It started raining around 11 p.m. last night, and it rained throughout the rest of our time in Tennessee. Luckily we were snug and dry inside the Sportsmobile. We made some hot chocolate and had an easy breakfast, then packed up to go. The rain was light as we drove away. The wetness made the trees look brighter, and the creeks were more full and more swift than the previous day. We exited the park on the Tennessee side of the mountains, through Townsend and Maryville, then choo-chooed to Chattanooga.
A word about driving in the east - it is different than driving in the west. Beginning in North Carolina, most of the highways are two lane, and many drivers don't respect the "slower drivers use right lane" rule of the road. Slow vehicles, including big rigs, will move to the left and stay there, forcing others to weave in and out and pass on the right; it's ridiculous.
The two-lane road heading into Cherokee NC yesterday, and then into the Great Smokey Mts National Park, was very narrow. And instead of having a shoulder, there was usually a deep rut (it looked like an axle-snapping rut) right alongside the road. That made for some harrowing driving with a large van, especially as it was a steep and winding road. Anyway, we made it both in and out without any problems. We don't have any photos of the ditches, but here's an example of the narrow road - the fog line is the edge of the cliff!
Another thing we noticed in Tennessee, which continued into Georgia - the roads are very poorly marked, as in signage. It would have been difficult to navigate without a GPS telling us to "turn here." See the above photo - do you see the road sign? The ONLY sign is that tiny one between the two red lights, it says "US 11" - if you blink, you'd miss it!
Georgia was a new state for Bryn and for the van. Randy had previously been to the Atlanta airport, but he'd never really seen the state. Georgia had the most police (in souped-up Dodge Chargers) and state troopers (in very cool Mustangs) than any other place; in fact, we saw more law enforcement vehicles in Georgia than in the rest of the states on this trip combined!
Next stop, New Echota. This is the Cherokee city which was much-coveted by the Americans, so Andrew Jackson took it and the rest of Cherokee territory by making the Indian Removal Policy and sending 15,000 Cherokee people to Oklahoma in a death march known as the Trail of Tears in 1838-1839; 4,000 of them died. Their prosperous farms and plantations, taverns, meeting houses, and even the printing press were all taken. Anyway... New Echota is now a Georgia State Park. The Vann Tavern and the Worcester House are the only original structures remaining, the rest have been restored or recreated. The small museum is also nice but very light in its representation of what actually occurred. The ranger gave a nice history of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, and he demonstrated how the printing press was used (the press in the print house is a period piece, but not the original Cherokee press).
 |
Vann's Tavern original structure above;
Trail of Tears Memorial below. |
 |
| Outside the Supreme Court Building |
 |
| Inside the Supreme Court Building |
 |
| Ranger giving a talk about Sequoyah's syllabary and the printing press. |
Following our tour of New Echota, we went to Macon for dinner, a gorgeous sunset, and the night.
