Monday, 4 November 2019
Today was mostly about running errands, but it was also one of those odd days where things kept going wrong. Still, I got everything done I'd planned to, and that was the point.
It started as one of those irritating moments: the zipper of my padded vest got stuck, and I couldn't unstick it until I'd pulled the vest off, which was not an easy thing to do. I saw that the seam by the zipper wasn't completely straight, so parts of fabric could easily (and did) get caught in the teeth. But I managed.
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| it was near freezing outside and the dogs are sitting in front of the heater (on the right behind the bench seat) |
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| you can see Lily's ears sticking out of her carrier - this time she got in voluntarily but she resisted when it came time for the vet visit |
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| route in more detail |
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| today's route |
Lily had a 10:30 appointment for nail clipping at a Banfield in what's called West Town, on the west side of Knoxville. Online routing programs said the drive would take me an hour, so I figured that'd mean an hour and a half with me not driving 70 mph on the interstate. Which meant I left last night's campground at 8:30. Turned out to be a good thing.
As I was coming into town I saw highway warning signs saying the interstate was blocked by an accident ahead and we should all use another road instead. Not knowing where that road went, I was going to ignore the signs until all traffic came to a complete stop right at the exit for that road. So I took it and quickly pulled over into a Walmart parking lot to look up new directions.
Because I misread the directions, I ended up several miles in the wrong direction and had to turn around and go back. In a different parking lot, I tried again and realized my problem the first time was not realizing the program was telling me to leave the Walmart by the back door (I swear) and drive half a mile on a road that, in reality, didn't have the name they'd said because it was part of the parking lot. No wonder I'd misunderstood the directions.
Once I'd figured it out, I took off again, ignoring the dogs telling me they wanted to go for a walk because I was afraid we'd be late to Lily's appointment. We got lucky and found no more detours, and I had about 15 minutes to walk the dogs in.
Lily objected to going into her carrier, which as you can see she loves when it's not my idea, but I got her there without a scratch.
Then Banfield told me their computer was refusing to download her file. After a while, the nice person at the counter ended up calling corporate IT people, who put her on hold for another half hour or so. By then I said how about just pretending we've never been to a Banfield before since she's only here for a nail trim and flea medicine application. So she created a new file for me and took Lily into the back room.
After a while they brought her back and said she'd been very unwilling to participate in the nail-trimming operation, and that it had taken 2 people (as I'd warned them it would) with one of them being an expert cat-holder. Lily'd apparently fought hard but they got her nails clipped and her flea meds applied for another month. As I told them, the $17 they charge me for this is a cheap price for the service.
By this time it was nearly 11:30, so I walked the dogs again and fixed us all some lunch before continuing.
CVS
One of my prescriptions has no refills left, so I bought the over-the-counter version as the doctor had been suggesting I do. But I also wanted to check into help for the asthma cough and other symptoms and didn't want to do it without consulting the pharmacist. He made some suggestions which I followed. I couldn't believe how expensive Allegra® and Delsym® are but have hopes that either or both will help when the asthma symptoms strike again in some remote campground.
Liquor Store
Tennessee allows both beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores, but I stopped in a nearby liquor store because I wasn't sure when I'd be back in a big city. Knoxville seems to have a lot of liquor stores, possibly because it's the home of University of Tennessee? McScrooge's Wine and Spirits had a surprisingly good selection of everything and helpful staff.
Recycling
Different recycling stations around town accept different items - one, for instance, refuses to accept glass. But I found one that wasn't far from where I was and they took everything I had. Always such a relief to get rid of that stuff, and get it out from the tiny space behind my toilet, which is where I store it.
Grocery Store
I guess I'm back in the South because there are several Publix grocery stores here in town. I've thought this was a great chain ever since I ran across them in Florida, so I drove an extra 5 miles to go to one, realizing later that there'd been a closer one I hadn't seen on the computer. Oh well.
Back on the road
From there I ended up taking back roads to avoid another possible interstate road blockage. Knoxville has a very high traffic level at almost any time of day, I found. I'd wanted to do some sightseeing, but that'll have to wait for another day.
At one point today I was on what I thought of as a regular city street, though it was also a highway route: state highway 11 and US highway 70. I passed a sign saying it had an older name - State Route 1 - because it was the first state road, built in 1915. I looked it up and found it runs from Memphis (far southwest) to Bristol (upper northeast) and is still Tennessee's longest highway at 539 miles. Pretty long for a state that's only 400+ miles wide.
I'm finding driving in Tennessee somewhat wearing as the roads seem to be rough everywhere. It doesn't matter if they're interstate, federal, state, or local roads - they've still got a lot of broken pavement.
But the scenery is stunning in places. At one point I noticed 3 layers of mountains: the nearest were covered in trees, the ones farther away appeared dark blue, then even farther away others looked light blue. In the sunshine it was a beautiful sight. I was headed south toward the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, one of America's beauty spots.
My campground was built on multiple levels, and any gravel they'd spread had been beaten down into the dirt, so the roads were somewhat muddy. They gave me a decent spot, though, where I could almost get level.
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