Day 1 - Preparation and Departure

Mapping out our tentative route, the heck with it, we'll drive and stop where ever we want.

The night before we finally packed for our 8 week trip around the country. Many thought it would be impossible to pack for a trip this long in a car with a very small trunk. As you can see, it was a piece of cake with room left over. Oh, the little Z in the picture wanted to trail along for the ride but we left him home for the grand children.







Finally, packed up and ready to go tomorrow morning. A little wine, maybe a martini to finish up the Gin, a nice meal of leftovers, a night's sleep and off we go.


Departed Hickory NC on a cool, foggy morning soon to be replaced by a gorgeous blue sky. Our first stop was in Bryson City, NC for lunch at the Everett Street Diner to be served by Beverly, our favorite waitress. Bryson City sits deep in the North Carolina mountains and is famous for its great fly fishing, scenery and of course the "Great Smokey Mountains Railway". During the Christmas season the city is inundated with parents with their pajama clad kids for a ride on the "Polar Express" and a meeting with Santa.

Continuing west on US Route 74 we entered the beautiful Nantahala Gorge and river area, known for its scenery, white water rafting and kayaking. We drove by the River's Ends store and restaurant and noticed a gaggle of vintage sports cars in the parking lot. After doing a quick turn, we returned to look at these beauties. We pulled in the parking lot and who should walk up to us but Amy and Wayne Lester, avid sports car enthusiasts, and original founders of the BMW Z3 car club, now the Z Series Car Club of America (http://www.zscca.org/.) As Amy and Peg talked, Wayne showed me the other clazzics including his own TR6, Amy's vintage BMW 3.0 dragon slayer sedan, an Austin Healey 3000
, MB 300 SL Gull Wing, a "Muntz", Porsche's and several others. What is a Muntz? Never heard of this rare beauty built in the early 50's by a German named Muntz. He also made televisions of that era and was the inventor of the 8 track cartridge player. Quite a unique automobile and a beauty for its time.

Left the event and headed west along Rt 74 passing NC rte 28 that brought back many memories of driving the Tail of The Dragon (http://tailofthedragon.com/). This famous 13 mile drive with 311 S turns and elevation changes is just a short ride north on 28. We continued west, passing along the Ocoee River, site of the 1996 Olympic Kayak event, into Hixson TN for our first night with old friends Anne and John.

By the way, photos can be enlarged by double clicking on them, then clicking the back button to return to the post.