Interstate 81 to Baileyton KOA

Saturday, August 7, 2021

We were on our way to Cades Cove Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for two weeks. The first week was with the “the grandchildren”. They really are friends, Karen and Nathan’s children who we have known for a long time. We like to take them for a week of camping in the summer.

It was tough driving on I81, as it often is, but today it was extra busy for some reason. I pulled out of one gas station, that was just crazy busy.  I had just seen an TV clip about storm chasers seeing “The Mothership”, a big, dark cloud that looks like a giant alien ship. The weather lady said, “If you see the Mothership, head for cover, underground if you can.” To my left I saw one, but it looked like it would miss us.

Soon it started raining so hard I could barely see going 45 mph. I put the flashers on and got behind a tractor trailer. People are just crazy. I left stopping room behind the truck, but people kept zipping in an out of it, so I closed the space. Of course that’s when everyone came to a quick halt. I almost ran into the back of the truck, while looking for a place to pull off the road to his left. Lucky I didn’t hit him, and lucky no one hit me.

Martha doesn’t like to travel all day. This was one day I was happy to get off. We had booked a KOA in Greenville, Tennessee, just south of Kingsport. KOA’s are generally not my first pick, but this one was highly rated. We set up and walked around to get the blood flowing. People were fishing around a stocked pond. Others were hitting on a pretty nice driving range. There was a nice swimming pool and a water balloon battle cage that looked interesting; a basketball court, nice showers and bathrooms.

We had a glass of wine and listened to music on the new sound system I recently installed. I always stuff my ears with Kleenex just in case there is too much noise. With the windows open, sleeping was good.