Home at last, home at last....

6/29/2014

As we left Clarksville this morning, it was cool and overcast with rain threatening, so we kept the top up.  As we drove through the historic town of Guthrie, Springfield and Goodlettsville we ran into some light sprinkles on and off and hoped it would clear up by our first stop so we could put the top down.  However, it was not to be. Shortly before getting to Nashville, it started to ran.  I forgot that Hwy. 41 goes through Nashville, but luckily it is Sunday and there was hardly any traffic at all.  We saw the Batman building as we drove into Nashville (The AT&T building) and passed the Lane Motor Museum on our way through the city.  We continued in pretty steady rain on to Murfreesboro where we were going to eat lunch, but the KleerVu Lunchroom was closed so we just continued down the road looking for a place that was open.  On Sunday, there are few non-fast food chains open so we just went on to Manchester, home of the Bonnaroo music festival a couple of weeks ago, and found the Coffee Cafe open and busy.  It was very good and busy. Apparently one of the few places open on Sunday in Manchester.

The Coffee Cafe - Manchester, TN

I thought I left plenty of room but the big truck had to crowd me!

The rain had almost stopped when we went in, but while we were eating, a downpour started and continued almost the whole time we were inside. It finally slowed to a sprinkle by the time we left and we continued in and out of rain almost the entire rest of the way home.  Out of Chattanooga, we passed through the Eastridge Tunnel on Hwy. 41.  This tunnel has one lane each way and each lane has its own "tube", which is small and lined with tile and concrete.  Perfect for blowing your horn.  Which I did, blasting lengthy toots of my air horns.  Yes, I'm easily amused!!  We stopped at the QuikTrip in Adairsville, GA for gas and a cappuchino and the rain was about over by then. We then continued on through Canton, Cumming and finally arriving home in Grayson.  

So, we made it home, with the help of our traveling companion, "the lost monkey".  And, we're still talking!

The Lost Monkey - our good luck traveling companion!


Epilogue

It was quite an epic trip.  We had lots of fun and met lots of nice people, like all the people at the NAMGBR event in French Lick, IN, including the gentleman whose name I forgot with the red MGB with the SS logos on the side, that I met in the car wash area, and the two brothers in St. Ignace (and again on Makinac Island), one of which was blind and "looked" at my car by running his hands over it, and Jeremy the Canadian that I met on an online forum and then met in the flesh in Canada.  And, of course all of the places we saw along the back roads we traveled that make America the Beautiful, beautiful.  And, the car did just fine, despite the pounding it took on the northern roads, and used a total of about 3/4 quart of oil (no kidding - if I'm lyin', I'm dyin').

Our final stats for the trip:  17 days, 6 states, 2 countries and 3,034 miles (does not include the 60 miles crossing Lake Michigan on the ferry)!