Tennessee Road Trip Part Isa (1)

 A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to set foot in it. We need the possibility of escape as surely as we need hope; without it the life of the cities would drive all men into crime or drugs or psychoanalysis. - Edward Abbey


It's time for a road trip, a vacation taken by car across multiple states or, in the case of  the giant state Texas, a single state. My destination is the Smokey Mountains in Eastern Tennessee. It's a 600 mile, one way trip passing through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I have not been on a significant road trip for many years. In my younger days, I used to take one extensive road trip every year over the course of two weeks. I have road tripped to Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Texas, and both Dakotas.

The first and only time I went to the Smokys was in the fall of 1987, the year my 1st child was born. I went alone because my daughter and her mother went on a month long visit to her ancestral home half way around the world. I had missed peak fall foliage season. Nonetheless, the colors were beautiful and had much more variation than the colors in the Midwest where I live.

The Smoky's are home to many white tailed deer and large population of black bear. On my 1987 trip, I was lucky enough to see black bear from relatively short distance. There was a family of them in a meadow fattening up for the winter hibernation. There was also a herd of sightseers that approached the bear family for a closer look. I also approached the bear family but made sure the human herd was between me and the bear. If the bear were going to attack I had a protective barrier. And many of the human herd were on the plump side so I was sure I could outrun some, if not all, of them in the event of an emergency. 

My first evening there, a found a nice camping site where I threw out my sleeping bag. I tend to not use a tent because I like to sleep beneath the stars and rise with the sun. The night was filled with the sounds of animals unfamiliar to me. Sometime in the dead of night, I heard a scratching sound in the vicinity. A bear? I lay still and waited. Soon the sound was beyond me. It did not sound big so I shone my flashlight and what I saw was just a scary as a bear. Caught in the light beam about 10 yards away was a skunk. It started to stamp its hind feet, a warning before it shoots the vile stink. I turned off the beam and tucked my head into my sleeping bag hoping I would not be sprayed. A few minutes passed before I peaked again and gladly found the skunk to be gone. I spent the rest of the night in the back of my pickup truck. I hiked for the next couple of days then took the long drive home.

I hope this upcoming trip to the Smoky's has some of the same excitement as the last trip.