Sunday morning we rose at a respectable hour, Todd made coffee in what I’ve come to recognize as the standard hotel coffeemaker – the little black machines that are smaller than a toaster, with the little slide-tray packages of coffee – but he engineered his coffee by cutting open a k-cup of caramel vanilla cream and dumping that into the tray. (I had packed some k-cups just in case our hotels had that option. They didn’t.)

In an effort to not be high maintenance so early in our trip, I just went with the decaf one and it was exactly as I expected – dark, acidy, municipal-water flavored coffee. Poured that down the drain and hopped in the shower. Todd announced, after spending some time trying to trouble-shoot Apple CarPlay, that he was going down to the car to fix it.

The hotel has a food counter and – most importantly – coffee, so that was our last stop after checking out and loading our bags into the car. I am a coffee drinker who appreciates the value of a quiet morning with mug in hand and no conversation until I’ve had at least half a cup, and but I’m not so picky that I won’t give any coffee a chance. Todd, notsomuch.

The hotel serves Starbucks coffee. I’m reading the menu thinking breakfast to go would also be nice, when Todd says, out loud, and I quote: “Starbucks sucks.” I turn to him and say something like, can you not say that in front of the person pouring my venti? And turn back to her and say, I’m sorry. She just smiles back and says it’s okay, the hotel isn’t affiliated with Starbucks, they just serve their coffee, which I think really meant she doesn’t give a shit either way but there’s no way Marriott and Starbucks don’t have “an agreement.”

Anyway, we get in the car and Todd is still trying to connect Apple CarPlay and…. It’s. Not. Working. A few more attempts and head scratches from the man who can fix virtually anything and that’s no lie, and I’m all – can we just forget it and get moving? Sure we can, but now we have to find …. COFFEE. Easier said than done. He asks Siri for coffee shops and the first four options are …. Wait for it… Starbucks.

I guess McDonalds is out, too? Yes. What about Dunkin? Here, there’s a coffee shop that came up. (I’m pretty sure that the name of this “coffee shop” had the word “hookah” in it but you know – choose your battles, right?) So my car’s GPS, admittedly, has its flaws but we ended up turning the wrong way and driving through Hollins, Virginia – a somewhat depressing looking area reminiscent of towns where bowling alleys languish. The “coffee shop” we were looking for turned out to be “missing” or confusing, and that’s when I told him that the listing did say hookah on it too. He hadn’t seen that. Oh well.

We passed a Walmart and he suggested we go in and buy a coffee maker and more k-cups for the trip and…. He could hook it up to the car so we can brew it on the road and I’m like oh HELL NO.  Short story long, we bought a $12 coffee maker and in the same shopping center was some fastfood-type establishment, so we went in. I ordered a Philly Cheesesteak, which was delicious with mushrooms, onions, peppers but not like any Philly cheesesteak I’ve ever eaten. Did we have options? Sure, but getting on the road to Nashville was priority number 2 (after a decent cup of coffee – which ended up being Dunkin after all).

Some notable things while co-piloting to Tennessee: Brown Squirrel Furniture, and you know I had to look that one up. Get this, there’s a mascot. And sometimes he makes appearances at the store. I saw a Tribe tractor trailer on the highway with the words, Native-American Woman-Owned business printed on the side. It’s a transportation business based in Gainesville Georgia, north of Atlanta, and states they are “one of the fastest growing minority carriers in North America.”

Frozen Head State Park is in Wartburg, Tennessee and the name alone invites intrigue. Its highest point is 3,324 feet and the name comes from the peaks often having snow or ice capping them.  Now as for “Wartburg,” assuming that centuries ago German settlers were establishing life there and the word translates to “watchtower” AND there is a medieval castle in Germany named the Wartburg, I’m guessing Germans gave it the name. I have no idea what any of this has to do with anything, and I’m not going further down the rabbit hole to make sense of it.

So guess what? We got hungry again around Knoxville (about four hours from Roanoke) and needed gas so we got off the highway. Ended up at a Ruby Tuesday (don’t judge – hunger will make you do questionable things). It was not the cleanest and I can hear my friend Treena chastising me. There were literally only two other tables occupied and we stood at the hostess stand for nearly 20 minutes before anyone who worked there appeared. I could’ve mixed us two cocktails and sat down before anyone noticed. We thought salad bar would be okay. I don’t know – it was dubious at best and our waitress was missing some important teeth and had yellow fingernails. I ate one small plate of salad and prayed to the gods that I wouldn’t get some foodborne illness.

We had another 2 hours and 47 minutes to Nashville. We talked about things I can no longer remember and listened to Classic Rewind and by the time we’d reached Nashville, I had heard several songs four times over and if I ever hear them again it will be too soon. But there would be hours to go before we sleep – at home.

*This post is under 1000 words. You’re welcome.

**I added some pictures to the previous post, as I had intended before it was published, in case anyone wants visuals. I didn’t have any for this post, other than rolling hills of Virginia and Tennessee.