Augusta to Pigeon Forge

318 miles – 9 1/4 hours

Augusta proved to be a great stop with every motel chain, a Publix and a Starbucks in the parking lot of LaQuinta, where we were staying. The room was very nice, so good in fact that we shared it with a number of resident mosquitoes who buzzed our ears in the night and left red lumps on us in the morning.

We had hardly begun the journey when we were diverted off-road to examine the strangest sight. At the side of the road were concrete tornado shelters – concrete bunkers sunk into the ground. We just had to try them out! Then, as we were in Georgia, we stopped at the roadside and bought a basket of huge and tasty local peaches, only to be told they are now grown in South Carolina – oh well.

Into South Carolina – smiling faces, beautiful places as they say. We walked around historic Edgefield, home of 10 Governors was their proud boast, then onto the 25 ‘Heritage Corridor’. The roads continued to be pretty and scenic as we entered North Carolina on the Appalachian Highway. At sprawling Asheville we joined the Blue Ridge Parkway, built in the 1930’s as an employment creation scheme, and enjoyed for recreation ever since. The views of the Smoky Mountains were magnificent as we climbed the winding byway, through tunnels and over stone-walled bridges up Mount Pisgah. There were trees and more trees, but I have to say, it is prettier later in the year with the fall colors. The road climbed deceptively and we reached 6053 feet effortlessly, but as we climbed, the temperature dropped to a chilly 70F. We shared the road with many cyclists, bikers, trikers and even a ‘covey’ of Corvettes enjoying the drive.

After Cherokee, we followed Newfound Gap road, another scenic highway which cuts right through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As we followed the river along the pretty wooded valley, wild turkeys ran along the grass verges. We ascended to ‘the Gap” and entered Tennessee on top of the world. Lovely as the scenery was, with row upon row of mountain peaks stretching into the hazy distance we had pretty much OD’d on trees, but as we approached Pigeon Forge, nothing could have prepared us for what we saw next.

I had chosen Pigeon Forge as it sounded so quaint. It listed the scenic driving tours in the area around the Smoky Mountains, and I had in my mind a quiet little town. We just hoped it was big enough to have a restaurant. We rounded a bend on the wooded highway and hit – Vegas! I am not joking. Out of nowhere came a strip of motels, neon lights, castles, life-size killer whales, Ripleys Believe It or not, roadside screens showing dancing girls and dinner shows, alpine lodges, a Christmas House, crazy golf, waterfalls and all the usual restaurant chains and Malls. We drove for 3 miles in shock, just gawping at the razzmatazz, our heads turning left and right and our mouths open in astonishment. We were so stunned we forgot to look for our hotel. This was all so unexpected and inappropriate. Just one block back from all this “fake” were the Tennessee mountains and forests again. No doubt tomorrow we will be bombarded with timeshare presentations, dollar steaks and yard-long margaritas! And to think, we were worried there might not be a restaurant here. Only in America!