It's only 37 miles!

We started the day in no particular hurry. The Woman needed to pick up some prescriptions at Walgreens, and they didn’t have one of them locally, so we knew we had time to drive to the next town over to get it filled this morning, and make a Wally run since we would pretty much be holed up the next week in a pretty remote National Forest Service campground.

It was only 37 miles as the crow flies, and I have come to learn that may be a fair bit more when you have to follow the concrete and asphalt, wherever it happens to wind its way in-between. And since the shortest highway mileage was the main highway through the middle of Great Smoky Mountain National Park where the 10 million folk were packed into the half million acres, I was not at all surprised when the Garmin told us it would take a bit over two hours to drive that 37 miles as the crow flies.

I thought I would consult with Google, and got almost the identical answer – Google estimated the driving time through the park would be a little over two hours. But Google showed me three other routes – one that went around the north end of the park (ruled out as it would be over 3 hours) and two around the south end of the park. Both the southern routes were along a US highway, #129, so I felt comfortable taking them and both were just 10 or 15 minutes longer in estimated driving time. And either southern route would take us through areas we had never been before. So, south it was.

As we started out on roads Brenda, our Garmin GPS kept telling us that there was a better route available, since we weren’t taking the roads she was recommending. But it wasn’t long before she rerouted herself and was honed in on the alternate route that Google had recommended.

Well, Brenda takes us along the US National Park Service Foothills Parkway. The entrance has no vehicle restrictions posted, so we head on in. We learn that while it is steep and only two lanes, there is very little traffic – mostly Harley’s out joy riding and one road rally race we saw – and there are plenty of pull-outs so I can let folk by if needed.

But then it happens – bang! Some untrimmed overhanging branches smash into our air conditioning unit on the roof of Colectiva. I knew it that the tree cover had looked a bit low when we started, but assumed a main roadway with no vehicle restrictions would be trimmed to at least 13 feet which is the norm. But then not very far further – bang! This time it dragged along the entire roofline, not just the stuff that stuck up. I quickly got used to having to look ahead for the poorly trimmed tree cover, as well as any oncoming traffic, and often had to straddle the center line to avoid the brunt of the bang.

While I can’t honestly say it was fun trying to dodge the overhangs, the absolutely stunning views from the mountain ridges we were straddling were outstanding. I can honestly say that I was glad we took this route.

That is right up to the point where we had about a half hour left to go to our destination. The Woman reads a sign aloud that indicates a vehicle restriction up ahead. Sure enough, we come to a big truck pull-out where big signs blare that the road is closed to any single vehicle over 30 feet long, and to all vehicles with trailers – we loose on both accounts! Wait a minute, this is a freaking US Highway – not a state or county road, but a principle US government highway, and it is not open to trucks? What gives?

And Brenda is still telling me to keep going on US 129. I have Brenda set to “Bus” mode which means that she knows that I can’t drive on roads unless a 40 foot long vehicle is able to drive on that road, yet she is still telling me to go that way? And what about Google! When I had Google develop routes, I had Google set to truck mode, and Google still routed me this way! Thanks a lot guys!

Well, I am already over an hour and a half south of the main highway through Great Smoky National Park, so if I retrace my steps and go through the park, I am looking at another 4 hours, which I am not planning to do. So I just continue further south in Tennessee assuming at some point I will find another east bound highway that will get me around the southern end of the park and into the northwesterly portions of North Carolina where we need to get. I keep going south, and then more south, and then more south, and finally find US 441 to take us east.

Now to get back up north to where our campground is, we need to take a road called the Cherohala Skyway – another National Park Service road – oh my! Visions of vehicle restrictions flash through my mind.

Check out this sweet Beetle!

But no restrictions were posted. And the trees were actually properly trimmed on this road. While it was narrower and steeper than the Foothills Parkway, traffic was still light. There were a few scant pull-outs for the benefit of the poor souls behind us, and there was only 15 or so miles they would have to endure being behind us. And, again, the views were spectacular.

So, all in all, we managed to take 37 miles and figure out a way to turn it into just short of 6 hours of driving time! But Colectiva came through it like a champ.

Talk to you soon!