Oct 9, 2011  Headed East we’re formulating a plan and we’re all over the place. Home sounds good, but there is so much to see.  We really want to go to  the Great Smoky Mountains National Park  so we call for reservations.  None available but, there are some first come, first serve available.  We head that way and end up in a traffic jam.  Not thinking, it’s Foliage Time in the Smokies.  The traffic was so bad you’d think you were in New York City.

Our travel intuition, otherwise known as tiredness, says skip it and wait until June 2012.  We already have plans and reservations to do a drag racing mini circuit Bristol, TN – Chicago, IL – Norwalk, OH.  We haven’t finished this rip and we’re ready for the next.

This adventure is not over yet, We need a place to stop for the night and rest our travel weary bones.  We end up in what appears to be a campground that is closed for the season, in Dandridge, TN. I call it the God Bless America campground.  On the side of a building is painted a HUGE American Flag, above it is painted God Bless America.  When David called for reservations, The owner told him to call when we got to the gate. When we got to the gate the owner gave us the code to the  lock and told us to put the fee in the lock box.  We share this Smoky Mountain Gem with one other couple, Lamar and Glenda from Alabama, nice, nice people.  Of course we talk for awhile and now have added Alabama to our list of places to visit.  It’s never ending.

Oct 10, 2011  The name of the game now is mileage.  No more stops planned.  After 40 days on the road, we’re going home. We stop for the night at The Falling Waters Campground in West Virginia, just outside Maryland ($33).  It’s 5 miles from a trail head of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail.  A few years back I biked the trail from Antietam to Cumberland, Maryland.  I’m not going to let this opportunity without sharing a least a part of the experience with David.

Next stop Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail.