First Boondocker's Welcome Stop

After breakfast and conversation with Kay at her lovely home in Flat Rock, we pulled anchor and headed out across the Blue Ridge mountains towards Tennessee. The last rest stop in North Carolina was really a park with nice picnic facilities and pretty mountain views.

Not wanting to take the interstate, we headed west on Highway 19 slipping through the mountains along the Nantahala Gorge. A beautiful sunny Saturday in September had kayakers, rafters and other paddlers out in force. This narrow winding road had the river on one side and a vertical cliff on the other. Avoiding people walking upstream along the roadside with kayaks on their heads while impatient drivers tailgated us proved stressful. It is a road better suited to our old Mini Cooper than a twenty-one foot van.

Stairs lead down to the Nantahala at a pull-off where we stopped to rest.

We took another break in Murphy, a town North Carolina Public Television always mentions in their station identification message "Broadcasting from Murphy to Manteo" (the mountains to the coast). Now we can say we have been to both towns.

Winding through another gorge in Tennessee, we emerged at Lake Ocoee relieved that the road widened enough to have shoulders and even yellow dividing lines!

Stopping at a Ranger/Visitor's Center Beth inquired about an alternate route to avoid gorges.

It was a while before we were "unclenched" from the twisty roads.

Stopped at a traffic light, we caught our reflection in a shiny travel trailer. Doing a little research, we found that the trailer is a kit offered by a company that primarily makes airplane kits. Check out Zenith Aircraft for more info. They have a facebook page for their camper at ZenithAirCamper.

So, it is Saturday night and most campgrounds are filled with people that have to work during the week. What can you do? We've written about Harvest Hosts before, but tonight we are trying something new (to us) called Boondockers Welcome. This is an internet connected group where folks allow you to camp on their private property at no charge. Our first experience was surprising, as the host said they wouldn't be home, but we could park in their driveway anyway and they would let their neighbors know someone would be parking there. It turned out to be a lovely neighborhood surrounded by horse farms in the Tennessee Hills. Our only disappointment was not meeting the homeowners to thank them in person. We look forward to doing more with this group in the future.