Days 31-32: Jackson, MS to Knoxville, TN & Knoxville

Long day’s drive ahead. Got up and packed the car — headed to Kevin’s for a brief stop to say goodbye before heading east towards Tennessee to see Chris, a longtime friend of dad’s and Susan’s. Her yard is full of gorgeous poppies.

Arrived about 8:30 to a beautiful dinner of heirloom tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, black olives, proscuitto, cheese and bread. Then Haagen-Dazs ice cream with both caramel AND hot fudge for dessert. Early to bed; both bushed from a long day on the road.

Good night, all!

Up this morning not too early — we’re taking a driving tour of Knoxville. There’s a beautiful large park that used to be a mental health facility but has now become a lushly landscaped public area. Further developments will turn several acres into sports fields (baseball, soccer) and walking trails. We drove for awhile along the Tennessee River, which is man-made through dams into multiple lakes. Beautiful field stone houses cling to the hills overlooking the water. Then a quick drive through the University of Tennessee at Knoxville campus where Chris worked for many years (lovely campus). A brief stop for ice cream, and now we’re ready for dinner (chicken tagine).

Tomorrow we head to northern Georgia to visit Dave and Joann Kittle.

Good night!