Atlanta, Georgia

Well, I am where I started in the US when Delta flew me to Atlanta, then would not let me leave the airport. Today, I got to achieve one of the things I wanted to do in the US and that is, drive along the Blueridge Parkway. Ideally, I wanted to travel on it by motorbike, but that wasn't to be this time. I was also fortunate that I chose only the most southern section of the otherwise very long (nearly 500 mile) parkway. The section north of Asheville is closed, according to the bikers I met on the parkway today. Essentially, the Blueridge Parkway is a single road that meanders through at least two National parks alongside the mountain ranges in the SE of the US. It starts in Virginia up near Washington DC and ends near Cherokee, in North Carolina just before the State border with Georgia.

I only did about 80 mile today of the parkway and it took at least 3 hours, of course there were many photoshops, but it is a slow old road. The speed limit is max 45 mph and often only 35 mph. The highest point was just over 6000 ft and starting to feel very cool. I was also fortunate that, despite a forecast of rain all day, it was often sunny along the way.

After the Parkway, I looked around Cherokee and found a Gun and Pawn shop, so I thought I would have a look. There was every type of handgun imaginable, including older style colts and machine hand guns (Uzi like, note sure of brand). I did not even look at the rifles, the walls were covered in them. There is something seriously wrong with this place.

After that sobering experience, I went south towards Georgia and came across a knife specialist just off the side of the road. They are essentially suppliers of materials for knife makers, handles etc, but they had a huge range of ready made knives, including kitchen knives. They had a ceramic cooks knife there on special for $18 (they are a lot dearer in Aus) so I bought one. What the heck, it was $18.

I actually staying in place called Suwanne  (nothing  to do with rivers I believe) and as far as I can tell, it is like the Ferntree Gully of Atlanta, that is lots of shopping centres and freeways, but still a fair way from downtown Atlanta. A lot of the cities and towns here are like that, very spread out, often with lots of green vegetation in between. Its the burbs.

Tomorrow, I might try to look at downtown Atlanta before heading west toward Birmingham, Alabama. I have booked my flight home, I will be back on Friday 13th, spooky.



Pics attached All Blueridge Parkway