Raleigh NC to Nashville TN

On Monday night we moved to the long term parking area at Raleigh-Durham airport as Bill and Junior had to fly to Alburquerque early Tuesday morning. It worked out really nice as they were able to catch a shuttle in the parking lot and I didn't have to fight early morning commuter traffic. Later that morning Michelle and I left to head to Nashville to pick them up on Thursday night. On Tuesday we made it as far as Iron Duff North Carolina and stayed at a Pilot truck stop.


Wednesday morning saw us driving westward in the rain and clouds. We passed quite a few of the Nascar trailers on I-40 heading back home to North Carolina. The 48 and the 20 cars stick in my mind although there were others that were just going by too fast to see when driving a large vehicle in bad weather in the moutains. We made it to Mt Juliet Tennessee stayed in the Walmart parking lot. We then moved to to the Nashville airport afternoon and stayed in the economy lot on Thursday and Friday nights after Bill and Junior's flight arrived around 7:10 pm on Thursday.

While posting our "Go Back" list a while ago I had forgotten about two other locations that we do want to spend more time in. I had forgotten the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee as well as the Parker/Lake Havasu area of Arizona. Now with being in North Carolina for some time we are adding anywhere from Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Tennessee to Asheville North Carolina as being an area we want to explore further.


1. Heber Valley in Utah


2. San Diego (well MY list at least as Bill keeps up about the traffic!)


3. Gulf Coast of Mississippi


4.Gulf Coast of Texas


5.Black Hills of South Dakota


6. Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Tennessee to Asheville North Carolina


7. Parker/Lake Havasu Arizona


So there is our list after visiting 25 of the 50 states so far. Of course, places like the UP and Northern Minnesota are also on it, just not listed as they are close to home obviously.


I decided to try and eat some Southern food items when we went to various restaurants lately. At a small BBQ joint we stopped at for lunch one day I tried a baked Vidalia onion dish. Now I love onions but I found out I don't like them really sweet, with lots of butter and bread crumbs on top. Then at a Southern style buffet restaurant I tried the turnip greens....they seem to be somewhat of an acquired taste. The server told me most people put vinegar on them in order to eat them. Hmmmm.....I still haven't had the chance to try the collard greens or the black eyed peas. At the same Southern buffet there was a dish called fat back. When I asked the server what is was she said pig fat sliced thin and the deep fried....that too, I believe, would be an acquired taste! Why is everything fried and highly salted down here?