Tuesday was an “eclectic” day according to Mark…lots of variety! We started with a tour of “Korner’s Folly”, a home in Kernersville, NC. They bill it as “a house like no other” and I have to agree. The house was built in 1878 by Jule Gilmer Korner who was an interior and furniture designer, decorator, and painter. He used the home to showcase his design work to his clients…so it is full of every possible idea and option…a living catalog if you will. Plus, he and his family lived in the house, so it served every imaginable purpose over the years. No two doorways or windows are the same, there are 15 different fireplaces, and ceiling heights run the gamut from 5 ½ feet to 25 feet (and we definitely noticed those 5 ½ foot ceilings…). There are 22 rooms across three floors and seven levels. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places, and is being restored as funds and time allow. It was fun to walk through and very unique, to say the least!

Next on our agenda was another quirky roadside attraction. We don’t limit ourselves to just big pieces of furniture, we also like literal interpretations of brands. Back in 1930, the local Shell distributor wanted to bring brand awareness to Winston-Salem, so he had eight “shell-shaped” Shell gas stations built around the city. Just one remains, and it is pretty darn cool! It’s considered “novelty architecture” and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The stellar marketing is not lost on me, that’s for sure.

We headed into downtown Winston-Salem and drove through “Old Salem” on our way. It’s a historic site and museum that explores the stories of people in the American South. It’s not open on Tuesdays so we just drove through and enjoyed the variety of old buildings, cobblestone walks. Oh, and found this giant coffee pot…7 ft. 3 in. tall. It used to hang in front of the Mickey brothers’ tinsmith shop in Old Salem and now has a place of honor in a nearby park.

Next stop, “Piedmont Craftsmen”, an absolutely wonderful art gallery that represents nearly 400 artisans. Wood, fiber, glass, metal, pottery, jewelry – just an amazing assortment. Mark especially enjoyed the items from talented woodworkers, and I was drooling over some of the glass pieces. While very tempted, we managed to leave without buying anything.

We drove around downtown Winston-Salem a bit – it’s still home to RJ Reynolds Tobacco company, although I’m guessing RJR is MUCH smaller than it was in it’s heyday. Interestingly, much of the area that appears to have been their campus is now used for medical facilities. Seems appropriate and ironic…former site of tobacco giant becomes hospital to serve all those people who smoked.

Our last stop in the area was for doughnuts…but not just any doughnuts. Krispy Kreme opened their first location in Old Salem in 1937, and their flagship store is now located just a few miles from there (and their world headquarters are in Winston-Salem, as well). So, we had to hit the doughnut factory for an afternoon sugar rush. We hadn’t had Krispy Kreme in years, and they sure tasted yummy!

Wednesday was a low-key day. I recently picked up a consulting gig, so I actually had a conference call and some work to do in the morning. The afternoon was filled with fun stuff like grocery shopping, laundry, and the gym, plus prepping for departure on Thursday…on to our next location!

We took our time Thursday morning…check out was at 11am, and check in at our next campsite was 3pm…but it was only about a 2.5 hour drive…so we were in no hurry. We literally pulled out of our campsite at 11am, got the car hooked up, and were on the road around 11:30. This trip takes us to our last campground in North Carolina…just east of Asheville in Swannanoa, NC. We stayed at this campground in September when we visited the Biltmore and really liked it, so we’re heading back for 11 more nights. During our drive, we crossed over the “Eastern Continental Divide”…clearly, we’re in the mountains now! We took our time on the road and arrived right at 3pm. First stop was to fill up our propane tank – we knew the forecast was showing some really cold weather over the weekend so we would need to run the furnace quite a bit. We got settled in at our lakeside campsite and I was quickly reminded of the many ducks that inhabit this campground…they greeted us shortly after we pulled in! I went for a walk around the campground before dinner and saw this custom-painted trailer…very unique, definitely stands out in a campground full of white and off-white equipment!

