Yesterday morning, while waiting on my Sweetie to pick me up at Maggie Valley, he ran into a huge problem. Luckily, he wasn't involved in an accident ---BUT he did get into a huge traffic jam due to a big rock slide. Here is what happened (taken from an article published on the internet). The pictures above and below are also from the internet ---but ARE from this big rock slide.
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"A massive rock slide has shut down Interstate 40 at the Tennessee-North Carolina state line. The slide happened around 3:00 a.m. Sunday about 3 miles inside Haywood County, North Carolina.
Authorities say one woman is reported to have suffered a minor injury when the Jeep she was driving was hit by a falling rock.
The rubble reaches about 50 feet high and 100 feet long. Troopers say some of the rocks that fell were the size of a house.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation web site says they expect that section of I-40 will remain closed for at least several weeks.
That stretch of Interstate 40, which winds through extremely rugged terrain, has been prone to road-closing rock slides over the years. In the summer of 1997, a slide just inside the state line completely closed I-40 for more than two months."
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SO----a three hour trip from Crossville, TN to Maggie Valley, NC turned into a SIX hour trip for George. There are very few ways to get across the Smokies ----so George had to turn around (in TONS of traffic) and head toward Gatlinburg and over the mountain to Cherokee, NC. And since it was a gorgeous Sunday in October, there was bumper to bumper traffic that way. Worn out, he finally got to Maggie Valley about NOON Eastern time. That was a LONG 3 extra hours for me also---waiting to see him!!!!
After picking me up, we decided that since we couldn't go on the interstate, we would head west across the Carolina and Georgia mountains and enjoy the beautiful Fall colors. We went on the Blue Ridge Parkway part of the time, and then through Silva, Bryson City, Robbinsville ----and then across the Cherohala Skyway into Tennessee. We stopped at many overlooks --taking pictures of the beautiful Fall colors. I can't remember EVER seeing such gorgeous colors (especially between 2000-3000 feet above sea level). I'm sure we'll share these pictures soon.
SO---a long morning turned into a beautiful Autumn afternoon ---even though it made for a LONG day, especially for George (who was driving). The good news is that we are both SAFE---and we are HOME. Yeah-Rah!!!!! The vacation was great---but home is BETTER.
Hugs,
