True to form, we did not even get out of town before we changed our itinerary. Our plan was to drive most of the way to Columbia, SC, spend the night at a no-tell motel,then finish the drive the following day to visit our friends in Columbia. Instead, we re-routed through Pennsylvania where we wandered what seemed to be miles of aisles of camo-colored commodities at Cabella's mega-outdoor outfitter emporium, then clicked off 670 miles to the Bent Tree Lodge in Asheville, NC. Most of our day was dry and clear, but the last 3 hours we navigated the Smoky Mountains in the dark through freezing rain. It was a shame that the most beautiful scenery of our trip so far was hidden by darkness, and the sloppy tick-tock march of our windshield wipers across the glass. The high cost of living in the northeast was glaringly apparent when we arrived to find what $110/night buys you south of Mason-Dixon. The Bent Tree Lodge is an elegantly rustic retreat with hard wood floors, home made chocolate chip cookies, coffee, and sodas free to all guests throughout the day, hand-made quilts, bent wood rockers on the porches and balconies, arts/crafts leather sofas and rockers in the cozy wood-trimmed great room replete with a large stone fireplace and a pool table, and miles of hiking and mountain biking trails just outside the door. There is even a 12-string guitar available for anyone inclined to perform for their house-mates. $110 back home gets you a small room at the Motel 6. After helping ourselves to cookies and tea from the do-it-ourself country kitchen, Karen and I collapsed into bed.
We love Ashville!
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