We slept in late and relaxed and read for most of the morning at the campsite in Nashville. Having decided to make the 800 mile drive home tonight from sunset to mid-morning tomorrow, the priority for today is to rest and prepare to make the long drive home safely. Perhaps it was because the AAA TourBook offered little high praise for sightseeing in Nashville (the best of the bunch was the science center), the fact that a drive would have involved an hour and a half round trip, or the fact that we are done with sightseeing and ready to go home, but all of these reasons may have contributed to our decision to spend the day reading and napping before supper, breakdown and hitting the road for the last time this trip.
The weather was hot and humid, but the AC in the trailer kept things comfortable. I finished “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White that Josh lent to me, bringing my trip total to four books (a distant second to Joy, who polished off half a dozen or more this trip). She had a nasty habit of glumming onto whatever books Vicki or I happened to be reading. We’d “lose” them and find her curled up with them. Great minds must think alike =)
After the book, I took a nap with the goal of dreaming – got a couple of hours in and a weird dream before supper. My sunburn from our pool day in Arkansas still hurts (my pride more than my body), but I slathered on some aloe gel we bought last night and slept on my back. After supper, we cleaned up and went about our various packing chores. Vicki filled up the van at a gas station nearby and I filled my thermos and travel mug with coffee that needs to be chewed first. By 8:15, we were buttoned up, hooked up and rolling slowly out of the camp and onto the highway. Vicki took the first leg, while I tried to get some sleep. The sun had just set and it was 80 degrees outside; we ran with the windows down.
Driving at night through Nashville was beautiful. The Titans were playing Tampa Bay in a pre-season game before 65,000 people and the stadium was beautiful as we passed by on a stretch of I-24/40 that paralleled and then crossed the Cumberland River as it wound its way through the city. By 11 pm, we drove through Knoxville and veered onto I-81, which shadowed the Appalachian Mountains before crossing them in Virginia. When we got to Kingsport (where my Uncle John and Aunt Mary lived for many years), we stopped to fill up and switch drivers. As I pulled back onto I-81, it was just after 1 am. A few minutes later, we crossed into Virginia and lost an hour as we crossed into Eastern Standard Time.
I can’t resist saying that we crossed the Appalachians at around 2400 feet. The van did fine, and I didn’t fuss for the sake of the sleepers (and because I’m not as worried as I used to be). I drove by the light of the rising, waning moon that we have watched grow from new to full and wane back to a crescent throughout this trip. The temperature got to a comfortable 66 outside as Sunday morning dawned over the Shenandoah Mountain Range to the east. Moments after sun poked its head over the mountains, we stopped to fill up again in a hamlet called New Market, near Luray Caverns (we went there on our 10th anniversary). We had knocked out 600 miles and had a mere 200 to go.
There was some talk of breakfast, but we were all too excited about getting home after so many weeks away. We drove on familiar highways around Washington and through Baltimore and celebrated as the mileage count dwindled and we exited 95 at 279 and crossed into Delaware. Minutes later, we backed the trailer into our driveway as Ruthann was leading the service at Skyline, and hugged Nicole in the front yard. A half hour after we had cut the engine off, we were crashed in our beds – without having to set up our house. Home is the campground we’ve been looking for.
Total mileage for the trip: 5914 miles of travel (500 miles average) and 1299 sightseeing miles (75 mile average), for a total of 7213 miles
We spent 130 hours in the van this past month and burned nearly 400 gallons of fuel.
No doubt, we will not forget this trip for the rest of our lives. Thanks for reading.
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