July 12, 13, 14 – driving driving driving

July 12th
July 12th was a day about driving. We left Asheville and headed towards Brevard with the intention of meeting up with an Aikido friend of dad’s to go swimming in some waterfalls. This failed, as we could neither rendezvous nor find the waterfalls. After an approximately 50 mile detour, we returned to Brevard and had lunch.

Then we left town and headed west towards Chattanooga, TN. The drive took about five hours, following route 64, which is neither highway nor back road.

We found (pricey) wifi at a Barnes and Noble and found ourselves a campground, and then went to Fresh Market for some real, cookable, refrigeratable, food.

The Tennessee River (complete with River Boat!)

We camped at Raccoon Mountain, where we hooked up the camper and got to turn on the lights and the AC and plug in the computers. We ate dinner outside (quiche, chips, cheese, blueberries), and then retired to check our emails and catch up on our blog reader (or, I did).

July 13th

In the morning, we set out again across Tennessee, headed first for Memphis, and then later tended towards Tuplelo, Mississippi (although we diverted and never made it there).

We took route 64 across Tennessee, which was actually quite nice driving, and listened to the first Aubrey/Maturin book by Patrick O’Brien.

We stopped in Lawrenceburg (home of Fred Thompson!!!!!!!!!!!) out of sheer hilarity and got a group picture with the statue of Davy Crockett (or locally known, *David* Crockett). The town square was quite quaint and nice, as town squares go, but since it was Sunday, everything was closed.

Then we continued on 64 until we reached…

One hundred nine miles to Tupelo. The Natchez Trace is a road built on an ancient Indian road, which was also used by the settlers as the came west. Occasionally along the road we were pointed towards pieces of the ancient trace. It was pretty cool.

There were various interesting stops along the way on the Natchez Trace, and so for a few we got out and looked around. We went on a Nature Walk.

And then we found this guy:

When we got back to the camper, I decided this would be the perfect place for a bike ride, so (cutting the story short) mom and I mounted bikes and Sarah got on the moped and we rode along while dad drove the camper ahead to meet us. It was hard to take pictures of this stage, so here’s the best I can offer you.

Then Sarah got a little bit hit by a car a little and we had to stop.

We crossed two state lines: from Tennessee into Alabama, and then from Alabama into Mississippi (the time spent in Alabama was short).

Once in Mississippi, we stopped to get gas, and then found a camp ground in Eupora, MS, where we plugged in, swam in the lake, and had dinner. Hooray.

July 14th

Today was more driving and driving. We ploughed through Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and have now entered Texas on our way to Austin and San Antonio. We stopped briefly in “the oldest Dairy Queen in Texas” and I got to upload some pictures, but now we are at a lovely campground in Rusk, TX, where I am currently checking the potential internet. We shall see.

I performed surgery on the tunic I am knitting– I finished it all up several days ago in Asheville, but tried it on a decided it was too short, so I cut it in half, am knitting down the body some, and will reattach it near the hips. It looked like this:

and now looks like this:

(Thank you for indulging my knitting content.)

Anyway, we crossed the Mississippi River around 11:30 in the morning.

We stopped for lunch at the edge of Arkansas at J.J.’s Lakeside Cafe, where we ate fried catfish and fried shrimp, and enjoyed (to the fullest extent) their buffet.

Apparently, this is where all the locals go, because once we were seated people began to come in. That’s how you know it’s a good restaurant– people know each other. Also we were told by the paramedics at the door that no, in fact, they were eating and not rescuing, and that any time we saw cop cars or ambulances pulled up in front of a restaurant without the lights flashing, we were to be assured that it was a good place to eat.

Then we sat by the lake (formed originally by the Mississippi River) and Sarah drew, and mom and I knit, and dad napped.

Then we drove to Texas.

So far, it’s great.

No internet at the campground. I’ll post this tomorrow after we drive some more.