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Elvis Lives Tour

May 2016 - August 2018
May 2016 - April 2019 Read more
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  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
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    Day 10

    Mad Hatteras

    May 26, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Driving down the outer banks today to our next camp site in Ocracoke. Memorial Day weekend so weve had to be organised for a change and actually book somewhere!

    Took a crazy little ferry half way down the banks - only looked like a mile on the map but took over an hour as we winded our way past all the sandbanks. Check out the wobbly Elvis on the dash (perfect pressie Claire ☺️).

    Spent the last few hours of glorious sunshine on the beach learning how to fly our stunt kite (I don't remember kites being so much fun!)    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
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    Day 11

    (oooo the) Ocracoke(y)

    May 27, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Ocracoke island is beautiful! The other outer banks are nice, but have strip malls and chains. Here, there is just beach and not much else :)

    Cycled into Ocracoke town and milled around, ending up in a eceletic little bar (even had Efes!). Had a swim, cooked fresh shrimp on the barbie, and sunk a couple of cold ones.

    The simple days are sometimes the best.

    Jo's ditty:
    Rode to Ocracoke,
    Ate tacos with guacamole,
    Cooked shrimps upon the smokey,
    Sipped beer, on beach,
    Ra Ra Ra!

    (maybe one too many beers?)    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
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    Day 14

    & the livin' is easy..

    May 30, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    A couple of relaxing but uneventful few days. We took a 2 hour ferry off the Okeycokey Island (as we renamed it) and then drove a couple of hours to a free little campsite by a boat launch. Bit worried about turning up at a random place where apparently you can camp for free (which isn't a Walmart car park), but turned out to a beautiful little spot. Happy days.

    Decided we needed to do more meandering so stopped off at Willington for lunch then camped at a Grapefull Sisters campsite. This was our first use of Harvest Host membership, where you can stay at vineyards and brewerys for free. We are more than happy to spend the usual camping fee on a bottle or two! We were expecting little more than a car park to stay in but got a fully fledged RV park.

    Next stop was Georgetown, a lovely little historic town on the river (actually convergence of 4 rivers) , for lunch. From there down to Charleston, where we found Porgy and Bess playing simulcast in the park. I'm not much of a musical man but Jo & I love this show and it was pretty spectacular. Tropical Storm Bonnie made an appearance after the interval but we had found the beer tent by then so all was good :)    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
    Day 16

    'Shaggin' in Charleston!

    June 1, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We had our first really lazy day, just mooching around the campsite and doing a few chores. It's hard work this travelling malarkey! We spent the next day exploring Charleston. Highlight was the slave mart museum, it was horrific to read of the scale of the operation: European goods to Africa, slaves to America, American produce back Europe- a shameful reminder of humans' inhumanity...
    (& sorry if the title of this post misled you- 'shaggin' is a kind of dance for the British reading this!)    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
    Day 19

    My Sweet Savannah (is gone)

    June 4, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Next stop was beautiful old town Savannah, think gorgeous town houses around immaculate squares with knarled old trees dripping with Spanish moss- oh yes we are in the South! Although instead of good Ole southern food the first thing we spotted was a British Pie Shop so I'm afraid we couldn't resist a chicken balti pie, sausage roll and Wellington Square (gutted they were out of bakewells). Whereas Charleston was all well-to-do ladies having afternoon tea in twin sets & pearls (or bougie in Vinny (New Jersey) speak), Savannah was all about drinking in the streets and much more our sort of place! Drippingly hot we got forced inside to rehydrate (sort of) and then we had a tropical downpour which kept us indoors. We ended up in the distillery bar just opposite where we were camping (actually just the visitor center carpark but for $8 for 24 hrs a bit of a bargin) so it was one of those sort of days!

    We wanted to hang around for a free concert in the park the next night, so we explored Old Fort Pulaski which is an incredible place. It took 18 years and 25 million bricks to build, then surrendered to the Union in 30 hours as they had developed rifle canons in the mean time. Spotted some pretty huge alligators patrolling the moat so we decided the beach was a better place to cool off (& shower!) and we were treated with a couple of small pods of dolphins just off shore.

    That night we pretended we were students again and hung out in the park for the massive free concert with Moon Taxi & Dirty Heads (My Sweet Summer Has Gone) for their graduation.    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
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    Day 20

    Head for the Hills!

    June 5, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    It was brutally hot in Savannah so we headed for the hills for some relief. We got as far as Elijah Clark State Park, which is the US's second largest man-made lake. It was bliss to douse off in the cooling waters.

    The next morning was a little cooler so I headed off on a run to explore the 3 mile loop, but ended up in the wrong camping loop so it ended up being a 13k jaunt. No stopping me getting in that water when I eventually got home (we have a new phrase: home is where we park it).

