June 6, 2015 - Max Patch

Andy took the walk around the campground in the morning since we were expecting company. He did the morning vacancy count and was back at the motorhome when Dianne and her daughter Ellen arrived. They were bearing gifts. Ellen delivers produce for their local farmer’s coop and brought us a paper grocery bag overflowing with all sorts of produce. We will be eating healthy this week.

Andy suggested taking them to Carver’s Appplehouse for lunch. Dianne was happy to go since she had read about it so often in our log. We perused the produce section and the candy shop after we ate. I admit I weakened when confronted with some excellent licorice. Ellen enjoyed driving over the mountain road back to Big Creek.

A large group of horse trailers were parked in the field at the entrance to Big Creek.

Spence and Linda had stopped by the motorhome to visit and were turning into the horse camp as we drove up Big Creek Road. Ellen turned in behind them to say hello and they said they would return to the motorhome after they finished cleaning the horse camp. I was happy that Dianne got to meet Spence, the star of my Big Creek Journal. Dianne said he was just as she expected him to be from my logs.

It was late afternoon when we decided to take Dianne and Ellen to Max Patch. Ellen got more mountain road driving experience than she was expecting. When we turned off the interstate, we saw that the west-bound ramp was closed for the road construction. “No problem, we’ll just take the road down the back side of the mountain to Del Rio” I assured them. We enjoyed our walk on Max Patch and the visibility was good, a little hazy, but still 360 degrees of mountain tops.

I could look at this all day.

 

Here is a look at the top of Max Patch from the beginning of the trail.

 

The Flame Azalea is in bloom up there.

I think this cluster was a darker hue than what appears in this photo.

The bald was covered with tall grass and wildflowers. The blackberries have a long way to go before being ripe so I guess I’m going to miss them this year too.

 

Here are Dianne and Ellen walking across the top of the mountain.

When they got close, they posed for me.

Buttercup.

It was hard to keep up with Andy.

The road down to Del Rio seemed a lot longer than the one up from I-40 and it was not direct. We came to two intersections where we had to decide whether to turn left or right. Fortunately, we chose correctly both times and reached US 25/70 where we turned left to Newport, Tennessee. It took us a long time to get back home, but the scenery was great.

On the radio

At 1748 there was a newborn elk in the Job Corps area.

A ranger made a traffic stop and dispatch reported back that the man from Florida was wanted nationwide.