Landmarks on the way back home

On our final day of travel, we got on the road early, as usual. Our trip was wonderful, but we were excited to get home…

And while she never complained, 2,400 miles is a lot of driving for one person to do (remember, she drives and I back up).

Within a few hours we entered Kentucky…

And a few hours later, crossed into Ohio and through Cincinnati.

 

Until a few days ago, you’d pass half a Jesus between Cincinnati and Dayton…

This is what it looks like now. It was ironically struck by lightening.

Almost home now, just go west at the Pioneer sugar tower at Findlay…

And west again at the super huge mosque outside of Toledo…

Drive north a bit, and then, Home!

Was in incredible trip. Looking forward to the next one, but for now, happy to be back in Michigan.

The Great Smoky Mountains

Over the next day, we traveled north, through the mountains between Cherokee, NC and Townsend, TN.

We started out on the Oconaluftee River Trail, one of two trails in the whole park that are open to dogs. They even get their own sign.

On the way to the trail, we passed by a restored settlement.

Near the beginning of the tail, we passed under the Blue Ridge Parkway, connecting the Great Smoky Mountains to Shenandoah Park some 469 miles away.

And of course, there was a river…

 

And a bridge over the river…

 

And as far as we could tell, no ticks!

Angela learned how to use the low gears…

As we made our way through the mountains.

       

In the afternoon, we arrived at our campground…

which, to Noodle’s delight, had a river running through it…

 

It was a good day and we hope to return when we have more time.

From the Mickey to Cherokee

The day after the trials ended, we were ready to begin our return trip to Michigan, via the Great Smoky Mountains.

We got up at the crack of dawn, packed up the trailer, and headed north…

We drove for hours through Florida, Georgia, and finally, North Carolina…

After a bit of a delay due to my unwarranted faith in GPS technology, we arrived at our campground in Cherokee, just outside of Great Smoky Mountains National park.

Caves to Cold Beer

At the county level, Kentucky has some Talibanesque laws around one's ability to purchase alcohol. This in a state that produces 97% of the world's bourbon.  The practical result of these laws are that the problem drinkers, rather than drunk walk to party store down the street, are drunk driving across the county to get to a place where they can buy their hooch.  There's actually research to support the idea that county specific prohibition reduces highway safety. 

Now, the Dharmaspoon Guy is not a heavy drinker by any means. But when he's on vacation, he wants to have a nice cold one at the end of the day. At this point in the trip, he was unable to do so...and after all of the ticks he removed from EVERYONE and EVERYTHING, he really needed one. 

Luckily, on the third day of our trip, we were leaving the place of no beer and plenty of ticks and caves and ponies and dinosaurs behind us as we headed to Georgia.

With Dharmaspoon Gal at the wheel, we took off in earnest to Cordele. She always drives. I always park. That's the division of labor we agreed to. Driving keeps her awake (and safer, for those who have driven with me) and the backing up the trailer is this inborn skill that I discovered I had when we got the thing.

The day was a long one. And not just because of mileage. We had to drive through Nashville at rush-hour, 

make a detour around a sinkhole that devoured a section of the Interstate, sit in construction at the Tennessee/Georgia border, and drive around Atlanta just to get at our destination, a former Pecan plantation next to an abandoned truck stop (which I assure you was much more peaceful and scenic than it sounds.)

We were ecstatic to discover that the campground store carried some very well-deserved ice cold beers, which we thoroughly enjoyed:

We settled down early in the evening, in preparation for the push into Florida the next day...

To the swamp and back: Mammoth Caves and Ticks

During our only full day in Kentucky...

... we dodged a dinousar...

... and went to Mammoth Caves National Park...

... and took the Historic cave tour...

... in which we learned about how slaves turned bat poop into gunpowder, sort of ...

...and rich people paid lots of money to deface the inside of the cave ...

...and the generously proportioned people were challenged.

We learned that a cavern and a cave are the same thing...

...and got to take the same exact picture everyone takes upon leaving the historic entrance, though I had an actual camera and not an iphone.

We went back for the dogs and then spend the afternoon hiking some of the surface trails....

... and saw where a river enters the caves...

... and passed by the entrance to a smaller cave...

... but didn't go in.

Over the course of the hike, the dogs became infested with ticks.

... and no, that that one ...

... but these. Dozens of them. 

We spent hours removing them....

... before retiring to the campground for a nice quiet evening.

To the swamp and back: Michigan to Kenticky

On the first day we drove to Kentucky. We set up camp at Horse Cave, which is about 20 minutes away from Mammoth Caves.

The campground was on kind of a farm and on that farm, Maebe made a new friend...

To the swamp and back: Introduction

On March 17, 2010, Dharmaspoon Guy and Gal, Maebe, Django and Cadence hooked up the A-liner to the Vue and headed south to the Canine Performance Events National Event in Kissimmee Florida. The next posts chronicle our journey.