Getting to Dallas

We rose early on March 17th to pack up from camping in our car and head toward Dallas. The drive to the Dallas area was easy and we took some scenic roads. But Dallas roads are a different story! So much construction going on everywhere. I've never been where there have been more highways stacked on top of each other!

We stopped in Mt. Pleasant, TX to charge, eat lunch and stretch our legs at a local park. We found these cypress trees growing in the park with their roots poking up out of the ground. Very strange looking! Leon decided to walk through them instead of around and promptly submerged most of his white sneaker into a muddy spot. I enjoyed it very much.

We got a recommendation from a local to eat at Hard 8 BBQ  near our hotel in Dallas. It was extremely good! Pictured in where you walk up and order the type and amount of smoked meat deliciousness. It smelled heavenly and tasted even better.

 

First Night Camping in the Car

On March 16th, we camped at Lake Catherine State Park, AR. Our campsite was on the shores of the lake and close to the bathhouse. This was our view.

Our first mishap of the trip occurred when an entire bottle of my hair mousse got emptied inside a compartment of my toiletry kit. Nothing got ruined but it was a PIA to clean up!

This is the offending mousse.

Not the most flattering picture but Leon insisted that we document how we sleep in the car. The temps got down into the 30's but we were very warm and comfy even without the car turned on. I'm very glad that Leon convinced me to bring our old down comforter.

 

Onto Hot Springs, AR

 On Saturday, March 16th, we left Olive Branch and headed West again, this time over the Mississippi River. Approaching the bridge that would take us over, we could see 2 other defunct bridges standing next to each other. Kinda creepy to see.

Once we were over the bridge we entered the 4th state of our trip, Arkansas. And boy, was that place FLAT. Like eastern NC flat. In a few hours, we were at our destination, Hot Springs. Once we found a charging station, we went in search of lunch. A quick Google search led us to a historic bar & grill, The Ohio Club. With the bragging rights as the oldest bar in AR, this place had hosted the likes of Babe Ruth, Mae West, Al Capone and a bunch of other mobsters. During Prohibition, it pretended to become a cigar store. It was actually a speakeasy; you can still see the holes in the floor where the false wall was erected to hide the shenanigans that went on beyond. This place had a very beautiful bar back that was so large (all carved in one piece) that a special transport had to be constructed to get it to Hot Springs. Then they had to take off the front of the building to get it in! While we didn't partake in the libations, the Ruebens were some of the best we have ever had.

Gorgeous barback with lots of ornate carving; that's 3 horse heads in the middle.

Beautiful facade

Best Reuben we've had!

The rest of the day we toured around town on foot and did a little hiking. The NPS has done an excellent job preserving and restoring the Fordyce Bathhouse, which was a luxurious way to "take the waters" of the springs. Believed to have medicinal benefits, soaking in the waters was sought out post-Civil War to help veterans get relief from their lasting injuries. Enjoying the waters of Hot Springs became more widely popular as the word of their effects spread, and the bathhouses were constructed.

Stained glass ceiling in the men's side of the Fordyce Bathhouse. Men had much better accommodations than the women. Go figure.

Statue of De Soto, who explored the area back in the 1500's. Also in the men's side.

The springs have been capped to direct the untouched waters to the bathhouses, but this is one small cascade where you can see the water come out of the ground. The algae were vivid green, not completely captured here.

Hot Springs was the playground of the monied class and the historic Arlington Hotel is still in operation. This is their dining room; the rest of the place was equally grand.

Beware the Ides of March - and weather in the Deep South

Today, March 15th, was planned as one of the longest driving days that we will have over the entire trip, with the goal of getting all the way to the other side of Tennessee in one fell swoop. Originally, we wanted to take a more scenic route than traveling I-40 from Asheville to Memphis would provide. So, our plan had been to leave Asheville, head towards Chattanooga through the Nantahala Gorge (a favorite spot of ours), then head onto Huntsville, AL and finally to a town just south of Memphis named Olive Branch, MS.

But Mother Nature had other plans - we watched the forecasts of the impending severe weather which were predicted to worse the farther south you went and decided that pivoting to the I-40 route to take a northerly route made better, safer sense. We planned to set out no later than 7am to make the 8-hour drive, which would take 10 hours with stops for charging and comfort breaks. 

We got to bed on the early side on Friday night after packing up our stuff to make it easy to get out the door quickly. But, as per usual, Leon and I had a hard time sleeping before a big trip, so we were up by 3:40 and on the road by 4:20am. Getting through the Pigeon River Gorge was something we were dreading, since it was one lane each way for about 20 miles. We were glad that we got such an early start, because even at 5:30, the drive was slow (about 25 mph).

