it's almost september. almost a year since we embarked on our great American road trip. guess i better hurry up and post the final photos ( Read more... )

also known as the morning of the mushrooms. and turkeys. lots of both.

day sixteen was quite an eventful one, not only because it was the second-to-last day of our cross-country road trip, but also because so much happened. we hit the road as early as possible that morning because although the Blue Ridge Parkway covers a great deal of distance ( Read more... )

a footnote before the next big entry. for the final bit of driving between exiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park and arriving in Asheville, we actually started the next (and final) phase of the trip. another reason we had to make up some time in the middle (sorry Oklahoma, Arkansas & Tennessee) was that we wanted to finish the last stretch ( Read more... )

finally, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. we stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center (park headquarters, near Gatlinburg, TN) on our way into the mountains from the Tennessee side to pick up some trail maps and browse the gift shop for postcards and whatnot. then it was off to view the popular Laurel Falls (not actually that interesting), a ( Read more... )

after spending the night outside Knoxville, Tennessee, we made an early start toward Great Smoky Mountains National Park. but before we could hike to forested cascades or gaze over misty blue peaks, it was first necessary to travel through Pigeon Forgelet's leave it at this: the less said about the ridiculous vortex of fallacious Americana that is ( Read more... )

early on the gray morning of day fourteen (i think it was sunday) we departed our lodgings near Fort Smith, Arkansas, and tentatively made our way south in search of provisions - gasoline, water, breakfast, jellybeans, etc. we found a massive grocery store, a chain i'd never heard of before (i'm of course forgetting the name), and wandered around ( Read more... )

we reached the far side of Oklahoma by dusk of day thirteen, crossing into Arkansas at Fort Smith and cruising the small highways on the southern outskirts to find a roadside motel. after spending so much time on the interstate (and looking forward to a fair share more of the same), we decided to detour a bit to catch some scenic byways and ( Read more... )

we departed Amarillo, Texas, on the morning of day thirteen, continuing to drive east on I-40 as part of our dash to make up some time through the middle of the country. crossing into Oklahoma, we pulled off the highway at a large rest stop and visitor center and spoke with a pair of friendly people working there about what to see and do while ( Read more... )

we spent the night of day twelve in Amarillo, Texas, at a hotel embedded in the conglomerate of similar hotels and fast food restaurants and gas stations that typically runs the length of the interstate as it passes through the city. we had our first IHOP experience of the trip, catching a late dinner (that was really breakfast with three flavors ( Read more... )

so as much fun as the New Mexico State Fair was, we had to start making up some of the time we'd been spending out west gaping at big rocks and desert vistas these past several days. there was a plane to catch on the east coast, after all ( Read more... )