Hubby and I both use the SWConnect app and Spotwalla when we are traveling. Not only does it keep track of where we’ve been — nice to have to look back on for future reference — it also allows us to keep an eye on each other to make sure all is okay. Assuming everything works as it should.
My recent trip really was completely unplanned. I set up the trip tracker before I left the house, but I didn’t test it. It had been over a year since I’d used the thing, and I forgot I’d gotten a new phone since last using the SWConnect app. After making some minor adjustments, it appeared to be working. But that was short-lived.
The app runs on my cell phone. When in the mountains, cell coverage can be quite spotty. The way the app is supposed to work is that it stores your locations/track even when there is no cell coverage, but then uploads the track data when you’re in an area with cell reception or Wifi. That wasn’t happening.
If you look at the tracker map, you’ll see a bunch of straight lines. One time, it even put me somewhere I didn’t go, due south of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It was weird. We couldn’t figure out why. Not until my last night on the road when Hubby said maybe my phone was full.
Hmmm. That night, I deleted some videos and old pictures. The next day, the tracker worked! Who knew that would cause a problem? Not me, obviously.
It HAD been awhile since I deleted any pics. In fact, that’s nothing something I do on a regular basis. (I think I may be an image hoarder, but don’t tell anyone I said that.) So, yesterday and today, I spent several HOURS deleting images. Yep, hours. As it turns out, I deleted about 4,200 files.
Holy guacamole, that’s a lot of images! The ones that I kept have been moved to a computer and I am now in the process of saving them to the proper place on our network.
Now, I just need to remember to delete pics more often. Or maybe take fewer pictures, LOL.
When Hubby, Mike, and I still owned our WV place, every now and then, when we weren’t busy actually constructing the place, we’d take rides around Romney. The roads in that area are pretty nice. Sometimes, we would go a bit farther, where the roads were even better. On two separate occasions, we tried to visit Spruce Knob, which is the highest point of elevation in West Virginia. Both times, the road up the mountain was closed. I forget why. Anyway… I’d been wanting to return. So that seemed like a logical target when I left the house on Friday, June 8.
One of the cool things about it being so high is that the plants are not like those you’d see in nearby lower elevations. According to a sign I read, there was “…flag-formed red spruce, heath barrens, and wildflowers typical of a more-northern climate.” There’s a nearby place — the Dolly Sods Wilderness — I’d visited in 2016, which is also within the Monongahela National Forest. If you’d like to read more about the flora and fauna of the region, please visit that post. Ironically, I took that trip after accepting the job offer from the employer that just laid me off.
Not only is it beautiful in that area, it’s usually cooler, and the roads are pretty awesome, too. Win-win, right?
Lucky for me, it was open!
I realize 4,863 feet (~1,482 meters) isn’t, like, the highest mountain on the planet, or even in North America, but, relatively speaking, it’s a nice-sized hill. And, most important, I REALLY enjoyed getting there and being there, finally. Plus, I was not at all rushed, so I got to enjoy the scenery and capture some pics to share here.
The road to and from Spruce Knob is way nicer than the road to and from Dolly Sods.
After taking my good, sweet time enjoying the place, I continued west toward Buckhannon. It actually started getting dark sooner than I anticipated, so I stopped in Elkins, West Virginia for the night. The bugs get really big at night in the mountains, not to mention the fact that the deer and bears tend to wander around a bit, too.
Last weekend was supposed to have been my annual girlfriend getaway in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is something we all look forward to every year. Our lives are all very different, and we don’t always do a great job of staying in touch throughout the year, so it is always nice to get together over a long weekend and catch up. The fun shopping we usually do is just a bonus.
I actually made my hotel reservation months ago, using Booking.com. It’s one of the travel apps I use regularly to book travel. They offer discounted room rates for many hotels. The cheaper the rate, the more-restrictive the cancellation policy. The best rates are always non-refundable. It’s a bit of a gamble, but I knew I would never voluntarily cancel such a trip.
