Moving on to North Carolina, but, we still don’t have our new truck configured to work properly with the Blue Ox. We were missing the Air Brakes. This was the summer of supply chain terror combined with no availability at service centers and so getting anything done was very very difficult. Luckily, the Camping World in Asheville NC had the Air Brakes in stock and so we felt we had a good chance of getting this work done. Finally! Unfortunately, it was about 90 minutes one way and I got to go there three different days and learned three fundamental rules of RV Service.
- You must go in person. No one will actually answer the phone or call you back in a timely manner. This was our first trip.
- You must make an appointment. Just because they say you have an appointment doesn’t mean you *ACTUALLY* have an appointment. This was our second trip. We showed up but there wasn’t a technician available to work our problem. We are at their mercy, what were our options? We made another appointment for the following day.
- You must get lucky. This was our third trip. We did get lucky. And, we got another problem partially solved – we were able to expedite a spare backup camera – the camera broke at the start of the trip. We couldn’t get the part in time to get it fixed, but, now we had someone who could order us the part and give it to us – It still wasn’t installed, but, that is just a detail.
Great Smokey Mountains National Park
We had always wanted to see the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and spend time on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But, we didn’t do any research before we landed there. Unfortunately for us, they really don’t allow dogs on any trails there. UGH! So, that wasn’t as cool as we had hoped it to be. We drove a few miles on the parkway and we crossed the park but we didn’t do too much in the official park.
We also did walk from the town of Cherokee to the entrance to Great Smokey Mountains National Park with the dogs. It was a very lame trail but it was something to do one afternoon. As we walked, some old guy (well, a lot older than us) told me that there was a big black snake on the trail ahead of me about 100 yards away. I completely freaked out. I screamed and I started crying. My nerves were shot. I had been dealing with stressful traffic in Asheville, it was hot, and now a SNAKE? OMG! Rich tells the story of his reaction, but, I apparently didn’t save the incriminating evidence of my apparent crazy reaction. Rich says I scared the old codger and he will probably never speak to another stranger again!
Sylva North Carolina
We had fun one day in Sylva. We found a short walk and since my nerves were shot, we also had to find a beer. Luckily, Nantahala Brewing was just the ticket for us that day.