Summer '22 Cross Country - Day 45
Travel day from Clarksville, Tennessee to our home in Harriman, Tennessee
Tuesday, 19 July 2022
This morning, we woke up in our final campsite of this 45-day journey.
One of the things we did not do very well on this trip was to get on the road by 9 am, which I’ve seen several experienced RVers recommend. In hindsight, we can see the value in that and will set that as a goal when we resume our travels in 3-4 weeks.
We were in our home state of Tennessee all day today, including passing through Nashville.
About an hour from our house toward the west, there is a nice town called Cookeville with some great restaurants and breweries. In early 2021, I had the opportunity to have a business meeting with a coworker at a wonderful Italian place called Mauricio's Italian Restaurant. Trip Advisor gives it 4.5 stars, and no joke, it is probably one of the very best Italian restaurants I’ve ever eaten at in my life. Not only is the food outstanding, but it’s in an old home built in 1910. The five dining rooms are in different rooms in the house, four of which have fire places. It’s amazing.
I had been wanting to take Frieda there since that last visit, and today presented a perfect opportunity.
Overall, it was an amazing last stop on our Summer ‘22 Cross Country!
About an hour later, we saw our familiar Exit 352.
When we left, there were three houses in various states of construction all around us and as we crested the last hill on our way home, we were obviously curious to see how it looks. The house in the middle is ours. The family building the yellow house to the right is renting our house until theirs is completed. So it was a bit odd to come home homeless.
We parked Ollie two doors down at Wayne Rose’s house — our friend who just lost his wife Judy. We will be staying with Wayne starting Thursday. In the meantime, we are staying with next-door friends Janet and Keith Weatherly. We have the best neighbors anyone could dream of here!
I started Oliver’s travels to be a Substack primarily about what it’s like owning an Oliver Legacy Elite II travel trailer. Little did I know that when I added a daily update about our first major trip, my subscribers would grow to over 600, with about 500 being people being folks I’ve never met. I’m grateful for all the support and obviously there is a demand for content about people enjoying travel in this amazing country of ours.
As mentioned in the posts over the last few days, we cut our trip short to return home to comfort a dear friend and neighbor following the sudden loss of his wife. We will remain here for a few weeks at which point we will resume our trip west to see family in Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona. Instead of a 45 day trip, it will be more like 90. So stay tuned for Summer/Fall ‘22 Wild West coming to a Substack near you in just a few weeks. In the meantime, there may be some occasional updates on things we learned while camping for 45 days straight.
For those who enjoy stats, here’s the numbers for Summer ‘22 Cross Country:
10 states visited
14 campsites with one campground being a repeat (Shipshewana, Indiana)
115 hours and 15 minutes of driving
2,826.9 miles
400.3 gallons of gas (at over $5.00 a gallon most of the time…)
12 mpg (somewhat amazing considering we normally only get 16 mpg in our F-150 when NOT towing)
Finally, I should say that our Jack Russell Terrorists Maddie and Skipper were wonderful traveling companions for me and Frieda. Here’s how Maddie looked as our last day started:
And here’s Skipper giving us all an appropriate “The End” as our day ended at Janet and Keith’s house:
Until we meet again in a few weeks, thank you for following Oliver’s Travels!
Glad you arrived back ‘home’ safely! I’m
enjoying your travel updates immensely ! It truly feels like we’re along for the ride. And as such, Scott and I are living a bit vicariously …… All the best to you and your close family friend these next weeks. Looking forward to seeing you when you’re out in CA!!