And speaking of, the weather was perfect for driving south on I-81. I don't normally find myself saying foggy, overcast, drippy days are perfect for anything other than a nap on the living room sofa, but it was. The sky wasn't gray so much as it was silver, and the moisture had the trees and fields dressed in their best greens of the summer. I would liked to have stopped along the way to take a few choice photos or quick sketches, but I've learned the state troopers frown on that sort of thing. The distance was going to make it hard to get all the way down to Knoxville at a decent evening hour anyway so there was no time for work, just driving.
Since I don't have photos to share of my first day on the road, allow me to paint a picture with words of some of the things I saw or passed in VA and TN:
- Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive: some of the prettiest driving in the valley!
- Blue mountains in shades of calming blue, capped with puffs of silver and white fog
- Water towers painted like a bushel of apples (Mt. Jackson) and a hot air balloon (Wytheville)
- Various caverns, and Natural Bridge
- Crumbling abandoned barns in weathered shades of red and gray, gently sagging in overgrown green fields speckled with black cows and clouds of purple grasses
- A strange A-frame church built almost entirely out of stained glass, colored from apex to foundation in shades of rich,warm browns. It had three tall a-frame "dormers" jutting out from the side that made the whole building look jagged and sharp. With all those browns, though, it reminded me of a piece of peanut brittle.
- The birthplace of Davy Crockett and the historical Crockett Tavern (I've had The Ballad of Davy Crockett stuck in my head since I passed those signs)
I'll revisit these images later when I'm back in the studio; this morning, however, I'm headed out to the Smoky Mountains and famous Cades Cove (Kate's Cove) for a little photography and sketching. Until the next post, -EAJ
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