Ride Back North from Florida - July 7-13, 2008

These pictures were taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S9000 digital camera on a ride from Naples, Florida, to Amsterdam, New York, July 7-13, 2008. Images are shown at a resolution of 640x480, but many are available cropped from the originals or in half of original size by clicking on the links after the captions.

A lot of the pictures are just from the roads, but there were some intersting places and things mixed in.

Monday, July 7, 2008

We left Naples mid-afternoon and went primarily up I-75 for the afternoon and evening. We left I-75 near Lake City and took US 41 to get dinner, and stayed on 41 into Georgia, just for something different [21 Pictures]. We continued only a short way into Georgia (back on I-75) and stopped for the night in Valdosta.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Not too much ground to cover, with our plan to see a Space Museum and a baseball game in Columbus. We took a route along Georgia 133 and Georgia 37 [44 Pictures] to Camilla [14 Pictures], then north on US 19 to Albany [22 Pictures]. From there it was US 82 and Georgia 520 West, then US 280 West up to Columbus [21 Pictures]. After a little driving tour of Columbus and Phenix City, we got an excellent lunch at a small deli in downtown [24 Pictures]. We spent a couple hours at Columbus State University's Space Science Center [11 Pictures], then checked into the hotel, and made our way back [18 Pictures] to the downtown area for the South Atlantic League baseball game between the Kannapolis Intimidators and Columbus Catfish. Pictures are from outside before the game [14 Pictures], and in the park before and during the game [31 Pictures plus 2 Scorecard Scans].

Wednesday, July 9. 2008

Another relatively short travel day. We left Columbus in the morning and took I-185, I-85, I-285, I-75, and I-575 to get by the Atlanta area [35 Pictures]. Then it was onto the smaller roads into the mountains: Georgia 5 to US 76 to Spur 60 [18 Pictures] into North Carolina, then combinations of US 19/64/74/129 [33 Pictures] into Robbinsville for lunch [7 Pictures]. It was an easy ride [10 Pictures] from there to the cabin [31 Pictures], where we met up with the bigger group. We spent the afternoon in and near the cabin, including a walk across the street to a fishing pond [38 Pictures].

Thursday, July 10, 2008

After a morning at the cabin, we got on our way with the whole group. Our first stop was at the Yellow Branch Pottery shop to buy some cheese [6 Pictures]. Then after a quick stop back at the cabin and a cell phone check on a hill for some (no signal at the cabin) [6 Pictures] and a drive into Cherokee [28 Pictures]. We walked around Cherokee a bit [16 Pictures] then left the bigger group. We continued on up into Great Smoky Mountains National Park [5 Pictures]. We made stops on the way up at a pullout along the Oconaluftee River [5 Pictures], at a quiet walkway [13 Pictures], at the Webb Overlook [9 Pictures], another overlook [7 Pictures], and along a horseshoe curve [6 Pictures]. Near the summit, we made the side trip to the summit of Clingman's Dome [40 Pictures] before stopping at Newfound Gap [23 Pictures]. On the way down on the Tennesee side, we made stops at the Morton Overlook [6 Pictures] and a turnout along the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River [9 Pictures]. At that point, it was getting late and raining hard, so we made no more stops on the way out of the park [7 Pictures]. The rest of the day was a ride through the mess of Gatlinburg and the other towns and on out to I-40 and I-81 [31 Pictures].

Friday, July 11, 2008

Abingdon, Virginia, to Ashburn, Virginia, with a little side trip to southeastern West Virginia. We left the very nice Quality Inn in Abingdon [Picture] and started the side trip with a much more interesting than expected ride on Virginia route 80 through Hayters Gap [29 Pictures]. From there, we took US 19 and then US 460 to Bluefield [19 Pictures]. Into West Virginia, we made our way to I-77 North and then I-64 East [44 Pictures]. Back in Virginia, it ws I-64, with a lunch stop in Covington, then I-81 to Virginia 7 and on in by late afternoon [48 Pictures].

Saturday, July 12, 2008

No pictures during the day in Ashburn, just some on the ride into DC late in the afternoon [11 Pictures], and then from the Nationals Game, where I once again completed my collection of all current Major League ballparks with my first visit to newly-opened National Park [Link to pages of pictures].

Sunday, July 13, 2008

We left mid-morning from Ashburn and took US 15 to I-81 to I-88 and then NY 30 up to Amsterdam, with a stop for Brooks BBQ in Oneonta along the way [23 Pictures]. Easy ride and we were in Amsterdam before 7.

E-mail domain: teresco.org, username: terescoj - Wed Jul 9 10:50:51 EDT 2008