The Wandering Disciple

The All-New Hyundai Elantra, a perfect choice for your summer roadtrip. Well it was new and it was a perfect choice for our 2017 road trip through the mountains of western North Carolina and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The 2017 Elantra was our first brand new car and the trip North Carolina was the first extended road trip in this car. Today the Elantra continues to go strong with over 130,000 miles on the odometer and plenty of memories made along the way. (Photo: June 13, 2017)

At 6,053 feet above sea level, you are at the highest point along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Richland Balsam Overlook in North Carolina is the highest point along the 469 mile scenic highway that stretches from Roanoke, Virginia to Cherokee, North Carolina.  (Photo: June 14, 2017)

A brightly colored Rhododendron flower provides a splash of color on a dreary day along the Blue Ridge Parkway.   Mother Nature paints a colorful picture each summer when the Rhododendron come into full bloom.  (Photo: June 13, 2017)

When they came up with the old saying of having your head in the clouds, I don't think this is what they had in mind.  While traveling up the Blue Ridge Parkway during last week's road trip, we truly did have our heads in the clouds.  While at an elevation of around 5,200 feet, we met the clouds as the clouds began to envelope the parkway.  (Photo: June 13, 2017)

Asheville, North Carolina:  Today was bonus day on our summer road trip.  We had originally planned on heading home, but instead we extended our trip by a day.  So with nothing hard scheduled today, we decided to wing our itinerary. After breakfast at the hotel, we decided to hit the Blue Ridge Parkway and head south to the southern terminus in Cherokee.  We got lost a bit getting to the parkway, but it was nice to see other areas in Asheville.  It is easy to see why the town has won so many awards. Once we reached the parkway, we began our journey southward.  Along the way, we stopped at each of the overlooks, just taking in the beauty of the region. During our journey, we reached the town of Brevard where we got off the parkway and headed into the Pisgah National Forest.  There were a few things we wanted to see within the forest, however I forgot the list in the hotel room so in the spirit of the day, we just decided to wing it again. One...

Asheville, North Carolina:   Our wonderful summer road trip continued into day three with a horseback riding adventure.  This too had been a bucket list item for my wife and she was really looking forward to riding the mountainside. The day began with breakfast at the hotel before hitting the roads to nearby Marshall.  The drive to Marshall was very scenic.  There were some two-lane roads on the trip that we a little hair raising for a family used to flat Floridian roadways.  There were amazing views around each turn making the drive just as exciting as the destination. We arrived at Sandy Bottom Trail Rides a little early and sat on the front porch for a while making friends with their cat and dogs that roam the farm.  We were then paired up with our horses which would be our transportation for the next three hours.  My wife was paired with George, my son with Drifter and I got Twinkie,  Yeah, kinda ironic that a fat guy would be paired up ...