Greenville Swamp Rabbit Trail

 

We found an interesting camp ground in Greenville called Paris Mountain State Park. Though it had narrow roads and was heavily forested, it was a beautiful peaceful park and was quite close to our bike trail, the Swamp Rabbit Trail. The park office is located in the old CCC-built lodge building which had very interesting stone work.

   

We arrived at the park in Greenville in late morning and got to the trail right after lunch. The trail begins on the north end at Travelers Rest and is 13.5 miles one-way to downtown Greenville, but we elected to start at Furman University which is a beautiful spot in itself.

           

This is an exceptionally nice trail. Read more about it at http://www.independentmail.com/news/2011/oct/23/path-prosperity-swamp-rabbit-trail-offers-family-r/. Our ride was about 17 miles RT. Check a track of our ride at ms-msa=0&msid=201062930514639309031.0004b0497ac07a8e59d13 Click on the end point to see statistics of the ride.

            

     

    

We spent a pleasant night at the park with sleep coming easily except for the occasional hickory nut hitting the roof. The next morning we headed home via I-85 through Atlanta.

		Greenville's Swamp Rabbit Trail VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Charlotte Trolley Trail

 

            

We had been wanting to ride the Charlotte Trolley Trail for quite some time. We had read that Charlotte was being visited by representatives from other cities to see how they had constructed a light rail trolley into town along with a pedestrian/bike trail paralleling it which stimulated development of condos and restaurants along the line. We parked downtown and rode south. We parked at the fire department which was adjacent to the trail and had some unnumbered spaces in a very large and nearly empty lot.

 

                

             

   

          

                                  

We had a great ride, but upon our return we saw that our truck was missing. With a closer look we discovered that there is an obscure sign saying it is a paid lot and listing the tow company’s phone number. We were already tired and thirsty (having drunk all our water on such a warm day) when we learned that the tow yard was two miles away. We would not only have to navigate to the tow yard, but to an ATM downtown for cash as well. This was the first serious use of our smartphones. They ably navigated us to both. However, one of the roads came to a dead end with barrier at the Norfolk Southern RR main line. As we could see no alternative, we jumped our bikes over several tracks to the street on the other side. The tow yard was not too far from there and we got our truck back. Still no water, though, until we got back to the coach.

Actually, the Walmart where we were parked was in a bad neighborhood – bad enough that we had planned to leave when we got home and find a better place to park over night. However, we were so tired there was no way we were going to move. Fortunately we had an uneventful night. The next morning we headed for Greenville, SC, and the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

Fall RV Trip to the Carolinas and More

 

In mid October we set out on another coach trip to North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina. Originally we had planned on attending the Country Coach International Club rally in Beth Page Virginia near the Chesapeake Bay, but George had an unexpected mediator training class scheduled, so we modified our trip to get back in time for that.

We joined up with our friends George and Jan in Asheville, NC. We stayed at an RV park that is on the French Broad river and has a bike path passing through it. Our main goal though was to have lunch again at the marvelous Grove Park Inn. 

          

Departing Asheville we caravanned with George and Jan to Jack and Marylou’s house just north of Charlotte, NC. What a lovely place they have on Lake Norman, and what a delicious meal they served that evening. We enjoyed seeing Jack’s garage and aviation mementos and enjoyed a bike ride with Marylou at a park on the southern end of Lake Norman.

The next morning our friends headed to Beth Page while we headed to Danville, VA to visit my brother’s namesake T. Harley Moss and his friend Jackie. There we biked with them on the Danville River Walk Trail after having lunch at Short Sugar’s BBQ where president Obama had lunch while he was campaigning in Danville.  The trail runs behind the BBQ restaurant and goes through wooded areas, beside parks, and passes by the dam on the Dan River.It was a great ride.

                 

                 

                                            

                  

After the ride T. Harley and Jackie came over for a visit at the “house” parked at Walmart, our favorite hotelier. The next morning we headed to another Walmart in Charlotte for another bike adventure.