Day Two - World's Largest... and other diversions

It was a misty morning on the lake as we pulled up camp. We all slept well during the night, and it was beautiful in the morning to get up, wipe the condensation from the windows and see Lake South Holton lost to the fog.


Back in the truck we began to debate the direction we should take. After weaving through some back dirt roads in the park property, we finally turned onto a major route and headed through Bristol. Jumping on the interstate, we were quickly on our way to Knoxville. Of course, curiosity always seems to get the best of us, and we had to take a slight detour. What began as a search for Davy Crockett State Historic Site, turned into us discovering downtown Morristown, TN. The downtown is in the stages of either dying out, or recovering, we can't tell, but the architecture was beautiful. The city had also installed raised pedestrian walkways, it appears this was done in possibly the late 70's as a way to utilize more space in the larger storefronts.


Back on track from our detour, we zoomed to Knoxville. The city is beautiful with a variety of parks, old town areas, public art projects, etc. We found a metered spot and headed over to the Conference Center. Knoxville was the site of the 1982 World's Fair and some of the structures and exhibits are still on view.


We were really looking for the "World's Largest Rubik's Cube" a display from Hungary that was gifted to the city. It can be found in the lobby of the Holiday Inn where the hotel connects to the older portion of the Convention Center.



Also remaining from the Fair is the Sunsphere. Visitors can still catch an elevator to the observation deck. This gives you a bird's eye view of the town, as well as some information about the layout of the fair grounds.



We diverged from our original plan and decided to bypass Nashville and head to Chattanooga. Midway between Knoxville and Chattanooga you will come across a little town called Sweetwater... home of America's Largest Underground Lake THE LOST SEA! (It use to be the World's Largest Underground Lake until they discovered one roughly an acre bigger in Africa)



The low light of the cavern did not provide a good setting for photography. Here are my attempts.Still, we received a VIP tour and saw caverns which had been used for everything from meeting spaces for Cherokee Indians, a mining project for Confederate Soldiers, even a speak easy during Prohibition (3 of the stills remain on the property). Today, it is a quaint little tourist trap. The staff were fun to chat with, and our tour guide, Travis, was quite entertaining.


Oh! and Carl found an abandoned mini train which he SWEARS he is going to return for.

Tonight we camped in a KOA... It was time for a shower and the stop was convenient. Plus, with our setup we can use tent camping sites, which saves a bit. The group across the street are a pack of Geothermal contractors from Canada and Colorado. After they chatted with Carl about his bumper, we joined them around the campfire for some drinks and guitar music.

Oh! and as for dinner tonight? Campstove Chili-Mac. It may not be as pretty as the quesadilla, but still quite good.