    We crossed back into SC to visit another state park and test ourselves on the mountain bike track. We were dripping by the time we got the bikes off the back, but it was actually a relief to generate some breeze. Unfortunately the track was really badly marked and maintained so we bailed and back into the water for another cool down. The heat was starting to get to us so instead of hanging around as planned we put in a few miles heading towards the foothills and found a little camp spot in a National Forest by Brasstown Falls.    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
    Day 21

    Sit down you're rockin' the boat

    June 6, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We had planned well the night before but I had a real hankering to get back on the Blue Ridge Parkway, even if it meant adding extra miles, and at one point I suddenly pulled off the road and had to convince Jo that that tiny little side road was the way to go so a U turn was in order (despite the fact that Elvis has a particular aversion to slow, sharp turns). We go a few minutes along this 'piggly' back road (as all windy roads are called, due to the incredibly named local supermarket chain 'Piggly Wiggly') and pass a rafting place. Jo decides this is the time to mention that this is one of the best rafting spots in the eastern states so a second U turn entails (sorry Elvis!).

    6 hours later, we survived 7 foot falls, the corkscrew, jaw bone (to name but a few). It was pretty wild (class 5) but our guide Eric made it look easy and we were the only boat (out of 3!) not to bail. We decided we'd earned a decent meal so local advice took us to the Universal Joint, once a garage now a pub, with the best burgers in town. The 9% double IPAs were delicious, but meant Jo was driving home - which happened to be the Bulls Sluice parking lot where we started our wild water adventure.    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
    Day 22

    Spice Up Your Life

    June 7, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We FINALLY made it onto the Blue Ridge Parkway (3rd time lucky) and it was absolutely glorious with blooming rhododendrons lining the roadside. A quick restock in Waynesville - the name says it all, although the people were super friendly especially when giving fishing advice!

    From there up into the Great Smokey Mountains, which actually aren't as big an area as you think, but the incredible national forests and foothills leading up to them are often oft overlooked.

    Cooked probably our best meal yet (says Phil) with ribeye steaks (thanks to Galen & Jagoda for their wedding favour of steak rub) & asparagus. Love this outdoor living!    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
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    Day 25

    Smells like teen (ok, middle age) spirit

    June 10, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We decided it was time to test our overnight gear (& ourselves) by doing some proper back country tramping (aka hiking to any non-kiwis reading). Once our permits were in order drove up to the top of the park to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Smokies, and set off from that horribly busy car park (10 million visitors per year). Fortunately it didn't take long to lose the crowds.

    Every way was downhill, and we chose the Forney Creek trail. It went down pretty steep to start which was a little disconcerting as our map had no contours and boded ominously for the following day, but all was going well until we came across a fairly significant creek crossing. After pondering our options Phil decided to give stone hopping a try and promptly ended up submerged up to his knees. A few crossings later there was a fallen tree and Phil had been watching too much Bear Grylls to not give it a try! We weren't very glamorous but we got across dry(ish).

    We arrived at our campsite only a mere 10 miles or so and slightly soggy but very glad to stop, pitched our tent in a sweet spot with stone chair table and fireplace. A quick dip in the freezing river washed off some of that 'eau de woods'. We made sure all food, toothpaste etc was packed and pulled up our bags on the bear pulleys then settled down for the night, trying not to think about the bear 'jerky' attack that one of the friendly fishermen told us happened nearby last season! Jo took gold medal at the Marshmallow Olympics, but the Bundy and Coke was the real prize!

    We awoke with somewhat achey backs, legs, shoulders (OK just about everything ached) & faced the 4,500 feet walk back up to the top. After 21 hours without seeing anyone else (so we definitely got away from it all...) found civilisation again at Andrews Bald an amazing clearing with wild pink rhododendrons & orange laurel blooming with a breathtaking view, which made the climb & aches all worthwhile. Seeing the Google Earth camera at the top made us realise that despite the effort it was definitely a privilege to be there in person.

    The hot shower was glorious & we collapsed into our (now seemingly) luxurious, Elvis bed - bliss.    Read more

  • Elvis LivesElvis Lives Tour
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    Day 26

    Lazy (& not so lazy) Days

    June 11, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    There wasn't much to be said for the town on the edge, but we did emerge reinvigorated and significantly less smelly. It was really nice to have wifi after the best part of a week with no signal, and we put it to good use pulling down the new series of Peaky Blinders.

    The morning was spent mooching at the campsite for as long as possible then we headed to Cades Cove, back in the park. The piggly road took some time but the primitive campsite at the end of it was amazing.

    As luck would have it, Saturday morning is one of the 2 days they ban cars from the loop road so an early start (the first alarm of our trip!) provided us with a couple of peaceful hours biking around the meadow roads without those noisy Harleys/trucks.

    We then decided a little hike was in order, so 7 grueling hours later we made it back to the campsite! We had somehow managed to do another 1000m up AND back down again. A obligatory dousing in the local river and a lazy evening rounded off the day. We'd racked up over 49k steps, which is definitely a record. Even our 'rest' day was 13k and it makes you realise how sedentary life is behind a desk.
    Enjoyed the firefly display next to our campsite in the evening.    Read more

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