Tennessee - Day 10

Warriors Path State Park
Sunday, 10 November 2019

I extended our stay for yet another night so we could spend another day in the campground.

I haven't been feeling quite up to snuff these last few days and finally looked up flu symptoms on the internet.  Except that I don't have a fever, it looks like I might have a mild case of flu.  I had most of the other symptoms, and am frankly finding it a nuisance.  I can't honestly recall ever having had the flu before so am thankful that if that's what this is, it's a mild case.

It got down to about 25° early yesterday morning, which made yesterday's propane run imperative in case that kept up.  Last night it only got down to freezing which is much easier to take.  But it's making me think I should get out more of my winter clothes than I did.  And then I heard that on Tuesday it's supposed to get down into the teens overnight, so it may be that fall's over already.  Too bad.  Fall's my favorite season.

I think fall is Gracie's favorite season, too.  One of her favorite things in life is rolling around in dead leaves.  She'll stop and roll every few feet sometimes.  And we're lucky in this campground that's filled with deciduous trees and a ground that's got piles of leaves.  Some tree here produces leaves twice the size of my hand - they're huge!  They've got lobes like an oak, but I don't know what they are, except really big.

And where there aren't piles of leaves, there're mounds of pine needles.  Both dogs like rolling in those, and I like them to do it - it's like a deodorizer for their coats (which haven't been washed in a few months).  We've been having some nice walks here, up and down the leafy hills.

I spent most of the morning figuring out where we're going to go from here.  I finally decided to spend the money I saved in this campground ($20/night) to stay at a KOA in Clinton ($43/night), north of Knoxville, until at least Wednesday and maybe an extra night after that.  Tuesday's weather isn't just forecast to be cold - it's also supposed to snow.  And Wednesday's temp isn't forecast to get much above 40° in the daytime, which makes me nervous about driving.  But I made a reservation until Wed. morning with a hold on the spot for another night just in case.

I think I'll stop on the way there and get the makings for some Brunswick Stew and just hunker down for a couple of days until I'm sure the roads are safe.  There's still so much of Tennessee I want to see and I'm already a third of the way through the month, but I'm not fighting snow and ice.

I'm going to Clinton because it's an important stop on the National Civil Rights Trail.  I hope to be able to give a full report coming up.