We started running into light rain just after passing through Knoxville, which was about daylight. We went through some heavier bands before the rain stopped for a while. Then the rain came down really hard from Nashville and past Jackson. We were fortunate to get very little wind gusts and no hail at all. When we arrived in Olive Branch at 1pm, it was still raining moderately but getting lighter. I took a nap until about 3pm and the sky was clearing with sun coming through the thinning clouds. Leon did an amazing job driving through all of the weather. We stopped twice to charge with good experiences both times (chargers were in good working order and charged quickly).

Dinner was at a local chain Memphis bbq place
named Corky's. The ribs and the greens
were particularly good, as was the banana pudding we 
brought back to the hotel for dessert.

I was very happy that I was seated right next to
this artwork featuring one of my absolute
favorite musicians, Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Tomorrow, we travel on to Hot Springs to visit the national park and enjoy the waters there!

Culinary Adventures in Asheville

While in Asheville, we ate dinner one night with my brothers and their SO's. It was fun to get together and enjoy a meal that no one had to cook or clean up after!

The weather was unbelievably wonderful while we were in Asheville. Friday afternoon, Leah and I got pedicures and then met up with our law school pal, Rick Foster at the Old Europe Pastries in downtown. The coffee was delicious, but I passed on the treats even though they looked amazing!

Thursday night, we had an amazing dining experience at Golden Hour, located in a unique boutique hotel called The Radical in the River Arts District. We loved the art in the hotel. That area was completely devastated by Helene; the hotel and restaurant recently reopened on March 1. Come to WNC and support locally owned businesses! They need us - and the food is fantastic!

With Leah at the entrance to the restaurant. Such a great setting for a special meal.

This is in the lobby area of the hotel. We loved the light that the cool chandelier gave off.

Friday, we had a lovely lunch al fresco at Mother Bakery & Cafe on the South Slope. Y'all, I mean this is some good stuff!! I had the Curry Chicken Salad Sandwich served on their focaccia. It was AMAZING! I also grabbed an everything bagel for Saturday's breakfast - it SLAPPED! The best bagel I think I have ever had! Literally COVERED in everything seasoning, chewy texture with that sourdough twang. MMM-mmm-mmm!

Artwork on the side of Mother Bakery. 

Hiking on the Blue Ridge Parkway

On Thursday afternoon, we hiked 5 miles

(2.5 out and back) on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Started out at the Folk Art Center and hiked towards the Haw Creek Overlook. The destruction we saw in the forest was hard to comprehend.

This is one of hundreds of massive trees we saw that

had been flattened. It was the largest trees that were

hit the hardest. NPS has done a great job making the trail passable, but there were still many trees we had to climb over because they were too big to cut out.

This is an area that you had to pass under many fallen trees that were suspended by large tree that was holding them up. It will be decades before the forest recovers.

Here we are at the end of the hike, which was real workout. While it was good to be out in nature, it was really tragic to see so much carnage from Helene. We saw literally hundreds of trees that had been destroyed in the tiny part of the forest we explored. WNC needs our help, now and for a long time.

An accidental picture of the newly open forest canopy.

 

Seeing Helene's Destruction

Taking a walk near the Black Mountain campus
of Montreat College

This bench along the trail has been swallowed by dirt that was
displaced during Helene.

On Wednesday, March 12th, we decided to get out to do some looking around at the places we usually visit when we are in Asheville. I lived in East Asheville from 1995 to 2002 - I wanted to see how the area was recovering from the devastation from Helene. We drove east through Swannanoa on our way to Black Mountain. While cleanup has clearly been under way, the horrific toll that Helene took on this area is all too evident. The areas on either side of the Swannanoa River, which runs roughly along Highway 70, has been scoured. No vegetation - all the buildings gone except for a few that had their backs torn out and were still standing as empty shells. We crossed the river on a newly opened bridge to get a better look at the area off the highway. There was a large area right next to the river occupied by folks who had lost their houses. They are now living in camping trailers. There is still a lot of debris around - maybe things that they want to salvage? It has been 6 months since Helene changed this region forever and still they are waiting for Raleigh to provide assistance. Shameful!!!!!

Backhoe installing rocks to prevent further erosion.
I-40 is just above the grass line.

We went into the hardware/general store in Black Mountain and talked to Buzz, possibly an owner of the store, not sure but he was a kindly and helpful looking fella. I asked how the store had fared during Helene; very minor water damage to the basement. Then he shared a video of the torrent around his house during Helene; he lives on Flat Creek. The water got up to the door sill and didn't get higher, but all around the muddy water is moving fast and furious.

On our way back to Leah's house, I asked Leon to turn into my old neighborhood. While I knew that my former house was fine because it was at the top of a hill, I knew that the houses on River Bend down the hill from my house had largely been washed down the river. It was shocking to see. There was nothing there but a crushed car and a tree stump that was enormous. Just below, the Swannanoa was gently flowing along as if nothing had happened.

Destroyed car on the banks of the Swannanoa. 

This tree was probably 100 years old when Helene took it down.

This empty area had filled with lovely homes that were taken downstream
by the river. At least one of them had a man on the roof that couldn't escape.