New record for this vacation. We woke up to a bitter 55 degrees outside. I was pretty sure we had frost on the windshield, but Chris assured me it was just dew.
First stop for the day was the Andrew Johnson National Historical Site. We visited the cemetery where he is buried. Pretty amazing place. It’s at the top of a steep hill with graves all up and down the sides. We then made a quick stop at the visitor center for a park stamp, of course. And across the street was his childhood home. His tailor shop was encased in another entire building as part of a museum. His homestead was a large brick building on the Main Street of town, and they have built a replica of his birthplace home in the same area. Johnson was a strong advocate for state’s rights, and his plan to go easy on the South after the Civil War got him impeached. I knew I liked that guy.
We made an accidental discovery while checking the map for a next destination. Davy Crockett Homestead State Park on the Nolichucky River. It was less than an hour away, so we adjusted our plan again and headed out. They had a replica of the homestead Davy grew up in, and we happened to walk up on a guided tour about to start. They welcomed us in, so we joined them. The characters did a great job explaining all the period constructions around the site. It was fun to get the growing up perspective of the ol’ Davy we know from the Alamo. Oh! We did learn that in Tennessee he is David, not Davy. Well, excuse me.
Aaaand how about another detour? On the advice of a certain friend (you know who you are), we backtracked a bit and went to the Bush’s Baked Beans factory. Yep. That’s the one. Dog that talks in commercials. Secret family recipe. And I even managed a quick photo with their latest spokesman. Even convinced him to wear my Galveston Fire Department hat. He’s some hot shot football player with a couple of brothers and a famous daddy? Maybe you’ve heard of him. Manning. Something Manning. I get their first names all confused. Actually it wasn’t the real guy. It was just a life-sized cutout of him and the dog. The picture was fun, though. Almost as much fun as the selfie we took in front of … a gigantic bean. Huge. Like … Jolly Green Giant huge. I know. Wrong company. But did I mention it was huge?
From there we made our way to a town called Morristown to spend the night. We located a Cracker Barrel for some supper. Again. That has become our go-to place for food this trip. Lots of options.
Last night we read some disturbing news. The impending government shutdown meant all the National parks would be shut down as well. Chris still had at least five and as many as nine still in her sites. Soooo … at 6:30 we were looking at doing some detouring yet again.
However … by 7:00 we were seeing that Congress was passing an extension. No surprise there. We’ll see.
James 1:19 says, My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry
Father, thank you for detours and maps in pencil and that massive bean. Memories. Amen.
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