Detour

Writing about the last day is always the hardest. The adrenaline of travel has worn off. Sometimes all you did was drive or fly. This time, we did a lot with our final day in Tennessee.

We made plans with Nick and Lanette to meet them for an early lunch at The Country Porch with the most rural sounding address I’ve ever heard: Muddy Pond Road. This area has a Mennonite population, which for those not familiar are a lot like Amish, but without the restrictions on technology. Nick and Lanette suggested 11am so we would have our food before the big lunch rush arrived of tourists enjoying a nice drive through the autumn foliage.

Glad they did, because it got packed quickly. Country Porch is almost more general store than restaurant. There are a few aisles of homemade goods like bulk spices, pie filling, gelatin powder of various flavors in tubs, wind chimes, and little toys. The restaurant part is a deli counter where you grab a slip of paper and check what kind of sandwich you want, the bread, the cheese type, and toppings. I had a chicken salad wrap for something light after days of BBQ and pizza. I also got pints of mini buckeye candies and curry powder and a peach turnover (that was my breakfast this morning.)

We ate outside on the porch and I told everyone that I was going to make a detour to check out a rock shop near Mammoth Cave on the way home. I read about it on a Facebook group and the pictures had one of my signs of a good rock shop: open bins outside filled with rocks. Based on what I am looking for, the best rock shops are dirty, look a little run down, and have been run for decades by a couple who generally wear sweats and t-shirts to work. If the shop is too polished, then the rocks will be, too. Well, since I come by my nerdiness honest, the rest of the family wanted to go, also. Even Nick and Lanette decided to make the two hour drive to Big Mike’s Rock Shop.

The drive was mainly back country roads and small highways, which was perfect for this sunny autumn day. I was glad to have this nice chunk of my return trip not be on an interstate.

I found some cool stuff at Big Mike’s, but it was a bit too touristy, so they did not quite have the types of things I was looking for. I am happy with what I found and I am glad we went, but being a tourist trap for Mammoth Cave did drive up the prices. The rock shop we stumbled upon in Michigan remains the reigning champ of rock shops.

By the time we were ready to head out again, it was past 4pm so no time for caves. It was not really on my agenda, but Nick and Lanette had hoped to see some before heading back.

At this point, I did not bother trying to stay with the family while driving the rest of the way home. There was a crazy incident where I had to change lanes pretty quickly because there was a metal bunkbed frame sitting in the middle lane of the interstate from where it flew out of the back of a truck. Beyond that little moment of terror, it was a smooth ride back home.

I dropped off my suitcase and thrifting treasures, then went to get Freckles and Lester from their sleepover with Dad. I hung out until the rest of the family got home (they stopped for dinner, but I did not.)

I did have a weird experience when I got home. When I went through town and dropped off my stuff, I noticed a lot more police than usual. When I came home, same thing. I unloaded the dogs and went to go in my side door. As I was unlocking it, I noticed the strong scent of either men’s deodorant or body wash. It’s pretty dark right there and it smelled like the source was really close. Of course the dogs had no reaction, but they are terrible at noticing their surroundings. I got in as fast as I could and checked all my doors and windows. I had to let the dogs out the front door to potty and I did not smell anything, so it wasn’t a scent just in the air that night.

When I left this morning, it smelled normal. When I opened the garage door to load the dogs in my car, there was a full stick of men’s deodorant, body wash, and styling goo of some sort. Since I did not smell it as strongly, I’m paranoid someone was in the dark bushes by my door and he abandoned his shoplifted booty in front of my garage. Considering I came back from one trip to find my house in Indy had been robbed, my paranoia is not unfounded.

In the meantime, I had a delightful grilled cheese with the smoked gouda I bought to remember the fun times.

Autumn Adventure

The plan for today was to go hiking. We thought Nick would have a suggestion, but it turns out he has plenty of hiking he can do on his homestead, so he had not been to any of the state parks.

I had already gone to Cummins Falls and we knew Burgess Falls was close. Yesterday when Andy had looked up Burgess Falls, it said the trail was super rugged and even included cables you had to scoot across. Well, it appeared in a search I did, so I decided to give it a look. Turns out there is also a Nature Preserve in the park and that is where the super intense trail is. Burgess Falls trail is 1.25 miles and takes you by four falls. It is rugged, but not dangerous rugged.

We puttered around the hotel, had the traditional hotel waffle, the kids went swimming, and did some more thrifting. I scored big time at the Goodwill. When Nick was off work we met at Burgess Falls State Park.

The trail follows the river and goes to four falls. Each set of falls got more spectacular than the last.

Between the first and second falls, there as a crazy looking bridge thing that I thought might be the bridge Andy read about, but there was a plaque explaining it was were a water pipe crossed the river, so that was anti-climatic.

The hike was gorgeous and included spectacular overlooks.

For the final falls, there was a trail that went down to the top of the largest falls.

It was a great hike and we were all tired. I even got to meet another beagle puppy! This was another little girl named Opal. She was so sweet and surprisingly calm for a beagle puppy. No one would help me kidnap her.

Nick and Lanette had to run an errand, so we agreed to meet up again for dinner. We pulled out of the park and spotted a restaurant called Chestnut Oak Farm Store and Kitchen for a late lunch. It was a barn with some locally made crafts, ice cream, and cheeses with a short order diner type food. I had a patty melt and got a scoop of cookie dough ice cream. I also had to buy some smoked gouda.

We went back and puttered around the hotel some more then went to a restaurant called The Blue Pig Smokehouse for dinner. It is an upscale BBQ place. I had Sweet Potato Nachos which is sweet potato waffle fried covered in cheese crumples, pulled pork, and green onions. I also had a nice Blake’s Peach Apple Cider.

We closed the place again talking and catching up. It was a great day with great people.

Still Kickin’

Some of you may be thinking that I have abandoned this blog, but no. I just did not go any where this summer.

I made some major repairs to Old Unreliable so that I could put her on a lot and be done with it. Actually, first I put her on Facebook Marketplace and had an immediate offer for $45K and a message from a camper dealer in Lafayette to put it on consignment on their lot. I went with consignment so someone else could handle what to do with transferring the title when the bank still had it. Well, this was April and the RV market still looked strong. Now it is October and the dealer will be buying it since they couldn’t sell it, but for only $35K. This price is at a loss for me, but as Kenny Rogers said, “You got to know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run.” After all the trouble it’s given me, it is time to cut my losses and run.

So, no travels for me as I paid a monthly bill for it to sit on a lot not selling.

I did do a quick trip to visit my friend Andy in Nashville in earl August right before school started. It was a short trip and I was in school starting stress mode, so I did not write about it. It was a great trip that was more my speed than the last one.

This week, however, is a little different. Some of the family: Mom, Aunt Kathy, and Mary and her three girls, and I decided to visit my brother Nick and his wife Lanette in Tennessee where they live. I came down a day early (yesterday) to visit Andy in Nashville since he is only an hour away from Nick.

Since I am on vacation, so I did not want to involve an alarm clock, I told Andy I would leave based on when the dogs wake me up. Normally, this is 6-6:30am. For once, they let me sleep and I woke up at 7:30. I dropped them off with Dad and got on the road at about 9am. Much later than I had hoped.

The first bit of mayhem was somewhere that was supposed to be easy. For some reason, Indianapolis likes to build, tear up, then rebuild certain exits over and over. Reconfiguring them each time, so imagine my surprise when I found the exits to 465S and 465W flipped. The exit for 465W was now on the east side. I got off on the next exit since I was heading the wrong way only to find that the entrance ramp back on to 465 was closed. I had to take 82nd Street. That was a little delay.

They rest of the trip went smoothly until right over the TN/KY border when the traffic just stopped and we were parked for around 20-30min with my exit just out of reach a 1/4 mile away. Never did see what the hold up was. I also had one Nashville exit mishap where the sign said my lane was the exit only for Exit 90B. I did not change lanes and ended up on Exit 90A. That was another turnaround at the next exit.