I booked before we knew K was sick. And, of course, we had no idea exactly when her time would come. The afternoon we said goodbye to K was supposed to have been my first day in Pennsylvania. I did call the hotel on Thursday morning to let them know I would not be there that night, but I did not say why. I also did not cancel my reservations for Friday and Saturday. There was a very small chance that I would still be able to go. It would have been a distraction, but, long story short, I couldn’t go. K’s passing was very hard on all of us. I did not want or need a distraction. In my mind, that would have just prolonged the really difficult phase of the grieving process. You know, the part where you have to deal with constant reminders that your loved one is gone as you all face your “normal” day without them.
I was going to give you some examples, but decided not to go down that sad path. Just suffice it to say it was really hard. I knew I had to face that gut-wrenching grief in order to get past the really hard part. To be able to function again. K is gone. I really loved that dog. She will never be forgotten, but I cannot let myself wallow in misery. That is not me. I actually think some people like reliving those sad feelings. I do not know why. Maybe they feel like it justifies their love? Or that the ongoing grief proves they really did love a person or a pet. I have no idea. What I DO know is that I am not one of those people. I hate it. Grief drains me. I would much rather make a conscious effort, daily, NOT to be sad, than to let myself relive those sad feelings on a daily basis. But people are different. I do not miss K any less, I just choose not to dwell on missing her. I refuse to think of her in such a was that makes me cry every day. It doesn’t mean that I loved her any less, or that I don’t cry daily, it just means I refuse to torture myself. Life is too short to wallow in unhappiness. NOT thinking of her in a way that causes tears requires effort. And some days are definitely harder than others. But I will not be a wallower.
I tried to be strong for K in the days leading up to her death. I was partially successful. I didn’t want her final days to be full of sadness and tears. AFTER was another story. I won’t get into just how awful it all was, just trust me when I say it was bad. I really miss my girl. Going to Pennsylvania would not have helped anyone.
Yes, it sucked that I’d lose the money I’d spent on the hotel, but I figured those funds were gone regardless of whether I actually went or not. I have used Booking.com for a long time, and am well aware of its policies, so I didn’t even bother asking for a refund. I responded to an e-mail from Booking.com asking me to rate my stay by saying I had not stayed at the property (I checked a box). When a follow-up e-mail arrived asking why I hadn’t stayed, I replied with, “My dog died. Really.” That was the end of my communication about that trip.
Imagine my surprise the other day when I noticed an e-mail in my in-box from my credit card provider mentioning a credit to my account. When I actually opened that e-mail, I saw that it said “We want to let you know that a credit of $76.90 from CLARION INN STRASBURG INN posted to your account on 02/26/18. The funds are now available. You don’t need to do anything, but if you’d like to review this transaction in more detail, please sign in to your account.”
I thought to myself, “Aw, that was nice. They credited me for one of the nights.”
It was so unexpected that I really thought a mistake had been made. So a day later I decided to sign in to check and see if the credit had been reversed. Not only had the credit NOT been reversed, there were actually credits in my account for each of the three nights I had reserved.
How cool is that? I have no idea how it happened, or who is responsible. It would not have been up to the folks at Booking.com, it had to be the people at The Historic Strasburg Inn (a Clarion property). I did not ask for a refund. I did not even bother to call and actually cancel any of the nights. I just assumed it was my loss. I guess they showed me!
I’m not sure if the decision came from Clarion or the folks at The Historic Strasburg Inn. I suspect it was the Inn’s management. Either way, my faith in humanity has certainly gotten a bit of a boost. They did not have to issue any refund. A refund of one day would have been appreciated. But they refunded ALL THREE DAYS. They will certainly get my business in the future.
Mike and I are home after a lovely week in Belgium. We went to visit Annelies and Yves, who moved into their newly renovated house after a three-year renovation. It’s not completely finished — they are doing most of the work themselves — but it is fabulous.
I didn’t take a bunch of pics of their house to share because there are still a lot of finishing touches needed. I’ll do that on our next visit.
For now, just a few pics. I hope to share more in future posts.
Final Dinner in Belgium (Chinese takeaway!)
The trip was all about visiting with our friends and seeing the new house, so we didn’t do much touristy stuff. And it was actually a really fun visit. We explored the local area a bit, helped do little things around the house, got to meet some of their family, which was awesome, and basically just hung out.
