Saturday April 13, 2024

Franklin TN to Tuscumbia AL

We were up early as we are not adjusted to Central Time!  We checked out the breakfast at the Clarion Inn - not up to our standards so we headed out.  Found gas right down the street for a really great price $3.79 so filled up and headed on towards the Trace. We opted out of eating at the Loveless Cafe which sits at the entrance to the Trace.  We have been there before; and while it is an iconic location it would be very time consuming.  We discovered both the museums we want to visit in Florence are closed on Sunday, so we are going to visit both today - not enough time for waiting to eat at Loveless.  We settled for a Waffle House breakfast and it was good.  Had not been in one for years.

We drove through Brentwood - beautiful huge homes - and then suddenly we were at the Loveless and drove right onto the Trace.  So peaceful and beautiful.  Very little traffic other than bikes - both motor bikes and the pedal variety.  We lost count.  The dogwood was beautiful and almost all the trees were turning green.  We did pass an occasional car, but I bet we did not see more than 10 all morning.  We did see lots of turkeys and buzzards.   Also, some wildflowers - yellow rocket, daisies, may apples, Solomon seal, and of course lots of dogwood and a variety of Rhodendron that Ben identified as a species unusual in east TN - it was a beautiful pink color but I got no photos.

We came to the area where Meriweather Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame, died.  He was buried there after being shot by his own hand the story goes.  We visited a while with a volunteer who is camping here for 3 months.  His wife is working remotely and he is volunteering as a guide.  She has to work 6 more months and then they are off on lots of adventure around the US.  We were glad to pick up a park map.  I had the map on my tablet and we were using one of the i-phones for a hotspot.  Worked great until cell service went out! This is a rather remote area. We continued on down the trace still not seeing much traffic and passed the TN /AL state line.  There are lots of spots where you can view the original trace.  Soon we found the road to Florence and headed the 15 miles to the Rosenbaum Frank Lloyd Wright House Museum.  We arrived a little after noon.  I went in to buy tickets for the next tour - it was to begin as soon as enough (about 10) people gathered.  We popped back into the van and ate a quick lunch and were ready when the tour group came out.  

The house was all Jane had hoped it would be.  Very modern design (built in the late 1930's) known as Usonian - horizontal lines connect the home to the land.  Materials were cypress, glass, brick, and concrete. Every room had access to the outside and all the original furniture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was intact.  The rooms were small but so open and the light was fantastic.  This house is the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in the southeast.  The city of Florence negotiated with the Rosenbaum widow when she had to leave the home.  She and her husband had been the only family to live in the home.  It was built by them as a gift from his father when they married, and they remained in the home until she left for assisted living.  The city of Florence did a wonderful job preserving and restoring the home to its glory. The roof needed work and they had to add a heating and cooling system.  The fee was very reasonable - $5!!!  Ben loved seeing the construction details and house plans.  Jane loved the design and all the bookshelves and storage.  The original kitchen was tiny and the second kitchen added when Frank Lloyd Wright designed an addition when their family outgrew the original house; was not much larger.  I believe this home is one of the only homes he designed that also had an addition he designed in his later years.  

We then headed to the Indian Mound Museum.  It was interesting but a little underwhelming. They did have nice exhibits of arrowheads and celts.  The mound itself is quite large.  You can see the steps in the photo and - you guessed it we did not climb up to the top. The mound is 42 feet tall and the area on top is 145 x 94 feet.  Interestingly there were no more than 10 parking spots.  The area is right beside the Tennessee River in Florence and to be honest hard to find even with the Waze navigation system. 

Our greatest challenge of the day was finding our hotel.  But in the end Waze did its job and we were in a nice Comfort Inn suite for a nap.  Ben took a nap and Jane did a bit of research to decide on a restaurant - the one selected in her original research before we left home.  We ate dinner at Champy's Fried Chicken.  It was indeed tasty hot fried chicken with a slight bit of heat.  The sides were good too.  We felt right at home - near our table on an outside dining area was a huge Mason-Dixon Trucking sign!

