2023 DC Trip Day 4 – Friday, April 7th – Franklin, TN, to Conover, NC
No photos today – it was pretty much a washout. Literally. I was up too early for motel breakfast, so grabbed a cinnamon roll and some milk, loaded up the car, and took off for Murfreesboro on TN-96. Talk about build up! New horse properties all over the place, so much so that 2 new lanes are being added. There's even a Darrel Waltrip Subaru in Franklin.
Got to Stones River Battlefield Park well before the visitor center opened, and found that the tour roads were all changed since my last visit ('08 I think), and site could only be reached by walking. Need I mention that it was raining? Hard? I drove the loop twice, just to see what the tour stops were, then looked for a way to find I-840.
As I neared the key junction with I-80, the sky started clearing – a cruel joke to be sure. The rain came back as my 101K mile Subaru went up and down the hills (in Missouri, we'd consider them mountains), crossing the Caney Fork River 6 times. Somewhere in there, I saw a drag strip next to the road – couldn't take a hand off the wheel or my eyes off the road to write down any of the other tidbits I may have passed in bumper to bumper 75mph+++ traffic on wet roads.
Passed Knoxville without incident, if one doesn't count white knuckles. I-40 veers southeastward to cross the Smokies. Crossed into North Carolina 273 miles in, stopped at really nice mountainside welcome center – probably has a nice view when it's not raining. Soon thereafter, the fun really started.
Road construction! Cars and semis are backed up for several miles until until we reached the construction area and everyone merged into a single lane peaceably. Did I mention that the rain continued? Then, about 15 miles further in, it happened again! Took over 2 hours to go 75 miles on an Interstate.
Got to Asheville, turned on to the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit the Welcome Center, and found that the original route I'd planned to take was closed – good thing I'd replanned it yesterday! Now, back on I-40, I'm heading for Conover, NC, for the night. But first, another weather test. This time it wasn't just the rain, the problem was the cloud, itself. Visibility is zip. Traffic actually slowed down to about 50 for this.
Anyway, I'm safe at a HIE in Conover, planning to head for Wilkesboro and Roaring River, then back to the Parkway up to Lexington, VA.
412.5 miles for the day, 1072.0 for the trip.
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