But first let me introduce you to Calvin.

Calvin is a very nice man who works at Sam's
Club in Hiram. Before we left this morning, he happened to
be working in the parking lot close to our rig. He asked me
a few questions, and before he knew it, he was having the grand
tour of our fifth wheel and truck!

Turns out Calvin would LOVE to go RVing, but just hasn't quite
known where to begin. I coaxed him into posing with the truck,
so he could show is wife what he'd like to do with their
retirement! So this one's for you Calvin...go for it!! :0)

We left in a flurry of waving good-bye and full blown
toots from our BIG truck horn, much to Calvin's entertainment.

Then it was on through North Georgia and into North Carolina.
Drove further then we anticipated today, all the way to the
outskirts of Asheville, where we'll be hanging out for a few
days to catch up on our laundry and other odds and ends.
First stop was the visitor's center in North Carolina, where you
can get a feel for things to come with our Blue Ridge Parkway
extravaganza...

The flowers are blooming...

So we lingered for lunch, and checked our email from
the parking lot...

Then we took a little walk. So nice to
see the rhododendrons in bloom.

Here's another view...

This is from the deck of the visitor's center. See our fifth wheel?
We're hoping our whole Blue Ridge journey is this sparsely populated!

We're staying at the Rutledge Lake RV Park in Fletcher, NC.

It's pleasant enough as RV parks go, but to tell you the
truth, it seems more like Rutledge POND than a lake. But
it's clean and tidy, and we have a nice spot that looks out
onto the very short "nature trail".

Pretty pricey park at almost 40 bucks a night. Unfortunately, there
isn't any place to walk without going in circles in the campground, or
driving someplace else. But it serves it's purpose as a place to regroup
and it's nice and quiet.
Here's a few more views from our campsite.


But get a load out of this--speaking of pricey, it's
a solid gold event if you want to dump your holding
tanks here! Yikes!!

Crazy this is! Two nights here will be more than enough,
and we'll be ready to move on.

Tomorrow we're going to explore the section of the Blue Ridge from
Cherokee to here, and stop in at the Forest Service Office in Asheville.
Now THAT's our kind of camping!