We finally got back about 6pm this afternoon. We left Knoxville around 7:20am after a questionable continental breakfast of two white donuts and a shot of apple juice. Since we pretty much travelled on familiar territory today I didn’t find much to take pictures of, but you know me…what beauty lies just beyond the next hill?!
The Smoky Mountains were, duh, smoky. I love the views, especially in the morning light.
We stopped to have a nice lunch in Bedford, but after finding our way back to the restaurant that had been in the old train station we discovered it was closed on Sundays. Perfect. So we head our little iron horse down the road to the next obliging place. That turned out to be a Ruby Tuesday that was just about filled with well-dressed churchgoers and apparently a lot of former military men and their wives who had braved the heat to visit the National D-Day Memorial. Since we went there on earlier trips we had little desire to take a hot tram over cement. We shared a rather large appetizer sampler and beat feet out of there. We made a mental note to get the appetizer again here locally.
We stopped at our favorite watering hole in Crewe, grabbing a couple of apple pies and a cup of ice. That was sufficient to get us all the way back to our turf. Along the way (thru Crewe) we noticed that the fire hydrants had all been painted in different designs. Of course, if I’d tried to capture one with a pole in front of it I’d be a winner. Murphy’s Law loves me.
When you check out my photos take a good look at the cloud picture! All those little white fluffies are in a circle. I had my seat back and was basically looking at the trees and sky for a while or I’d never have noticed!
A quick dash in Harris Teeter to stretch our legs and grab a few food items and we were suddenly back on Blackwater soil. Gosh! It’s really true! There’s no place like home.
BUT, we had turned off the water and the AC before leaving. The house was almost 100° and even the floor felt hot to our bare feet. We went outside to water a few remaining plants around the greenhouse and then found out that the water pump would not cut off. Dan says probably from lack of use. Whatever…I calmed him down in the heat, telling him we didn’t need water yet, to wait a bit before heading out to the shop for a tool to fix our problem. He couldn’t stand it very long and soon headed out to the metal shop (I’m sure 1000°) and fixed the darn thing. I must say my shower in cool water really felt better than if it was hot; and my towel did not take my skin off like those over bleached wonders at the hotels.
Catching up on 60+ emails and then back to my very own bed that isn’t shaped like a bowl in the middle.
