US 64 in NORTH CAROLINA · · PAGE 10. 

November 16, 2020:  Monday at 12:58 PM was when we got to US 64 and started traveling EAST and a bit northward over to Franklin, North Carolina where my GPS found a Wendy's for lunch today.  This is open road with mountain scenery ahead.  Wendy's is 29 miles from where we turned onto US 64.

This is the US 64 pass at the county line where Clay County meets Bacon County.  The elevation was under 2000 feet when we got on US 64 heading East.  At this point, the highway has climbed up to 3,831 feet above sea level.

Going down the East side of the mountain into Bacon County on US 64 reveals this overlook at 3,477 feet MSL with a good view of the valley ahead.

Here is our exit for lunch at Wendy's on US 441 south of the interchange.

I was surprised to discover the Google Earth camera vehicle went down to the Wendy's and circled the parking lot where we had our lunch.

We used the drive thru window to get our lunch for all three of us.  There was some grass for Chase to take his walk.  We got our meals at 1:37 PM at the drive thru window and were parked in the space marked in the photo with the GPS turned off at 1:40 PM.  The GPS came alive at 2:13 PM, but we did not move until 2:17 PM on our way toward our next goal near the Smoky Mountains.  Please forgive me for adding the small details I remember about each stop we make on this vacation. Some day this web site may be the only memories for me.  My age is 73 years.  I started to publish this web site about building my airplane on October 25, 2002 when I was 55 years of age.  I will add more pages to this site as interesting things happen, mostly about flying, but vacations are good to share.

US 441 north  from Wendy's puts us on the bypass around the city of Franklin, North Carolina and on our way to Cherokee, NC and the Smoky Mountains National Park for tomorrow.  This is the last time we see US 64 in this part of the vacation trip.  We will see it again later this week down in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

US 74 East will take us to the motel I had reserved for tonight a few miles East of this location.  We will pass through Cherokee on the way to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park tomorrow.

This is the Choice Hotel I had reserved for tonight.  I had already learned online the hotels closer to Cherokee, NC were full or did not accept pets.  We checked in and went to the room they assigned on the third floor.  The construction noise and dust in the air was a good reason to ask for a room on a different floor.  The pet fee for Chase was $25.  The usual HOT breakfast I get at Quality Inn hotels was not offered here with the Covid-19 restrictions.  We pushed our luggage cart to the second room and decided we should ask for a refund of our prepaid rate and depart.  The manager was off-site but would return shortly.  He was gracious in his apology when we checked out with a refund.  We sat in the car outside and made a few phone calls to hotels in Bryson City and Cherokee.   The chance of getting a room with a pet was grim for tonight.  We headed over to Cherokee to try a walk-in at a few hotels.

Here is the other side of that US 441 / US 74 interchange with our direction now going to Cherokee, NC to look for a hotel room.

Finally, we are on the way to our destination for today.  US 441 in Florida runs just one block from where our trip began in Florida.  Now that route will show us what we came here to see.

We stopped at this Quality Inn as we came into the town of Cherokee.  They do not accept pets.  We asked if she knew of a motel that does and we started looking for those motels.

The Cherokee Grand Hotel was our next stop on US 19 a few blocks south from the intersection of US 441 turning north toward the Smoky Mountains National Park.  This place was a Ramada Inn in my old GPS map from 2013.  No pets, no sale.  We kept looking.

We went back to the intersection of US 441 and headed north as this is near the center of town.

Going North on US 441, the Oconaluftee River divides the main part of town.  This side is mostly for tourists, the other side not so much as you will see.

Cherokee Veterans Park is a reminder of the World War II Native Americans who have been in military service to the USA.

This bi-lingual sign by the highway shows the Cherokee written language as they were the first Native Americans to develop a written language, publish books, and newspapers in the 19th Century.  The electronic part of the sign is promoting a Rodeo with members of the SEVEN CLANS of the Cherokee Nation in competition in September 2015.

The Cherokee Museum is at the heart of the town.  Just up the hill from here is the amphitheater where the passion play "UNTO THESE HILLS" is presented in the summer season.

We went north up to the end of the commercial district on US 441, turned around and looked on the street on the East side of the river to find the motel we had been told about when we stopped at the Cherokee Grand Hotel.  The hotel we found was CLOSED FOR THE SEASON.  On the way back down US 441, I went in to talk to the desk clerk at the Comfort Suites.  I asked her if she knew of a motel that accepts pets.  She told me about the El Camino Motel we had seen when we went down to the Cherokee Grand Hotel.  We got checked in at 5:45 PM before it got dark.  The owner lives on the property and had his two dogs in the front desk area.  This is November and on standard time, it gets dark early this far north, above 35 degrees north latitude.

The good thing about the motel is this Wendy's was directly across the street.  We had good stuff to eat for our evening meal and good things from their Breakfast Menu the next morning.