After the Ark Encounter it was time to head south into Tennessee to find Janet and Rock Island to witness another phenomenon of God, the great eclipse. I was a bit concerned though because Janet had not called and the map I had I could not locate Rock Island. I thought when I briefly looked at it through Mapquest on my home pc it was by Knoxville. Well I was wrong.
I am sure you are thinking well why didn’t you call Janet? Simple I didn’t have her cell phone number and I am sure you are thinking why didn’t you use a Smartphone, simple I don’t have one. One of the joys of traveling is going carefree, getting lost, worrying where the heck you are then have it all turn out for the better, as in this trip.
We drove Rt. 75 into Tennessee and stopped right over the boarder at the Tennessee Welcome Center. The buzz and excitement at the center was all about the eclipse. The man behind the counter was talking to people from all over the US. I met a family from Pontiac, Michigan.
I asked for directions but the man manning it had no clue where Rock Island was and neither did a lady standing next to him. He couldn’t find it on the map. Finally he located it on a brochure for state parks. We were way to far east, head west young man.
He handed us a map that he hi-lighted. I shook his hand, thanked him again and left to find Rock Island.
Once I climbed in the GoGo Bus I decided on different route, the back roads which I think was shorter. His route was four hours. But if you are weary or scared of being in the middle of nowhere on curvy roads at 2 am it is not the route for you. I navigated the GoGo Bus through the dark, somewhat foggy mountain roads and arrived close to our destination without incident. Tadah!
Finding Rock Island state park was another matter. We wasted a good hour maybe more finding the park and then trying to figure out what to do. The campground had a barricade up with a sign, park opens at 7 am.
A person in a car behind me pulled up and asked if I was lost. He was local and said I am going in, park by the office until they arrive. But instead of waiting where he said we found an empty camp site, left a note at the office explaining when we pulled in, our vehicle, and time we would come to the office to pay for the site even though there was a sign at the office reading campground full.
Around 8 am a park ranger pulls up to our site and says hey we got your note but this site is taken. I called around for you and there is a campground nearby that has one site left, here’s their card, call them ASAP. How’s that for service? I asked if I could sleep a bit longer and he replied sleep till noon, they can’t sign in until then so you can stay. With that he drove off, I dozed off and Ruth took advantage of the showers, all for free.
No pictures this entry, it was dark out.
Gotta Go-Go
Carey
No comments:
Post a Comment