{"id":8779,"date":"2026-04-29T21:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T21:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=8779"},"modified":"2026-05-04T02:55:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T02:55:23","slug":"east-coast-2026-part-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/east-coast-2026-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"East Coast 2026 Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thursday, April 30<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out time was 11:00, and since we didn’t have too far to go today, we left the loft at 10:58, with 2 minutes to spare! Of course, that was after we had already made one trip to the garage with some of our baggage, as well as the cooler. We had leftover quiche for breakfast and I made a Nespresso coffee for the road. It was pretty easy to get out of the city, and we were on US 27 south in no time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We passed through numerous small cities \/ towns before hitting the Mountain Parkway and entering the Daniel Boone National Forest. The first point of interest was the Nada tunnel – a one-lane road through the mountain. It used to be a railway tunnel, which is truly unbelievable since it is only 13′ high and 12′ wide. The first part of the drive on the Red River Gorge Scenic Byway<\/a> was pretty, but there wasn’t much to see in terms of geological formations – it was primarily forest. After the Gladie Visitor Center, the scenery improved, and there were more rock formations to see, including Devil’s Canyon, Castle Arch, and Sky Bridge Arch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Red River Gorge Geological Area at Daniel Boone National Forest<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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We left the National Forest and returned to Stanton, where we are staying tonight. We stopped at Kroger and by the time we got to Kettlestone, it was 5:00. We had the rest of the chicken salad and broccoli salad for a snack (we had shared only a granola bar since breakfast) and settled in for the evening. As always happens at the end of a trip, we are starting to feel a bit road weary. It felt good to just relax for the evening. Dinner was a Miami and a Bordeaux Empanada (we shared), along with a bowl of bean soup – easy peasy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accommodation: The Loft at Kettlestone<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel Distance \/ Time: 165 Miles : 6.0 Hours (Including Stops and the Scenic Byway)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, May 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today was a long travel day; we were on the road at 10:00. The route was pretty easy – along the Mountain Parkway through Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, and then I-26 into North Carolina. We stopped in Kingsport, TN for a Chick Fil A sandwich, then were back on the road south to Asheville. Once we arrived in Asheville, we went to Publix for a rotisserie chicken and a can of baked beans for dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was nearly 5:00 by the time we got to the rental house. We were pretty tired, so we were really glad that we didn’t have to do much to prepare dinner – just cut up the chicken and heat the beans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Asheville Chalet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Accommodation: The Cozy Chalet<\/a> (2 Nights)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel Distance \/ Time: 282 Miles : 7.0 Hours (Including Stops)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, May 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was overcast this morning, so we took our time with coffee and breakfast (cheese omelet with 1\/2 bagel to share). We left the house around noon and got on the Blue Ridge Parkway north – stopped at the visitor center before driving further north to Mount Mitchell. The mountain, at 6,684 feet in elevation is the highest point in the eastern United States. It was 41* at the car park just below the summit; we walked the 300 yards (all up hill!) to the observation tower. Admittedly, we were winded when we got to the top; it is amazing how the altitude affects the body \/ lungs \/ breathing. The walk was well worth it as the view was beautiful, if a little hazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L to R: Parkway Map; Scenic Overlook; Mount Mitchell (Cold!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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L to R: Mount Mitchell View; Quilt at the Folk Art Center (Not the Best Picture – It Was Beautiful!); End of the BRP at Rockfish Gap – We Were There 2 Weeks Ago!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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It was 4:30 by the time we returned to the house. We had our last empanada (Miami \/ Cuban) for a snack and had kielbasa for dinner. We did a load of laundry – because we could – it’s always nice to return home with clean clothes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We watched the Kentucky Derby and were so excited to see Golden Tempo win, the first female trainer to win the Derby! We are going to try to make it to Brunswick, GA tomorrow, which is nearly 400 miles, so we had an early night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, March 3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our plan was to drive ~375 miles today – as such, we were on the road at 9:30, expecting to arrive in Brunswick around 4:00. Traffic was actually fairly light, except around Columbia, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, and we made really good time. We were only 10 miles away at 3:20, so we decided to keep driving and get closer to home – or even go all the way home, as long as we didn’t hit any major slow downs. Traffic picked up again around Jacksonville, but we were on the I-295 beltway, and were able to maintain 60-65 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We exited I-95 at Port Orange about 6:15, stopped at Publix for a few groceries, and pulled into our driveway before 7:00! It feels so good to be home!! We got the truck mostly unpacked – we have a couple of camping crates to deal with tomorrow – and just collapsed for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel Distance \/ Time: 546 Miles : 9.5 Hours (Including Stops)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday, April 30 Check out time was 11:00, and since we didn’t have too far to go today, we left the loft at 10:58, with 2 minutes to spare! Of course, that was after we had already made one trip …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Thursday, April 30 Check out time was 11:00, and since we didn’t have too far to go today, we left the loft at 10:58, with 2 minutes to spare! Of course, that was after we had already made one trip … Continue reading →","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8779"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8779"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8883,"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8779\/revisions\/8883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/usontheedge.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}