May 15, 2008

May 15, 2008

A half hour west of Blacksburg, SC is another Revolutionary War battlefield, Cowpens National Battlefield. Following the success at Kings Mountain, Patriot militias harass the British with guerrilla warfare until Continental Army soldiers under Daniel Morgan can arrive from the north. Alerted to a growing army, the British send a force of British Regulars to eliminate it. Morgan picks a frontier grazing spot, where farmers fatten their cows on the way to market (The Cowpens), to make his stand. He shrewdly uses two lines of Patriot militia sharpshooters to weaken the British line and draw them into a trap where the Continentals finish them off. After watching a movie about the battle we walk the flat open battlefield. Along the way, we run into several large groups. Talking to them we find they are army officers on a “Battle School “ field trip. I would love to go to their Battle School. If only I didn’t have to enlist to do so!!!

From the battle park, we cross into North Carolina and run straight into the Appalachian Mountains. A dozen of the exits along the North Carolina highway are decorated with some of the best wildflower displays I have seen. Unfortunately Aimee forbids me from stopping the RV on the interstate to take pictures. She is no fun! West of Asheville, NC we pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway, which we take into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a picturesque tourist road that rides the Appalachians connecting the Smokies with Shenandoah National Park. As we climb higher, we hit the cloud layer and visibility drops to less than 20 feet in the dense fog. You just have to look around at the low-lying cloud drifts to see why they call these mountains, the Smokies. Unfortunately for us, it starts to pour, so we head to Smokemont campground to wait out the rain.