Heritage 441 - 30th Anniversary Planner

The Heritage 441 Run - 30th Anniversary Edition

The Georgia route...

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We make good time on the road to Douglas, passing through it this time around, and waving goodbye to it and its no Sunday sales of alcohol. You fooled us once and got our money last time, but this time it's just a cherished memory, and a lesson learned. I can still see Ann looking sideways at me through that opening in the goat pen at General Coffee State Park though... We're kind of sad we don't even get to drive by it this time around, but we still have fond memories of our time there, being pretty much the only people there, getting lost, and walking a LOT more than we planned on becuase of it. Like I said, fond memories.

On the road from Douglas, we head toward Broxton, Jacksonville, McRae, Irwinton, and Dublin, about 75 miles from Douglas... Broxton's claim to fame is the Broxton Rocks, a huge sandstone formation, slowly eroded by Broxton Creek, culminating in a ten foot high waterfall. So yeah, still not much to see here. Jacksonville? The world record bass was caught near Jacksonville on June 2, 1932 by George Perry. Yeah, still not much to see here. McRae has a 1/20 scale statue of liberty downtown, but yeah, still not much else to see there. Irwinton? You guessed it. Nothing to see here... Dublin appears to be the first town of any interest since Douglas.

There are a couple of bed and breakfast inns around Dublin, the Country Bed & Breakfast & Vacation Farm and the Page House Bed and Breakfast. Many fine restaurants as well. Google maps says it will take about 7 hours to get here from Apopka, 8½ from The Little Grass Shack. Since El Amigo Mexican Restaurant is just a mile or so down the road from the Page House, we're thinking about having dinner there. Upon our arrival, we are greeted by the caretaker's dog, so we feel right at home and are immediately missing our dogs. Now what was that dog's name again? Lost to history unless Ann remembers...

Once we're done greeting the caretakers and their dog, we are shown to the check-in desk. Once checked in, we are shown to our "room"... More like our luxury suite! This is definitely an upscale establishment. Ann is suitably impressed, and so am. Not only does it have a huge four poster bed in the bedroom, it has a fireplace! But wait, there's more... Down the hall is a kitchenette, and beyond that, the bathroom with a spa tub and a shower!

Once settled in, we venture back downstairs and take in all the history and luxury this bed and breakfast has to offer. Room after room of Americana. Even the stairway, looking into the office, has a grand piano. We can't get over how opulent this place is. The dining room is large and grand. Directly beneath our fireplace is the kitchen and dining room hearth. Down the hall is the main entry, converted to serve as part of the large dining room. I am enamored with the grandfather clock. While one of the rooms at the front of the house is now part of the dining room, the "ship" room is across the hall.

So once our tour's done, we head to the car and El Amigo Mexican Restaurant. I've been waiting all day for this! There are a few margaritas with my name on them. When we get there, we're not quite sure we're there, because where is there? This place is in the middle of the parking lot, at an angle, like it's an afterthought... It looks kind of run down and we're wondering if it was the best choice. Well, too late to figure out some place else, or at least too late to get somehwere else in a short amount of time. We're both hungry and head inside. Once inside, we're seated and perusing the menu.

The margaritas are good, but the food is better. Service was so-so... Maybe that's why the place is now closed permanently (now being 2018). Guess we'll have to find another place next time, if there is a next time. I say that because as I'm writing this, it would have been our 35th Anniversary, had we taken a 35th Anniversary trip. But we didn't. Ann said not to bother planning one this time. Turns out it's a good thing we didn't plan on it since I started a new job a couple weeks back (13 August 2018).

When we get back from dinner, we take a look around outside and take a short walk around the area. We decide to walk the several blocks over to the water tower so I can get a picture. We head down another block or two then loop back to the B & B. After that, we call it a night. Tomorrow will see us the rest of the way through Georgia, and most of the way through North Carolina to our destination for the day, Asheville, or rather, Black Mountain.

The Georgia route, day two...

(Sunday, 18 August 2013)
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay last night, even though I had some trouble sleeping. We get moving and dressed and packed and head downstairs to check out. We are treated to a large, home made breakfast in the dining room before we get on the road. Again, the shear opulence and grandeur is overwhelming. Yet another wonderful facet of this wonderful place. We have our fill and head out to the car, already packed and ready for our adventures today.

Originally we thought about spending the night in Madison, maybe take in a little antique shopping, maybe even a visit to the Microcar Museum. Last time we must have passed right by the museum, because we didn't see it, even though we were looking for it. This time we are too late! It is closed to the general public and their site last updated in 2014. Bummer. More Americana gone... Well, not so much gone as we missed our chance to see it!

Madison is indeed beautiful, and last time through with the fall semester starting soon, we saw quite a few college students around town. This time we bypass downtown to avoid all the traffic and commotion. I'm not sure how we could top the Page House though, or that we would want to. I chin wave goodbye, using our long time tradition, from the "bimby".

