Chilling in the Smokies

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The drive from Kodak Tennessee to our spot near Waynesville North Carolina was just under 80 miles. It was a pretty drive along I-40 as it goes thru the mountains. I did feel sorry for the westbound traffic. A semi had been in an accident and was on the side of the road needing to be pulled out of a ditch. I wasn’t able to tell if all lanes of traffic were blocked, but nevertheless, the traffic jam was impressively long - about 6 miles or so based on my estimate!

Our next stop would be a bit unusual for us. We typically stop at campgrounds, be it private commercial ones or public ones like state parks. We’ve also stayed many nights at Elks Lodges or boondocking in places like Quartzsite Arizona. This spot is a half acre lot in a rural but residential area north of Waynesville. The lot owner lives in a home just a couple hundred feet up a gravel side road. She had some work done to get a gravel pad and water, electric and sewer installed and now rents it out to travelers and named it “Chill Hill”. We have looked at similar arrangements over the past few years, mostly in the Arizona area for the winter months, but have never given one a try. Our 4 months in Show Low Arizona last summer was on a site owned by a person that was willing to rent by the month had us dealing with an individual but it was in a large resort with hundreds of other residents.

We were a little concerned with the entrance to the lot. The side roads off of US-276 looked to be rather curvy and narrow. The owner had told us to “come up the hill steady and don’t brake” and a 45 footer had been there just before us and made it okay. We decided to unhitch the Jeep before we made the turn from 276 and drive in separately. The couple of side roads were narrow and curvy just like “Street View” in Google Maps had shown, but we managed to get there without incident. After talking with the neighbor about the hookups, we got the rig situated for the next 2 months. There are four other homes that share the same driveway access but the main side road we are on dead ends into the mountains with several dozen homes further up the hill, so the overall traffic is quite limited. Save for some of the neighborhood dogs occasionally going into barking outbursts, it’s a peaceful setting. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is ideal for us. The best feature is, this area doesn’t have cicadas!

Sitting Atop Chill Hill

Nice Setting for 2 Months

We had all sorts of ideas for lots of hiking and sightseeing in this part of western North Carolina. Our camp is just a few “crow miles” from Great Smoky Mountain National Park although the drive to an official park entrance is closer to 30 miles. Plus there are endless trail options in the vicinity not within the national park. Unfortunately when we arrived, I was nursing a bit of a leg problem. Walking the 25 feet from the front of the rig to the bedroom was a challenge so I knew a real hike was out of the question! Over the next couple weeks, I would limit my activity and when it started to feel better, we would head out to explore some easier options in the area.

Lake Junaluska is a small community just to the north of Waynesville. It’s less than a 10 mile drive from our spot at Chill Hill. The 200 acre man made lake is a picturesque spot with the Smoky Mountains as a backdrop. The grounds are home to the United Methodist Church. There is a beautiful chapel and a large conference and retreat center. A paved path goes around the perimeter of the lake. The full path comes in at 3.8 miles but taking the footbridge over the lake near its midpoint will reduce the walk to 2.5 miles.

Lake Junaluska with Mountains

Chapel at Lake Junaluska

Chapel Breezeway

Chapel Reflections

Lambuth Inn Overlooks Lake

Swan Watches My Approach

Swan Relaxing on Lake

Besides the several lodges and inn on the grounds, there are some beautiful homes surrounding the lake although some of them are on very hilly sites. The entrances look like they may have been gated and manned in the past,  but now the lake is open to the public. There is plenty of parking around the lake and the couple times we visited the place, it was a very popular destination. There is a large in ground pool that the public can use for a small fee. They also have kayak and canoe rentals. Since gas motor boats are not permitted, it looks like a pretty nice paddle. When doing the full walking path, a section of it goes beside a very busy road so the 2.5 mile loop around the eastern half of the lake is the more peaceful route. There are also a couple gardens within the grounds that seem to be very well taken care off. There is even a golf course and campground across the road from the lake. It is a nice place for a relaxing walk and was almost within my capabilities during our early visits there.

