Our summer trip just got shortened because our refrigerator died!
I bought a small one to survive that will work through our inverter.
We are heading back to southern Indiana for more family time
and to get help eating the contents of the fridge/freezer.
Caesar Creek State Park hike to Horseshoe falls.
Enjoying the falls.
Exploring the falls.
An evening hike to search for fossils
below the Corps of Engineers Dam.
Here is a good specimen.
Lantern launch at Wilmington TT after a day of festivities.
We have stayed at Carolina Landing TT several times.
It is in Oconee County near the Sumter National Forest
and contains some beautiful sites.
It also allowed us to view the total eclipse for 2.5 minutes
right from our RV site.
Brasstown Falls hike.
In the water below Brasstown Falls.
For our second hike of the day we chose
Riley Moore Falls on the Chauga River.
A cool choice.
Judy and the pose at Riley Moore Falls on the Chauga River.
Issaquenna Falls area of the
Every one is preparing for the solar eclipse!
Even on this small mountain road.
Jan and Rick Gabhart (niece and nephew)
joined us for a few days.
Behind/below Issaquenna Falls
where Princess Issaquenna hid after jumping
over the falls to escape her would-be captures.
Upper Whitewater Falls (actually in North Carolina).
The falls system starts here and finishes its
tumble 3.5 miles and 1500 feet down
into Lake Jocassee in South Carolina.
We took a short boardwalk climb to the viewing platform,
then further down the trail only to find
that the trail did not go to the falls.
This series of falls is the biggest in the eastern US.
Our first attempt to hike to the Lower Whitewater Falls
yields beautiful bridges, scenery,
turkeys,
an eastern king snake, but no views of the falls.
We just ran out of daylight and energy.
We will try another approach from Lake Jocassee,
one of 50 last great unspoiled places.
(according to National Geographic)
We rented a ski boat for the day in
Almost on the water.
Lake Jocassee is a cold water lake in the only
temperate rain forest in the eastern United States.
The captain Rick, mates Jan and Judy,
and of course my leg in the standard pose.
We enjoyed the water and lunch at Mill Creek Falls.
Mill Creek Falls.
Last attempt to view Lower Whitewater Falls,
this one failed too,
but we did have a view of the final
cascades as the river flowed into the lake.
This hike from the boat lead to two suspension
bridges and a beautiful creek.
Of course we played in the creek!
The rock I'm standing on is a jumping off place!
Not me, even if the lake was at the correct level.
Recent years droughts have kept the water down.
Laurel Fork Falls from the top of the rock.
And from the swim to the bottom of the falls into the lake.
The big day arrives!
The weather is perfect and HOT! We've got the shirts and glasses.
Carolina Landing TT supplied all of us with lunch,
eclipse music, and Eclipse Gum! Naturally.
We were able to view the eclipse from our RV site for 2.5 minutes.
We watched the progress for a time and were able to retreat
into the motor home for some air conditioning before our next view.
Of course we stayed out during the approach of totality,
because it was cooling down! I mean, it was really cool.
Totality
Diamond ring.
Notice the "UFO" in the upper right of the corona.
I'm pretty sure that the International UFO Museum
and Research Center in Roswell,
New Mexico will want a copy of this.
Viewing the eclipse with a food colander.
After the great show, we drove to view the interstate traffic.
It was bumper to bumper heading to Atlanta, 100 miles to the west.
While we were out, we found and hiked our last water fall.