On Saturday morning, I accompanied Annelies to the nearby town of Lokeren, where she had a two-hour band practice followed by a one-hour private music lesson (she plays bass guitar and sings). The music school is on the outskirts of town near a nature preserve called The Molsbroak (Het Moelsbroek on the map), so I roamed around there for a couple of hours and then drove around a bit until she was finished.
I was really surprised to discover a large community of expats from Canada living there.
Canadian Expats
I saw several Great Blue Herons, too.
Great Blue Heron
There were other birds, too, but I have to figure out what they were before I can share more pics.
And here’s a picture captured near the center of their town, Dendermonde, on Friday afternoon.
Dendermonde, Belgium
I’ll share more pics from the trip in future posts. For now, it’s time to get to work.
It was supposed to be raining when I woke up in Maggie Valley. When I’d decided to hunker down for the day, to sit-out the storm, I had visions of sleeping late, enjoying a long leisurely meal or two, and just, you know, hanging out.
So why is it that my first thought upon seeing dry pavement was, “I can ride today after all.” Maybe it’s a sickness.
Since I was close to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), and I had yet to make it to Clingman’s Dome — highest point in GSMNP — I figured that would be a good destination. Once it did start raining, I told myself, I’d be close to shelter.
It didn’t take long at all — 20 minutes? — for me to reach the park entrance, which is near the southern terminus of the BRP. Unfortunately, when I did, I was greeted by a sign proclaiming US-441 to be closed. The Oconaluftee Visitors Center is just inside the park entrance, so I went in to find out exactly where the closure began, hoping I could reach the summit. But it was not to be.
“Actually,” one of the rangers manning the desk told me, “the Tennessee side of the park is currently being evacuated.” What?!?
The weather on the Tennessee side of the park was much worse. There were reports of trees down all over the place, falling on people and cars.
So I headed back toward Maggie Valley. I couldn’t resist stopping for some pics along the way, figuring I might as well make the most of my outing while the weather held. Here are some snapshots I judged to be worthy of sharing. Many are grainy because it was so overcast.
It was interesting to see the difference in the foliage at lower and higher elevations. I hadn’t expected to see so many bare trees. You’ll see the change as I move from lower points near the end of the Parkway, up and into the mountains.
Ferns
Mountain Laurel
Mountain Laurel
Natural Hearts
Still pretty green, right?
Looking a bit browner.
Teeny Tiny Little Blossoms
Green at lower elevations.
The hilltops were still mostly brown.
Odd name for a tunnel.
You can see the sky getting grayer.
Pretty little yellow flowers.
Moss and lichen-covered trees.
Moss and lichen-covered trees.
Not much green at all.
Tiny purple flower.
Wintry-looking.
If nothing else, I got to see some pretty cool clouds moving in. It was getting colder, too.
Menacing Clouds
Menacing Clouds
It sure looked like I was about to get rained on.
Cool Clouds
Hints of Pink
Roadside Cascade
Same cascade.
Temps were in the upper 40s by the time I decided to head back to my motel. So that was my morning.
Final note… this post has been in the works for a week. I caught a stupid head cold/upper respiratory think that’s had me coughing/hacking/gagging and blowing my nose for a week. As an extra bonus, each day ended with a pounding headache, too. Last night’s was so bad, I thought maybe I was dying. Needless to say, we didn’t do any riding over the long, holiday weekend. Maybe this coming weekend I’ll feel better.
I have yet to mention long-range weather forecasts and the impact they sometimes had on each day’s planning. A little bit of bad weather can be tolerated. Major storms, on the other hand, must be given serious consideration. That morning, as a major storm was bearing down on the area, I decided to plan ahead more than usual to find a good spot where I could hunker down for a few days. I’d thought Bryson City, where I’d spent the previous evening, might be a good spot. It was close to eateries, shops, and stuff, but the hotel was a bit further from things than I would’ve liked, and on a pretty steep hill.
After a bit of research, Maggie Valley is the spot I chose. I even booked a motel room for two nights. The motel I selected was close to several restaurants, shops, and other attractions, inexpensive, had great reviews, and a Mexican restaurant within easy walking distance. Not only would I not have to worry at day’s end about where I’d be sleeping, I would have a margarita to look forward to as well.
