Home...safe and sound

Last night's thunderstorms gave quite a lightning show in Nashville, but as hoped for they cleared the air and cooled the countryside for our drive home today. The sky was partly cloudy and with the rain-cooled air, the weather was perfect for a ride. The Tennessee hillsides were covered with lush vegetation and it was clear that they had been receiving ample rainfall this season. As we got further east, we went through steadily hilly terrain, and the limestone that underlays most of this region was exposed in every roadcut. And, of course, it wasn't too long before we happened on the first of the ubiquitous road signs encouraging us to "See Rock City."

Nickajack Lake, a reservoir on the Tennessee River downstream of Chattanooga, was nearly empty, and no doubt the few waterskiers we could see were enjoying a Monday of flat water to themselves. Of course, the calm and beauty of that scene quickly gave way to the frantic crush of traffic that starts at Chattanooga and only gets worse all the way to Atlanta. Ugh...some things never change. The traffic in Lawrenceville (GA) still sucks...in fact, the traffic sucked all the way from Chattanooga to Lawrenceville.

But, as is always the case when you return from a long trip, every familiar little thing you see along the road -- e.g. road signs and water towers -- reminds you of home, and the remaining miles can't pass too quickly.

We rolled into the driveway about 3:30 in the afternoon, and as glad as Gi and I were to back, I don't think anyone was happier than Tyler. No doubt, in a day or two I'll be daydreaming about being back on the road, but for now I'm going to luxuriate in the comfortable surroundings of home.

I haven't worked up all the statistics for the trip, but we were on the road 29 days and traveled a bit over 7500 miles (12,000 kilometers). We passed through 19 US states and 3 Canadian provinces.

Also, for easy future reference, here's the revised map for the route home from Saskatoon.
View Larger Map