Day 1: The Big Trip Begins, a 2,000-Year-Old Fort, and a Parking Lot Palace
Day one of our 27-day Southwest loop, Murphy, North Carolina to Paducah, Kentucky. Press play above for the video; our written reports follow.
Dublin's Report
I am Dublin, senior dog on this expedition, and I can report that the big trip has officially begun. We left home in Murphy in the morning and drove through Chattanooga and past Nashville, which is a great deal of highway for one day. I supervised from my usual position, which is horizontal.
Our first real stop earned the whole day. Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park in Manchester, Tennessee, holds a stone wall built about 2,000 years ago, circling quiet woods between two rivers. The humans read every historical sign out loud, including the ones about the old paper mill. I listened the way I listen to most things, calmly and with my eyes half closed, but I will admit the place has a dignity to it.
At Big Falls, the river pours over a wide rock ledge into a pool below. Chester tested the water personally. I supervised from the bank, which is the correct division of labor. One caution for traveling dogs: there is poison ivy near the falls, so stay on the path and let the humans do the wandering. Ours hiked it in the wrong shoes and survived, but let the record show planning is not always their strength.
Back on the road we stopped at Beachaven Vineyards in Clarksville, then rolled into Paducah for supper and our first Walmart overnight. A parking lot palace. I approved.
Dublin's road wisdom: A 2,000-year-old wall has seen everything. It is still standing. Pace yourself like the wall.
Chester's Report
OKAY. Day one. DAY ONE. We are doing the big trip and I have thoughts.
First: the truck left HOME and did not come back, which means this is not a normal ride. This is an ADVENTURE. We drove and drove and then we stopped at a gas station in Manchester and the humans made a new friend, Paul, who also travels in a rig, and they talked for a long time, which is the human version of sniffing. I approved of Paul. He had good energy.
Then. THE FORT. There is a wall there that is TWO THOUSAND years old and a whole loop of shady woods and TWO rivers and at the end of the path there is a WATERFALL. Big Falls. It pours over the rocks and there is a pool and I tested the water quality with my whole front half. Dublin watched from a rock like a lifeguard who does not swim. The rocks are slippery and the water is cold and it was the best stop ever. Five paws.
After that we stopped at a vineyard, where grapes are apparently not for dogs, which is a design flaw, and then we got to Paducah and the humans had Sonic for supper and we slept at a Walmart. Sleeping at a store is genius. Why did we ever sleep anywhere else.
356 miles. Two happy dogs. I counted us twice to be sure.
Dublin & Chester, Paws Parks & Provisions