A little TV and blog writing before heading off for some sweet dreams.  Hope to add the photos tomorrow. 

 Friday April 12, 2024

Kingsport TN to Franklin TN

We scurried around and finished all the last-minute things on our list and were leaving Rambling Road at 9:45. Our target was 10 so we did great!   It had rained most of the night and there was a blustery wind blowing....cold for 55-60 degrees.  The sun was shining and the drive down 181 was pleasant until the truck traffic got very bad.  After Knoxville it cleared out some, but the wind continued making the drive a bit difficult.  We stopped at a rest stop near Crossville and ate lunch in the van.  Jane had bought lots of goodies at Ingles and with only minor replenishment along the way we should have tasty lunches our entire trip.  Maybe save a buck or two and eat nice dinners!

We had rain showers off and on from Crossville to nearly Franklin.  We took a new to Jane highway - I 840.  It leaves I 40 near Lebanon and heads south to Murfreesboro and then west joining back up with I 40 somewhere just west of Nashville.  There were several distribution warehouses along this highway - Amazon and many other names I recognized but have since forgotten. We got off in Franklin.  A nice new bypass for Nashville.  It may have been a few miles further but far less traffic and headaches.  We drove right to our hotel on Murfreesboro Pike and had a couple hours to relax before finding some dinner.  Jane had spent 4 months here in Franklin on an interim assignment for the Red Cross some years ago.  Nothing in this area of Franklin was here at that time. This area has had tremendous growth over the past few years.

We tried an Irish Pub for dinner and had Fish and Chips.  They were excellent.  Jane had sweet potato fries substituted for the regular ones and they were 5 stars for sure.  Quinn's Neighborhood Pub is worth a try if you are in this area.  Great food and economical - must make their money on the beer. 

Plain Fish and Chips

Fish with Sweet Potato Fries

Tomorrow, we find our way to the Natchez Trace and head towards Florence AL where we are expecting to tour a Frank Lloyd Wright House for Jane and Indian Mounds for Ben!  And the scenery along the Trace should be nice.  We are hoping for a bit warmer weather and no more rain and wind. Never been to Florence, Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia so that is a new area for us. 

Testing blogging with my tablet

 We are headed out for a short spring trip down the Natchez Trace. We hope to see some spring flowers, tour a couple Indian Mounds and museums, visit a Frank Lloyd Wright house, tour gardens and old homes in Natchez, and eat some interesting meals. There are not many places to stay for one long section of the Trace but we planned the trip around the one night we could get reservations at French Camp.  

Safely back at Rambling Road

 

Saturday September 30, 2023

 

Up and out to find breakfast since our Quality Inn had none.  There was a spot nearby with good reviews, so we ate an OK breakfast and were soon on our way. We had an uneventful trip on north quickly passing from Alabama into Georgia for about 20 miles and we were back in Tennessee. 

Quickly on through Chattanooga and Knoxville eating lunch somewhere along the way.  When we reached the Sevierville exit on I 81 we thought we would try visiting “our” Buc-ee’s.  It was now midafternoon on a Saturday. Big Mistake.  The traffic just to get off the main road into the road to drive up to the Buc-ee’s we waited through 2 red light cycles.  Long drive and a circle to get into the parking lot - it appeared every gas pump area was full – traffic in the parking lots terrible – people driving around waiting for someone to leave a parking spot.  Needless to say, we were not going to wait on a spot to battle through crowds of people when we really did not want anything! 

Back on the road for us and we got home late afternoon with no incidents. 

Jane feeling less than optimal and less good weather than we expected made for a less than perfect trip.  However, it was nice to get away from home for a few days and after the medication had time to work Jane was back to feeling good in a few days.  Not our best vacation but no major incidents.  

 

Heading Home

 

Friday September 29, 2023

We were up and headed north by 9:30. We retraced our drive back to Montgomery but there continued on I 65 north towards Birmingham and then Chattanooga on I 59. Going through Montgomery and Birmingham was a great choice over Atlanta on a weekday. 

