Music City - or Alls Well that Ends Well

We are now snug in our next overnight home just East of Nashville, Tennessee.   It was a 9 1/2hr drive from Jordan Lake, over the Smokey Mountains, and across the rolling terrain of Eastern Tennessee to get here.  

Our Home for the night

Our day started with bright sun and we were on the road at 8am sharp - the moment that the State of North Carolina opens the gates to the park and allows us who are incarcerated within to depart.

It was a strange morning to say the least...

First - we were driving for about 15 minutes and my navigationally challenged co-pilot Kate says as we pass thru a highway intersection:  "hey - isn't this where we left from this morning?"

Now I have to admit it did look a lot like the intersection that we turned at last night to enter the park and for a moment I'm thinking how can that be?  We turned and headed west and have been driving straight all along....    Then of course all my synapses fire at 100% and I realize that no - we have not entered the twilight zone and will forever be driving this one stretch of highway....   It just looked familiar...  That's all.

But wait - it gets better

About 30 minutes into our drive I notice our shadow racing us down the highway... 

More importantly I see out TV antenna is still extended and sticking up in the air.  

Now Big Rig Semi Trailers are 13' 6" tall.   All Federal highways have bridges that will accommodate at least that height and a bit more.

Our rig is 13' 3" to the top of the Airconditioner - but with the TV antenna sticking up another 3' or so - we were every bit of 16' high going down the highway....  Just waiting for a bridge to come along and peel off that sucker at 60mph!

About that moment that I see the shadow I see a bridge marked 14-6 ahead but an off ramp just before it, so I zip onto the off ramp and start to slow down thinking I've dodged a bullet.

As soon as I start feeling safe - I see some phone lines running across the off ramp and they don't look very high off of the ground.

So - Long story short is I stomp on the brakes and get my 26,000 lbs of traveling home stopped in the middle of a rural off ramp about 10' before running into the phone lines.  We run back to the coach hoping that the 60 mph winds have not hurt the antenna and thankfully all was ok.

But wait - the day is not over yet...

Back on the road - we are driving for another hour or two and start to run into the rain that the weather forecast had promised us for most of our trip today.   About the time the rain starts to splatter the windshield I say to Kate - "you closed the bathroom roof vent right?

You see - Kate handles the inside stuff and I handle the outside stuff, and once we are in our groove we are a well oiled machine but at first (especially with the new rig and not having our routine down yet) we are more like the keystone cops.

The roof vents are not supposed to be left up while driving down the road so when I got stopped I was worried that we had damaged it but lo and behold...  the vent was fine.  

I think tomorrow morning I'm going to slow down....

and have that second cup of coffee before we depart.

Our home tonight is the 7 points Army Corp of Engineers Campground.

The Army Corp manages a lot of dams and reservoirs and they have created some nice parks along those reservoirs.   This one is on J. Percy Priest Reservoir and would be a great place for a family vacation.

It has playgrounds and a nice beach.

  This is looking at the playground from our campsite.

There is water and electric at the site.

Clean restrooms with hot showers

The road thru the campground looks just like some nice suburban development.

You can see its still  cloudy but tomorrow we head West into the Sun.

This is looking out over the beach & Reservoir

Tomorrow as we continue our push West we will also stay at an Army Corp Campground in western Arkansas near the Oklahoma border.

Tonights Kudo goes to Kim for checking out the google map that I've created, and even making a comment on the blog...  Way to go Kim.

We've also been enjoying that homemade bread and muffins from Hayden & Raydeen.

Last night we had hot turkey sandwiches on homemade bread, and today homemade chocolate muffins.

New map point tonight on the google map shows where we are.

Tomorrow Arkansas.

Ready or not.... Here we go again!

Well we're back on the road heading for the Rockies.

Here we are today ready to hit the dusty trail.

Before we left however we did have one pleasant diversion.

Yesterday we enjoyed a brief but real enjoyable visit from our Snowbird Sailboat Buddies 

Hayden, Raydeen, Eric and Pat.

They are on their way back North after spending 6 months cruising the East Coast, the Keys and Bahamas.

We are honored that they actually adjusted their schedule and hurried in order to make this visit before we departed on our trip.

You guys are the best!

We had a great dinner in Beaufort on the waterfront then enjoyed some bluegrass music along the docks.

Then this morning our buddies headed out to Cape Lookout for a quick visit
before they continue their trek north.

Today was our usual departure day run to Jordan Lake State Park by Raleigh.  It's an easy 3 hour run, gives us a chance to check for any issues before we get too far, and most importantly it gets us "away from the dock" and underway.

This is our home for tonight in Jordan Lake.

For the next 4 days we'll be "travel mode" moving the rig out to Phoenix Arizona where we pick up Kates brother Paul for a week.  Our plan overnight stops enroute are NashvilleTN, Ozark Ark, Amarillo Tx, Gallup NM, and Flagstaff, Az.

We will follow the same general route that we took last year taking I40 west.

Those of you who receive the email updates of the blog...  a few tips

1. There is more content on-line at the actual blog.   Check it out.
2. At the very bottom of each email is a line that reads: 

"You are subscribed to email updates from s/v Ei 'Lean IP350-54 

If you click on that "s/v Ei 'Lean IP350-54"  it will take you to the actual Blog online.

• At the top of the on-line blog (just below the picture of our boat) is a line that reads:

Where are we?  Click here to find out.

If you click on that link it will take you to a google map that I've created.  

Each day I will put in a new map pin that will show you where we are.  

You can zoom in on the map... zoom out.  Click on street view etc.

You will also be able to click on the map pins and see a little bit more about the location and a picture.

The google map is a new addition that will help you correlate the blog with where in the world we actually are.   I hope you enjoy it!

• Also - Remember - YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PICTURES and they will ENLARGE.

You don't need to just see small photos.  

Enlarge them!  There will be a lot more to enjoy!

• COMMENTS:  We love your comments.  They are the fuel that powers the blog.

You can of course reply to the emails - but we really love when you leave comments on the blog itself.  When you leave them on the blog they become part of the story for all to enjoy.

To leave a comment on the blog you of course first have to go to the online blog by clicking the link at the bottom of the email.

Then at the bottom of each online daily blog post you will see a link that will say how many comments have been posted.

If you click on the word "comments" it will bring up the box where you can contribute your own post.

Just follow the instructions  it's easy.  Give it a try!

If you have questions send me an email.

Ok that - that's enough instructions.

Pull up a chair - I promise that where we are going the scenery will be amazing!