The Smith Saga – Brushy Mountain State Pen

We had been talking about driving out to Gatlinburg on Sunday and driving through the Smokey Mountains. However, Saturday night we decided we wanted to stick a little closer to the campsite and property. Jack Daniels had been a 3 hours drive and we were racing against a thunderstorm on the way home. We wanted less driving. So Gatlinburg and the beautiful Smokey Mountains will have to wait until my next trip.

In lieu, we decided to go check out the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, TN. I love history tours and old buildings and I’ve done the Alcatraz tour twice and enjoyed it. So I figured this one would be interesting as well. Plus they have a distillery on the property so Shaun was in!

This is another place I will be more than willing to go visit again and take some friends to go see. We did the normal self-guided tour although they do have a guided tours in the mornings on certain days and they have a paranormal night time tour. I’m not sure I would totally be up for that one, but I’m sure it is fascinating.

The Smith Saga – Jack Daniels!

I am actually back in California now as I write this. I have definitely left my heart back in Tennessee. I’m glad to be home to see my kids and to have a real bed and shower, but I am homesick!

However, I still have a whole week of TN items to share with all of you. So let’s get going!

On Saturday we started the day by having our last breakfast at the Grey Gables B&B with my parents. (If you ever visit – make sure to try the Almond Tea!) As usual, Linda had cooked up an amazing meal and we had some very fun and interesting people to visit with. We had a couple at our table who were a retired correctional officer and retired school teacher. Come to find out, their brother-in-law (who of course Linda knew!) is a Senator for our district. Very nice and friendly couple.

After breakfast we headed out for Lynchburg, TN to do a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. My parents followed us as they were going to head back home to Arkansas once we finished the tour. The drive was very beautiful as is all of TN in my opinion. As I shared already in a post, we were on Highway 127 for a short period of time and saw the tents for the 127 Yard Sale. We will definitely have to check that out next year!

The Smith Saga – What are those webs?

The next couple days of our trip (Thursday and Friday) were very pleasant but nothing too exciting. We got up in the morning and visited the B&B for a delicious breakfast made by Linda and good conversations with her other guests. I would then come back to the campground to work while Shaun ran some errands or sometimes just took a nap. One day he did run out with my parents to visit the little Amish store that is just down from our property. In the evenings we would head back to the B&B for more good food and conversation and to play cards with my parents.

As I mentioned in my last post, the B&B was pretty full. Apparently every year there is a yard sale that runs Thursday – Friday on Highway 127. This yard sale runs from Alabama to Michigan! It is 690 miles long and boasts being the World’s Longest Yard sale. I even found a website for it here – 127 Yard Sale. Almost all of the other guests we met while my parents stayed at Grey Gables were there for the yard sale. And it was not their first time. Some of them have been doing this for close to 20 years and have been coming to Grey Gables during their shopping trip.

The Smith Saga – Day 2 & 3 TN Visit

Our second day at the campsite was very productive. This week I was still working pretty much on CA time, so we were able to get up and run some errands in the morning before I needed to log in at the campsite. We were able to travel to Wartburg, TN (the county seat of Morgan County) and opened a bank account. This helps to establish us a bit more in the area and we can now use this for our building funds. It also will be helpful down the road if we determine we need a small building loan. Everyone at the bank was friendly and very helpful.

After the bank, we visited the Morgan County Courthouse for our last 2 errands. Over the next couple weeks and probably months to come, I have a feeling we will be visiting this beautiful old building quite often. This day our first stop was to get my registration on my car switched over. Everything here is so different than what I’ve grown used to in CA the last 20 odd years. We entered a small office space with just three desks. All the desks were helping someone when we came in so we sat to wait our turn. In less than 5 minutes we were being helped. The process was super easy and quick. The only setback was my first choice of plates was not available. I wanted to get the State Parks plate with the purple flowers. She said that it has been very popular since they recently changed the regular state plates. So, I went with my second choice – the honeybee plate! Total fees to register and get the special plate was $54 of which $35 will go towards saving the honeybees in Tennessee!

The Smith Saga – Day 1 TN visit

I wanted to originally post during my trip at least every other day, however I am finding after exploring/running errands in the morning, working from the camper all day and then spending time in the evenings with Shaun or family who have come to visit, I am just exhausted.

I promise I will write about the entire trip, it just may be a bit more delayed than I had originally planned.

So, now to get back to the trip. On Sunday as mentioned in my last post, we had a relaxing day with some good friends. Monday we got up early and headed out to the east side of the state. Tennessee is a beautiful state no matter where you go, but I’m finding I am partial to the east side.

The Smith Saga – Driving to TN Day 2

I really need to step up my game, we are already almost a week into this trip and I’ve only written about one day so far! Today’s post is going to cover our second day of the trip and our day of rest just outside of Nashville, before we finished our drive to the property. So I warn you now this post will be a bit longer than usual and many more pictures!

As I mentioned before, I woke up on the side of the road parked behind a big rig in Nebraska. Shaun had gotten his second wind in the early morning hours of Saturday. However, it was short lived and he eventually pulled over again. I must say I was not sure about sleeping in the truck but the passenger seat was quite comfy with my pillow and my fluffy blankets. I was as snug as a bug in a rug!

The Smith Saga – Driving to TN Day 1

Someone asked me recently why I am blogging about our move from California to Tennessee. So I pondered that for a moment. I don’t have a big following, so it is not like I’m going to become famous or anything sharing this adventure. The first reason that came to mind, of course, is just that I like to write and I like to tell stories – so this is a perfect opportunity for both of those. In addition, it is a way for me to write down memories so I can look back on them another day if I want.

However, as I sat there thinking about this, something else came to mind. For those of you who know me personally (pretty much the only people who read this…) you know that I am a bit of a planner and a worrier. Because of this I have a tendency to live in the future or in the past. I worry about things I have said and done in the past and have a tendency to go over and over them in my head, evaluating everything and how I should have done it differently (I’m working on this!) I worry about the future and what may go wrong or what things I need to plan for and have a jump on. I have trouble just living in the present moment and savoring experiences. For me sharing on this blog and sharing pictures of our trip out to TN on my Instagram/Facebook and Snapchat are a way to help me to focus on the moment.