Said goodbye to all my friends on Friday and began my journey home. I am sad to be leaving my friends, anxious to be leaving what I have known as life for the last year, but greatly excited for new journeys and the comfort and people of home.
Jordan and I are taking our time driving from Vicksburg to Cleveland. We spent Friday and Saturday travelling the Natchez Trace (http://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm) a beautiful historic parkway up through Mississippi and Tennessee. Friday night we found a little hotel in a little Mississippi town to recover from our lack of sleep and prepare ourselves for a week on the road. Saturday we finished the Trace ending up in Nashville, TN where we met up with Jess, one of Jordan's teammates. Jess and her sister Becca showed us around downtown. We had a lovely dinner followed by exceptional live music and dancing at a hole-in-the-wall country bar. Next we headed to Big Bang a dueling piano bar where the musicians know how to perform anything you can throw at them. We were happy to have successfully requested "Wagon Wheel" at both the little bar and the piano bar. Big Hit.
We took off from Nashville yesterday morning and made our way to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg Tennessee at the foot of the Smokies. We arrived pretty late in the evening and accidentally stumbled upon a big park event when asking about camping. Turns out we landed at the park on the one day a year when this one specific species of firefly puts on a big show (http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/fireflies.htm). We jumped on one of the trolleys heading up the mountain and had a picnic dinner on the side of a mountain stream. As the sun set and the lightning bugs started to appear a thunderstorm abruptly dampened the bug bonanza! The two of us were soaking wet and started to head back to the trolley with hundreds of other disappointed firefly fanatics. We had a change of heart when we saw the long line for the tram and figured we would stick around and give it a little longer. We found a great little vacant side trail and set up our wet blanket and tarp on a stone wall. As soon as we got comfortable the show began. Thousands and thousands of little lanterns started blinking all around us. The light-ups traveled in circles around our spot until slowly but surely all the bugs synched up into one twinkling forest floor. It was quite the spectacle.
By the time we caught our trolley down to the foot of the mountains it was after 11 and we were still homeless for the night. After an exhausting search for affordable hotels we found a cheap and rather icky Red Roof Inn and slept like babies.
This morning we set out to find a better home- and landed on a cute little affordable campsite next to a quaint river in Pigeon Forge. After cooking some delicious soup over the fire, we set out for internet- so Jordan could look at jobs and I could start getting my life together as well. This evening we are planning a winery tour in town and then a relaxing day tomorrow.
We should be in Columbus later on Wednesday and will stay through Friday when we head up to Cleveland. I am looking forward to showing off my city and all my friends and family to Jordan.
Then I will be on a job search until I find something that sparks my interest...
I suppose this is my last post. AmeriCorps is over and I am onto real life. I am definitely going to miss it and am sure my life from here out will be greatly shaped by my experiences.
Thanks for reading and keeping in touch over the last year! I'm looking forward to seeing you all very soon!!
PEACE,
Casey