Friday took us to Chimney Rock State Park, about 30 minutes from our campground. The centerpiece of the park is a massive 315-foot piece of granite within Hickory Nut Gorge. When we first arrived, there were fog and clouds so the visibility wasn’t great and the skies were quite gray, but it cleared up over time and turned into a beautiful day. Fortunately, there’s an elevator to get from ground level to just below Chimney Rock, and then there are about 50 steps up to the top (or you could choose to climb about 500 steps to get to the top…but why would you do that?!). The views are pretty amazing from the elevation of 2,280 ft. – you can see Lake Lure, plus the Blue Ridge mountains and Carolina Piedmont. We checked out the viewpoints at the top, and decided to walk down the stairs, so we could see all the viewpoints along the way. This seems like a MUCH smarter approach than walking UP the stairs!

Once we finished with Chimney Rock, we decided to make the hike out to Hickory Nut Falls. It’s about 1.5 miles, moderately difficult with about 300 feet of gain. It’s one of the highest waterfalls East of the Mississippi, with a 404-foot drop. The falls are beautiful, and by the time we arrived, the sun was out and there were blue skies shining through. These falls were featured in the movie “The Last of the Mohicans”. I decided to go a bit further, to the base of the falls, while Mark rested. It was a short walk, but I managed to take a tumble while climbing through the rocks. Ugh. I was able to stand up pretty quickly, but could tell I had probably twisted my left ankle. Fortunately, I wasn’t in pain – not sure how I would have made the return trip to the parking lot…and Mark said he wasn’t going to carry me. As the afternoon went on, it bothered me a bit more…primarily after I had been sitting for a while so it would stiffen up.

From Chimney Rock, we drove into the town of Lake Lure to see the lake closer than we could from Chimney Rock, and to enjoy the “Lake Lure Flowering Bridge”. This bridge over Rocky Broad River was closed to traffic in 2011 (a new bridge was built), and people got really creative and turned the 155-foot bridge into a garden. It’s unique and beautiful, and it was so nice to see spring flowers blooming. My ankle wasn’t bothering me, so I was able to enjoy a nice walk.

We stopped for an afternoon ice cream, and then headed back to Swannanoa. Along the way, I asked Mark to detour to a Blue Ridge Parkway visitor center so I could pick up a map that I knew I would need for planning some of our time in this area…lots to see along the BRP! We wrapped my ankle in an ACE bandage back at the RV, to keep it stable, and I iced it occasionally, along with elevating it. It was more uncomfortable than painful…really just annoying!

Saturday brought a harsh reality…we woke up to a dusting of snow and crazy wind gusts. It was in the forecast, so it wasn’t a surprise…just a bit strange to see a snowy campground.

It’s all part of a much larger storm impacting LOTS of states, and is supposed to drop 6-8 inches in Rochester. I’ll take the dusting anytime! The only challenge is that it’s hard to heat the RV enough to really stay warm, especially since the floor is so cold. We’re layered up and wearing all of our heaviest clothes but my fingers and toes are still cold. Fortunately, my ankle felt completely normal all night long and when I woke up…but my calves are killing me thanks to all that hiking/climbing yesterday! Mid-afternoon we decided to venture out to run a few errands and have dinner…a change in scenery from the inside of the RV was a good thing!

Overnight Saturday into Sunday was super cold – wind chills in the single digits – so our primary concern was that we’d have enough propane to keep the furnace running all night (and of course, that our electricity would cooperate so the space heater could also run). Thankfully, no issues and we were comfortable all night long!

I thought I’d share a couple of photos to give everyone a sense of how we find room for everything in our ‘tiny home on wheels’. The first photo below is what one of the beds looks like when we are traveling…obviously we pile stuff up in the back end! The second photo is what the cab looks like when we are parked – it becomes our pantry, closet, basement, and garage all in one – pretty much everything gets stored there so we can live in the rest of the space. Oh, and don’t forget the overhead bunk which has been a lifesaver – full of everything except a mattress! It doesn’t take us long to shift everything from cab to bedroom and vice versa on our travel days – we have it down to a science, I think! Definitely is nice to be at each campground for 10+ days so we don’t have to keep moving everything!