North Carolina - Part 1

Our route after Missouri was a straight shot over to Asheville, North Carolina. On September 30th we drove 124 miles into Asheville where we started out our stay at Wilson's Riverfront RV Park. Originally I thought about staying there a full week... until I saw it.

From sea to shining sea baby!

The single redeeming quality about this place is the fact that it's the only RV park in the city of Asheville. The place is nearly impossible to get to in an RV - we may or may not have gently tapped a stop sign in our attempt to get into the driveway. There appeared to be an office, but it was closed (and was the entire time we were there). We had to go to the adjacent auto repair shop and talk to a man who was chain smoking while sitting in a pool of motor oil. The park itself has a major public walk way running through the middle of it. It was ... different.

On the 2nd we headed 13 miles down the road to Fletcher and the Rutledge Lake RV Resort. It might've been a short trip into town, but oh so worth it.

Did I mention that during this time was when Hurricane Joaquin was off the Atlantic coast? There was rain. So very much of it.

Oh snap

Our entire reason for choosing Asheville was so that Jason could go to the Overland Expo at the Taylor Ranch.

The driest spot in the area

The Expo was a mud pit, and we didn't stay long. Jason did get to use the 4 wheel drive though, and we got an awesome new espresso/coffee set from The Java Can.

Mmmmm

I really did enjoy the city of Asheville. The WNC Farmers Market is an indoor, year round market - with everything you could imagine.

Silly boys

Porter was seriously unimpressed that the Grove Arcade did not, in fact, have a single, solitary video game. But I was beyond overjoyed at the Battery Park Book Exchange and CHAMPAGNE BAR. I think this bears repeating. Books. And. Champagne.

Inside the Arcade

The surrounding area is full of things to do also. We went for a hike at the Catawba Falls, just a short drive from the city.

Please don't fall in, I didn't bring towels

I don't know what the falls are like the rest of the year, but Joaquin did wonders for them. It was an amazing hike.

Gorgeous

After hiking, we stopped over at Andrews Geyser. It's only a few minutes down the road and was pretty impressive.

Boom

I'm just to cool for this

The day before heading out of Asheville, we spent an afternoon mountain biking at Kolo Bike Park. It's a pretty cool place - there is almost every kind of track you could imagine all contained in one area.

Air time

Get some!

It was SO much steeper in person...