Wednesday, June 22, 2011
249.9 miles
I slept in until 8 am and was out the door by 9:33 am.
Even though the weather was threatening, I took US 441 through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, across the mountains, to North Carolina.
I saw a bear on the side of the road on my drive!
 | The highest spot on the road is Newfound Gap. I made it at 10:23 am. I was disappointed; I expected a better view here. The road up to here was scenic and twisty. Traffic wasn't bad, so I really enjoyed the drive. | |
| There is a nice parking lot at Newfound Gap. |  | |
 | Newfound Gap is on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. |
I had planned to visit Clingman's Dome, but a storm was rolling in as I left Newfound Gap, so I wanted to get off the mountain.
I made it to Mingus Mill, in North Carolina, by 10:58 am.
| I'd been driving for an hour an a half, so I decided to stop at this mill to take a look. |  | |
 | The Mingus Mill was under reconstruction, but it had another long, impressive mill race. |
Only a few more miles up the road was the Oconaluftee Visitor Center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The visitor center is new and beautiful, but it was completely packed with people.
I got my passport stamp and toured the Mountain Farm Museum behding the visitor center.
| A shot of the Oconaluftee Visitor Center's pretty new building. |  | |
 | The farmhouse at the Mountain Farm Museum. While all of the national park's historic buildings were fun to see and visit, they pale in comparison with those of Greenfield Village. Those of us from Michigan have been spoiled! | |
| The museum has several buildings and several types of corn growing. |  | |
 | It was interesting to see the different types of barns. |
After I left the visitor center and farm museum, it started raining quite hard.
I had wanted to hike the two waterfall trails near the Deep Creek campground, but I decided to stop in Bryson City, North Carolina, for lunch instead.
 |  | |
| I had been having a lot of fast food on the first few days, so a sit-down Mexican meal sounded really good. I stopped at Guayabitos Mexican Restaurant in a strip mall Service was very friendly and very fast. I got 2 beef enchiladas, a taco (not pictured), beans, chips, a nicely spicy salsa, and water for $7.55 + tip. Yum! | ||
Gas was $3.699/gal in North Carolina.
I made it to Chattanooga, Tennessee, just before 4:00 pm. A big storm had come through, and another one was approaching.
I swiggle-swoggled (swicthbacked) my way up to the top of Lookout Mountain.
The main road to Point Park was closed because of a downed power line, but I somehow found another way.
| It stopped raining for the first few minutes I was at Point Park. The rangers in the visitor center were very helpful. They gave me the brochure for the entire Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and answered my questions. Admission to Point Park is $3. I missed the parking lot and paid to park on the street. A visit to the park should be a minimum of an hour, but I didn't feed the meter enough, so I only stayed 45 minutes. It was pouring at the end, so that was enough. |  | |
 | The entrance to Point Park is very grand and is in the shape of the Army Corps of Engineers logo. | |
| I made it Lookout Point at the end of Point Park just as the skies opened. It was pouring! |  | |
 | The view from the point was AMAZING, even in the pouring rain!!! It was also so historic to be standing and seeing the place where the Civil War photos at Lookout Point were taken. | |
| I loved being at Point Park! |  |
I left Point Park at 5:07 pm and drove to Chickamauga Battlefield.
I got to the visitor center at 6:00 pm.
 | The visitor center had closed at 5:00 pm, but I stopped and read the outdoor signs. | |
| I drove the eight-stop battleground driving tour. Just like at Gettysburg and Antietam, there are impressive memorials all along the way. |  | |
 | Along the driving tour, I saw wild turkeys and lots of deer. I shot this picture through the window. | |
| The last stop on the Chickamauga Battlefield driving tour is Snodgrass Hill. |  |
After the battlefield tour, I drove toward I-75 to try to find a hotel for the night.
I didn't realize I was in northern Georgia in the area where the devastating tornadoes that been less than two months before.
Many hotels and restaurants had been leveled.
I had to keep going in the heavy rain until I reached Dalton, Georgia.
 | I decided to stay at the Travelodge in Dalton, Georgia. The non-smoking room was $49.95 + tax and had a comfortable king bed, good cable, and a friendly front desk. | |
| The
hotel was near three walkable restaurants (KFC, Panda Express, and
McDonald's). [I ate at KFC. Love the $5 Crispy Strips meal!] The room had no smell. The air conditioning was good as well. |  | |
 | The room's bathroom was standard. The shower was not the greatest, though. The wifi was very weak and hard to use. |
| Back to Itinerary | On to Day 5 |