Over Thanksgiving my wife and I were making our way from Michigan to visit my son at Ft. Bragg N.C. We overnighted in Knoxville and knowing that a section of I-40 was closed due to a rock slide at the TN/NC border I studied a map and discovered 'Route 32' off of Route 321 near Cosby. It look relatively straight on the map and I figured we'd have a scenic drive around the road closure and pick up I-40 again on the NC side. Yeah,....right.

'Adventure'....a screw up you survive. Oh Lord, it was indeed 'scenic'. We drove ~40 miles of gravel roads that our rental car probably wasn't suppose to see. Don't know how many times we crossed the Appalachian trail. Took various forks and went through Waterville and eventually made our way to Cove Creek. I've never seen switchbacks like that and I've had considerable experience over the western USA mountains (Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona). Saw most of Mt. Sterling and the name 'Cataloochee' numberous times. Pretty part of the world but my wife got mighty pissed at me for refusing to 'go back'. Encountered a couple other vehicles during the three + hours we were back there including a local that we stopped and chatted with. He got a real chuckle out of my attempt at a short cut.

Any A-R folks familiar with this area? We encountered an entrance road to a valley with some very extensive brick 'turrents' on either side that piqued my curiousity. Anybody know their history? This would have been on the very eastern end of the Smoky Mountain National Park near the NC and TN border.

I lived just north of Knoxville for about a year and drove truck locally around a 500 mile radius the first thing that I learned is if you leave the main rd in that country you can have a merry little adventure indeed! They don't believe in wasting pavement. Most logging roads in MT are wider than some of the state Highways in TN and western NC. Road sings are optional and the locals drive with a death wish. Neat country though.
I'm glad you survived now you have a good story to tell.

i take it that you didn't stop off for a bit of that good old mountain moonshine

After you've been around an otherwise mild-mannered woman long enough you know when they get to that 'some kind of mad' zone you don't want to pursue any further.

Had I even done a sniff of liqour during this period of time my wife would have tomahawked me about the head and shoulders with her shoe. And all I could have done is duck, cover, and take it.