MAGGIE VALLEY DAY 6

 

Third day in a row for breakfast at Country Vittles Restaurant.  Because I was up late last night, I slept later this morning and the restaurant was crowded, so I was asked to share a table with two others.  That's how I met Joel and Ralph--Joel is Ralph's nephew and Ralph is Joel's uncle they say.  Two more new friends--they're starting to pile up!

 

 

Decided to ride some local roads today (input from motel owner).  Rode up the valley a ways, then onto Rabbit Skin Road, where I took this picture, met 3 tractors, and met zero cars.

 

Made more than a few wrong turns because the roads had names instead of numbers and weren't marked well.  Fun, none-the-less.  Just nice to be in the country.  Saw several tobacco fields and barns for drying tobacco.

 

This is Panther Creek which runs next to Riverside Drive.  Lots of the roads were named cove or holler, and they are all curvy and narrow.

 

This is the view from atop Crabtree Mountain Road.  I was warned that it was steep, curvy, narrow, and might have gravel in the curves (all true).

 

Spent a lot of time in first gear, which is a little unusual.  So, one day later, I'm saying this is the most challenging road I've been on to date.

 

Still continued to take wrong turns, and eventually I was very lost.  Turned on the GPS and it had trouble, too.  GPS sent me up another mountain road that eventually seemed like someone's driveway.  I stopped at a curve and heard someone hollering at me from their front porch "Hey!  Where are you going?"  I told them Maggie Valley, and they informed me I was going the wrong way.  I almost laughed, but they seemed serious, but did give me good directions, which helped a lot after I managed to turn around on the narrow, steep road.

 

This is Lake Junaluska (name of a lake and the town next to it) which is up the road from Maggie.

Got back mid-afternoon after a whopping 70 miles, but don't let the numbers fools you, I worked hard again.  Spent a little last time at the pool, resting up for tomorrows journey towards home.  I came over through Tennessee, so I'm going back through Kentucky.