Tallullah Falls to Washington DC

For the last 2 weeks we have been driving a lot. At Tallullah Falls we again had to decide whether to follow the coast to New York or go inland. In our trip planning we had some good help from the Road Trip USA website www.roadtripusa.com . Obviously the trip along the coast is through either developed resort towns or 'forgotten' small towns. The inland route this guy proposes is along the Blue Ridge Parkway that runs close to the Appalachian Trail - a hiking route of 2100 miles in total- and connects the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

The drive is a total of around 300 miles along the ridge on narrow windy roads with views to the valleys on either side. Couple of smaller towns along the way a few miles from the parkway, nothing spectacular, but still lovely to visit. So far the weather is fine, some cooler mornings in the mountains.

Claudia and realize that for the next couple of weeks there won't be any really spectacular parks or places to visit, on the other hand we cannot rush through to Canada as we don't want to arrive there late in April or so.
Therefore after leaving Shenandoah National Park about 100 miles to Washington DC near  Fredericksburg we return to the coast i  hope of finding a quiet, nice place on the beach to stay for a week or two. The route leads us through Civil War country, battlefields all over the place ( it will be worse later North of Washington near Gettysburg).

When we finally arrive at Virginia Beach to stay at a State Park close to town, we learn that the park is booked out due to a wedding and the fact that half of it is flooded from recent rain falls, anyway. Doesn't matter, Claudia and I don't like the area too much anyway, another resort town with shopping malls, fast food , all the touristy stuff.
So we hop on the 20 mile long bridge-tunnel combination to Northampton where we hope to find another spot to stay. The state park we had in mind here is closed til spring 2010, so it should be open by mid April, right? Nope, wrong, still closed, maybe spring starts on June here :-( . Next is a private RV park on the beach, looks nice from the distance. On asking about a site they increase their advertised  price from $31 to somewhat around $ 49 for the night. So, Claudia and I happily tell them to stuff that site up theirs  and we keep going.
The first few miles after the bridge looked quite ok, quiet but well kept. Then the landscape changes totally. A lot of seemingly deserted houses appear on the roadside, abandoned workshops, mills and even smaller villages. The area looks totally run down and poor. Of course, there are no campgrounds at all, forcing us to keep driving til later in the afternoon until we find a state park to stay for the night.
Then again, on our way to Washington, it turns to wealthy resort towns again . This is exactly what the guy from Roadtrip USA mentions a couple of times. In the States you can find real poverty in direct neighbourhood of total wealth. Sometimes this is a little disturbing. Anyway, past Annapolis to our RV park close to the center of Washington DC.

Cloudland Canyon State Park near Atlanta, Georgia

 After a pleasant drive through a large forest we arrived late at Cloudland State Park, a wooded area with an impressive gorge. Our 2 full days here we used for some bike rides and extensive walks down the gorge. We love staying at state parks as they offer far more space and are often in more natural areas than RV parks. Thru are cheaper, too :-). From here it's another day's drive to the East to Tallullah Falls, again a beautiful gorge, waterfall and all.

Claudia also joins the fire prevention brigade!

Savannah and on to Cloudland Canyon State Park North of Atlanta

We had 5 quiet days at lovely Jekyll Island. Lots of bicycle tours to the small town, walks on the beach or in the woods surrounding the camping ground. If there only weren't those midges, smaller even than sand flies in NZ and luckily not as mean, but heaps of them all day, everywhere...

On several occasions we had expressed our disappointment with the way the American towns and cities present themselves, boring and without any charm, often  barely liveable. So we didn't expect much for our visit to Savannah on our way North-West to Cloudland Canyon State Park, our next destination.
We had planned to just do a short stop-over at a supermarket, maybe drive through the city center -that was described somewhere as being kind of nice- and then move back to the interstate highway. We couldn't have been more wrong!

Downtown Savannah is one of the most beautiful city centers we have seen on all our trips. We ended up walking the streets and the riverfront for almost 3 hours before returning to the road. 

Roadtrip USA progress to March 31, 2010

That's how far we have made it