When we left North Carolina, we drove through Great Smoky Mountains National Park (more stamps for our passports!), climbing higher into the mountains until we saw ice flowing down the rock face and a tiny flurry of snow at the highest elevation. Here's us parked at the high point of the Blue Ridge Parkway:
We drove all day and camped out with some geese at a random boat launch in some town in Tennessee on our way to Alabama. I won't say it was our best camping experience yet, but it got us closer to our destination. We spent a day climbing in Sand Rock, Alabama at the suggestion of a climber we met in North Carolina. Lots of rock there and we spent most of the sunny day climbing and checking out the area. I was more interested in the sun than the rock :)
Like I said, lots of rocks
Curtis pooped out after working on a climb
We drove that night to Steele, AL to Horse Pens 40, a privately owned climbing area well known for it's sandstone climbs. We got in too late to climb, but took full advantage of the hot showers and fixed a nice meal. It was finally warm enough to sit out and fix dinner without shivering! We spent the next day climbing all day. It's not a huge area, but there are boulders all around so we had to pick only a couple areas to work in for the day.
Working on a V2 in the Ten Pins area
Curtis was overwhelmed with the possibilities. . .
This was the rock we were waiting for
Action shot one millisecond before Curtis peeled off the rock
Climbing Millipede
Unfortunately it rained the next day and we didn't dare pull out the crashpad since it doubles as our mattress, and a soggy mattress is the last thing you need when you live out of the back of your truck. So we reluctantly moved on. We had lucked out with some free Army Corps of Engineers campsites in TN, so we headed for more of their land near West Point Lake on the border of Alabama and Georgia. We searched and searched, finding all campgrounds gated and locked for the season and all other picnic areas posted with no camping signs. And a random pack of wild dogs running around the shoreline too that I just didn't want to camp near. So we found the only campground still open on the lake, but when we got there no one was home. We waited nearly an hour for him to get there so we could check in and then find our campsite. It was nearly 9pm by then and our patience was running out, but we were too tired to care anymore and the guy was actually very nice, so we found our spot and went to scout out the area. Let's just say the facilities were less than ideal. Or we can just say it was officially the worst campground I have ever stayed at. That might just cover it. The shower house looked like a crime scene and smelled like a kennel--complete with dog shampoo in the stall so we both decided for health sake to skip showers at this campground. At least we had a safe place to cook our meal and sleep for the night, but we definitely didn't hang around in the morning.
Our next campsite more than made up for that one and it was actually free! We stayed at Roods Creek Campground north of Walter F. George lake in Georgia and it was lovely. We camped along the creek, surrounded by spanish moss dripping from the trees and sat in our chairs on the sandy shore soaking up the afternoon sun.
Our next day was the longest drive yet. We drove to Wesley Chapel, FL to see my Aunt Gloria and Uncle Leo (Grammie's sister and brother in law) and stayed there until this morning. On Sunday, Gloria's brother Wayne and his wife Sally came over to visit in the afternoon and we munched on some tasty pumpkin pie that Gloria made. Then Curtis and I took the mountain bikes out for a spin in Flatwoods park. We got caught in a rainstorm, but in 80 degree weather we didn't mind the drizzle. We biked through mud and and palms and streams before hosing ourselves and our bikes off in the parking lot.
Muddy, rained on, and having fun
Not our usual biking terrain
Monday was our beach day. We left early for DeSoto park and spent the morning reading on the beach and hunting for pretty shells. We even had to move into the shade after lunch to spare our poor pale skins. With some coaxing, I got Curtis to separate from his book and get on the bikes (He's now reading the book series that I've been sucked into). We biked from the east beach up to the fort and strolled through what I have deemed the most boring fort that I've ever seen, then continued up the paved bike path to the north beach. We liked that beach much better so we biked back to the truck and relocated for the afternoon. The sands were silky and white and the weather was just right for lounging and reading. Curtis did go in for a dip, but it wasn't quite sunny out by that point so I chickened out.
East beach
Don't let them fool you. They swarmed when I brought out lunch
North beach
We left Wesley Chapel this morning, heading for Lake Okeechobee for the night and then we'll explore the east coast tomorrow while we wind down to the Keys.
P.S. It's Curtis's 30th birthday tomorrow!
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