Now that we have made it to the remote corner of Tennessee called Rocky Top and all our necessary chores are complete, we could go exploring today. We started with a trip into nearby Blountville for breakfast at a place called Dolly’s Diner. There were a bunch of cars parked in the lot and that is always a good sign. In this case, however, it was not an indicator of superb food. The food was pretty ordinary but the prices were great. A bacon and cheese omelet served with biscuits and gravy is less than $6 and it was tasty enough. Dolly’s would seem a great place to dine if you were in a hurry.
We continued on very serpentine and hilly single-lane roads over to Elizabethton, a beautiful town with a 1900’s main street and a gorgeous downtown city park that occupies both sides of the river running through it. There is an old covered bridge and a very contented group of ducks and geese hanging out near the bridge. There were lots of baby ducks and goslings following their folks during grazing operations. There are also a bunch of beautiful old houses and municipal buildings scattered around the city that warranted some exotic U-turns to get better looks.
From here we started some random explorations and soon ended up in some state parks near Elizabethton including one with a place called the Doodle White Overlook which offers a great view of a reservoir and the Appalachians.
Getting around in this part of the state must be nearly impossible for anybody without a good GPS wayfinding system. The roads point in all directions except the one you wish to take. On one eight mile trip, we had to take at least ten different roads because in this sort of mountainous terrain there are no straight runs. The roads hug the hills and sneak along creek bottoms. Lots of gorgeous houses are built in the bottom lands with many structures built on the opposite side of the creek than the road. Residents have built small bridges crossing the creeks whose architectural flair is only surpassed by the bridge’s flimsiness. We found a few ravines (hollows, pronounced “hollers”) where residents live in small Dogpatch-like communities of illiteracy and toothlessness but most of the places were quite pretty. All the scenery is great.
On our way back to our trailer in the afternoon, we tried US-421 because we anticipated using this road when we leave Tennessee and go into North Carolina. We no longer consider this a good road to use because it is loaded with tight switchbacks, steep climbs, brake-heating descents and ubiquitous opportunities to plunge over steep precipices into oblivion. While driving this road, we passed through a spectacular mountain pasture with a town called Shady Valley plopped down in the middle.
While admiring the stunning views, we spotted some black smoke rising not far from our location and decided to go take a look. There was a local cop leaving the area as we arrived and we thought surely the fire department was not far behind. We hung out a bit, watching some hillbilly’s shed burn until there was an impressive explosion which brought the cop whistling back to take a closer look. By the time we left, the former still or meth lab was fully involved and emanating evil-looking dark clouds of smoke.
On the way home, we drove by the town of Bristol which is split in half by the Tennessee/Virginia border running through the center of town. Nearby is a famous NASCAR track which I always thought was a rustic little arena in the middle of some pasture based on what I could ascertain from the TV. There is still lots of pasture but the actual seating around the track is quite impressive. I guess it has to be in order to get 160,000 people around a half-mile track. We finished off the day with a trip to a barbecue restaurant in Kingsport called Pratt’s. The food was very good and reasonably ($15 a head) priced. Strangely, they have a big (20 feet tall?) statue of an Indian built out front but where his head should be was a blue plastic tarp.
We took a few pictures along the way and you can see them if you click here