Home on Hill with Lift System on Left

Pedestrian Bridge Over Lake Junaluska

Bushy the Dog Topiary

Swan Family

For the past 14 months or so, our sightseeing activities have been greatly curtailed but with things getting back to normal and restrictions being lifted, we ventured off to do a popular tourist destination in our area. The Wheels Through Time motorcycle museum is very well known in this corner of North Carolina. It’s not like we are motorcycle enthusiasts by any stretch of the imagination but this isn’t our first visit to a motorcycle museum. We checked out the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum a couple years ago when we were in that part of South Dakota. We just assumed it was going to be a very similar place and would kill an hour of time to check it out. The place was rather busy with most of the visitors, not surprisingly, arriving on motorcycles. But this museum is probably about 8 times larger than the one in Sturgis so even with the big crowd, it didn’t seem crowded. The entrance fee is $15 per adult - unfortunately we didn’t meet their senior citizen discount. In the entrance/gift shop area was a motorcycle being raffled off in their annual drawing. It is a very nice looking 1948 Panhead HD with the drawing around Thanksgiving this year. We don’t need to be present to win but also don’t know what we would do with it so we pass.

Wheels Through Time Museum

Lawn Mowing Made Fun!

"Win This Bike"

Entering the museum, we are amazed by its size. With a footprint of roughly 25,000 square feet and a partial second floor, it’s hard to know where to start. There are several hundred motorcycles with many of them from the early 1900’s.  Many of them are completely restored while others are in their original paint and hardware. Like any type of collection, it’s a balancing act to determine what should be restored and what should be left alone. Lots of the early motorcycles have pedals showing their heritage to early bicycles.

Reading Standard

1912 Sears

1904 Marsh

1913 Henderson

1915 Indian Twin

Of course the restored motorcycles are the more visually appealing since I have no real knowledge for some of the old, unrestored relics.

Bright Yellow Indian

Indian 4 Police Cycle

1933 Harley-Davidson Flathead 45

Wonderful Paint Job

Winner of "Most Blinged Out" Cycle

There are numerous groupings of motorcycles from their use in wars over the years, to hill climbs and track bikes. There are even some nicely done displays with an old style motorcycle service facility. One thing rather unique about this museum is its an operational museum. What’s that mean? Well, we were there for a couple hours and heard three different motorcycles started up and driven around the inside of the place. We all know how loud motorcycles can be, especially Harleys, well start one up inside this big metal building and it’s hard to hear yourself think. The one that drove past us early in our visit was driving in a calm, well behaved manner giving visitors a chance to get out of the way. But while we were upstairs, one was started and actual left a patch of rubber on the concrete floor! We couldn’t actually see the motorcycle in question but there was no mistaking what was happening.

H-D Hill Climber

Service Facility

H-D Track Racer

View from 2nd Floor

While the museum is predominantly centered around motorcycles, there are a fair number of old cars on display. I didn’t detect any particular theme to the cars so I’ll assume they were ones the museum’s creator had some connection with.

Cadillac Convertible

Supercharged Austin Seven

1932 Ford Model-B

There are some other displays that didn’t always seem to have a motorcycle theme but were quirky nonetheless. The random prosthetic leg and “peep show” display were two that caught my eye.

Missing a Leg?

10 Cents a Peek

Old Neon Sign

Wooden Indian

Fill Her Up

There were also a handful of bicycles scattered about the museum. One of our favorites was the side by side tandem. We have bicycled across the USA on a tandem - but the more conventional style. We were tempted to ask if we could give this one a spin but the “Please do not touch” sign told us not to ask. But the winner of the whole museum (in my mind) was the display of the Schwinn Apple Krate. I don’t specifically remember Captain Kangaroo being a pitch man for them but back in the early 1970’s I wanted one of these bikes so very badly. The kid that lived across the street from me had one and I was jealous. Of course the $102 price tag ($678 equivalent today) kept the 10 year old me from getting one. I wonder whatever happened to Greg’s Lemon Peeler?

1896 Punnett Double Bike - Side by Side Tandem

Apple Krate