Day Eleven: Salisbury to Oak Ridge

An early - but not too early start - start and we headed for the Great Smoky Mountains. After taking US 70 up to I-40 (saved a lot of time) we then got off the interstate and took US 441

An odd combination! Fuel yourself and fix your tires at the same time.



Our first real sight of the mountains



The Batcave? Batman's moved?



Asheville



We lunched at a Huddle House here - hadn't eaten in one of them in years. Very nice.



O my country...



US 441 goes right through the park, over the mountains. It's a great drive, though often closed in the winter.



The Cherokee reservation is on the Carolina side of the mountains



There were painted bears everywhere - here are three I got pictures of: an eagle; Sequoyah with his cap, pipe, and syllabary; and I really don't know what.





Kudzu doing what kudzu does



The park entrance on the Carolina side - some strange kids



Rain clouds over the mountains - "maybe it's raining in Tennessee" I said. Hah.



Before we even got to Newfound Gap, the rain started - so torrential we had to stop in one of the pull-outs by the Oconoluftee and wait for about ten minutes before we could see the road! Summer storms in a temperate rain forest





Smoke on the mountains - why they got their name



Newfound Gap, where the early settlers crossed from the Carolinas and Virginia



After the storm, some clouds over the mountains



The Appalachian Trail - it starts in Georgia, though



Gatlinburg, at the Sugarlands entrance, a bustling tourist destination much like Cherokee, only without the Cherokee



Back into the park briefly on the way to Pigeon Forge



Pigeon Forge is now much more than the pottery .... much, much more





And we drove into another convection storm - summer storms, we called 'em when I was a kid.