It has been about a week or so since I got back from Utah. A friend of mine was doing interviews down in the south for residency at hospitals so we made a bit of a road trip out of it.
After leaving Detroit on a Tuesday am, we staying in Cleveland for a night and headed down to WV. It was not rafting season, but it gave me the chance to set up the ATV outfitter near Beckley. It seems pretty cool operation on the Hatfield McCoy Trail.
It snowed 5 inches in the morning when we got out of the hotel room. This only added to the treacherous turns on the WV mining roads. After visiting with my rafting guide and having breakfast in Fayetteville at Cathedral Cafe we moved on down to NC.
I day spent kicking around U. North Carolina and Duke and I was itching to get onto a trail. We headed towards Asheville and into the Smokey Mountains. It was raining and fog was heavy so I felt like I was in South American Rain Forest. Here are a few of the shots. It was kinda strange as we rolled through some pretty scary back roads and then came upon the town of Gatlinburg. It is the tourist trap of all tourist traps. There is a wax museum, a Hard Rock Cafe, 10 miniature golf courses, etc.
After the Smokeys we drove to North Georgia and stayed at my Fly Fishing Outfitter's house.
We got up early and visited the small town of Helen before hitting the stream. Helen is a town built in Swiss Alps theme. Everything looks like a chalet, even the 
McDonalds have to build according to Swiss building codes, which is kinda neat and strange at the 
same time.
We got on the stream near Unicoi State Park and fished for a few hours. I am not good so I spent most of my time in the trees. Our guide did help me land this one big one, but he did all the work to make it happen.
Tomorrow we head back to Detroit and into the frozen Tundra of winter.
All the best,
Darren
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