GEORGIA/SOUTHEASTERN U.S.
Feb. 28-Mar. 1 2009
PART 1
This car trip took us to southern Appalachia and other Southern locales. It also featured some of the worst weather ever recorded in the region that late in winter. But this winter wonderland was also a Roads Scholaring treasure trove!
Because this is a Roads Scholaring website, this photo features a road. Just north of Georgetown, KY, this is a view of KY 620 (Cherry Blossom Way) from a (ppphh!) gas station. This is the stretch that was once Delaplain Road.
Leaving the gas station, this is southeast on Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom Way (as I call it), where it goes over I-75.
Southeast on I-64/75 in Lexington. Astute Roads Scholars may notice Kentucky is trending towards the Clearview font for BGS's.
South on I-75 in Kentucky. This is probably just after entering Rockcastle County.
On I-75, when you approach the US 25E exit near North Corbin, KY, you see not just BGS's but also some BRS's like this. It's an Allowed Cloud of sorts for the Cumberland Gap Tunnel near Middlesboro. But it's a good Allowed Cloud. This photo blurred, but the sign seems to prohibit class I explosives in the tunnel.
Kentuckytennessee! This is south on I-75 crossing the state line. This video shows us getting off the exit to US 25W in Jellico. This was necessary to use the rest area, which was supposedly a temporary facility for use while the permanent rest area was being rebuilt. There was a long line for the restroom, and then some genius stunk it up so badly we couldn't even use it.
An example of the treacherous fog on I-75 south of Jellico.
South on I-75 near Jacksboro, TN.
Knoxville is unusual in that I-75 seems to become I-275 into town, as I-75 takes the west bypass instead. (This I-275 is not the same as Cincinnati's I-275.) But we're about to exit onto the I-640 east bypass.
From I-40, this is looking east at Douglas Lake - actually a wide spot in the French Broad River formed by a hydroelectric dam.
West at Douglas Lake.
The first of 4 still photos going southeast on I-40 in Cocke County, TN. This one is at mile marker 437 near the town of Newport.
Incidentally, the Cocke County photos are of the Bald Mountains, which are just northeast of the Great Smokies.
Probably near the exit to US 321 southwest.
This must be near one of the big curves near Hartford.
A video of the celebrated I-40 going from Tennessee into North Carolina. This trip involved mountainous western North Carolina - not the flat lowlands of eastern North Carolina seen in my previous overnight trip.
Just after entering North Carolina. You can see why one major wreck on this part of I-40 can create quite a pile-up - not like that's any excuse for the 3-hour backup I encountered on my 1997 trip.
The first tunnel on I-40 in North Carolina. This one was at the 4 mile marker. It also appears as if there's an at-grade intersection off the right-hand side of this side of the freeway, but I think it's just some access road that goes around the south side of the mountain that the tunnel goes under.
This sign acts like the road is any less winding for passenger cars than it is for truckers. This is just after emerging from the first tunnel on I-40.
Another tunnel on I-40. The westbound side of the freeway has no tunnel, however.
Another view of I-40, 2 minutes past the second tunnel.
GPS's are more useful than I thunk for finding shortcuts. Near Lake Junaluska, NC, we were directed onto NC 209 - Crabtree Road. The GPS's voice makes little distinction between b and p at the end of a syllable, so the road name was another source of amusement.