Off to Franklin NC

Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sic Fiddy and I went into Thomaston to pick a spare battery for my cell phone. The air was crisp and cold on my face, my jacket kept me warm, but my cheeks got numb. It was still a nice ride.
I cleaned up around Cazee and made preliminary preparations to break camp.

Thursday, April 17, 2008
Left Martha’s around 9am and headed north on 27 to Rome then 411 to the Zell Miller Pkwy (515) into Morganton where we camped at Whispering pines CG.



It is a fairly nice campground with all new electrical circuits and plumbing. The entrance road is steep, however it is paved. The campground boarders on a small picturesque stream.



Friday, April 18, 2008
The team continued on the north Zell Miller Pkwy into Young Harris, GA. We stopped at The William Holland School to drop off some donation items and to get my schedule straightened out. I checked out the camping facilities at the school and found them sparse and small. I may decide to camp somewhere local and commute to school.

Having finished my business at the school I continued north to Franklin NC. Along the way there were several scenic pull-offs, Cutter and I stopped so I could take in the exceptional sights and Cutter could take in the exceptional variety of smells from past animal visitors. You would think a dog would eventually run out of pee to mark territory with but Cutter seems to have a reserve tank hidden somewhere.



This drive proved to be the first test of Lyca’s ability to pull Cazee. The route that I chose included hwy 64 in North Carolina there is a section of this road that goes up and over a box canyon that ends in a mountain climb that took a lot of effort, often Lyca down shifted to work his way up the slope. At times we were in low gear, thirty miles an hour at 4000 rpm. Lyca stayed cool and though it was work, made it to the top. Once at the top we started coasting down the steep 8% grade. New problem, I found I had to keep riding the brakes to keep from gaining too much speed. Even though I had just replaced the brake pads on Cazee, I discovered yesterday that I had not adjusted them properly and they were only partially adding to the stopping power available, so Lyca was doing 90% of the work to retard what was becoming a 25,000 pound meteor. Lyca’s brakes were getting hot, to the point that I could smell them, luckily there was a pull-off and we stopped to cool down. Slowly pull-off by pull-off we worked out way down. At the first opportunity you can bet I will readjust Cazee’s brakes.
We pulled into Franklin about 1:00pm and checked into the Old Corundum Mill Campground. Where they put us next to the small river at what I felt was one of the most attractive sites that they had and the park was almost full.



It appears that most campers here park there trailers here year round and just come up during season, a vacation home of sorts.
Anyway it is beautiful here and I will be here three weeks, until May 11, when Jo will join me and we will go back to William Holland School. I may take a different route rather than hwy 64. I bet we used 5 gallons of gas getting up that hill. At today’s prices that’s almost twenty bucks.
There is one problem with this campsite, no cell or internet reception. My cousin Billy tried to call me but it was all broken up. I will go into Franklin tomorrow and see if I can find a signal booster. At the very least I will find a Wi-Fi connection and get my e-mail. I will probably be able to make calls from there also.
I purchased an antenna in Franklin and I am connected and back online even down in the hole where the Old Corundum campground is. I am posting this blog with the new antenna and my phone also works as long as it is connected to the antenna.
Later
AV