Stay on the Interstate through West Virginia or at least watch Deliverance so you know what to do in a worst case scenario.

Zapcon 4 is this weekend in Arizona .....its a great event you should come .....

I'm not sure that was the line.

When I was a kid my parents had a CBs in the cars and a base station at the house. Early cell phone driving.

I bet you will see lots of "Faces of Meth" billboards and will be asked more than once"You ain't from around here are ya?"

You know all the WV bashing isnt really founded in reality. The whole state isnt full of rednecks and assholes any more than the rest of North America.

The route you are taking is a beautiful drive in october when the leaves are changing colors etc.

Cheers!

Lighten up! Simply lighthearted comments. On a serious note, while it can be beautiful, Southern West Virginia is a backwater of backwaters. The #1 industry is coal (there really isn't a #2) and coal is quite dead. Drug abuse is rampant. I don't know if you will see those Meth billboards in the north, but you sure as hell see them in the south. I last visited roughly 10 years ago and it is not the West Virginia of childhood memory that's for sure.

Back to lightheartedness, the further south you go , the better it gets.

Makes derogatory comments about WV, says lighten up...they're simply lighthearted comments, then proceeds to bash WV some more. Well played!!

I made the trip from north central wv to knoxville in early spring a few years back for a business trip. It was pretty neat to see how much more spring like TN was in just a few hours drive. Just budding flowers here and full on blooming flowers and trees down there.

Enjoy some good food. I stopped at a famous daves down in Knoxville right off of I40 and it was really really good. Even though it is a chain place.

Cheers

I moved down here to Knoxville from Portsmouth New Hampshire about six years ago I really like it a lot down here. Knoxville has a lot to offer and is pretty centrally located to a lot of other really cool areas like Asheville Nashville and Atlanta. Famous days is good and it's about three minutes from where I work but there is a lot of better places to go eat especially the local mom-and-pop barbecue joints and the ye old steakhouse with the giant steaks

Welcome to the south

Love the toothpick. Spot on.

HAHAHA OML thank you, I thought that that really added to the whole picture's composition

Anyways, other than that I think I might go back and get one lovely vest for myself and one for my rock and roll father...

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You guys might need a passport to get back.

Hope you have a great time at Dollywood today. Not sure if they ever got the new rollercoaster available yet...had some permit hold up or something. Drewblood told me you might be swinging through Knoxville tomorrow. I might be covered up in the afternoon as I might be heading to the University of TN Orange vs. White 'game'. It is an annual free game/situation-based scrimmage for the Vols. Pretty fun and is all free. Starts at 2PM and probably goes a couple of hours.

If you really want to kill the day, the Blue Angels are flying Saturday and Sunday but I think it is pretty much and possibly an all-day event. It is free except for parking. They are expecting some 400,000 people which is why I'm not going. I've seen them before and they are absolutely amazing. Just don't feel like killing my entire day to do it. You can Google more info by searching for 'Knoxville Air Show'.

If you have time we can either make up some ribs or I can smoke some pork on the Big Green Egg for Saturday evening. Happy to put you up for a night too if you need it. Just let me know.

Either way, I hope I get the chance to meet you guys tomorrow.

Darin

Must have breakfast at a Waffle House while you're down there. At most exits on the main Interstate Highways.....

Good call. Gotta get those hashbrowns covered, smothered, chunked, etc.

Well, that's a pretty sassy pose...

Screw the awful house, you need to hit up a Cracker Barrel.

A mom & pop place would be better, if there is one around.

Now bonus points if you can find a Huddle House to eat at

The Waffle House cartel has nearly run them out of a lot of areas.

Be sure to check out the Grafitti alley near Market Square in Knoxville....very cool place!

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I am happy that you are having a wonderful time, and I feel bad that I was so wrapped up with the competitions to have more than ten seconds of conversations this week. I hope the rest of your trip is amazing and look forward to seeing you next- whereever that may be!

Have fun in Dollywood! My sister just came back today from a week long trip up there, and I'm supposed to go pick up my taffy from her tomorrow. I live two hours away and haven't been to Dollywood in over 20 years, so I need to get back up there. I'm not a fan of coasters though, and usually just go hang out with the horses at the Stampede or the ducks along the river banks.

Something freaky has been going on in Gatlinburg the last two weeks, so I hope it's all cleared out for you. The Ruby Tuesdays burnt to the ground, a helicopter tour crashed and killed 5 people, two people were found dead in a hot tub in a cabin, and on Monday someone jumped to their death from the Space Needle and hit the sidewalk on the main strip in front of hundreds of tourists.

Man that cinnamon bread is so good

Super thread Dave

Cracker Barrel isn't a buffet, at least none of the ones I have been to are. They are really tacky though and have lots of crap. Another good breakfast type/diner place is Bob Evans if you see one.

Breakfast is my favorite meal at Cracker Barrel. The nice thing is you can order something simple and small or you can go full Country Boy and that will probably be your last meal of the day ;-D

For those who probably don't wonder why I am not usually wearing my handy dandy glasses...

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Has anyone else with glasses just had one of the arms... Just kind of come off? No more pinball for me now. I can't see

VW rental? Don't see those that often. Call your rental place and if there is a one nearby they could allow you to swap.

good thing you guys are headed to Darin's tomorrow he's an Ophthalmologist. And it looks like I'll be able to make it over there after all for a bit tomorrow night Although we might stand a chance playing against you without your glasses

I could have built a bogan house of bottles like that one at Knotts if I'd saved all mine. So how were the rides at Dollywood? I'll get there someday.