Prologue: Dorcas and I decided shortly after we met that, when we retired, we wanted to travel to far-off hiking and paddling destinations for long periods of time. To that end we bought a travel trailer in October, 2000, and began experimenting with the RV lifestyle. In December, 2004, we replaced the trailer with the Safari TREK. Two years later we replaced the TREK with the Country Coach Allure, which we expect will serve us for many years. Unfortunately, until recently, we were productive members of the working class and could only travel a few weeks at a time.
Also, we always had to come home to go back to work. That changed in August, 2006, when I retired, and then Dorcas retired in April, 2007. Now we are free to do some real traveling.
Our friends Jim and Ann had previously invited us to go with them on a backpacking trip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana during the last week of July. We had declined, primarily because we could not take Izaak. Izaak was getting up there in doggie years. We weren’t sure if he was up to a week-long backpack. Also, we didn’t want to fly him out there, and we were reluctant to leave him with someone else for several weeks. 
At the same time, we were planning a two-week long biking and camping trip on the Katy Trail in central Missouri with Wayne and Lynda during the middle of June. We definitely couldn’t take Izaak on that trip, and making two separate trips out west didn’t seem to make good sense. Unfortunately, Izaak got very sick in March and died the first week in April. It suddenly occurred to us that we were free to go wherever we wanted to go. Furthermore, missing Izaak so badly, we needed to go somewhere.
Thus was conceived the Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007. 
After some consideration we came up with a crude itinerary. We would spend a few days with my mother in Mississippi, and then meet Wayne and Lynda in St. Charles, Missouri for our Katy Trail bike trip. After the Katy Trail we would return to Mississippi to spend a few more days with Mom. After that we would head west towards Arizona, then north through Utah, Wyoming and Montana. Finally we would turn southeast through South Dakota and come fairly directly home. Key destinations include the north rim of the Grand Canyon, the parks in southern Utah, the greater Yellowstone area, the greater Glacier NP area and the Black Hills area of South Dakota. We will fill in the gaps as we go. We have no reservations. We have no hard timetable except we are meeting Wayne and Lynda on Memorial Day weekend in Missouri, we are meeting Jim and Ann during the last week in July in Montana and we want to be in Linville Falls, NC for a family reunion the second week in August. That’s it. Almost three full months of wandering throughout the great American west. Our dream come true.
We intend to chronicle our adventures on this website. Updates will occur as frequently as possible, depending largely on our access to the web.
Preparations: It is a little daunting to leave home for three months. There are many things to be done: collecting mail, paying bills, caring for the cats, digging the moat around the house, etc. Thankfully we have good friends and neighbors who helped us work things out. We crammed the coach full of everything we thought we might need and amazingly still had a little space left over. After painful consideration, we decided not to take a canoe. Canoeing opportunities will exist, but there won’t be that many, so we will rent a boat when I need a canoeing fix. Maybe on the Green River in Utah.
Monday May 21 We’re Off
We finally awoke about 8:30. We were groggy and tired from staying up so late the night before. But today is the day! We were pumped and ready to go. We gathered up stray items, turned off the power to the water heater and water bed, called to stop the paper and fired up the coach. We finally hit the road about 10:00. Our first stop was to dump all our household trash at the I-40 rest area near Farmington (we don’t have trash pickup at the house). Our second stop was to get cash and traveler’s checks at the credit union in Morganton. The parking lot at the CU was very tight, but we were able to successfully circle the lot and exit without incident. While we were in Morganton we decided to eat lunch at Judge’s Riverside. Judge’s is a favorite dinner spot when returning from hiking trips. It sits on the banks of the Catawba River. A rustic fish camp stood on that spot back in the early 1960’s. We had a very pleasant lunch on the back deck and continued on our journey. We stopped in Asheville to visit my friend Paul, but he was not at his office today (How dare he go on vacation! Who’s minding the quality of our air? Is this our tax dollars at work?). Our destination tonight was Smokemont Campground in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Smokemont is on the southeast edge of the park just outside Cherokee. There are two ways to get to Cherokee from the east. Actually there are three ways. The third way is via the Blue Ridge Parkway, but there are three tunnels near the southern end of the BRP that have only 10’ to 11’ clearance. Since we are 12’ 1” tall, that route is not an intelligent choice. Of the remaining routes the easiest way is to take US 74 past Dillsboro and then north on US 441 into Cherokee: the valley route. We chose the mountain route: US 19 through Maggie Valley and over Soco Gap. The back side of Soco Gap into Cherokee is a steep winding road with 7% grades for about 8 miles. This was our first real opportunity to use our compression brake, and it worked like a charm. We cruised through Cherokee and past the big casino. Like many national parks, when you leave the border town and enter the park, it is like suddenly entering a different world. The temperature seemed to drop 20° and everything was green and lush. We arrived at the Oconaluftee Visitor’s Center at 5:05. Unfortunately the visitor’s center closed at 5:00. We strolled the Oconaluftee mountain farm, and Dorcas took pictures of the free ranging chickens. We arrived at Smokemont CG about 6:30. The site assignment system here sucks. Apparently every site is available for reservation, but reserved sites are not noted at the sites. The ranger told us to select three sites and return to the office to see if they were available before occupying a site. The place was nearly empty, so it seemed like a big to-do for nothing, but we did as we were told and chose a very nice site 15’ from the bank of Bradley Fork. It was available for the two nights we planned to stay so it was ours. We spent time unwinding by walking around the campground. There was one other Country Coach in our loop, and oddly enough, the headlights were one. No one was home, but there was a yippy little dog in the cockpit. We assumed that he turned on the headlights since there is a rocker switch on a console next to the pilot’s seat, It seemed like everyone was walking their dogs, and it made us miss Izaak. We grilled burgers, partook of a nightcap consisting of an adult beverage and crashed.