One thing about the drive north through Alabama - boring.  Trees grown along both sides of road make you feel you are driving in a tunnel. 

We made a stop at the Priester’s Pecan location, but Jane still was not feeling like shopping after we got inside.  She sat in a rocking chair on the porch while Ben looked for just the right pralines to match with what we had bought at Buc-ee's. 

We continued on from Birmingham to our stop near Gadsden AL where we would spend the night in a less than wonderful hotel.  We settled for a Quality Inn because it was a big race weekend and all the other hotels were booked.  Clean and bed fine but nothing to write about.  We had dinner at a nearby Cracker Barrell. 

 

Visit to Urgent Care

 

Thursday, September 28, 2023

 

Jane continued to feel bad so chose to visit an urgent care office to seek additional medication since she was now having sinus pain.  The wait was not long and the doc chose to prescribe an antibiotic instead of an oral steroid to ensure she was not getting an infection that could spread to her lungs.  The visit and the trip to the pharmacy took most of the morning.  We visited a nearby Jersey Mike’s for a sandwich and chips which we enjoyed on a table near the pool back at our hotel.  Jane really did not care where we ate dinner so Ben chose what he remembered was a favorite from a previous visit – the Crab Trap.  This drive took us to the east into the very tip of Florida -Perdido Bay.  Regretfully this ended our vacation on a bad note – Jane ordered Redfish which she had enjoyed on previous visits to this area.  Ben had a Captain’s Platter.  Neither was good.  The grilled Redfish was too thin and small a piece to grill – if I got 3-4 bites that were not crispy tough, I would be surprised.  Ben did not enjoy his dinner either.  When we spoke to the manager as we left – she offered us a certificate to come again which was useless as we were leaving the next day…  won’t go back there!

Driving back to our hotel we stopped to gas-up for the trip home.  Beautiful sunset. 

 A word about our hotel in case we ever look back to return here again.  It was a fine Holiday Inn.  The access to the beach was good, the pool area very nice and it was clean.  Our room was right beside the elevator and while I thought this was great at first – the constant dinging of the elevator bell was not a plus.  We made the reservation late and did not have a beach view room.  We might ask for that in the future.  After 4 mornings the Holiday Inn breakfast was a bit old.  While the cinnamon rolls were great the first day – I did not want one the last!  They changed the hot offerings a bit but mainly it was the same every day.  The prices of all hotels have gone up over the last year – I did not feel it was worth nearly $180 a day.

The best Filipino food in 50 years

 

Wednesday September 27, 2023

 Jane was not feeling 100% with her head and asthma beginning to bother her - blaming it on the air conditioning in the hotel in Newman.  We chose to drive west on the main road to visit Fort Morgan.  Ben wanted to see what some of the non-commercial beach looked like.  Nothing much to see down that way – there was quite a bit of housing but little in the way of commercial establishments.  The weather was a bit iffy too – calling for rain which never came. We visited Fort Morgan which was a bit of a restored fort.  This Fort was in active use from the 1800’s until the mid-1900’s.  So very important for actual defense in both the War of 1812 and the Civil War; it served as costal defense during the Spanish American War. Even during WW 1 and 2 it was used both for training facility and defense.  The fort was finally decommissioned and is now a state park.   As we drove back towards Orange Beach we stopped at the Sunliner again and had the onion rings we had admired the day before.  This time we had salads and onion rings.  Both hit the spot.

We selected our 1^st choice for dinner tonight – Stephi – a new restaurant for us.  What piqued our interest were the Filipino dishes on the menu.  Located in a strip mall the restaurant was unexpected very upscale.  They were indeed the go-to Sushi restaurant in the area.  We had crispy lumpia and it certainly hit the spot – 5 stars for sure.  Could have eaten two orders!  Jane had the Seafood Pancit stir fry with snapper, shrimp, and veggies with rice noodles and Ben had the Caribbean Bowl with shrimp, coconut rice, pineapple salsa, sliced avocado, smoked corn and black beans.  Both of the main dishes were excellent and certainly met our expectations.  The sushi we saw being prepared and served looked good if you like sushi – we don’t.

