Take to the Highway

(Saturday Stories of traveling - part 7)

Not every day can be great. This one wasn’t. I blame it on Apple Maps. One of my main desires is to avoid the Interstates as much as possible. There is a setting on Apple Maps where you can make it avoid highways.

Mine has the annoying habit of constantly telling me there is a faster route and would I like to take that. If you don’t tell it no, it will automatically change your route. I had to tell it no a couple of times. Then, when I wasn’t looking, and without my knowledge of what had happened, it changed it. And before I knew it, it had thrown me onto an Interstate.

I stopped and looked to see if I could find a better – for me – route. But the damage was irreversible without adding an inordinate amount of time onto our trip. I didn’t want to get to our campground after dark. So, as M says sometimes, “Suck it up buttercup.” I did and I did not like it, not one little bit. (A little Dr. Suess never hurts either)

People are stupid. Truck drivers are stupid. People driving trucks are stupid. People driving SUV’s are stupid. People driving cars are stupid. And all the stupid people are on the Interstate Highways system. One sign along the way said, “Fender Bender. Pull off the highway and out of traffic.” In other words, someone is going to have a wreck here. We know it. Just get out of the way.

We survived the pandemonium of everyone going somewhere really fast for some reason. I think if they made the speed limit 100, people would drive 120.

My blood pressure began to regulate when we made the drive into the Smoky Mountain National Park. It was a beautiful, tree-canopied, winding road. The shade from the trees and the evening sun made for quiet hues of green that seemed to take over even the air around the trees. Because we arrived at the campground a little late, we found our spot without checking in because there was no one to check in with, and then set up for the next few days.

Camp hosts came around later on a golf cart and told us we could go to the Ranger Station at the gate tomorrow and check in. They gave us the low down on being bear safe with food and smelly stuff and such. Said we could get firewood if we wanted from behind the park store. It is on the honor system.

Mark and Nancy were set up right across from us in a nice little Air Stream. They are from South Carolina. I talked with him about biking the cove since last week was end of car free Wednesday. He seemed surprised when I said that. Because he seemed so shocked, I thought maybe I had misunderstood. Later he told me he checked and I was correct, but thought it was fine to bike it anyway.

Alex and Sunny and their two little boys, Theodore and Oliver, are next to us. They have an REI cabin tent set up. They too are from South Carolina. Sunny said this is one of their favorite camping spots and they try to come here a couple of times a year. Alex said he liked my truck camper set up. His dad just bought a new truck and gave them his older Toyota Tundra and he is thinking about doing something like that with that truck.

Monica made some soup for dinner. The bread she had brought along didn’t survive any longer, so the menu will have to adapt. I can’t hardly bring myself to think about eating store bought white bread after eating real fresh milled grain bread.

We set up our little Coleman tent and are using it to keep clothes and extra stuff in. We have to keep our food inside the truck to be bear safe, so having the tent to store other things makes it easier to do that.

We were beat after dinner. And dark comes earlier and earlier this time of year. By 8 were in bed and doing a little reading before nodding off to sleep. The quiet time starts at 10 PM here but I think it was dead quiet by 9.

I had to get up around midnight for reasons you’ll just have to assume and you will probably assume correctly. When I stepped out into the night, it was a little disorienting. Pitch black darkness. Right after I returned to bed I heard what was either coyotes or wolves howling.