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Last day

We were both up early and ready to get into the park and start a hike.  We decided first that we’d go back to the visitors center, maybe to get better internet or a weather forecast, a map, and also to buy the daily $5 parking fee that just started on the 1st.  We didn’t buy one the day before because we were parked at the campground.  At the exit to the campground we turned left to go back the way we came in, but saw that the gate to enter the park was closed due to weather.  We weren’t sure if they just close it over night or if this was going to be an all day closure.  


We saw so many elk out in the fields. More than we could count. They were everywhere and up in the woods too. They have yellow butts, I’ve never noticed that before. 


We got to the visitors center before 7:30, and they didn't open until 9. We hung out for a bit and had lunch. I saw some people who had been in the campground with us the night before and asked them if the road was still closed, and it was.  We decided to change our route and drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for a bit instead.  We made it less than a mile down the road before a ranger turned us around, bad weather was expected everywhere and this road was closed too. Crap.  


We drove back through the town of Cherokee and headed east on Hwy 19 towards Asheville.  This was a crazy curvy and steep road and Joe was super stressed out driving to the top and then back down.  Things were pretty flat after that, but something was wrong with the van, the thermostat was running cold and we didn’t have the power that we normally do.  Joe wanted to stop and turn it off and back on, but we were pretty far from home and in the middle of nowhere, so we waited to do that in Johnson City TN.  Since we were stopping anyway I hit a grocery store for some snacks and Joe refilled some of our water. 


The restart seemed to work and we were talking about where to stay for the night when the same thing happened again. Joe thinks something with the turbo, I’m not a mechanic, you can ask him for details.  We missed our exit and had to turn around so we stopped and restarted again and things seem to be fixed.  


We decided to just head home.  Saw a rainbow that ended in Ohio just as we crossed the river. 


Day 14 / Mar 3

Friday

Park fee

$5.00

Odometer trip start

293762

Fuel

$74.20

Odometer day start

295917

Tolls

$12.75

Odometer end

296484

Grocery

$10.54

Daily miles

567

Daily total

$102.49

Total miles

2722

Trip total

$1,561.28

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