Heritage 441 Run to the Great Smoky Mountains

The Heritage 441 Run to the Great Smoky Mountains

The (Almost) Tennessee Route Home via US27

One of Ann's friends from work recommends Peace Of Mind Cabins, which are on the way from Bryson City and Fontana Village to US27 in Ellijay, GA, so we're thinking maybe we can take US27 home... At first glance it looks good, but further scrutiny reveals it's a lonely route with not much history or Americana to offer, short of Ft. Benning in Columbus, GA. Plus it takes us right through Tallahassee, unless we take a 'bypass' around it, but still leaves us an eight hour trip the second day home. One last thought - Looks like if we stay the night at the Peace Of Mind before we leave for home, it's only an extra 60 miles longer than leaving from Clarkesville and going back US441... hence:

The (Almost) Georgia Route Home via US441

If we stay the night before we leave for home at Peace Of Mind, it's only an extra 60 miles longer than leaving from Clarkesville going back US441. Now to plan our stops for the way back... looks like all the same places we stayed on the way up. Maybe an extra hour on the road to stay at the Bed and Breakfast in Dublin instead of the two night minimum cabin in Douglas. That moves the remaining hour on the road to the second day at around Leesburg or Mt. Dora. Hummm... that could work. (NOTE: As of 2011, these have been converted to timeshares and condominiums, so no longer an option.)

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We can spend the night at the Lakeside Inn in Mt. Dora, enjoy a late night stroll around the outdoor clubs and cafe's, and take our time getting home in the morning. That is, if Ann decides to take Monday off. She's as dedicated to her job as I used to be before a few layoffs. You learn the hard way what's more important to the company, you or the office furniture, when they hand you a box and escort you out the door.

As planning this trip comes down to the wire, I am unable to convince Ann to take Monday off and now she wants to head for home a day earlier so she can have an extra day to recover before she goes back to work! I can't blame her for wanting to take an extra day to recover, that's why I put in for Monday off. It really does limit our choices though.

We'll come back to that. For now, let's get a plan in place. The problem with staying at Peace Of Mind Cabins is the same problem with trying to fit the Biltmore, Maggie Valley and Brevard into the trip - it leaves us somewhere with nothing much else around. Plus it adds more time to the return trip, something we can scarcely afford now that we're a day short. It's something to keep in mind for next time though.

The Actual Georgia Route Home via US441 to I-16 to I-95 to I-4

Fay has her say. All the discussion is over and decision making pretty much done for us, we can't go back the way we came. At least not the entire way. We need to get as far east and south as we can the first day, namely Savannah, while Fay moves to the west and north. Then we can make a run down the east coast of Florida on I-95 to Daytona, then I-4 home. Ann wants to get started as soon as possible. Having started our trip a day late and in the car comes in handy now, we can zoom AND have a roof over our heads.

After looking at the current weather and the forecast, I think we should wait a day to get on the road home, to give Fay a chance to move farther west and reduce the number of feeder bands we'll have to drive through. But Ann wants her day before getting back to work and will hear nothing of it. So we head back US441 the way we came. By lunchtime we are in Cornelia. We decide to take the business route through downtown and look for an Americana eatery. We find the Warehouse Cafe near the square and the Big Red Apple and figure, "What the Hell?"

When the hostess tells us we have to pay in advance it should have been our first clue. Once inside, we see it's just a glorified buffet style cafeteria! We grab a plate, load it up and sit down to eat. We notice most of the people are seniors or office workers from the (small) downtown area. Oh well, at least the food is good and there is a lot of it. They have a soft serve machine so we both have ice cream for dessert. I even make an ice cream cone to go.

Back on the road, it doesn't take us long to hit the first rain band from Fay. It takes us a while, but we do manage to drive out of it until we get near Dublin, where we pick up I-16 east. Unfortunately, once we start east we are pretty much drenched by the same band that we can't seem to get out of until we're nearly to Savannah. It rains on and off the whole way there until we start south on I-95 where we look for a place to put in for the night.

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We come across a cluster of hotels and see an El Potro Mexican restaurant nearby, so we decide to put in there at the Microtel Inn on Fort Argyle Road, just south of Savannah off I-95. I would not rate either very highly, to say the least, but the WiFi in the room works and there is coffee in the morning. Ann wants out of there in the worst kind of way so we get the Hell out of Dodge as quickly as we can that morning. Maybe next time we won't be in such a hurry and can stay at one of nearly a dozen Bed & Breakfasts in the area.

We would have stayed elsewhere but we (I) know we don't want to stay any closer to Brunswick than we have too due to that 'papermill head baby' smell... long story, but everytime we drive through that area we are accosted by THE WORST SMELL EVER! I once 'joked' that it's a wonder the babies there don't have two heads or other defects, and the phrase 'papermill head babies' stuck. It's hard to describe, but a cross between a porta-potty that needs emptied and rotting flesh comes close. It has to be the effluent from all the papermills in the area.

We spent the night there once in the past and it was all I could taste or smell for weeks! I've been told you get used to it by people that live there, but why would you want to? If you do live in the area, please forgive me. If you don't, are curious and have some time to kill, take a look at Brunswick in Google Earth once. The rivers look like they carry 'liquid death' to the ocean. Recently I noticed they used a grayscale panel for the greater Brunswick area, as if to mask the dark, death brown colored streams that converge there from all around.

Sorry. So much for saying the least! I probably wouldn't mention it at all except this time the feeder bands actually do us a favor and blow all that stink inland! The only whiff we catch as we pass by the mill, now directly upwind of us, is strong but brief. I won't call it a pleasant surprise, but I will say it's nice not to have to race through the area for once.

Time and the miles pass quickly and we soon find ourselves in Florida.