Thursday, April 09 - Today we woke up to quite cool temps, but it warmed up nicely and allowed us to finish transferring things from the pop-up, get the 5th wheel organized the way we want it, and clean, clean, clean. It was nice to be able to take a break and go out for pizza with John & Jan at Downtown Pizza in Blairsville. We are getting to know where everything is in the 5th wheel and are enjoying it greatly. (Pictures Added)
Friday, April 10 - There were severe thunderstorm warnings for the area today, but nothing severe has happened, thankfully. We got some nice rain and a little thunder. We went down to the office and got our mail, and took a nice walk around the campground. The hills step up the level of exercise benefit to our walks. The road up to the Hilltop Circle is particularly challenging. We have gotten most of the major work done to getting settled in, so we are taking it more easy today. (More pictures added)
Saturday, April 11 - Considerable severe weather passed through the area late yesterday, which kept us glued to the weather reports, but thankfully most of it missed us. All is quiet this morning, and the sun promises to come out.
(Evening) - We got about 1 minute of sunshine today, but at least the worst of the weather is gone. We drove into Blairsville and stocked up with groceries and a few other necessities. That pretty much finished off the afternoon.
Sunday, April 12 - We pray that you all have a joyous Resurrection Day. He is risen! He is alive!!! We went to Meeks Park outside Blairsville for a sunrise service that was jointly hosted by the local Lutheran and Presbyterian churches. Even though the temperature was about 32 deg., we had a great time, and didn't get too cold. After breakfast, we went to the "Hole in the Wall" restaurant in downtown Blairsville for an excellent breakfast and to thaw out.
Monday, April 13 - Wow! We were awakened early this morning to very strong winds. We had just put up the screen room that we have and the wind destroyed it. Thankfully, we did not experience any other damage. There were a couple of trees down in the campground, and a couple of folks lost awnings. All is calm now. When we went to bed, nothing was forcast on the weather channel for this area. It has been rainy most of the day, so we took the opportunity to do a couple of projects on the inside. It is amazing how dirty a brand new camper can be. (Pictures Added)
Tuesday, April 14 - We drove into the neat little town of Blue Ridge today. They have many shops that cater to folks looking to furnish their cabins. We found a wool blanket to put on the livingroom floor that really brightens up the room. We also bought a covering for the bed and matching pillows. Actually, the covering is really a fabric shower curtain, but it works perfect. The pillows were in another store and amazingly, are the identical pattern. The weather is supposed to improve this week, and we might actually see the sun. We are sure enjoying being in the mountains, and the drive over to Blue Ridge was beautiful.
Wednesday, April 15 - Hope your taxes are done. It is a beautiful day here, with temps in the low 60s and clear skies. Today was laundry day, and Joan did most of the work. John made up for it later by digging up an area around a tree on our site for a garden. We also did some cleaning up around our site, clearing away leaves and sticks and putting some of the rock back on the driveway. (Pictures Added)
Thursday, April 16 - We drove up to Murphy, NC today, which is only about 23 miles north of here and stopped at Lowes and WalMart. We picked up some gardening things, and armed ourselves with cleaning stuff for the 5th wheel. It is quite dirty from the weather it has faced lately. We started a little garden around a tree on the side of our site. It looks quite nice. The ride there and back was beautiful. We also stopped at a campground that we had considered for a site for us to stay, but concluded that we are better off where we are here. The weather has been really beautiful, with some rain expected on Sunday.
Friday, April 17 - A good night and a beautiful morning. Today was clean the outside of the 5th wheel day. John got up on the roof and got that cleaned, along with the trim area along the roof line. We put gutter extenders (a short piece of plastic) on the gutters to direct the water away from the sides of the camper. This helps to not get black streaks down the sides. We are going to finish washing the sides next week. It really looks better already.
(Pictures Added)
Saturday, April 18 - We got up early this morning and headed over to Vogel State Park, about 9.5 miles from the campground, for their anual volunteer clean-up day. After breakfast, we were given the job to clean all the plaques on the nature trail. After that we helped spread mulch. We had lunch, then spread dirt around the beach area. At about 3pm, we took our weary bodies home to rest for awhile. This evening, we will go back for a banquet dinner.
(Pictures Added)
Sunday, April 19 - We went out for breakfast at the Mountain Cafe in Hiawassee, then went to Sunday School and Worship at Hiawassee U.M.C., where we have been several times before when we have been in the area. It was nice to be welcomed back by many friends we have made there. After a great Sunday school class led by Van, we totally appreciated a wonderful blended worship service. The music, led by our friend Hope, was awesome as usual, and the message challenging and inspiring. We were invited to stay for the fellowship luncheon even though we didn't know to bring a dish to pass. We were able to sit with Irene and Bob and renue our friendship and catch up with news. We feel very much at home here as we do with the entire area. What a blessing, indeed.
Monday, April 20 - There was considerable hazardous weather in the area last night, but all was quiet here with just rain. Something got into the garbage cans near our campsite during the night that was large enough to get the can out of its holder, but we never heard anything, and we couldn't find any tracks. There are bear in the area.
