Day 186 to Day 199 Oct 1st-Oct 14th

Base camped in Erwin TN until Oct 6th. My wife and two of her brothers drove from FL to visit/camp with Jerry and I on Oct 2nd until the 6th. A third brother showed up on the 3rd to visit and celebrate Jerry's birthday. Had a good time visiting and hiking around the area.
On the 6th I left TN heading to Alabama to meet up with some friends from Florida to attend Vintage MC Days at Barber Motorsports Park. This event just keeps getting better every year.  Jerry stayed in Erwin visiting with friends with intention of returning home  Oct.  11th.
I took a few days getting to AL and meet up with the guys on the 9th. Spent a few days at the event and then one of the guys and I started back to Florida the long way around thru the Smokey Mountains.
Arrived back home on the 14th. 199 days, 33098 miles, 774.807 gallons of gas, 5 rear tires, two fronts, 7 oil changes and all the states west of the Mississippi including Alaska.
Including a trip last Sept. through the northeast and Nova Scotia we have traveled through 49 states and 6 Canadian provinces. Have visited more than half of the National Parks. Memories to last a lifetime and met hundreds of wonderful people. Been one hell of a trip!
Thanks once again to the family members who made it possible for us to take a trip of this length. Have lived the dream for most of this year.

Day 185 Sept 30th

Rode up to the TN/NC state line today and continued on to Beauty Spot. This looks out over Erwin and mountain views all around.
From there we continued up gravel road to top of Unaka Mountain. This mountain overlooks Beauty Spot and mountains of TN/NC as far as you can see. Quite a bit of color at these higher elevations.
From there we started down the mountain to trailhead for Red Fork Falls. Again not a huge fall, but very pretty setting and a nice hike.
Completed the loop back to Rock Creek with 35 miles covered.

Day 184 Sept 29th

We hiked to Jerry's dad's cross in the woods above Rock Creek. Jerry put it up in the forest where his dad loved to hike.
After that we hiked to Dick's Creek Falls. This was about a six mile hike out and back. The falls are not very big but have a neat pool that they flow into. Was good to get out and hike some in the mountains.

Day 183 Sept 28th

Had breakfast with Jerry's sister and her husband. Latter in the day we road around the backroads nearby and visited Jerry's grandparents on mothers side at their gravesite. Just took in some of the beautiful scenery in the area.
81 miles today.

Day 182 Sept 27th

Today was a lazy day around the campground getting the site ready for family coming in from FL. Rounded up some more firewood for the nights up here in the mountains. Leaves are starting to turn and temps are getting a little cooler.

Day 181 Sept 16th

We set up a base camp at Rock Creek Park. Will be here for two weeks. Went and visited an old friend of Jerry's today. He hooked us up with some firewood. Edward makes wine so we had a wine testing. Great wine. Did laundry and finished the day around a campfire. Edward came up to oak Creek and we found that he and my wife have some of the same relatives. So I guess we are related in some way. Small world.
10 miles today. Life is good.

Day 180 Sept 25th

We rode from Gatlinburg to Rock Creek Park in Erwin TN today. My wife was born here and spent early childhood years here. Jerry moved here in his early childhood and spent hid late childhood years here. Rock Creek is a beautiful NFS campground in the Cherokee NF. We will be camping here for next few weeks hiking and riding the mountain roads of east TN and western NC.
The ride from Gatlinburg to here on the back roads is fantastic.
The NFS was draining the swimming hole when we got here and catching the trout that had been put in the swimming hole a few weeks ago for a kids fishing day. Lots of big rainbow trout.
Really feeling like we are back on home turf now as we have camped here for many years. Jerry's sister and her husband were setup camping here when we arrived. they live nearby and take advantage of this place quite a bit.
126 great miles today.