Wii golf

Finally got to the pro level in wii golf. The wii is pretty neat,
especially wii sports.

Joys of a townhouse

Jimmy Buffett in Raleigh

The magical Jimmy Buffett tickets for Raleigh, NC. On the John Deere Lawn no less. How perfect of an advertisement is that, the John Deere Lawn!

Can you imagine the load on Ticketmaster's servers when the tickets went on sale? Wow!

Jimmy Buffett in Charlotte

Yup, going to See Jimmy Buffett in Charlotte, NC as well. Ticketmaster came through.

lunch

On the way to Stone Mountain State Park we stopped beside the Intersate at
a Stuckey's to make lunch. You know the one, just west of Black Mountain.
Nothing fancy, just sandwiches.

Here is our lunchtime view.

Road

The Blue Ridge Parkway headed north and south was closed leaving Cherokee.
We had to go over the road at Soco and down to Maggie Valley,NC.

Since all else failed we got out the Delorme Street Atlas and looked for
places to go. We are headed to South Mountain State Park.

campsite

The view from our campsite at Harrahs in Cherokee,NC. Overall a very good
campsite.

Sleeping

After a long day in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park we went back
to Harrahs to sleep.

This place is packed with campers and gamblers. We are parked next to
another Lance truck camper. How cool is that?

Nite nite

dinner

For dinner we had cheeseburgers. These were fantastic, don't you wish you
had a meal like this?

dinner spot

Our dinner spot at Newfound Gap in the Great Smokey Mountains National
Park. This was a great spot to eat and watch the sunset. It did get cold
quickly at 5000 feet through!

We saw black-capped chickadees and common ravens here. We did not have any
luck locating northern saw-whet owls...

Newfound gap

lunch

This is our lunch spot. There was a nice stream in the woods. We met a
family that was fishing for trout in the creek. They said they had great
luck in the area. Do you like to fish for trout?

barn

A huge barn at Catalooche.

Behind this bard was a great bird watching area. From the same sitting
spot we saw downy woodpeckers, northern flickers, a hairy woodpecker, brown
creepers, carolina chickadees, american robins, and blue-headed vireos.
What a great spot!

Cabin

This is one of the cabins at Catalooche in the GSMNP.

Orion

Orion never likes to have his picture taken, however he did take the time
to sit for this photo.

Campsite

This is our campsite from Friday night at Catalooche Campground in the
Great Smokey Mountains National Park. This is a very neat spot. The
campground is small and a first come, first served campground.

fire alarm

The fire alarm has gotten ultra-sensitive. We think it is time for a new
battery.

Extra water

Today, since we had four people in the truck camper I knew we could use an
extra 5 gallons of water so we didn't have to go into conservation mode.
As it turns out this 5 gallon container fit perfectly in the bathroom. It
didn't even move on all the mountain roads!

catalooche

On the way in Lisa spotted a rufted grouse on the side of the road. As she
screamed we came to a halt and got out looking for the bird. It hadn't
moved and was still siting beside the road feeding. We were able to get
some great looks at it.

In Catalooche we found a herd of the male elk almost immediately. Later we
found a herd of female elk. Over the course of the afternoon we saw nearly
30 elk. The males were loosing their antlers. During the afternoon we
noticed #4 lost one of its antlers.

We also saw a male rusty blackbird beside a creek. Near the rangers
residence tom the turkey was out feeding near sunset.

Catalooche is a pretty neat place.

ride

We drove the road in the Lance truck camper, however later Lisa and I rode
it on the bikes. The bikes are definately the way to see the place. The
road is a narrow one-lane dirt road with cars going to and fro so in a car
you are constantly dodging cars, but on a bike you have plenty of room and
can enjoy the scenery at a much leisurely pace.

road to the mountaintop

Another photo of the road to the mountaintop near Catalooche. Catalooche
is in a valley which can also be interpreted as you must climb a mountain
to get there!

entrance

The must have photo of the entrance sign.

road to catalooche

This is the road to Catalooche Campground in the Great Smokey Mountains
National Park. It definately isn't recommended for RVs as they state.
There are some beautiful views to be had.

Thursday night

Last night we stayed at camp Harrahs in Cherokee. All went well.

Buffett tickets

The stress of the trip thus far was how to get tickets to see Jimmy Buffett
in Raleigh. We had already scored tickets for the Charlotte show.

So... We found a wireless ap and hopped on. After setting the atomic clock
I waited on the phone with Guffey. At 10 the page changed and we started
the process. Guffey got blocked during the process by his office but I
made it through.

We are going to see Jimmy Buffett in Raleigh, NC!

Not a bad rv setup

I saw this at the Flying J truckstop this morning while filling up the Subaru with gas. Not a bad setup you think?

A huge RV with a 2008 Chevrolet Truck as a dingy. The truck had a golf cart in the bed of the truck painted to match the RV.

I'm guessing it was a professional driver driving it for one of the NASCAR drivers. You can't tell from the photo but the driver certainly knew what they were doing. I've seen smaller rigs not be able to get where he was at.

Owls were a no-show

We stayed until after 6:30 in pretty much darkness. The owls never did show or vocalize. I guess they didn't stay around after this morning.

We'll have to look for long-eared owls some other day in north carolina.

Owl update

The group is growing but the owls are still a no show.

Owl

Owl searching is difficult. There are only a handful of people looking and
thus far we've found nothing.

The search must continue.

Long-eared owl

We're off to look for the long-eared owls sighted outside of Goldsboro, nc.