Example for Sushi lovers to view.

Lumpia

Seafood Pancit

Carribean Bowl

View in Strip Mall

Do Nothing Day

 

Tuesday September 26, 2023

 

We sat outside by the pool and enjoyed the sunshine – only staying about an hour afraid we might get too much sun.  Got cleaned up and headed towards Gulf Shores looking for somewhere to eat lunch.  We ended up at the Sunliner Diner a place we had enjoyed in a previous trip this way.  We split a club sandwich and fries. 

Would be fun to eat at this table! 

Plenty for us and it was quite good.  For the life of me I do not recall what we did that afternoon but we at dinner at Wolf Bay which had very good reviews on Trip Advisor.  We again split a seafood platter which was mostly good – fish, scallops, and shrimp all good, but don’t order oysters grilled.  The gouda grits and grilled veggies were very good.

 

Newman GA to Orange Beach AL

 

Monday September 25, 2023

 

Up and on the road continuing south on I 85 crossing into Alabama just above Auburn.  We had been watching the signs for Buc-ee’s and decided it would be our first stop of the day. We have a new Buc-ee’s in Sevierville just opened in the last few months but we had not visited.  This store in Auburn had just opened Spring of this year – so very new.

Trees beginning to turn color.

Ben was surprised less than $4.

  We were there mid-morning before a crowd arrived, so we enjoyed looking around without a lot of people.  Very clean bathrooms, lots of gift items and lots of food items.  We bought brisket sandwiches, drinks, some Bucee nuts and some pralines.  Continuing down I 85 to the next rest area just past Gadsden and enjoyed the brisket sandwiches.  They were pretty good considering.

 

Half-eaten lunch! Very tasty.

Continuing we passed through Montgomery which was a breeze after Atlanta.  We picked up I 65 in Birmingham and continued south until we reached the Bay Minette exit which goes directly south to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.  We arrived at our Orange Beach Holiday Inn Express late afternoon and chose to drive just across the road to Bubba’s Seafood where we split a broiled combo dinner.  Perfect amount of food.  

Plenty of food for two. 

Our Holiday Inn is right on the beach and has a pool area and direct access to the ocean.  After dinner we walked to the beach area, but the wind was blowing so we did not stay long.

 

On the Road South

 September 24, 2023

It should be noted here that Jane was not 100% for a good bit of this trip.  She took few photos and since she is writing this blog 3 weeks after the trip it is short on detail!  

We left home headed towards Asheville on our way to the Alabama coast.  We had not driven this way in some time but decided to give it a try since we would be driving through Atlanta on a Sunday.  We stopped at the NC visitor center for a bathroom break before heading around Asheville.  There were lots of the flowers blooming there that we had been seeing this morning.  

 

Beautiful Grass along I 26

Ragweed

Butterfly Weed seed pods

New York Asters

Black Eye Susan

 

We then headed on 25 towards Travelers Rest and around Greeneville SC to hit I85 towards Atlanta. Although we had not been on this road for some years it was quite familiar. We stopped for lunch and managed to hit the outskirts of Atlanta about 1 PM. I can’t imagine what the traffic would be like on a weekday. 

 

One of MANY interchanges in Atlanta area

 

There was an inner lane you could pay extra to drive in that had very little traffic today.  While there was not bumper to bumper traffic there were so many lane changes that it took both of us and Waze to keep us in the right lanes – on to I 285 and back on to I 85 headed towards Newman GA and our stop for the night. 

One of numerous factories along this route

We made it and were very glad to be out of the car and settled into our room.  Ben wanted to order Chinese food and have it delivered.  Jane did her first online order to be delivered.  It arrived as promised and she picked it up in the hotel lobby. Probably not the best Chinese food we have ever had but it was hot and tasty.