Feb 16-18, 2011 Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN and Burlington, NC

Feb 16-17, 2011
After eating a mediocre continental breakfast at the Best Western (there was so much Styrofoam-plates, cups, etc- it was sickening) , we headed back into town to buy a few things we saw the night before. We really wanted to buy a T-Shirt that said “Think Globally, Act Hillbilly”—the shop was closed. Bummer. Sonia wanted to black out the “hill” and add “chum” for Chumbilly´…Leavenworth joke.

We left Nashville feeling a bit dull and crusty from the night before and headed for the Great Smoky National Park on the TN/NC border. We pulled into Cades Corner just after sunset.  The hardwood trees abound here and we both agreed we must visit again some Fall to see the spectacular fall colors. A few evergreens dot the hillsides, but mostly bare hardwoods this time of year. The Little Prairie Creek was flowing and had many small waterfall rapids in the creek and made it very calming and enjoyable to look at. These forests reminded Sonia of growing up on the East Coast as a kid.  It is nice to be among mountainous countryside again. 

The GreatSmoky Mountains got their name from the Cherokee Indians who called it “shaconage” meaning “blue, like smoke”. The bluish fog hangs over the mountain range and presents like large smoke plumes from a distance. The fog is mostly present in the mornings and after rainfall. The fog is a result of warm humid air from the Gulf of Mexico cooling rapidly in the higher elevations of the Southern Appalacia.  Its water vapor not just pollution! 

In 1934, the Smokies were denoted a National Park and it was the first national park assembled from private lands. The states of NC and TN, private citizens and groups, and schools contributed money to purchase these lands for donation to the federal government.  Pretty cool huh? We thought so. John Muir would be proud too.

The Smokies have remarkable biological diversity—more tree species then in Northern Europe, 1500 flowering plants, 200 + bird species,60 mammals and dozens of native fish. We wished we could’ve stayed longer to explore more, but we actually have to be on the coast of NC this weekend to meet friends.  Another time….how many times have we said that already? 

We took a nice walk along the Oconaluftee River and checked out some log homes from the early inhabitants in the 1920s and 1930s. The history lessons on this trip have been so interesting and eye-opening. We have so much to see and learn in this country.  We just love it.  We hope all of our blog followers are intrigued and/or inspired to carve out time to travel. Experience parts of the US for yourself and see what a diverse country we do live in—the people, cultures. Cuisine, topography, plants and animals, etc….it’s all fascinating. We have the luxury of having multiple forms of travel too…RV, car, motorcycle, camping, biking or bipedally….just get out and check it out. You won’t be disappointed…

We are driving along on I-40 East towards Burlington, NC to visit Sonia’s Uncle and Aunt for the night. Looking forward to a home cooked Indian meal.  But first, we must stop and get our brand new rotors checked out—they  are shaking and shimmey-ing…that’s not good.

Feb 17, 18, 2011 Burlington, NC

We drove around the Smokies a bit, on the open roads , and took in some of the beauty and wonder if the Great Smoky Mtns.  Naturally, we wanted to get the best view so we went to the top of the pass at Newfound Gap. Much to our dismay, it was totally socked in and could barely see 10 ft in front of you and certainly not into the valley…. that’s why they call them the Great Smoky Mountains. It was windy and a bit chilly at 5,ooo ft and as we finished our pancake and egg breakfast at home,  the views were opening up and it was lovely. A patchy blue sky with sun breaks, it was going to be a nice day.  We had just the morning to check out the park b/c we had a 4-5 hour drive to Sonia’s uncle and aunt’s later on. We drove down into the valley and it was absolutely beautiful. Sunny, warm, about 65 degrees—just beautiful.

We walked through a bunch of old log homes and buildings from the 1930s when people inhabited these mountains and valleys. It’s amazing how entire families were raised  n these one room cabins.  Why do we think we need 3-4+ bedrooms to raise families nowadays? Back then, people spent most of their time outdoors and were inside to sleep and eat only. We can dig that.  Being inside for us is a bit stifling these days.  We took a nice walk along the river, got the blood pumping and took in the peace and quiet of the Oconaluftee River.  The Smokies see more visitors per year, about 8 million, than any other National Park in the USA!! It was somewhat busy but nothing compared to the high season. 

By afternoon, we drove to Burlington, NC to visit Sonia’s Uncle and Aunt, “Nana and Nani”-she calls them. It means “small”; her Uncle is the youngest in the family and he also happens to be short and thin, therefore he is small—appropriately enough.  One year ago on Feb 16, 2010, her Nana received a heart transplant from a 30 year old man who died in a car accident. Thankfully, he was an organ donor.  Another person received his kidneys. One man dies and saves 2 lives…life is incredible. Nana is now doing quite well and is steadily gaining his strength and endurance. He has a greater and new appreciation for life. A spiritual man, he certainly believes in the power of prayer and in divine intervention. One day, he’s cleaning carpets and carrying on about his day. The next day, he’s going to the ER. He happened to have his initial visit with a local General Practitioner. The MD looked at his EKG and wasn’t going to let him go. My uncle was totally surprised-he felt fine and had no symptoms other then “cold and cough” he went to the doctor for in the first place. He was taken to the hospital and was in surgery that night. The next several days, he was in CCU with tubes, wires, the whole bit…this is serious. He had a hole between his 2 ventricles in his heart. His heart was functioning at 20% and had severe damage to the heart muscle and the only treatment option was a heart transplant. It was touch and go for a few days while he waited for a new heart. The donor team worked diligently and found a perfect match and its time for heart transplant surgery.

Local and out of state family and friends pulled together to manage their motel and business affairs. Cook, clean, babysit, and most importantly standby by the family for love and support. In times of crisis, it’s amazing what community can do. It’s too bad a crisis has to happen to bring people together. (We love Leavenworth for its community every day, crisis or not.)  Friends and family stood by, biting their nails in anticipation of a positive outcome from surgery. He made it. He’s in recovery and things are looking good. He said the very day he got his new heart, he instantly began to feel better. Blood and oxygen are pretty important for the body.   We are glad he’s on the up and up and recovering well. We’d be happy to have him around another decade or 3. 

We had a fantastic home cooked Indian dinner-Idli Sambhar . Yummy!  A nice visit. Thanks for all your hospitality, Nana and Nani. Take care.

The next day we had to wake up early to be at a local mechanic shop to get our brakes looked at.  Turns out they are were under warranty so the work was free, Awesome!!  The nice people at Norris Automotive not only got us on our way quickly but also traded dog and crazy customer stories with us.  The brakes were fixed with a bill of $0.00  four hours later…covered under warranty. Thanks Kandy and Mike at the shop for taking care of us. They were great.  We think Mike was joyriding with the Loaf and that’s why it took an extra 30 min when he was “test driving” it after the repairs. Everybody loves the Loaf!!  We stopped by Nana and Nani’s on our way out of town for a quick bite to eat and hit the highway.  Sonia was sooooo excited to see her longtime friend, Ami…and Neil  too, her husband. Ami and Sonia were babysat as infants together and have known each other for their entire lives. They are best friends and sisters.

We pretty much drove straight across NC to the coast. Sonia and Ami were occaisionally texting with ETAs and giggling already like little girls who were soo excited to see each other. Ami and Neil had a long drive down from NJ-about 8 hours. Sonia and Jason had less mileage, but drove about 8 hours due to the Loaf Factor= top speed 65 mph. As timing worked out, all 4 of us arrived within 30 min of each other!  Apparently, Ami was hightailing it down to get to Duck and they didn’t make any road side stops or anything—neither did we!