106 miles to Asheville

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Well after more than 6 weeks and nearly a mile of miles, Chessy and I are almost home. I’m here in Sevierville, TN where Jeff and Toni met me Friday night. We had a fun day kicking around the outlet malls and will head home Sunday.

A quick check of my trip notes told me I’ve driven 5165 miles on this journey and it’s 106 miles to Asheville! Sorry I couldn’t resist a line from the Blues Brothers movie.

It’s been a fun week on the road from Bosque to Tennessee. I spent four nights in Grapevine, Texas visiting friends. It was a huge transition to be in a big city after spending a lot of time in rural areas near National Parks and wildlife refuges. The night sky with all the city lights was a stark contrast to the views I had while doing star trails.

When I left the Dallas - Fort Worth area, I put in a full day’s drive to arrive at a campground on the Mississippi River for the night. What a neat experience to watch the barges along the Mighty Mississippi.

I had a short drive to Nashville on Thanksgiving Day and then spent the evening with the Rockettes. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is playing at Opryland.

I found it ironic to spend part of the day Tuesday at the Gaylord Texan enjoying their Christmas decorations and then two days later go to the Gaylord Opryland!

Thanks to all of you who ‘traveled’ with me on this fun trip. I appreciate all your comments along the way and your thoughts and prayers. Hope to “see” you next year on other journeys.

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Photos

Granbury, TX Courthouse
I spent one day in Granbury, TX visiting Jeff's cousin and his wife. It was a fun day. They have a great town square which has been nicely restored.

9-11 Memorial
Grapevine, TX is right next to the DFW airport. They have a nice memorial to the crews and passengers who perished on the four flights hijacked September 11th, 2001.

Gaylord Texan skylight
Here's a view looking straight up in the middle of the atrium at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, TX. The Texas Lone Star is featured throughout the facility.

Christmas decoration
They were putting the finishing touches on all the Christmas decorations while I was visiting the Gaylord Texan. Part of it was temporarily closed off when I took this. If you look closely behind the Christmas tree you can see a fountain that had quite a tall geyser.

Lone Star Poinsetta
They had lots of Poinsettas and other flowers in the atrium. While I was trying to figure out the best way to capture this an employee suggested I ride up the glass elevator. This is a result of my ride up the elevator and having it stop at each floor looking for the best angle.

Mississippi barge traffic
I wish I had been able to arrive before sunset and sit by the river watching the barges. But it was worth the long drive to watch the sun rise over the Mississippi and see several barges moving up and down the river at Memphis.

Mighty Mississippi
I was out before sunrise and then several other times as I saw barge traffic going by. My 'picture window' - AKA front windshield - looked right out over the river. I could have thrown a rock from the front of the rig into the river!
This was the 2nd of two barges going north right behind one another. Ironically just as this barge and tugboat went directly in front of me, he powered down the engines and came to a stop for a minute or two. I'm sure it was for traffic spacing with the vessel in front of him, but it was like he was stopping so I could take photos!