Tuesday May 22 Great Smoky Mountains National Park
We awoke about 8:00 and made a breakfast of egg burritos and toasted bagels with jelly. The overnight temperature was 45, but it was 80 by noon. We piddled for several hours trying to get better organized. 
After lunch we did a hike on the Smokemont Loop trail.. We didn’t have a trail guide, but I had seen a sign at the north end of the campground that said Smokemont Loop Trail 1.7 Mi. So off we went for an easy 1.7 mile hike. At the southern end of the campground at the trailhead, there was a sign that said Smokemont Campground 5.6 mi. This was confusing since we were standing in Smokemont Campground. Apparently the loop trail was actually a total of 5.7 miles, but intersected with the Bradley Fork trail 1.7 miles up the Bradley Fork trail. We were a little short on water and power bars to do a nearly 6 mile walk, but what the heck. The trail started along the Oconalufte River, but soon began ascending the ridge separating the Oconalufte River from the Bradley Fork. It climbed moderately for about 1200’ over about 2 miles, then descended to Bradley Fork. Sure enough, when we hit the Bradley Fork trail there was a sign that indicated 1.7 miles to Smokemont CG. We finished our hike and had a cool beverage at the coach. Later we drove into Cherokee to check our e-mail and do some on-line banking chores we had previously forgotten to do. We made a fire with some wood given to us by a neighbor who had checked out earlier in the day. We grilled steaks with potatoes and salad.
Wednesday May 23 Natchez Trace Parkway
Today was a travel day. We packed up and went north on US 441 through the heart of the GSMNP. 
We stopped at Newfound Gap and enjoyed the namesake hazy view. On the backside of the hill we again tested our compression brake. We took the bypass parkway around Gatlinburg, but could not avoid Pigeon Forge. Think Myrtle Beach with mountains in the background. I hate to think what this place would be like in a few days during Memorial Day weekend. We bought cheap diesel at the Flying J west of Knoxville. OK, $2.569 isn’t cheap, but it’s the best deal around, and it’s a lot cheaper than gasoline. Southwest of Nashville we entered the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The parkway traces a historic path used by Indians and early settlers. Folks would float their homemade wooden barge down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. At New Orleans, they would sell their boat for the lumber and walk home via the Trace. Predominant wildlife sightings today included turkeys and armadillos. Actually all the armadillos we saw were not technically wildlife, since they were not living. Armadillos must be very unlucky, or else have bad karma. This reminds me of an old joke: Question: Why did the chicken cross the road? Answer: To show the armadillo it could be done.
We camped at Thousand Trails Natchez Trace Preserve. To enter the park, one must pass under a bridge with a clearance of only 11’ 0”. As you may remember, we stand 12’ 1”. Do the math. Fortunately there is a wide rut off the road that is about two feet lower than the pavement. By going off-road we could successfully negotiate the underpass.
This park was very large and not particularly crowded this night. They were preparing for a big barbeque for the upcoming holiday weekend, and locals were bringing in their campers, setting them up and leaving. We found a very nice site on the edge of the lake.
We grilled burgers and made a campfire using the last of the wood scavenged from Smokemont.
Thursday May 24 Shelby, Mississippi
Today was another travel day. We continued south on the parkway and traveled about 120 miles to Tupelo. We resisted visiting Elvis’ birthplace since we had done that several years ago. We got off the parkway at Tupelo, Mississippi and drove west across northern Mississippi into the heart of the Mississippi Delta to my mother’s house in Shelby, Mississippi, where we would spend the next few nights. Mom has a level driveway, long enough to park the coach and had cleared a few overhead limbs from an oak tree for our benefit.
Friday May 25 Clarksdale, Mississippi
Today we went to Clarksdale to take Mom for her treatments. Clarksdale is the heart of the Mississippi Delta blues and the home of Robert Johnson, the legendary bluesman. 
It is the location of the “Crossroads” as chronicled by Robert Johnson and later made famous by Eric Clapton. It is also on historic “Highway 61” memorialized by Bob Dylan. We ate lunch at the Dutch Oven, a small sandwich shop and bakery operated by Mennonites. I am always surprised to hear Mennonites speak in a Mississippi southern drawl. We packed and repacked and repacked our bike panniers again. We finally got most of it in our packs. What we didn’t get in, we probably didn’t need anyway.
Saturday May 26 St. Louis
Saturday we will be leaving for our two-week bike excursion on the Katy Trail in Missouri. We will drive to St. Louis and spend the day at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the St. Louis Gateway Arch) and meet Wayne and Lynda at a motel in St. Charles. On Sunday we will put in for our 450 mile round trip biking/camping trip on the Katy Trail.
It is unlikely that I will be able to post any trip updates for the next two weeks, so I am signing off until then.
Happy Trails,
Myron
