May 30, 2018 - Report from Crabtree Falls, NC
woodstrehl submitted on Invalid DateOur rig is perched at the campground here on the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. Lovely and quiet here. The state is under a flood emergency and we are on the top of Crabtree Mountain Range, some of the highest ground in the East. So, we won’t flood, but getting in and out is a challenge. We wanted to go to Asheville this morning. First way out was Curtis Creek Road. We got halfway down and found a tree across the road. Decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was closed just past the entrance to Mount Mitchell State Park. State Route 80 was closed too and we had to go north another ten miles to U.S. route 221. Then we reached I-40 to find it stalled. A landslide had closed two of three lanes westbound.
What should have been an hour drive took three hours. We visited the lovely Folk Art Center and took lunch at a Mexican restaurant. There we decided to abort our expedition and a planned walk about downtown Asheville, always a treat. The gal on the television overhead looked terrified as she spoke (muted) of the bands of red clouds approaching from the south. This was followed by images of swollen streams and cars rolled up under bridges. We returned to our home on wheels when we could. Not being able to get out is fine, not being able to get back would be unpleasant.
The rain has followed us from Florida. We finished up there with a week near Orlando where we explored the community and birded from Merritt Island to Yeehaw Junction. Moved to just south of the North Carolina border in Georgia on Friday of the Memorial Day weekend. That was a mistake! I didn’t realize what day it was when I prepared the travel plan. The schedule said 550 miles and eleven hours. That would have been fine any other day.
We rose at four and were on the road at five-fifteen. Had no problem getting out of Orlando, and the road was smooth across Florida and south Georgia. But the trouble began as expected when we approached the great city of Atlanta. Congestion, a closed lane here and there, and an accident stalled the line. We broke clear just before five o’clock in the afternoon and arrived at Turnerville and our friends’ home an hour later. This driver was tired, but we were happy to have arrived and spent a lazy weekend with them. It rained, by the way.
The rain followed us from Orlando to north Georgia and now to western Carolina. They have even given it a name, “subtropical storm Alberto.” We hope it leaves before we do.
On a positive note, we took the loop trail to Crabtree Falls this afternoon. The falls were roaring. No surprise.