BMW CAR CLUB (GB)
SOUTH EAST REGION
Website design by Melvyn Pettit
Top
Our Trip to the BMW Car Club of America Oktoberfest in 2000
Part two: Cherokee and the Great Smoky Mountains, Railway and Lake Lure
BMWCCA - USA
Oktoberfest 2000
Take the Highway 441 through The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The scenery is just fantastic. Many natural assets help make the Great Smoky Mountains National Park the most visited national park in the United States. No mountains in the world are older. No place on earth can boast such biological diversity: More than 1,600 types of wildflowers and more than 140 species of trees flourish in this wildlife sanctuary. The Appalachian Trail runs along the crest of the mountains through the park, the largest protected land area east of the Rocky Mountains. Within its 800 square miles (276,000 acres lie in North Carolina, 244,000 in Tennessee) are 800 miles of trails and some 200,000 acres of virgin forest. The Smokies are so named because of the frequently occurring smoke like blue mist that hovers in the air and can get so dense as to obscure mountaintops. In actuality, the “smoke” occurs when vegetation releases water vapour and natural oils produced by plants into the air. Along the twists and turns of the Blue Ridge Parkway are scores of scenic overlooks, and many byways lead to areas that grip the imagination.
We arrive at Cherokee and book into the Pageant Hills Motel. Cherokee City is not very large; we also have arrived at just the right time according to the locals. Just after the children have gone back to school and the “fall time” has not started. If we had been around at that time it could have taken an hour to travel the main street, while it only took us 5 mins.You soon get the impression that it is definitely a tourist town. The shops, Indian village and museum. Well we are tourists and we did the tourists things. One being dressing up as cowboys, Ann joined in the sprit by being our bar-girl. Selwyn and Tony don’t take too long settling to the pace of life and start rocking on the porch.
The next day we make for Dillsboro to take a ride on the Smoky Mountain Railroad The scenery on the drive up to Dillsboro was again fantastic. We find the railroad parking lot. A little time before the train so we investigate the town.
We start our train journey, which will take us from Dillsboro to Bryson City. The trip would last around 4hrs in total. We step aboard the open car. The weather was still in the high 80’s and the breeze though the open carriage made the day perfect.
The first sight we see is the train crash scene from the Harrison Ford movie The Fugitive. They filmed the Bus and train wreck here, when the scene was shot, the film company left the Trains and Bus where they lay.
While moving we are soon joined by the train entrainment. The young lady gets the passengers singing. When asked where we come from we decided to be Ausses! The journey passing through towns and the river following the train tracks, and with the pack lunch we had ordered the trip was just magic. After an hours stop at Bryson City we board the train back to Dillsboro. The next day we leave Cherokee to travel a place I found in a guidebook. Chimney Rock Park. Taking the Blue Ridge Parkway we soon arrive at the Town. Just one detour as Neil spots a Colby parked or should I say deserted in a driveway. Luckily the owner was not in, other wise I could picture us trying to ship it back home for Neil.
It is said that one’s life is incomplete until one has been to the mountain, stood at its summit, and breathed the same air as the Creator. Well they made the task of getting to the summit easy. Step inside the mountain and take the elevator 26 stories and you step out on the sky lounge. You simply haven’t had the whole experience until you stand on the edge of a 500 million-year-old rock on the edge of a tall mountain. We stood in awe of the view – 1200 vertical feet down – along Hickory Nut Gorge to Lake Lure, and on this clear day, as far as Kings Mountain, seven-five miles to the east beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains.
After taking in the view we take one of the walking trails to the bottom of the waterfall. This waterfall and surrounding was used in the film the last of the Mohegan’s. It must have been the rain season when they filmed. Just outside the gates to the park we stopped for a meal and Drink. The first drink for over two days. We also decide to stay overnight in the town. We pick the motel just on the outskirts. We take time at the poolside before we take a boat trip on Lake Lure to a restaurant on the other side of the lake. On the boat trip over, our guide points out the places of interest. Again we are on a film lot, he explains that the lake and shoreline were used in the Dirty Dancing movie amongst others. The meal at The Point of View restaurant was of the highest quality. On the boat trip back across the lake we took in the romantic sight of the sun going down behind the mountains. At the weekends the lake is full of people taking in this lifetime view.
Time to travel on to Road Atlanta Raceway
to meet up with the BMW Car Club America members at the American Petit Le mans race ………..
The journey from Bowling Green to Cherokee City was uneventful on the driving front, more than I say about our over night stop at the Star Motor Inn, Cookeville TN.
After booking in and having an evening meal in the restaurant we make for the watering hole. Here we are once again mistaken for Australians. It must be all that coverage of the Olympics. Neil is soon in conversation with Bill about the football game on the TV. Bill is part owner of the Motel and Bar (The Gov’ner as he likes to be called) was at his large central table, which matched his waistline. And we were soon all at the table being well taken care of on the drinks front. If only we had realised we were heading for a dry City! It was well past the witching hour when after the bar tender showing us her tattoo. Sorry, not past the watershed so cannot display her ampoule “page 3’s”. the full southern states breakfast special, starting to get to grips with the Grits, we make our way to Cherokee City.
