rush so we moved out slowly down the road for a hike to Looking Glass Rock.
After a beautiful and entertaining hike with all the crew we drove down the scenic, windy, virtually one way road,
to the closest town and said our goodbyes to Sean, Olivia, Owen Barber and the rest of the guys. We enjoyed our time with the happy crew of Anything Scout but we needed to get off on our own. Hard for us to travel in a group for an extended length of time. We had enough of the windy roads so we decided to make some miles on the I-40 and skirt the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. We still had beautiful nature scenery along the way We got in at sunset to the Cosby State Park. It was a really nice park with tall trees and just parking pull offs next to the road. $14 dollars for scenery, toilet, garbage disposal, and supper with star gazing.
October 11, Tuesday, I was anxious to get cell service to reach the office to make sure all the loose ends are tied up with him starting the first day of my holidays. We remember Gatlinburg to be a tourist town, so we head into there. An artists loop just outside the town was a good way to slow down and look around with a coffee. We felt a little big for the tight driveways and parking lots so we made a couple stops and then moved onto Gatlinburg. What a crazy fake mad house!!!! We were in a nose to nose traffic jam in the 10 block downtown stretch with zombie families dragging their feet as they looked at all the circus type hype. Not for us.
So we drove down the road to Pigeon Forge (home of Dollywood). The highway was littered with huge theme park, cart race tracks, and dinner theatre complexes. Let's try Knoxville next. Annie spots a big quilt shop so off I drive to Gina's Quilting and we arrive 2 minutes before closing. It's a great store so we decide to stay the night and come back in the morning. On the quilt store recommendation we hit Pero's Pizza for supper. We had a relaxing meal on the patio while we watched a family birthday party progress. Glad our kids are grown, haha! We parked in a REI/Whole Foods parking lot. The big highway next to us made it a constant hum of traffic.
October 12, Wednesday, A few things at Whole Foods and then the fabric store. We hit the 70 highway that ran to Crossville, then Sparta, then settled in Edgar Evins State Park. We are close to a dam so there is a lake with a marina. The camping sites are something we've never seen before. Each site is a big platform, with concrete pillar supports, that extend from the road out to the lake.
So very unique and interesting. I swing in and we rush down the edge of the trees with our chairs and Tennessee Hills Coconut Rum to watch the sunset. Our son calls us to visit and we loose interest in cooking supper. A gorgeous campground find. A late night walk and a pitch black, silent sleep.
October 13, Thursday, An early morning coffee with eggs and toast. Thinking about the days ahead in Nashville and contemplating if we should just stay put for the day. We heard that the 12th South area was a hopping neighbourhood, and off we went to hunt out some people action. We found it! The bars and restaurants were packed on a Thursday night! Valet parking at every place because the streets are tight. We went for interesting ice cream at Jeni's and walked the 3 block lively strip. Back to the Green Hills Whole Foods to park for the night. The YMCA parking lot across the street was the perfect spot for the night.
