Last Leg - Return to Cape Cod

Left Connecticut around 7am. Took a slow and circuitous route to Newport Rhode Island. Newport was major fogged in. Had a sandwich at a waterfront bistro and drove the final leg home to the Cape.

End of trip blog!

Check out Charles's new Boxster S. 

Great fun and now we need to recover!

Charles returns to Oregon next Tuesday.

The home stretch......

Quick five hour run to Gordon's sister Nancy's home in Connecticut. Nancy's husband Spiro made us a great dinner and then we crashed. Exhausted.

Burlington and Underhill VT

Enjoyed a quick breakfast in Cooperstown NY and then headed northeast for the drive to Burlington VT.

Stopped to take some photos at Crown Point before crossing the new bridge into Vermont.

The Vermont leg of the trip is primarily to visit Gordon's brother Dick and his family and to show Charles some of Vermont.

Arrived Burlington around 2pm. Toured about some and then met Dick and his wife Mary for dinner at Sweetwaters.

Followed Dick home after the meal and stayed the night in Underhill Center at Dick and Mary's home.

Plan to leave early tomorrow for Connecticut to visit Gordon's mother, Hap his sister Nancy and Spiro, Nancy's husband.

Pics to be added soon.

Mount Pleasant, PA to Cooperstown, NY

Another gray, cloudy day with off and on drizzle. Drove pretty much all day, staying on back roads and selecting a route that looked interesting as we drove.

Found a restaurant for lunch in Dufore, Pennsylvania. Menu was huge. At least four duck dishes alone! And this at a closet restaurant in a tiny tiny town.
French onion soup was good, but the entrees mediocre. We are finding fewer and fewer local restaurants and more and more fast food franchises. Extremely disappointing. When we have to eat at the fast food joints it doesn't feel like eating real food.

Noticing a change in the general attitude of folks we encounter as opposed to when we were in the south. Less friendly, less courteous, more business like. Charles: "Take me back to old virginny!"

Given the lack of good light and interesting photographic opportunities, we have included several photos taken earlier on the trip that have been "photoshopped" a bit.

Long drive to Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania

Another early morning on the road. Cloudy day. Poor lighting for photography as the scenery was very dully lit. Also we're now ahead of the leaf bloom. When we started on the Natchez Trace the leaf bloom was well underway. As we've moved north the leaf bloom has now not yet started.

Basically today we just drove northeast through West Virginia with periodic stops to stretch and walk a bit.

Stopped for lunch in Sutton West Virginia. Chicken Fried Steak Mashed Potatoes and brown gravy. Pretty good!

Arrived in Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania around three thirty. Checked into a Holiday Inn Express and had a small meal of soup and salad.

Tomorrow Syracuse NY unless we tire of driving first.

Charles took some abstract shots as we drove.

Nashville Tennessee to Lexington Kentucky

Cloudy day. Early departure. We've modified our return route. The planned Smoky Mountain Route 441 is totally blocked by a large landslide and will not open until mid May. Bummer.

So we're now thinking of heading northeast through West Virginia, central Pennsylvania and up through New
York. Maybe even visit Vermont before heading south to Connecticut and then the return to Cape Cod. We'll see.

Today we were excited to see what northern Tennessee and Kentucky held for us to discover. Neither of us had ever visited these two states.

Regrettably the non-interstate routes we chose to drive turned out to be little more than 60% ugly strip malls. Pretty unbelievable considering we covered some 260 miles. What wasn't a retail outlet was a fast food joint. Occasional areas of open country were not unique.

Most all the pictures posted today are fill shots from previous locals. The two pictures taken early this morning are of the Parthenon reproduction in Nashville.

Trees Trees Trees or Natchez Trace 2 to Nashville Tennessee

An early start up the next leg of the Natchez Trace Parkway to Tupelo Mississippi.

The Trace really is a beautiful unspoiled roadway. Can't repeat it enough. If one gets the chance to drive it...they should.

Had planned to stop for the day at Tupelo but after lunch we decided to continue on up to Nashville.

The journey is quiet. The surroundings beg silence. But after hours paying homage to nature's bounty it's time for an audio book. For this trip it was another episode of Inspector Montobano.

Notice Gordon's abundant hair display below. Apparently he's holding out for a visit with his Cape Cod barber.

Natchez Trace 1

After an a la carte breakfast of eggs and excellent grits we drive two hours northwest to Natchez Mississippi to start our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway. Destination Nashville Tennessee.

Natchez was a surprise. A really lovely and beautifully kept town nestled along the Mississippi. Took some shots at the town park overlooking the river before enjoying lunch at a local restaurant.

We drive another three hours dawdling northeast up the Trace to Jackson. The Trace is a beautiful scenic two lane road unspoiled and meticulously maintained.
Another great example of a project completed by Roosevelt's CCC back in the 1930's.

We decide to stop for the day in Jackson and check into a Best Western to catch part of Tiger's Friday round at The Masters.