Page 106 - USA ROAD TRIP SUMMER of 2000

respite?? I’ll answer that, “Yes, it is!” After 2 hours of that, we

started at the beginning of the alphabet to enumerate the
adjectives that would describe the phrase, “uphill walk”. Some of

the printable ones ranged from aggravating to wicked. And there

were many, many more. The first 4.5 miles were straight up; the
next 2.5 miles were up and down along the ridge; the last 2 miles

were straight down. Five hours after we began, we reached our
car and sanctuary. We must have looked as though we had just

climbed Rich Mountain as a gentleman at the parking lot
remarked, “No one ever climbs that mountain in the summer. It’s

just too hot and the dense tree cover obscures all views of the

Cove. In winter, with the leaves off the trees, you can see for
miles”. Now that’s information we could have used a few hours

earlier!!

We’re extremely tired and hot so we’ve come back to the motel.
Our plan is to rest for a couple hours, get clean, and then go back

up to the Cove for the evening Ranger program on wilderness
backcountry.

Lois is dyeing her hair and I’m just dieing. A hamburger and a

couple aspirin may give us the energy to get out once more. We’ll

see.

TOWNSEND, TN to JACKSONVILLE, FL

Thursday - We made it to the Ranger program. He showed

beautiful slides of the backcountry in spring, fall and winter. There
were not too many pictures of views in the summer. Remember

why?

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