We're Baaack! The Rockin' Roadtrip In Review...

We've arrived home safe and sound and are overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude for the most amazing adventure!

We used the last leg of the drive to reflect on some of our stats, highlights and... lowlights, so here they are for what it's worth.

Kilometres travelled:  11,000

Number of cities/towns visited:  59,  plus 4 ports of call on the cruise

Best Breakfast:  Gite Colibris B&B in Baie St. Paul, Quebec

Worst Breakfast:  "Paradise?" Palms Hotel, Panama City, Florida - Choice of grits or doughnuts!

Best Beach:  Jim - Daytona, Florida because you can ride a bike on it!
                     Celia - Panama City, Florida - it made up for the lousy breakfast!

Best Sunset:  In the middle of the Caribbean Sea on the cruise

Longest Dinner - Crawfish Boil in Houma, Louisiana - it was hard work shelling all those little "mud bugs".

Most outrageous mini-golf courses: Everywhere in Florida

Music genres we listened to:  Rock, R&B, gospel, soul, Cajun, country, bluegrass, rock-a-billy, zydeco, blues, sacred steel, jazz, delta blues,honky-tonk and...

 

 

can't forget the drum circle!

Most authentic Delta Blues:  Jackson, Mississippi

Best Dancers:  Zydeco fans, Breaux Bridge (breakfast!), Louisiana

Worst tourist maps:  Louisiana - even the tourism centre staff told us they were wrong

Funkiest City:  Asheville, North Carolina

Most dangerous bike ride: 

Cel - When Jim said, "Follow me!" onto a freeway ramp, Washington D.C.

Jim - A tie between the streets of N.Y. City and the New Orleans cemetery/housing projects district.

Most stress producing moment:  Getting gas in sketchy neighbourhood, Mobile, Alabama

Greatest personal transformation:

Best people watching:  Walmart - hands down

Most entertaining people:  Cajuns in Louisiana

Most difficult accents to understand:

1. Mississippi
2. Arkansas
3. Cajun
4. Philadelphia

Most difficult sentence to understand:  Mississippi fast food restaurant - "Yo won gree o fraa??  English translation:  Do you want grilled, or fried?

Best Scenic Drive:  Tie between Natchez Trace Parkway

and

Blue Ridge Parkway

Best low-tech concept:  "Cajun Rear-view Mirrors" when swamp tour operator was backing up the boat at full throttle, staring straight ahead, without turning around.  "I'm usin' my Cajun rear view mirrors - just watchin' yer wife's face and when she hollers, I stop."

Most naturally beautiful state:  West Virgina, "The Mountain State"

Jim's favourite activities when when he needed a break from driving:

Worst (and only) car problem:  A nail in the tire - how lucky is that?

Number of oil changes:  2

Number of roadkill sightings: 672 (honestly, we kept track!) - OK, we know this is morbid, but our excuse is we had to pass the time somehow!  This included raccoons, possums, groundhogs, vultures, deer, crows, skunks, foxes, rabbits, hawks, squirrels, turtles, porcupines, pelicans, armadillos, snakes, egrets, gulls, moles, nutria (large water rats) and... one random state trooper's hat.

Number of times people thought Canada and Alaska were one and the same:  Too many!
                                                                                           

Number of days that did not have picture-perfect, sunny weather:  2!!!!!!!

Cost of entire trip:  PRICELESS!

Being home again with family and friends:  Even more PRICELESS!!

Thank you to all of you who followed the blog and kept in touch.  We are truly blessed.

WOW!!!! The Blue Ridge Parkway

We were so happy to finally be driving on the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway as we had missed it up north, when the tornado hit near us in Virgina.  God was smiling on us this time though, as we had picture-perfect weather.  This road has been voted the 2nd best drive in the entire USA (after the Grand Canyon) and it did not disappoint!  It's in the southern part of the Appalachian mountain range and as we entered through the lush, green, forest with trees creating a canopy over our car, the morning mist was just starting to burn off the mountains.  If you have time, click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy some of the details.