Tuesday, April 21 - A major advantage of having a 5th wheel for our northern home is being able to have friends over for dinner and have plenty of room if the weather doesn't cooperate. Because of the wind that was forecast, we thought we would have to eat inside, but thankfully, it was very pleasant at the picnic table. Irene and Bob, our friends from Hiawassee U.M.C. graciously agreed to come out and visit us, take a hike around the campground, and join us for dinner. We had a wonderful time getting to know them better and sharing the day.
Wednesday, April 22 - Today we went on an explore of Cooper's Creek National Recreation Area, which is part of Chatahoochee National Forest. We were mostly looking for areas where we could access creeks for fly fishing. We found some good ones and fished them a little, but didn't catch anything. We really enjoyed the beauty of this area, which is only about 20 miles from Trackrock. We hiked a short trail that was full of spring wild flowers. Some were familiar, such as trillium, mayflower, wild geranium, and Solomon's Seal, others not.
Friday, April 24 - We drove through Blairsville and fished at Meeks Park on the Nottley River. We saw many very large fish that John thought were carp. Just for fun, he threw a white wooly bugger fly and let it sit on the bottom in a deep hole and low and behold one of them took it and proceeded to give John about a 15 minute battle. He finally landed it and got its picture.
(Picture added)
Saturday, April 25 - Today, we went to a local winery (Crane Creek) that was hosting a benefit wine tasting for several local charities and organizations. We decided they didn't have anything better than the box wines, but enjoyed talking to folks there, especially those at Trout Unlimited who were giving fly tying and fly casting demonstrations. We plan on going to their next meeting and deciding if we will join. It would be a way to learn local streams and techniques as well as meeting people with common interests.
Sunday, April 26 - We really enjoyed the worship service at HUMC (Hiawassee United Methodist Church) today and felt the Lord's presence very strongly. We went out to lunch afterwards with a group of about 20 to Young Harris College, where we enjoyed an excellent buffet. We heard about a biking/hiking trail near Jackrabbit National Recreation Area Campground about 10 miles north of Hiawassee on GA 75 that we wanted to check out, so we headed there after we ate. We decided to hike the trail first and make sure it was negotiable by a couple of old fogies on our mountain bikes. It looks like it will provide a challenge, but should be doable. We hiked the middle loop that was a little over 3 miles long. We met several bikers, including kids, on the trail. It was a beautiful day today and we are feeling very grateful for the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful part of the country.
(Pictures Added)
Monday, April 27 - We drove over to Duke's Creek Falls trail today and hiked the 1.1 miles down and back. This is an extremely beautiful falls, one of the best we have seen. It was especially nice, of course, to have some water in it, which is something we have not had for some time. While we were down at the falls, we fly fished the pools it created and both caught fish. Joan caught a nice 6" rainbow, and John caught the same and a 9" rainbow. We then drove down to Raven Cliff Wilderness Area and fished Duke's Creek there. Joan caught another nice 6" rainbow. On the way home, we checked out a couple other areas, but did not fish them. We were about 17 miles from Trackrock. The road we took there (Hwy 348) passes over the Appallachian Trail at about 3400 ft. The views from overlooks on the way were incredible.
(Pictures Added)
Tuesday, April 28 - Today was a get caught up day and chill day. We (Joan) did laundry and we (both of us) fished the local pond here. Joan caught a small bluegill and John caught its grandfather. He was the biggest bluegill John has ever seen in person. He succumbed to a green/red wooly bugger that was given to us by the folks at Trout Unlimited booth at Crane Creek Winery on Saturday. John also caught the fish yesterday on this same fly. I guess they know what they a doing there at TU.
(Picture Added)
Wednesday, April 29 - We drove into Young Harris and Hiawassee and stopped at Mountain RV and picked up a couple of items we needed at their fairly complete supply store. We then went to Towns County Beach Park and fished from shore. We both caught a few bluegills and Joan lost a nice bass. We were both using the red/green wooly bugger, which continues to be very effective. The leaves here continue to fill in the campground and make our site more and more cozy. The weather forecast was for possible showers today, but we didn't get any.
Thursday, April 30 - This was an exploring day around Blue Ridge. John needed some fly tying supplies that we could get at Unicoi Outfitters there, so we combined the trip. We stopped at a few recreation areas on the lake, the first one being Morganton NRA. They had a nice campground there, and a boat launch where we could launch the kayaks. We then headed over to the dam and fished the tailwaters for awhile. They were generating, so there was considerable flow. John caught a small rainbow on a topwater caddis with a yellow foam indicator. We headed into town and had a hamburger at Sue's. The burger and fries were very good, but the cole slaw was not. After finishing our meal, we stopped at the outfitters, where the lady remembered that we were the couple who last year had won the raffle for the free half day on their trophy waters. The young man was very helpful getting John what he needed. Finally, we drove down a gravel road that took us to the headwaters where there was a delayed harvest. That means that it is single hook only, no live bait, and catch and release. This is a very beautiful river, that will be great for wade fishing. We talked to a fisherman named Steve, who was very helpful and even gave John a few flies to try. He also goes to Florida in the winter.
(Pictures added)