Although storms were expected to move in that evening, the weather was absolutely perfect that morning as I set off for the Nantahala River Gorge.
All of the previous images were captured along the relatively flat US-74/US-19 south of Bryson City. The next several images were captured along the hillier Wayah Road.
It was SUCH a lovely place.
All of those scenery pics MIGHT make you think the road wasn’t very good. It was actually excellent.
Where I’d Been
Where I Had Yet to Travel
Different section of road (exact location forgotten).
The road was so nice, I sort of lost myself in thought. Before I knew it, the lovely river, with all its cascades and waterfalls was replaced by a beautiful little lake.
I think I might be happy living in Western North Carolina. Until tourist season hit every year. Which reminds me…
According to the National Park service…
Great Smoky Mountains National Park covers 522,427 acres, divided almost evenly between the states of North Carolina and Tennessee. [There were] more than 11.3 million recreational visits in 2016. (This figure does not include the approximately 11 million travelers on the Gatlingburg-Pigeon Forge Spur.) Highest visitation of any of the 59 national parks. The second most heavily visited national park is Grand Canyon with 4.6 million visits, third is Yosemite with 3.8 million, fourth is Yellowstone with 3.2 million.
That doesn’t include all of the motorcyclists who flock to the region or people who go there to visit other area attractions, like the many rivers and lakes, Dollywood, etc.
In other words, it can get crazy-busy. I was there during the off-season, which is why it looks so empty. I’d be willing to bet that, were I there in mid-July, the roads would be clogged with traffic. Overlooks/pull-offs would probably be so full, I’d be lucky to find a spot on the bike, much less in a car. There would be LOTS of loud-ass cruisers (I will never understand the appeal of that noise). In short, it is probably a place to avoid. Unless you like that sort of thing.
I stopped in Franklin for lunch. While I ate, I was looking at several route options, but decided to stick with my original plan. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize Google maps had “lost” my original plan until I was rather far rom where I was supposed to be.
Instead of backtracking the way I’d already traveled, I quickly selected an alternate route. That’s how I happened upon this.
In retrospect, I should have gone in. But the weather was too perfect to waste even a few minutes of ride time.
Sylva, North Carolina
Sylva, North Carolina
Getting to see downtown Sylva, albeit briefly, was a happy accident.
I finally got back to the section of Moonshiner 28 I’d meant to hit, but riding in the opposite direction than originally planned.
Holy cow was I glad I had decided to backtrack. The next images were all captured there…
A Cascade (can’t remember name)
Lush forest surrounds full river.
Closer look at the same cascade.
Same road, different cascade.
A closer look because I couldn’t decide which pic I liked better.
But wait, there’s more!
There were actually few pull-offs because the road was so narrow.
Dry Falls
There was a LOT of water flowing over that waterfall. I could not imagine why it was called Dry Falls.
Why DRY Falls? Apparently you can follow that pathway behind the falls and stay almost dry.
Dry Falls
Weird hand growing out of tree!
Waterfall Close to Road
See what I mean about the road?
The road was actually so nice, I repeated a large section of it “for Hubby” and then decided to continue with the route I’d originally planned, which took me into and through a section of the Pisgah National Forest, up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and eventually to Maggie Valley.
As the road climbed toward the BRP, I started seeing flashes of pink. I HAD to stop for a closer look.
Wild Pink Azaleas
Many trees were still brown at higher elevations.
Pretty end-of-day view.
That last shot makes it east to understand where the “Great Smoky Mountains” and “Blue Ridge” labels came from, eh?
I was exhausted by the time I reach my motel in Maggie Valley. And delighted to reach the Mexican restaurant I’d read about and enjoy the margarita I’d been thinking about, off and on, the entire day.
My recent trip really was completely unplanned. I set up the trip tracker before I left the house, but I didn’t test it. It had been over a year since I’d used the thing, and I forgot I’d gotten a new phone since last using the SWConnect app. After making some minor adjustments, it appeared to be working. But that was short-lived.