The initial views revealed just a few layers of mountains, and every hill was covered in the vibrant green of spring.
There were little villages and farmsteads nestled into valleys and as we progressed, the vistas started to open up.

There were many overlooks to stop at and drink in the magnificent views, providing layer after layer of mountain ranges, gradually fading into the haze.  That's how the name "Blue Ridge" originated, as the mountains in the distance appear to be blue.

The road twisted and turned, criss-crossing hiking/biking trails and we marvelled at the cyclists as it was difficult enough just driving in a car!  The slow speed limit allowed us to relax and enjoy the views, but we decided to retract our comment from the last blog about having experienced the curviest road ever... it was nothing compared to this.

Around every turn in the road was another breathtaking view and as we climbed to higher elevations

 (5,000 ft.), the deep cut valleys and steep mountain sides became more dramatic.



That's a waterfall through the middle!

We drove through many, long tunnels carved through massive mountains,



and all along the road were naturalized azaleas in full bloom.

After more than 3 hours of this gorgeous, but also demanding drive, Jim definitely needed a break!



Luckily we came upon a suspension bridge, just begging to be swung on.

We had to force ourselves off the Parkway as we had many more miles to cover, but the highways continued to deliver more amazing mountain scenery for hundreds of miles.  This area of the country (North Carolina, Virgina and West Virgina) is absolutely stunning to drive through.

There was also evidence of their fierce pride in their Confederate roots...

We finished our drive at another university to check out... you guessed it... their athletic facilities!

This is the University of West Virginia in Morgantown.



Basketball stadium exterior above,
and interior below.



Football Stadium exterior above,
and interior below.

We're well on our way back north now, to bring this adventure of a lifetime close to it's end...

Asheville & Mountain Hiking

We changed our planned route a bit so we could visit Asheville, North Carolina. Our friend Sue and her family live there and even though Sue had already been kind enough to drive  4-1/2 hours to Charleston, South Carolina (and back!) to visit us, she generously offered to host us in this very cool city.
The drive in was nothing short of breathtaking , beginning with the lush, green foothills of the Appalachians, then through dramatic rock faces with massive treed peaks and valleys.

We may have found our new place to live as Asheville and the surrounding area have everything you could want! It's surrounded by mountains and filled with organic cafes, restaurants, artsy shops music venues and a very eclectic mix of people.  Hippies are alive and well! We checked out an outdoor concert and street festival the first night - great people watching - then explored some of the cobblestone downtown streets, ending up at a huge drum circle! Can you imagine how upset Jim was when he realized he'd left his drums and percussion instruments back at the house????? It was great entertainment nonetheless and Jim managed to tap out a beat on a bench...

Sue and hubby Jeff got into the spirit of things too!

We were really excited about hiking in this area, but Jim was a little worried about meeting the boys from "Deliverance". Lucky for us, Sue's son Chase and his girlfriend Kiesha (both experienced hikers) offered to chaperone us through a spectacular 3-waterfall hike, along with their guard puppy, Boo.

Getting to the waterfalls was a challenge in itself and we agreed we have officially driven on the curviest road we've ever seen.  It was one switchback after another and the Chevy Chase Vacation Van got quite a workout!

 Waterfall #1 above and below.

 Waterfall #2 - gorgeous and 3 separate falls...

 As you can see, Jims' fears were completely unfounded. The only people we ran into were families like this!

 This was the final waterfall and the most dramatic, as it was very high.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but just listening to it thundering down was fantastic.

 We finished the hike feeling completely rejuvenated from the glorious surroundings.  Even the drive back to Sue & Jeff's house was amazing...

Can you imagine living in that house in the middle of the mountain??  Click to enlarge the pic.

One of the highlights for Jim was finding out that this is the area of Mayberry,North Carolina where the Andy Griffith Show was filmed back in the early 60's.  While we didn't see Gomer Pyle, we did hear his accent many times... But really, the highlight was being treated to the amazing southern hospitality of our friends!