America the Beautiful
What we’ve experienced on our summer travels
We all know the words….
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Kim and I have done some working and traveling in our motorcoach this summer. All together we have traveled through Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina.
I cannot help but reflect on the words of this patriotic song and be reminded that each state and region of our great land that we call the United States of America is beautiful and special.
We saw spacious skies through small towns, big cities, and everything in between.
Many of the small towns that we stayed in or passed through have town squares with shops, restaurants, and local businesses surrounding the town administration building. It is interesting to see how life in these small towns revolve around these squares.
In Perry, Georgia, we stayed overnight at a small independently owned campsite where the hosts were genuinely glad we stopped and welcomed us with friendly Southern hospitality. We also had one of our most delicious gourmet meals in a local restaurant on the Perry town square.
In Athens, Tennessee, just south of Knoxville we went to a small Thai restaurant for dinner and learned how the Thai owner immigrated to the US and started her own restaurant to support her family. Her daughter was there working as well and they were happy in their small town.
In Decatur, Indiana, Kim and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary at Nine Mile Restaurant, named for the distance the restaurant is from the town of Decatur. Nothing special, but certainly memorable! We also went to the Decatur town square on a Thursday night and enjoyed music in the streets as the hard-working locals let loose and enjoyed a summer evening together. And of course, there was a local ice cream shop ready and willing to serve cold treats to anyone who wanted to partake.
We went to Nappanee, Indiana, to tour a motorcoach factory to see how these vehicles/homes are constructed from beginning to end. Many of the factory workers were of Amish heritage. The tour guide told us that the Amish ride their bicycles to work (or walk if closer) every day in all-weather all year around. It gives you a new perspective of getting to work to earn a living. After the factory tour, we inquired where to have lunch and quickly accepted the advice to go to the local Amish restaurant. Deliciously homemade food!
Being from Midwest, Kim is very accustomed to seeing amber waves of grain in the golden rolling cornfields in Nebraska. Ohio and Indiana had similar cornfield landscapes along with other crops. Wow…the amount of corn that is grown in this country is amazing! Being a breadbasket of the world, America has all types of fruited plains.
In Willshire, Ohio, we stopped at a small drive-through for an ice cream treat. We had often passed the place in and out of Decatur, Indiana, but did not have the opportunity to stop until this one particular day. We each asked for two-scoops in a cup but ended up getting what looked like a half-gallon each for the unbelievable price of $2.00 each. That was a substantial difference from our recent experience in Florida where we paid $12.00 for a similar request and got one-quarter the amount of ice cream!
We spent two nights in Sevierville, Tennessee, home to the largest Buc-ees in the country just off the interstate outside of Knoxville. We fought our way into the parking lot and eventually made it inside. What a place! We bought tee-shirts for Brian and Melissa to enjoy and some kid stuff for Justin’s son and daughter. The RV resort we stayed at in Sevierville was lined with gorgeous pink crepe myrtles and located right along a lovely slow rolling river. And yes, we enjoyed another fine dining spot around the local town square in Sevierville too.
The drives through the mountains majesties of Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina were nothing short of beautiful. As we passed through them, we understood why they are named the Blue Ridge Mountains. And of course, the horse country around Lexington, Kentucky, was one of a kind. Unfortunately, we only passed through Kentucky and did not have the opportunity to explore.
Our longest stay was in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina. Again, the mountain views did not disappoint with ever changing colors throughout the day. They hydrangea bushes were abundant and huge! We have never seen so many in one place. We enjoyed everything from fine dining to small town eats as we traveled on very winding roads to and from local spots like Cashiers, Brevard, Highlands, Hendersonville and Waynesville. We also hiked to waterfalls to enjoy some of nature’s splendors, including a copperhead snake!
Of course, all along the way we golfed small town courses to upscale country clubs. None was better than the other…just all different and fun.
We experienced the brotherhood of people in the small towns and large cities. We made many new friends along the way, and we also hooked up with long time Florida friends who now call North Carolina home. We were invited to a free outdoor concert in Cashiers, North Carolina – again where locals kicked back after a long week of work to enjoy some music and dancing together.
Although we did not stop in the big cities for any length of time because of our motorcoach, we did drive through the metropolitan areas of Atlanta and experienced traffic like no other; through Chattanooga and Knoxville; through Dayton and Cincinnati past the Bengals football stadium; through Columbia and Savannah; finally returning to Florida through Jacksonville.
All too often we hear the bad or the sad news in America. We regularly have political or religious differences, and we all deal with conflict and heartbreak. But the moral to this story is that there are wonderful things to experience and see all around us in this great country if we just slow down and take a good look around. America is certainly beautiful.
