Tennessee Travelers Rally – Hiawassee, GA - Part 1

After the brief camping trip with our kids in Sevierville, TN, we made the four hour drive into the north Georgia mountains and passed within 3½ miles of home.  Going to Sevierville, I went thru Maryville and took US-411 to Seymour where I got on US-441 to Sevierville.  I didn’t like going thru Maryville nor the curvy US-411 so I came back by going from US-441 over to US-129 via John Sevier Highway (TN-168).  While this route was a little longer, it was a much easier drive, by-passed Maryville, and was about 15 minutes quicker so it will be my go-to route from now on.

Getting from Maryville to Hiawassee, GA, we took US-411 south to Ocoee, TN where we picked up US-64/US-74 east.  This route runs thru the Ocoee River Gorge to get through the mountains and it is pretty curvy for about 20 miles, but fortunately there was little traffic that I had to get over and let pass and we didn’t meet a single big truck heading the opposite way.  From Murphy, we took US-64 to Hayesville, then NC-69 to US-76 into Hiawassee.  A nice, uneventful trip and the road surfaces were all in good condition.

We got in to Riverbend Campground just south of Hiawassee, GA on Saturday afternoon, got set up, and went out to look around town and go to the store. 

This is our nice site by the Hiawassee River, which is pretty small at this point.

A large group had just left and we had the riverfront sites pretty much to ourselves.

This is the view out the BR window that I woke up to.

River Bend is a hidden gem where the grand kids turned the old family river bottom farm into a nice campground.  They have many amenities including this nice clubhouse which is available for groups.

On Sunday, it rained all day as a cold front moved in so all we did was look around the area a little.  Then, that afternoon two other coaches came in and we went to supper at one of the few open restaurants - Monte Alban (Mexican Restaurant) - where everyone seemed to enjoy their meals.

We awoke Monday to some cold temps and but still headed out to breakfast at the Sundance Grill which is located at one end of a small strip mall in Hiawassee.  It was a big hit.

I mentioned it was cold on Monday and it actually began sleeting and snowing while we were eating and it continued when we got back to the campground.  

Monday evening, two other coaches arrived in the cold and we had a BBQ supper from Wild Hawg BBG and Catfish House at the clubhouse – the meat had a good flavor but the chicken was a little overdone and the pork was not done enough to pull easily (I bought a whole pork butt).

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

4/14-4/16/18 Event Date