In March of 1995, Sophie and I were in Tennessee visiting our friend Susan who was a fellow exchange student with us in Sweden. Sophie had come to visit me from France as I was finishing school in North Dakota. Her tourist visa was about to expire and she would have to go home with our future very uncertain. We took a drive into the mountains and found ourselves at Fort Loudon State Park where we decided we should get married. I got on my knee at a picnic table in the park and proposed to her – and four months later we were married!
So, after we left the Smoky Mountains on our (present day) camping trip, we went to Fort Loudon to recreate our proposal. We found a picnic table and I proposed again – and happily Sophie said “yes”! However, we didn’t recognize anything in the park: not the fort, the lake, the trees or the hills. After we returned home from the trip, we found our old pictures from 1995 and amazingly, it had not changed at all! There was the fort, the lake, the trees and the hills exactly as we had recently found them. We must have had other things on our mind back in 1995! The park and visitor center there were pretty interesting. Fort Loudon was built by the British in 1756 during the French and Indian War. Today it is along the banks of Tellico Lake, created by a Tennessee Valley Authority dam in the 1970s.
We spent the weekend with our friends Susan and Chip who live in nearby Chattanooga. They showed us around town and we had a great time catching up with them and trying out some traditional food from Tennessee. We were introduced to the Hardee’s biscuits and gravy craze and Susan taught Sophie how to cook okra.
Chattanooga had a cool vibe and a nice downtown along the Tennessee river. We walked across a pretty pedestrian bridge (the second longest in the world), near an aquarium and an art museum along the river banks, and cute shops and restaurants. We also visited the Chattanooga Choo Choo – the first municipal train in America – at its historic train terminal.
After a fun weekend with our friends, we started our trek north for home. Our first stop was Nashville where we immersed ourselves in the downtown country music experience. We toured Johnny Cash’s tour bus and the historic Ryman Auditorium, home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974. The auditorium actually got its start as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892, built by Thomas Ryman for religious revivals and community events. You can see the religious roots in the building from its stained glass windows to church pew seating. There are museum exhibits throughout the auditorium showcasing the many famous musicians who have graced its stage.
We were so impressed with the Ryman that we got tickets for a show there that evening. Before the show, we spent some time next door at Tootsie’s (a well-known honky tonk) listening to a couple bands trying to make it in Nashville. The concert at the Ryman was a benefit for a local Christmas for Kids charity. They had five acts culminating with Shenandoah, a country music band that has had hits since the 80s. Sophie and I are not country music aficionados, but we got in the country music mood and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Our next stop was St. Louis where we camped across the river from the famous gateway arch. The next morning we visited the arch, which is actually a national park with a really good museum and a fun ride to the top. The arch and park exceeded our expectations! The views from the top were great and the little 1960s-era futuristic pod you take to the top was like riding a fair ride.
We camped just south of Iowa for our final night of camping, then spent a couple nights with my brother Paul and his family in Cedar Rapids for Thanksgiving. We winterized our camper just in time for the freezing weather and made it home before it snowed on the weekend.
What a fun trip we had! We were amazed by the amount of forests we went through on our trip. As soon as we left the Twin Cities heading northeast, we found ourselves in forests and rolling hills. We never really exited this type of terrain until the end of the trip when we were heading back north through Missouri. And the “hills” got bigger and bigger throughout the trip as we entered the northern range of the Appalachians in Quebec and Maine, then made our way down to North Carolina. The mountains kept getting more and more impressive, with the tallest ones south of Asheville and in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Throughout the trip, we hiked many segments of the Appalachian trail, as it favors the most impressive peaks and scenery and follows the mountains from Maine to Georgia. It gave me new appreciation for the folks that tackle the entire 2,190 miles of the trail!
We were gone for 67 days, drove 5000 miles and camped at 34 different campgrounds. Our little camper, Rover, was the perfect companion for this trip. It had all the comforts of home we needed, yet was easy to maneuver across the country, over the mountains and through the woods. As planned, camping saved us a lot of money on hotels and eating out. The average price we paid for camping was $49 per night, and ranged from $30 to $80. Being our trip was in the fall, we always found an available campground to stay at. We ate a hearty breakfast in the camper each morning – usually granola, yogurt, fruit, coffee and toast. We typically packed sandwiches for lunch on the trail or in the car. Then, we cooked more elaborate meals for supper or warmed up leftovers. Sophie packed lots of spices from home and was creative in coming up with ways to use the local foods and groceries we purchased along the way. We ate healthy, hiked a lot and enjoyed being in nature. This trip was nourishing for both our bodies and souls! Rover is now parked for the winter, and we are already dreaming of camping trips we could take next year.
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