Knoxville TN

We left home at 6:00 a.m. as planned and I took first shift.  We stopped in Wapakoneta OH at 9:00 for breakfast and then switched drivers.  We are very familiar with I-75 in Ohio all the way to Dayton because of visiting Emily.  But we had never driven as far as Cincinnati before.  We could tell we were there when we saw a hazy smudge on the horizon.  Cincinnati has smog!  It also has some cool architecture that you can see from the highway.  We snapped a picture as we crossed the bridge into Covington, Kentucky.

Kentucky was a beautiful state to drive through.  I-75 was in great condition - smooth and pothole-free.  The land sweeps in rolling hills that are already starting to green up.  I made note of a few places we need to visit in Kentucky when we take a trip there instead of just passing through.  First of all, we must visit some of the bourbon distilleries!  I also want to stop in Berea to see the arts and crafts of the area and we both want to visit some of the MANY historic sites.  Our drive took us through some of the vast Daniel Boone National Forest.  We worried a bit when we saw signs that said I-75 South was closed ahead.

We found the radio station that explains the road conditions.  There had been a rock and dirt slide that closed the road just into Tennessee at exit 160.  So the state dept. of transportation routed us off I-75 and onto a back road - and I do mean back road!  We drove along a curving two-lane road that crouched under huge rocky outcroppings.  The speed limit was 45 and we were not even tempted to travel faster than that.  We saw some beautiful land, some forbidding land, and evidence of deep poverty.  The area we drove through was very isolated.  There were no gas stations, no stores, no schools, and only a few beat-up looking houses and trailers.  We passed a tiny white church with the sign for service times nailed to a post outside.  It said that services were once a month.  It gave me a really clear picture of the meaning of "itinerant preacher."

We were routed back onto the highway about 30 miles north of Knoxville,  so we stopped here after 9 hours on the road.  This has been a good first day of our adventure.