A Truck Named Clyde .... and our first official ride!

Today was such a gorgeous day!  Blue skies, not much wind, and temps in the mid to upper 50's ... a beautiful winter's day in northern Georgia!  Tomorrow the rain is coming in, and hubby and I wanted to take the new truck up in the mountains to 'break her in', so he decided not to work this morning and we hit the road!  We ended up in Clayton, Georgia ... far northeastern Georgia ... headed east toward South Carolina.  But then we saw an interesting looking forest service road, and decided to take it.  We rode, and rode, and rode some more!  And then we rode some more!

Isn't that blue sky just beautiful???  And it stayed that way all day, up until just before sunset, when some high up clouds started moving in, just enough to make the sunset pretty!

So we took this crazy forest service road ... lots of ups and downs, some muddy spots, some pretty big bumps and pot holes, and even a couple of places where we had to get out and break off some limbs so we could get through without scratching up the truck.  We also saw several pretty smaller waterfals and streams ...

We stopped at one place that was just beautiful ... a short walk downhill to a level opening surrounded by large trees, complete with a couple of campfire rings made from large rocks, and a lovely river that was trickling by at a pretty good clip!

And even with all the rain we've been having, the water was clear as could be ...

Then we took a left turn when we should have taken a right and ended up at a dead end.  It is actually a put-in place for rafts, kayaks, etc. into the Chatooga River West Fork, but it was too high for me to be carrying ANYTHING down to the water.  And the river was literally coming out from the mountain via this culvert ...

 

And after getting out and looking around, we went back the way we went in, took the turning we should have taken before and eventually made our way out and onto a paved county road.  As we were riding, we were talking about a name for the new truck.  I wanted something 'female' but the only one we came up with that we both liked was 'Clyde', which was hubby's idea.  Now, Clyde was my paternal grandfather's name, and so I had to think about it for a while,  but I knew he would have LOVED the truck, as would my Daddy, and they would have understood that it was a positive thing.  Also, I just wanted so badly to be able to jump in that truck and say "Let's Ride Clyde"!   LOL!

So Clyde it is!

After we got back into Clayton we cut back across to Hiawassee and visited a campground there that we have stayed at several times before.  We had some french fries and drinks from Mickey D's sitting in the sunny truck, looking at the lake and talking.  We were going to make a reservation at the office for mid-April, but the office was locked up tight, so I'll have to call them next week and make the reservation on the phone.  It will be our first camping trip this year, and will be a treat for my Mama so she can fish.  We took her there just a few weeks after my Daddy passed away (October, 2009) and she caught these two fish ...

and this one ...

on that trip.  She loves fishing more than I love eating ... and that is saying something!  So this trip in April will be for her enjoyment.

And then, after we left the campground we headed home, stopping along the way for a nice meal.  It was such a great day!  My hubby is such a great guy, and we have so much fun together ... talking and laughing and listening to music on the radio and just enjoying each others company.  And I look forward to many more of these days too ... happy times!

Blessings friends,