Day 11 – Up in the clouds

Started the morning by visiting the Museum of The Indian Cherokee. The exhibits detailed the history of the Native Indians from their earliest recorded history to the present day. I left the museum feeling in awe of what the natives had before Europeans arrived. They may have seemed primitive to them but their communities worked. It feels like our society is still striving for the contented lifestyle that they had. Its quite depressing being on their ancestral lands and seeing what’s become of them. Downtown Cherokee consists of a giant casino, tourist tack shops and the ever present array of fast food outlets.

I think the spirits may have taken over the road sign in Cherokee. It took 30 minutes of going round in circles only to find that the road we wanted was the one we exited our Motel on first thing in the morning! Heading north for an hour or so took us too Copperdome Mountain; the highest point in the Smokey’s. The views are said to be magnificent; I’ll have to take their word for it the peak was shrouded in cloud. Wasn’t all bad luck though as at the peak we found a section of the Appalachian Trail. We didn’t cover the full 2000 or so miles but it was good to walk on part of it., especially as I’m reading Bill Bryson’s adventures on the trail.

Leaving the Smokey’s to the north we stopped off at Dollywood but as it was mid after noon and it was expensive we opted to carry on. Stopping for supplies in Newport we discussed our options for the remaining few days. We could have looped back to Atlanta via Nashville, Memphis and New Orleans but we opted to go to Washington. It wasn’t an easy decision but with the aftermath of the hurricanes and the rising petrol prices we though heading south wasn’t the best idea. Additionally both of us were quite keen to see the capitol and drive part of the eastern seaboard.

What we’ve learned from the past week is that we need to get a little more organised about what we want to do and see whilst also planning ensuring that we ‘see’ places. So we’ve started to plan out the two weeks in the west and its looking like a real adventure. Still can’t believe how much more we’re going to do as it feels like we’ve seen and done so much already.

The day ended as we hit the Interstate 81 headed for Washington. We managed to cover 200 miles and should arrive late after noon tomorrow. Hopefully this shall leave us with a full day to look around before having to head back to Atlanta.