The Dlog: Nashville -> Atlanta (12/18/24-12/23/24)

 Moving always catches me (Max) off guard

Monday 12/23

When we woke up this morning it was 20 degrees F. Luckily, our newly purchased space heater kept us nice and toasty all night. We slept in a little bit and packed up the van to head to Max's Aunt and Uncles house for the holidays. It was a straight shot with surprisingly little traffic and we arrived about midday. They took us out for a lovely meal at a local Irish Pub and we spent the rest of the day chatting and settling in. We are very excited to spend the holidays with family!

Sunday 12/22

On Saturday, we had tried to get a classic American Diner Breakfast from a place that was recommended to us by Bill from Philip's Motel (I think he was the owner, but his name is not Philip..?). Unfortunately, that place was closed for the Holidays. Another Local in Blairsville (where we are staying today) recommended to us an diner called Hole in the Wall located in downtown Blairsville. We started the morning with a chilly (it was about 30F this morning!) hike around the lake at our campground and rushed to Blairsville to fight the after-church crowd for a table. The wait was about 25 minutes, but we got our diner cravings fixed. 

After spoiling ourselves with french toast, biscuits and gravy, bacon, and more, we felt the need to cleanse. We drove to overview area and read our books. 

As we approached the overlook, we noticed that almost all the people at the overlook we taking pictures, not of the beautiful mountain view, but of the cliff on the other side of the road. It took us awhile to understand that these people might be coming to this overlook for pictures with the ice that had formed on the cliff-side! We are not in the north-east any more haha!

Jesse Meditated and worked while Max took a bike ride. When Max got back, Jesse took Lola for a run around the campground. 

Saturday 12/21

This day was was reserved for Christmas shopping. Our route took us across the border from North Carolina to Georgia through some beautiful rural country. We felt certain that we would find some cool spots for Christmas shopping and we were not disappointed! We stopped in Murphy, NC and found a plethora of local artisans, gift shops, and boutiques. Along the way, we talked with locals, met some Vanagon lovers, witnessed a proposal, spotted Santa Claus, ate delicious donuts, and quite nearly completed our Christmas shopping list. We arrived rather late at our campsite and unwound from our exciting day by watching Lost and snuggling in the van (this campground has incredibly fast WIFI!). 

Sticker update: We added some new stickers today. It is starting to look cohesive. 

Oh, and a bonus one for the rear! Sorry, Mom.

Friday 12/20

Today's itinerary is an exciting one.

I (Max) spend a lot of time on Google Maps. For reasons I'll discuss in another post, I have a bit of an obsession with roads. Put me in Maps on "Terrain Mode" in a remote place and I'll be entertained for hours; bonus points if the roads have Strava Segments.

A few years back I made a Google Maps list called "USA by Vanagon" and added interesting things to visit. Once I met a guy in the Central Adirondacks who told me about a place in Western Kentucky called "Land Between Lakes" where wild Bison roam. Cool; *Add to List > USA By Vanagon*. A coworker once told me to visit him in Central Georgia. Cool; *Add to List > USA By Vanagon*. You get the gist. 

One day a few years back while killing time at my desk job, I found this road in the Smokies called "The Tail of The Dragon". 318 curves in 11 miles? Count me in; *Add to List > USA By Vanagon*.  This is the type of thing Jesse makes fun of me for doing, but I can't help it. 

Here's just a snapshot of the road:

So that was the goal: drive the "Tail of the Dragon" in the Vanagon. Oh, and camp on the other side. I'd reserved an electrical site, because we knew it would be cold, and didn't think much else of it. 

We made great time. Out of the site by 10:00am and we'd be at camp by 3:00pm with enough time to get in a bike ride: my perfect day. The road was mind-blowing and spirits were high. If you haven't been in a Vanagon, they're a little bit ridiculous. The driver and passenger sit over the front wheels like a city bus, so you really feel like you're swinging around when you make a turn. The wheelbase is tiny so there's a ton of roll and the 83hp it made in 1985 means we'd be lucky to see 60hp today. We find it comical and I almost lost my voice from sarcastically screaming the whole time. 

Shortly before pulling up to our campground it began to snow. "It's pretty," I thought, "but it would be great if I could get a bike ride in..." As we pulled up to the site, the gate was closed. Huh. 

Turns out the campground was closed for the season in November and I'd reserved a night for April 20th, 2025. Yikes. There were some roadside National Forest Sites, but camping without an electrical hook-up wasn't an option for us with a low of 25F.

Long story short, we searched for a while and settled on a quirky little place in a nearby town, Robbinsville, NC. This place appears to be run by a husband+wife who live in the central cottage building. There are about 2 dozen sculptures and statues of dragons on the front lawn and it is clearly geared towards motorcyclists passing through. It was weird in the best way and we were very grateful to have a roof over our heads.

I struggled with the change of plans, but we made the best of the night and got ourselves some BBQ from a local joint.  

The final route:

Thursday 12/19

We woke up planning a short morning hike, and made good time getting from campsite to trailhead.

I knew the loop we set out on had some climbing routes on it, but I had no idea we'd find such amazing climbing. There must have been 800m horizontal of wall with every style you could imagine... slab, overhang, erm... actually I'm out of my league here, maybe I'll let Jesse fill this part in :)

Around noon we set off for Chattanooga, a city we knew next-to-nothing about but that we were excited to see. On our checklist for a place to settle is mid-sized city, outdoor access, warm-ish climate... Chattanooga matched enough of these to catch our interest. And we loved it. 

We stopped in a coffee shop in the Warehouse shops in Chattanooga and were very productive on our laptops for a few hours.

That evening, we went to an Italian place in an artsy corner of the city and finished with sushi and sake at an izakaya-style restaurant we found. 

Strava Activity:

It's abnormal for us to roll up to campsite after dark without a reservation, but I'd checked ahead and I was confident we'd have a spot. Sometimes it's nice to get a feel of the place before choosing a spot and committing. We rolled up and all was well; a nice electrical spot by the water PLUS WiFi at our campsite :O

Wednesday 12/18

Our original departure date from Aaron and Sarah's was 12/15, but we pushed it back a bit. Leaving had snuck up on us, we didn't want to say goodbye and we certainly didn't want to face the unknown-ness of the whole thing again. There was sadness, but also beauty and gratefulness for the time we spent together. Jesse said it nicely in the car, that "not many adults get to just hang out with their best friends for like 6 weeks straight."

So I took this photo from the van on the way out, and we rolled away. 

Thank you Aaron, Sarah, Ellia, Norah and Austen! 

We made a few stops for groceries and made our way to the campground. 

I hadn't made any reservations, but it wasn't necessary: Wednesday nights are almost always empty and we were the only ones there...

Here's the day's journey: