Life In The Fast Lane / Here's Our Sign

Day 153  |  Florence (AL) to Clemmons (NC)  | 8.5 Hours  |  549 Miles  |  1 Time Zone Change

A steady rain was falling as we loaded up the rental Mini Cooper to its max fill line. After closing all the through-hulls and emptying the deep freezer into the regular freezer, we gave the dock lines and fenders a final inspection and bid Crossroads adieu. Our route took us on a few more switchbacks over the Tennessee River and the clouds hung low all morning. The cotton fields were a blur as we passed them.

Neither I nor Barry had ever been in this part of the country and we saw several interesting things as we zipped by. There was an original McDonalds, an RC Cola branded convenience store, real ranches with their branding iron logos above the gates. When we entered Huntsville, we passed the US Space & Rocket Center. No time to stop for a tour today. We were on a mission. After five months of traveling of no more than 10 mph, our reaction times have slowed, and it was frustrating to not be able to "see" things as we drove by. We entered Tennessee, then Georgia, and then Tennessee again. The rain stopped as we made our turn onto Interstate 40 that would take us to Clemmons by way of Knoxville. Somewhere along the way, we passed back into the Eastern Time Zone. We realized that the car's estimated arrival time did not take into account this lost hour. Ooops, all of a sudden we were running late.

Fireworks stands were everywhere. The sun came out and there was some blue sky that peaked through the clouds. The drive into the Great Smoky Mountains was beautiful. Traffic was moving right along, nine or 10 times faster than our boat speed. The little red car handled well on the curvy road with steep ascents and descents.

In a week the fall foliage along this drive will be absolutely stunning. The reds and yellow are just now beginning to show in the leaves. More signs popped up to let us know we were getting closer. Not sure how the UNC national championship warrants a sign, but it made me smile to see it.

We passed through two tunnels dug through the mountain and marveled at the engineering feat that this road is. Still more signs trying to direct us to places I really want to go ... someday. Luckily, we saw no tractor trailers who needed to one of the three runaway truck ramps located within a mile of each other. We cleared the mountains and pulled over for a driver change. There are no pictures of Asheville because I fell asleep. Around Statesville, we pulled over for the final driver change.

I took us into Clemmons and finally found the sign we were looking for. The whole family (minus one) had gathered at Aunt B's and Uncle Bennett's and welcomed us with a great supper and even better fellowship. We were all dog-tired and called it a night.

From Clemmons we will head to Richmond, a four-hour trip that I've done hundreds of times before. For the final stage of this trip, the road signs may not even be noticed.