Seeing the name of this campground makes it easy to figure out where I ended up tonight. Rocky Top Campground is located in the farthest northeast tip of Tennessee, eight miles south of the Tennessee/Virginia border. This is not even close to where I thought I might end up this evening. I had no intention of traveling west from the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). When I left this morning just south of Little Switzerland, I planned to drive about 50 miles up the BRP, get off the BRP around Boone, and then head east and catch I-77.
While refueling in Boone, I looked at the map and decided it might be easier to head west to make my way up to I-81 and head into West Virginia. I was wrong. On a whim I turned left out of Boone instead of right. I ended up on a road that was narrower, had more tighter twists and turns, with steeper and more hills than the BRP, US 321. At least there weren’t any tunnels. Oh, by the way, I didn’t see even a single other RV on this road.
I knew I was going to be traveling over the Appalachian Mountains on this road. I went through the Cherokee National Forest. The drive was beautiful, but very hard. Finding places to pull over to let the line of cars stuck behind me pass was difficult. The BRP had many scenic turnoffs, US 321 was just a narrow road in the middle of a National Forest. I now wish I had taken some photos, but at the time I was just concentrating so hard to make my way through the mountains.
I descended into numerous hollows. As I became increasingly sleepy from the drive, I became concerned I might see the headless horseman as Ichabod Crane did. Unlike Ichabod, I emerged on the other side of the hollows unscathed.
US 321 and US 421 connect Bristol TN and North Wilkesboro NC. This area is the birthplace of Nascar, these two towns each having one of the original NASCAR tracks. I could easily imagine the moonshiners gunning up and down and around these hills out running the coppers chasing them. Those drivers running moonshine were the ones who started racing their souped up moonshine running cars that eventually led to the beginnings of the motor sport of NASCAR.
I however, lumbered along in the sluggish “Sunwapta”. When I finally reached I-26, I had been driving for over 5 hours and averaging an amazingly plodding speed of only 25 mph. My arms, shoulders, and back ached. My legs felt great however because the rig has excellent four wheel disc brakes.
Looking back now on Google Maps, its easy to see that I should have turned right at Boone, then turned north on US 221. That would have taken me directly to where I needed to go on I-81 to turn north on I-77. Perhaps I can return that way. I got confused using paper maps with three states on three different pages. Google Maps puts it all on one screen for you. I suppose the lesson here is that I should have hot-spotted my phone to my Chromebook or tablet and looked at Google Maps that way. However, I am already using up most of my cell phone data for writing this blog. Then again, this is an open road adventure, and I got to see back country roads the moonshiners used years ago.
The point is moot now. Knowing the remaining 400+ miles to Pittsburgh by heart, maps will no longer be needed.
Rocky Top
This is actually is a great song, the lyrics are hilarious. Having just listened to this song, its easy to understand how 100,000+ football fans at the University of Tennessee would go crazy hearing it, especially after drinking moonshine all day.
Rocky Top you’ll always be Home sweet home to me
Good ol’ Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee, Rocky Top Tennessee
Below is a link to a great musical version of Rocky Top, great banjos and fiddles, and worth a few minutes of your time to click on it to listen and read the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPM-M79Lfrw
Really enjoying your blog! and appreciate you finding all the roads I shouldn’t travel through the mountains!
Thank you Vinnie, I very much appreciate you taking the time to read, and also to express that you are enjoying the blog. I am very much enjoying my new “career” as a travel writer. I see a lot of Harleys on the road, you could probably travel well that way, but that leaves the issue of the what to do with the pups. The main reason I bought the RV was so that I could bring the cats. They travel very well, settled in very well and have adapted to life on the road. As for the roads not to travel on, the driving is much more interesting when you get off the interstates. That being said, I was very glad to back on the Interstates today, much easier and also better access to fuel and food.