After a lovely breakfast with Deb, Tom and their kitties, we headed out for one last day of driving. The hills started to rise as we went through Tennessee and Georgia. By the time we got here:
we were officially in the Appalachian Mountains. After living next to 10,000 foot peaks for years, Catherine found these eroded tree covered peaks beautiful inviting hills. The mountain streams around the East Coast are quite dramatic compared to those on the Left Coast with many of them being larger than the Rio Grande (at least the western part of that river). We headed past the site of the 1996 Olympics Whitewater competition and the Nantahala River (which Catherine rafted in 10th grade).
Oh, and to make Catherine really happy, there was plenty of this
After being in NC for hours and hours (we started west of Murphy, 563 miles from Manteo, NC according to the sign), we finally made it to I40 and our first traffic jam.
About 10 minutes later, we went around the road construction. Catherine turned off the GPS because how could we possibly get lost once we got on I40? Denise had been on freeways for about 100 miles when she decided that taking US 64 the rest of the way home would be more scenic. It was more scenic (the same piney woods and fields we’d seen since just north of Hackberry, LA), but we missed a turn in Lexington. Thankfully, John in cooperation with Google figured out we were on Old 64 and that we’d be fixed in a few minutes.
We saw deer in the driveway as we came into Denise’s house. Tom liked his new hat (found in the dunes in White Sands) but both of them were rather surprised by the photo op.
Chester made himself at home on the bags, but Sam went to hide from the excitement.
Catherine managed to drive solo for the last few of the 4623 mile journey. John didn’t bother to get up until after she took a picture. He really doesn’t look happy to see me (or that this photo will make the blog).
Catherine’s furballs were running around too quickly to make photos possible, but seemed to be happy to see her.
Denise’s favorite parts of the trip was the Vermillion Cliffs (with the California Condors), Bosque del Apache (more birds), White Sands National Monument, Big Bend (especially the parts near the water), and the Whooping Cranes (tearing up Blue Crabs and feeding their baby).
Catherine liked the Vermillion Cliffs and White Sands, but is looking forward to being home for a bit.
We also note that we saw license plates from 45 states, missing Rhode Island, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Hawaii, and Maryland (of course). We got 8 bonuses -- 5 Canadian Provinces and 3 from Mexico. Thanks for reading! Next time you are heading somewhere, send us the link to your blog! It takes 30 minutes to an hour a night and is a fun way to keep a journal.
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