9. June 2025
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Six US States And Nashville (Day 6 – 4th June 2025) – Rockets and Veterans

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

With the decision to alter my travel plans and already hit the Great Smoky Mountains on that Wednesday, the sixth day of my trip was likely rather intense. I did feel quite exhausted, so that I was not that much looking forward to the long drive. However, especially the first key stop of the day suggest to become really interesting. Let’s see how I stood the estimated 300 miles drive stage of the road trip I named Six US States And Nashville.

 

Taking the Other Route

I started the day with a brief detour to Muscle Shoals Airport (MSL) – I just needed the t-shirt I saw there on the day before. I did not feel like taking the interstate and therefore aimed to go for the US-72 highway North of Tennessee River. The route there lead through rather countryside Alabama, before headig North and crossing the iconic Wheeler Dam. I had seen this iconic one from the plane on Tuesday. Weird to drive over a “bridge” seeing that the water level on the left hand side is much deeper than on the right one. Especially when crossing the creeks of the huge river, that route was rather scenic.

There were already signs advertising the place of my first major stop of the day. However, heading South on the I-65 near Athens, AL, I first had a short stop at the local Buc-ees. I definitely wanted to have a shirt I had seen on my previous stop. Interestingly, the store came with exactly the same layout. Thus, I quickly found out that they don’t have it in my size as well. At least I was stocked with some food thereafter – and a new travel buddy. The road trip was more and more mental to me. Thus, I felt it is a good idea to have Mr Buc-ees, who I named him (in fact just Buc-ee), smiling at me during the trip.

 

Rockets in Huntsville

I had passed Huntsville on Day 3 of my 2019 A Musical Trip to CMA Fest trip.  This time, I spent three hours there, visiting the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Watching the large rockets at Rocket Plaza or learning about how the International Space Station (ISS) is organized and managed from Planet Earth was really interesting. The huge Space Shuttle feels so majestic – and let’s you forget that there was the 1986 Challenger disaster. It felt somehow that the museum, which is rather a NASA Visitor Center, forgot about it as well. I would have even enjoyed it more without that many military exhibits.

 

Praising the Veterans

I am not that much of a military person. However, the very well-rated US Veterans Memorial Museum just had to be on my list. The space may be limited – but they have an awesome collection and a wide range of exhibits. Lovely people in there as well.

 

A Long Road Trip

There was still quite a bit of a trip to be done. And I felt exhausted more and more. Driving along US-72 towards Chattanooga reduced my energy even more so that I felt I just have to take a break, fueling up the car, grabbing some coffee and a snack.

Now being at the I-24, I really loved the landscape. You may ask yourself which is the sixth state of this trip. The answer is: Georgia. The Interstate takes a some four mile curve through that state. I was very lucky that I did not drive in Westerly direction. Near Wideside, TN, there was an accident with two cars completely burned down. This meant that the four mile loop (and much more) was in fact a four mile traffic jam. However, I got caught in quite some congestion. My original plan was to visit a mall near Chattanooga and enjoy myself there. But with some 120 miles left to drive, I decided not to have a major stop. I opted for the more scenic option, heading South on the I-75 in direction of Atlanta, before leaving the highway near Dalton in Georgia – yeah, I was back in that state.

 

Up Into the Smoky Mountains

Especially when the roads became more narrow and curvy, the trip towards Murphy in North Carolina was lovely. Not too rarely, housing was a bit more basic. One thing which stroke me (already on previous days as well) is that Dollar General is huge in these parts of the United States. I had to go for a stop at Walmart in Blue Ridge, Georgia, before driving on. The street became very wide now again, typically having (at least) two lanes in each direction. That made the trip less attractive again.

880 miles driven on the whole trip so far, I made it to my next overnight. Just the evening before, I decided to sleep at the Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River. The hotel is a modern, very typical one in an Indian Reservation. In these places, gambling is often allowed. The hotel has a comparably small casino space, but it felt modern and friendly. I liked my room and also the facilities like the nicely located pool. After a quick bite in the food court, the day was over and – after some Flyctory work, I could go for my only nap in North Carolina on that trip. So far the weather was fine with just a bit of scattered drizzle. Let’s  hope that the following day in the Smoky Mountains won’t suffer from the weather.

 

My Song of the Day: Kenny Chesney – Save It For A Rainy Day

This trip is about music. Thus I felt present one song each day which somehow accompanied me every day. And I added a playlist of these songs – and some more – on my Spotify account as well:

The weather forecast for the following dasys was not too promising. Thus, I thought of Safe It For a Rainy Day by Kenny Chesney, due to that topic. With Mountain Music (Alabama) and Smoky Mountains, the other two country songs nicely fits to the story of this day. Finally, there is an absolute classic with Take it easy.

Here is the full playlist, which will grow day by day:

 

Six US States And Nashville – Daily Episodes

Here is an overview of the daily postings. I will link them once they

There will be no Day 12 report, as this would only cover the flight back to Germany.

 

Beautiful Nature Postings

Postings tagged with Beautiful Nature in here are dealing with unmodified lovely places:

 

(Greater) Orlando – Postings

Orlando is much more than Disney – here are all postings about the Entertainment Wonderland:

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