I arrived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on Friday 21 August, day 12 of the trip. I was there to see another former Marine and now good friend, Travis Lively. The last time I saw Travis was in late 2001 when I left active duty and the desolate Marine Corps base in 29 Palms, CA. During our 2001 deployment to Japan, Travis and I had some interesting times, like riding in amphibious assault vehicles that drove off the back of US Navy ships into the ocean and took us ashore in the Philippines and Thailand. Hopefully Travis won’t comment on how he had to ride in overweight ammunition vehicle where the driver said, “we SHOULD float back up after we hit the water.” Travis wasn’t too happy about that. Here is a great picture a couple days underway. Gotta love the old disposable camera quality.
What you can’t see is just how seasick he was, what you can see is just how young and skinny we both were back then.
Travis and I stayed in touch over the years but it was quite surreal to finally to be in Tennessee meeting his wife and kids (and beard). During the next couple days Travis was Tennessee’s best tour guide and took me fishing, on a great drive through Great Smoky Mountains National Park and nearby rivers and even a drive by of the Dollywood theme park. Here’s us in the Great Smoky Mountains just about 14 years after the picture above. Yup, we’re old Travis, and if there was a beard contest you’d win gold, silver and bronze.
I was actually quite surprised with the Great Smoky Mountains. I thought it would be just another forest on the east coast. Ha, my west coast naivete was shining through. As you can see from the pictures above and below, it’s pretty spectacular. One of the coolest and most intriguing parts were the historic homes that are still standing throughout the park. The way the park is maintained with a single road throughout, it’s like you’re still in the 1800’s. We walked through a few and it was like walking through “Little House on the Prairie.” Enlightening experience to see the way the houses were built and how people lived back then.
It was a great visit and I definitely left Tennessee with a much greater appreciation of the state and all it has to offer. Thanks again Travis and Misty for being such good hosts.
The next day I got back on the road to Arlington, Virginia, which is in the greater Washington, D.C. area. I was headed to see one of my better Marine Corps friends named Jamie Jones and hopefully track down a few other friends if they were available. I have many friends in the D.C. area but trying to see them all during any one random visit was going to be close to impossible.
Along my way out of Tennessee I stumbled upon another famous NASCAR track in Bristol, Tennessee. As I drove towards the track, it looked like worlds largest county fair just ended with large fields of scattered trash everywhere along with vendors taking down their tents. Since I think I had the only BMW in that part of the state, I stopped, got many stares and took a picture of the track and my German souvenir.
On day 14, I finally made it to Arlington, Virginia and the East Coast. Looking back, it seemed a lot longer than 14 days. After I arrived, my good friend Jamie Jones and I were off to dinner and a couple cocktails and our usual intellectual conversations.
In the best interest of all parties involved, I’ll stop describing our evening right here and save the rest of the D.C. area stories, monument and cemetery visits for the next post. Just looking at this picture gives me a hangover. Thanks again, Jones. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Next stop: Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and couple other old Marine Corps friends.