Smokey Mountains August 26-30, 2017

Day 26 August 26, 2017 We didn't do much today except hang around the park, read and relax, update this blog and Lena painted some rocks to put out around the area in the latest craze of painted rocks. We did drive into Galax to eat supper at The Twisted Fork restaurant. They specialize in Italian style food and the Park owner's recommended it. When we walked in the Tom and Delita (the park owners) were there eating and asked us to join them at their table.

Day 27 August 27, 2017 Happy 69th Birthday to me. We decided to drive the same scenic route that we drove Wednesday but this time do it in reverse to get a different angle on the views. It was a nice drive but coming from the direction we drove Wednesday is the best view. There was several large Christmas Tree Farms along the route.

 Tom and Delita stopped by our site in the evening to wish me a happy birthday and set and talked awhile. They told us a few interesting stories about some of the campers that have been here in the park. We can relate since we work as Volunteer Campground Host at Stone Mountain State Park and have been camping for many years.

Day 28 August 28, 2017 We drove into Galax to visit the coffee shop again and the bike shop next door to get Lena a new bicycle seat. Both places were closed on Monday so we went to McDonald's and Walmart. I replaced Lena's bicycle seat so after lunch we decided to test it out on a ride on another section of the New River Trail State Park that we have not ridden on yet. We drove to the Gambetta parking lot and started our 5 mile round trip from there to Fries Junction. About half way we entered the Grayson Tunnel. The tunnel is probably 200 feet long and has a curve in it. When we entered it was very dark inside and Lena's eyes did not adjust to the darkest quick enough and she didn't “see the light at the end of the tunnel”. She ran into the 4x4 wood curbing  that runs along both sides of the tunnel. She took a hard tumble off her bicycle onto the ground between the wood curbing and the rock wall of the tunnel. She was blessed because she did not fall on the 4x4 curbing and her head landing just a few inches from the rock wall. She only got a small scrap on her knee and a bruised calf on her left leg. When I got to her I had to turn on the light on my bicycle to see her it was so dark. Yea, we should have turned our lights on before entering the tunnel but we were not aware there was a curve in the tunnel that blocked the light at the other end. The other tunnel we have rode though on the trail was much shorter and straight. She could have been seriously injured but was blessed to be only bruised.

We learned two lessons from this: Either walk through a strange tunnel or at the least turn the bicycle lights on and wear a bicycle safety helmet (we had left our helmet home).

After completed the 5 mile round trip we drove to the Galax Walmart and purchased two new helmets and a new seat for my bicycle. Lena's new seat was more comfortable seat than what we had.

Day 29 Tuesday August 29, 2017 Today we had planned to go to Damascus Va and ride 17 miles of the Virginia Creeper Trail ( http://www.vacreepertrail.com/ ) but Lena was not ready for another bike ride today, plus it rained lightly this morning. The sun came out after lunch and we had a nice day. We only have one more day here and we go back to reality.

Day 30 Wednesday August 30, 2017 We drove into Galax again for one last stop at the Fox's Cone and Coffee ( https://www.facebook.com/Foxs-Cones-N-Coffee-385960318270055/ ) for our Latte and cinnamon bun fix. For those reading this that like a good coffee shop you should try this place if you are in the area. They serve all kinds of specialty coffees, dip ice cream, cakes, pastries and a variety of sandwiches and wraps and they have lots of seating, something that lots of coffee shops don't have. I sure wish there was one like it in Wallace.

We packed up this afternoon for our departure tomorrow for home. It has been a great 30 days on the road.

Smokey Mountains August 21-25, 2017

Day 21 Monday August 21, 2017 Today was Eclipse Day but we had almost no effect here as we were too far from the eclipse path. We didn't even leave the park today except to walk across the street to look at the New River and the geese that graze on the grass along the river. I washed the bugs off the windshield and the front of the motor home and we did some reading.

Day 22 Tuesday August 22, 2017 We were lazy today. About all we did was take a morning walk round part of the town and relax and read. Lena did some rock painting so she can place some of them around this area while we are here. There is a painted rock craze going on around the country where you paint a message or scene on a small rock and then place it where it is fairly easy to find. Then if you find one most people take a photo of it and post it on one of the Facebook Rock groups. She has found a couple in this area and placed several.

Day 23 Wednesday August 23, 2017 We took a leisurely drive along some of the back roads in the area this morning. We did the same drive last year when we were here. The route we took was given to us by Tom, the owner of the campground. It is beautiful now but would we even more so in the Fall when the leaves put on their Fall colors. We stopped in Independence for lunch at the local Mexican restaurant. We met a couple this evening here in the park from Wilmington NC about 50 miles from our home.

Day 24 Thursday August 24, 2017 We drove to the Fox's Cone & Coffee shop in Galax for a Latte and Cinnamon Roll this morning before picking up some groceries. About 6:30PM we walked up Main Street to the Historic Fries Theater for their Thursday night music jam where a dozen or so local musician sit around in a circle and play music while several people do flat foot dancing.

Day 25 Friday August 25, 2017 We drove several miles through some really pretty back roads to ride another section of the New River Trail. The trail is a 57 mile trail that was a bed of a former railroad track. We have ridden several parts of this trail in prior years. Today we road from Austinville to Foster Falls, which was 10.5 miles round trip. The trail runs along the New River and is almost perfectly flat and mostly shaded. There are benches about every mile and a porta potty about every 2-3 miles and a few picnic tables. At Foster Falls you can rent canoes and kayaks and they have a small campground, picnic tables and a small boat launch. Today was a perfect day for a bicycle ride, mid 70's. There was a canopy set up near Shot Tower where a young man from Ameri Corp had several skins from animals in the area. Everything from skunks to black bear. He explained several facts about the animals. The state of Virginia has done a really good job with this trail/park. It is used by bicyclist, walkers, joggers and people riding horse back.

Foster Falls was once a small town and there are still several buildings there including a large building that was formally used as a hotel, commissary, post office and boarding house for the employees of the local Foster Falls Mining and Manufacturing Co. Then it was used as a industrial school for girls before becoming an orphanage for boys and girls before finally closing in 1960.

At the part of the trail called Shot Tower there is in fact a 75' tower that was once used to make lead shot for hunters, traders and merchants. It took about 7 years to build and was completed in 1807. It is only one of three in the United States and may be the only one of this design in the world. There is a 75 shaft in the ground below the above ground tower, The hot lead was poured through a sieve and then fell 150 feet into a large tub of water to form the lead shot. The lead was mined locally.

After we returned to the RV park we went back to the Fries Theater to hear the Mountain Park Old Time Band. We didn't realize this was the same band we heard earlier in the month at the Rex Theater in Galax. We stayed about an hour and a half before returning to the RV park for the night.