Blogs from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, North America - page 13

Rich tended his beans at 3:00 AM. In the morning, he added six smoked hamhocks and two pounds of bacon. Then we spent the rest of the morning sanding and refinishing the neat wooden high chair we had found in Virginia. You can see in the pictures what an ingenious chair it is! After that, Rich went to the VA clinic to see if they would give him a knee brace. They said they don't have any supplies like that. He would have to drive to Johnson City to the VA Hospital. Next, he tried an orthopedic clinic. they couldn't sell him anything without a doctor's note. Finally, he went to a sporting goods store and bought one. He said it really helps him to keep from twisting the wrong way and causing more pain. When ... read more

We're here! We slept in and lounged around. Nancy's brother Phil had his four wisdom teeth extracted in the morning. It took two hours! His lovely wife Terrye was the surgical assistant and two of his sons watched part of the "procedure". When he got home and had slept for awhile, we visited. He was pretty funny under the influence of pain medication. He couldn't remember questions he had just asked. His sons Boone and Neal were taking very good care of him and making him comply with doctor's (and Terrye's) orders. Later, Rich loaded up his empty oxygen bottes and got them exchanged. While he was gone, Nancy wrote a few blogs. In the late afternoon, Nancy's brother, Don, and his wife, Betty, dropped by to visit. It was great to see them again! They ... read more

Before I get to the good stuff we need to have a short lesson in road etiquette, especially pertaining to motorcycles. When someone approaches you from the rear going significantly faster than you, you should let them pass when you get the chance. I’m not talking about excessive speeding, but only when you are going slower than the posted speed limit. This is usually only true when the car being followed has nobody else in front of them. If you are following another vehicle, than there is really no need to let the person pass you because they will just get stuck behind the car in front of you. And a comment about this situation too, if you have a long line of cars being held up behind you, you should let them all pass when ... read more

Cumberland Gap Ride Cumberland Gap (el. 1600 ft./488 m.) is a pass through the Cumberland Mountains region of the Appalachian Mountains, also known as the Cumberland Water Gap. We learned that this path was made more accessible for pioneer travel when Daniel Boone used 35 axmen to widen it. Due to his work, pioneers could use wagons to journey into the western frontiers of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Cumberland Gap Tunnel is a 4-lane twin-bore mountain tunnel that is 4,600 feet long, and it carries US-25E under Cumberland Gap between Tennessee and Kentucky, and it was completed in October 1996 at a cost of $280 million. We loved this tunnel so much we went thru the tunnel again, again and again, oh why not lets do it again...... The Cumberland Gap Ride was a road that ... read more

Monday, June 9- On the way home! We had to get on the 8:00 bus to the airport this morning. We figured we would be ok with time to kill- maybe we could find some good food and internet after checking in- WRONG! We couldn’t figure out where our check-in counter was so we headed upstairs where the shopping and food was. The little food court didn’t offer much for breakfast expect coffee so we had a “ham” and cheese panini. The only thing this time that was good about our meal was the Coke! We are really looking forward to eating American foods- pancakes would have been amazing for breakfast this morning. After waiting in the terminal for about an hour, Nicole went to find out where we were supposed to check-in. We were sent ... read more