Day 2 - Florence, AL - Chattanooga, TN

After a good first night in Florence, we headed east through northern Alabama and southern Tennessee.  The clouds were really pretty during our drive and I was surprised with how hilly the area is.  We always take a look at our Roadside America app to find neat little stops along the way, and it didn't disappoint today.  Shortly before lunch we rolled into Cowen, TN where someone has restored a 1936 Texaco gas station.  Unfortunately it's only open Thursday-Sunday, but we were able to walk around and peek in the windows.  Cowen also still has its original 1904 train depot which is now a museum (also only open Thursday-Sunday).

Next up was Sewanee, and the University of the South.  I had never visited before and was impressed with the campus.  Leaded glass windows, sandstone building exteriors, and All Saint's Chapel were just some of the highlights.  The town itself was small, but very verdant with old, full trees everywhere.

We arrived in Monteagle, TN around lunchtime and after placing an online order at Mountain Goat Market, a great looking lunch spot, we popped into Mountain Outfitters to kill time (and shop) while our lunch was being prepared.  Everyone but Caroline found something to buy.  A short time later we were lunching in Vansen on amazingly good sandwiches followed up by some homemade desserts.  Yum!

An hour down the road, and into the Eastern Time Zone, we soon arrived at our hotel in downtown Chattanooga.  We're at a Springhill Suites right along the river and while it's busy, folks here are still keeping their distance.  While Jason and Franklin headed off to the local minor league baseball game (the Chattanooga Lookouts), Caroline, the girls, and I rented bikes right at our hotel for an evening ride along the Tennessee River and into the downtown area.  Along the way we noticed a yacht parked in the river and approaching it were swimmers with brightly colored buoys attached to them.  Turns out there is a club here called C.O.W.S (Chattanooga Open Water Swimmers) that swim the Tennessee River every Wednesday evening.  There's also a subset of kayakers that paddle along with them.  Most of the swimmers were truly swimming, some were floating with the current.  Turns out they went 3.85 miles tonight and we saw them at the end.  Wow!

After returning to the hotel, we retrieved dinner from a local chain called Puckett's and enjoyed dinner in our room.  Another great meal for sure!  After a few games of Catchphrase and Hangman the girls were soon scrapbooking and the boys returned from the game.  We don't have far to drive tomorrow which affords us an opportunity to stop often and maybe even hike!

Day 14 - London

We bid a fond farewell to our Phoebe (our Audi Q3) this morning after adding dirt to her paint job and logging 1,476 miles in 12 days. She was a great car and the GPS was a life saver! I'll miss driving on the left, but I'll admit the right side of the road is calling my name.

After taking the courtesy shuttle from Hertz to Heathrow, we jumped on the train into London, and then a taxi to the British Museum. Having limited time, we hit the highlights. We still moved through Ancient Babylon, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Celtic Britain, and had lunch, plus shopping. The British Museum truly is amazing. The items in their collections are simply amazing and it boggles my mind to realize that I can stare at Cleopatra's sarcophagus, an original sculpture of Roman Emperor Hadrian, Nordic chessmen, and items from a Babylonian ziggurat all under one roof. I could honestly spend a week in this museum and still probably not see everything.

We also wanted to see the Tower of London so we bought tickets for the hop on/hop off tour bus, thinking we could see some of the sights along the way. Traffic this afternoon was horrible so we were stuck on the bus quite a while. We did see sights (Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's, the West End) and did arrive at the Tower about an hour before they closed. The ticket agent snootily said that it takes three hours to visit the Tower; I assured her I could do it an hour. She continued to discourage me even though I was waving pounds at her. And as promised, we saw everything we wanted to within one hour...ha! And yes, Donna, the Crown Jewels were still very well protected and I was unable to grab one for you.

We decided to do something different for dinner tonight so we walked by and under the Tower Bridge heading for a Spanish Tapas restaurant. Along the way, we stumbled upon Her Majesty's royal barge! The restaurant was the perfect way to wrap up our journey as each thing we ordered was out of this world! A walk around the block, a taxi to Paddington Station, a train to Slough, another train to Windsor, and a taxi to our B&B brought our evening fun to an end. We leave London about 11:00 am tomorrow and land on US soil about 1:00 pm Central time. This journey has been amazing and I'm so grateful to have done it, but home is calling and I must return!

All my bags are packed; I'm ready to go! Thanks for taking this journey with me virtually!