North on the Blue Ridge Parkway Day 1

June 27 – Sunday. This morning we left Pigeon Forge to take a different road through the national park to start our adventure on the 500+ mile Blue Ridge Parkway that runs through the Smoky Mountains. The drive has been beautiful so far with thick vegetations and hardwood forests that hug the narrow, winding, steep road on either side. We’re thinking that we should sent a bill for trimming all the trees and bushes that hang over the road with our solar panels. Perhaps we’ll have a testimonial on the quality and resiliency of these panels. The other obstacle is that there are many tunnels that give a height reading of 11 ft. At nearly 13 feet tall, we wondered why we had read in our RV magazine that you could drive through these tunnels. Are we going to make it. We finally figured out that since they are rounded it is only the sides that are 11 ft. If we drove down the middle of the road we could make it, although it is a bit scary as the tunnel curve inside so if something is coming from the other direction you can’t see it.
Occasionally the forest would part exposing beautiful views of the blue and smoky mountains which describes them perfectly.It was a nice relief from the heat, as the old dodge climbed and climbed to over 6000 feet, and the temperature in the mountains was only in the mid 70s. After a week of high 90s, it was very welcome.
We took a short hike to the old Mingus Mill, a grist mill located on Newfound Gap Road (US 442). It is a working mill during the summer. Built in 1886 to grind corn meal and wheat flour for the citizens of the fertile Oconaluftee Valley. You can buy corn meal and wheat flour there.
As we came into the first sizable town of Asheville, North Carolina we visited a famous McDonalds for a snack. It was featured on the Travel channel. It is located near the largest mansion built in the US, by one of the Vanderbilt’s, called Biltmore Estate. Being in a prestigious neighborhood, this McDonalds has a pressed copper ceiling, large pillars, fireplaces and a Wurlitzer Grand Piano to entertain diners. Definitely not your average McDonalds.
With another day to drive some more of the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow, we are spending the night in Walmart to give us an early start tomorrow.