Making our way back to US441, we head north from Dublin, where two lanes becomes four most of the rest of our trip today. Most of the smaller towns have a bypass route around the town, either in the planning stages or already completed. While we continued through these small towns on our last trip, this time we're taking the bypasses where possible to speed our arrival in Black Mountain, NC.

Before we know it, we're to Athens. By the time we got there last trip, there was more to navigating around Athens than I originally thought... This time we'll (hopefully) be more prepared for the little surprises. At least we'll know what to expect. Anyway, with only 2 hours and 20 minutes under our belts, it's probably too early for lunch. Besides, we have that gift certificate to Dillard House... Wait, what's that you say? What's Dillard House? Well, you'll just have to wait and see...

Asheville and Black Mountain are still our destination, so it's off the Athens bypass, back on to US441. As mentioned earlier, the four lane bypass will neatly skirt the small small towns past Clarkesville, bypassing them since we got to see downtown last time through, and there really isn't much to see... at least, not much more than we've already seen.

Soon enough past Clarkesville, our accommodations on our last trip, we come to Tallulah Falls and the Tallulah Gorge. Next we pass around Clayton, where the bypass skirts the gorge, while Old GA-441 follows along the east edge of the gorge and the man made Lake Tallulah. We begin to see the mountains on the horizon, and are officially in North Georgia.

Just north of Clayton is where the bypass is not completed yet, and our trip takes us on through Mountain City, and Dillard. Lunch awaits us at the Dillard House, a must! We read they have the best fried chicken and had to stop and try it last time. It wasn't quite what we expected... You don't order what you want from a menu, they bring you EVERYTHING on the menu - but no bucket! We sampled a little of everything, fried chicken, smoked chicken, pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, cabbage casserole, squash casserole, corn on the cob, beans, etc. The rolls and cole slaw are already on the table when they seat you.

It's what they call family style. This time we figured we'd just skip it, but some folks Ann knows, that she told about the experience from our last trip, gave us a gift certificate. So now I guess we're obligated to stop in this time around too. I make it sound like we have to, which is not my intent at all, we want to! I'm not sure what other eateries are in the area, or whether they would be anywhere near as enjoyable, or as filling for that matter. In any case, we know what to expect here and are happy it's still here to enjoy.

Now that we know hwat to expect this time, once we're seated, we dig in. As they bring dishes and bowls full of everything imaginable, we continue to dig in! Can you say STUFFED? We roll out of there and back to the car, where we meet another reminder of how much we're missing our "kids", a cat laying under it that somehow knows we're to be trusted. After our "greetings", we're headed back to US441. From there, Orlando and Otto await us... just across the North Carolina border that is.

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The High Tail It To Asheville, NC, Route, day two...

(Sunday, 18 August 2013)
Once across the North Carolina border, through Orlando and Otto, is Franklin. US441 merges with US64 at Franklin, bypassing the historic downtown, which we will not do. Between Franklin and Highlands, off US64, is Buckwood Log Lodge, a wonderful log cabin we had rented in the past. If it wasn't so remote, even for a car (dirt road cut from the side of the mountain), we might have thought of renting it for this trip. Been there, done that. I do wonder if there is anything left of "Stew Falls" though... Another story for another time.

We pass through Franklin, continue north on US441 toward Sylva, and then head east on US74 until it joins up with I-40. We continue on I-40 east, passing through Asheville, until we reach our destination for today. Passing is a misnomer... There's some fairly heavy traffic just getting past Asheville. Not sure if there is a better way around it to our destination though. This time we're renting a "tree house", called the Wild Turkey's Roost, just east of Asheville in Black Mountain. It's not so much a tree house as it is a house in the trees, or at least surrounded by trees...

We'll be spending five days here, close enough to Asheville and The Biltmore Estate to spend a couple days exploring there, and within 2 hours of just about anything else. We thought about visiting the Nantahala area and riding the Smoky Mountain Railway again. Plans were still up in the air at the point we left home. Ann was looking at more to do the week before we left. We figure it will take us at least two days to investigate the Biltmore Estate, maybe three.

Then there's Black Mountain and the surrounding area where we're staying. It looks like there will be a fair amount of Americana all around us to explore. At least a days worth, if not more. This part of the plan is still not clear and we'll be playing it by ear as we go. We are both excited to have a place to stay for the week and not have to worry about making it to the "next stop" for a while. Speaking of next stops, I wish there were a way for us to just ride the train for all of this travel... Ideas for next time.

Before I go thinking about our next trip, maybe I should finish this one? The desire to ride trains will be satisfied soon enough. This weekend in fact... From here, we're off to follow the New River Gorge as far as we can to cross over the tallest steel arch span bridge on US19. More about that later... We're here to stay for a while!