I finally arrived around 2:30 and the weather was great, but a storm was brewing. Andy and I both eat at odd hours, so we headed out for a late lunch/early dinner at a place called TennFold. It’s a brewery with a lot of speciality pizzas. We had came for a Korean Beef Pizza, but they had just switched to a fall menu so we took a chance on a pizza called the Honey Hive. It is a thin crust pizza topped with white sauce, butternut squash, sage, smoked bacon, and rosemary honey.

Soooo good.

It was a perfect combination of savory with just a hint of sweet. Hot honey (spicy honey) is a Nashville thing and we had a hot honey pizza last time, but this one was more subtle and delicious.

We got back to his apartment when the downpour started, so we just stayed in the rest of the night and caught up, watched tv, and tried to take his dogs out in between downpours. It was all good though because going to a state park with a waterfall was on our agenda for the next day and since it had been so dry, this rain should liven it up.

Seeing how there is a time difference, I was able to get up at the earlier time I had planned for the morning before. Our agenda was breakfast, hit some local thrift stores, and then go to Cummins Falls State Park which was 15 minutes from the hotel my family was going to stay at.

For breakfast, we decided to try a place called Sunflower Bakehouse that was by TennFold because Andy had not tried it, yet. We got a menu and I realized this was an all Vegan place. Now I can do vegan for a light lunch or a sweet breakfast, but I was in the mood for some real sausage and eggs so we left and went to an old standby called Nadeen’s Hermitage Haven. They bill themselves as “elevated American classics” which translates into some good comfort food, often with a little heat on the side.

*Picture not available, Andy accidentally deleted it.

I have recently developed a love of thrifting. Totally unprompted Andy asked if I would be interested in checking out some thrift stores. Would I! We started with Goodwill. They had a vacuum that I am still regretting not buying. Next was a regional franchise called Southern Thrift. I found some kids books in pristine shape and a nice bamboo tray. The third was mainly just clothes called The Ugly Duckling Vintage. I found a cool corduroy coat that was just smidge too small and a cute little clutch that was more than I was willing to spend, so this one was a bust for me. Most of the stuff was geared more toward guys who like sports and music themed tees and jackets.

With our thrifting completed, we headed back to his apartment to pack and get his dogs. We had to drive separate since I was staying in Cookville. It was the rare beautiful interstate drive. We drove through the mountains surrounded by fall colors. There was another u-turn needed after I got off the interstate, but I found the hotel. My family was still a ways away, so we headed to Cummins Falls State Park to see a waterfall and have a nice little hike.

We decided to do the 1/2 mile trail to the overlook for the falls. There was a longer trail down to the falls, but since it had just rained the rangers did not recommend it and then they told us about during the summer having to rescue upwards of 10 people a shift from drowning because people jump off the falls to the pool below even though they can’t swim. ????

The cherry on top was a family showed up with a beagle puppy named Shiloh, so I got my beagle fix. Now I have to stay strong and not get a puppy when I get home.

A lot of tree roots, but a fairly easy little hike to the overlook. I was, for once, happy to see a few others on the trail coming back towards us. My reasoning was that they scared any snakes or bears for us. They falls were beautiful and more powerful than expected. I did not quite realize this until we spotted people down there and it gave me a reference for scale.

We started back up the trail and a nice elderly couple pointed out a different trail that would still take us back to the car, but let us see some new scenery. It was lovely and gave us some high up views of the river. It was surprisingly easy considering we were hiking in a mountain range.

The drive back to the hotel was like a postcard along winding, rural roads with colorful trees on both sides. We got back to the hotel too soon and said our goodbyes. The family had arrived, so I headed up to the hotel room to kill time until Nick was off work so we could all meet for dinner.

We met them at a family-owned pizza place called Big Tony’s Pizzeria. It had good classic pizza. They had a gluten-free crust for Nick. It was good, but you don’t come here if you are in a hurry and EVERYTHING is an extra charge. Parmesan? Extra. Water? Only bottled, no glasses from the tap. Ice? Don’t have any.

We closed the place and made plans to meet up tomorrow and make our plans then.

For one, I am hoping to try something not pizza.