No Eggs In Cemetery

   Easter Egg hunt at outlet mall next to McGavock Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia.

I Hate Spring IV

I Hate Spring III

I Hate Spring II

   Nashville City Cemetery, taken in April. Ugh the smell of those trees...

I Hate Spring

   I hate Spring. Hate it. My face hurts from the stupid sinus headaches from the stupid allergies. All the stupid bugs are coming out. The smell of fresh cut grass makes me nauseous. The foliage is growing back, hiding all of those hidden abandoned places and graveyards. It means no more hoodie weather(eventually, we have had 30 degree temps the last few days). I hate heat and sweating. I hate Spring.

   Only 183 days until Fall gets here

How I Travel When I Can't Leave Home

   My dream life would be living on the road trip permanently. Living out of a recreational vehicle, or motel room to motel room. Adjusting your watch to the local time zone every so often. Deciding which morning news has the most interesting personalities. Visiting the tourist spots, the kitschy places, the historical monuments, the little known sites. Small towns and big cities. I want to see every part of this country.

   Unfortunately due to a number of circumstances, travelling every single day right now is just not an option. When I can't get into the car and just take off, I spend my time travelling via my computer. Some of the things I do every day in a desperate attempt to satisfy my wanderlust:

• Google Street View road trips: Route 66, Lincoln Highway, Canadian Highway to Alaska, and other scenic routes. Find the start point, go down to "street view" and click your way along the road toward your destination. I do this so much that sometimes I forget if I've actually been somewhere or just explored it via GSV. 

  

  Glenrio, Texas, Route 66. Not all of Street View has been updated recently

• Film and tv locations: Because I love geography so much, I get a little obsessed with "locations" when I am watching television shows or movies. Many of them film on studio backlots, but when they are out on location, such as the numerous productions that film in New York City, finding those spots later on Google Street View is quite satisfying. Especially if I am able to locate them without the help of other websites.

  

  Mike's tollbooth from "Better Call Saul", Albuquerque, New Mexico

• Flightradar24: My newest obsession. I'm not much of a flyer, I would rather take my time and see everything in between. "The only thing you learn on an airplane is which flavor peanuts you like"(PeeWee's Big Holiday) . But watching the website, which shows airplanes in flight all over the world, is fascinating. Choosing an airplane, thinking about the people on it and where they might be headed and why. I actually spend most of the time looking for unusual planes, such as NASA training flights, or Southwest Airlines with special liveries(paint job), or anything like that. 

  

  Like this guy over Houston, what the heck is he doing? Makes me dizzy!

• Roadside America: I could spend hours reading about all the unusual places listed on this website. If we are planning a trip I will scour the entire planned route for anything that looks interesting. Making a quick side trip to see a replica Stonehenge in rural Kentucky? Sure! It's not just the "World's Largest Ball of Twine" anymore, though you could certainly see that if you want! 

  

  Shell Station that looks like a...shell...in North Carolina

• Blogs and vlogs: Some people are more fortunate that they can and do travel quite often. And many of them either write about their journeys or post videos(vlogs) of them. I seek these fortunate souls and check up on them nearly every day. I will make a list below of some of my favorite blogs(I don't think I can make a 'bullet list within a bullet list'!)
  
• Make Lists: I am a list maker, a 'lister' or 'cataloguer'. Spellcheck doesn't even recognize those words, but I am pretty sure they are correct. I make lists for everything. I probably make at least one list every day. I made a list for this. Before a typical multi-day trip, I will have half a notebook full of lists. Things to bring, places to see, roads to take, buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. 
  
• Explore: Pick a place, explore it. Almost every day I spend time on Wikipedia(or other sources) reading about a place or thing that I heard about. A question on Jeopardy? A "hometown" that I've never heard of before? Today's example: the Harrison, Tennessee 'eagle cam' was mentioned on the news this morning. I will probably spend a few hours now learning all about the town of Harrison, it's history, "street view drive" around the older parts of town-just to learn. Thirst for knowledge. 
  

  When I was a kid, my Grandmother had a set of encyclopedias that I spent hours reading from cover to cover. My Granddad's extra room had wall-to-wall maps and a ham radio. He also wanted more than anything to just "get in the car and go-anywhere". My mom inherited that, so did I. When I can't be out there, these ideas are the next best thing for me. Maybe I'm just weird but "virtual travel" staves off the depression(mostly). And it makes me more ready for when I do actually get out of the house!

• The above-promised list of blogs and vlogs I read/watch:
• Adam the Woo, Vlogger; two channels-The Daily Woo(everyday video blog), and the original Adam the Woo channel(longer, edited adventure & travel videos). For a few years, Adam lived in his van, travelling around America, posting videos every single day from some random location. He settled in Orange County, California last year and does lots of Disneyland videos now, but he still does a daily video. I like to go back and watch his older travel videos now and then. 
• Ditching Suburbia, blog: Family who sold it all, got an RV and travel full-time. Posting about locations they visit and the trials and tribulations of full-time travel, especially with children.
• Scouting LA and Scouting NY, blog: Location scout who previously lived in New York, recently relocated to Los Angeles. Posts about very interesting and historic locations in both locations. 
• Deep Fried Kudzu, blog: Travel around the back roads of the South, around Mississippi and New Orleans and the area. Sometimes upscale restaurants and hotels are reviewed(not my cup of tea though). 
• The Carpetbagger, blog, sometimes with videos: Travel around the south and sometimes the rest of America. 
• The Wandering Driver, blog: Australian travel blogger. It may not be the United States of America, but it's fun to look at his travel photos sometimes. 
• Well, I have others bookmarked, but when looking at them to link them, I noticed that some of them had not been updated in more than a year. So that's it then. If you know of any others in the U.S., bloggers or vloggers, who travel frequently and post frequently, I would love to know about them! Please comment or find me on Twitter!

Images from Google Street View, Internet Bumper Stickers, FlightRadar24, and My Flickr Page

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Mid-Town Drive-In, Closed

  This was the Roane Drive-in in Harriman, Tennessee, from the 1950s to the 1970s. Closed down and the land used for other things. Re-opened as a drive-in theater in 1995 until 2013. Film companies switched from 35mm causing the theater to shut down. The location's website says it is currently "for sale".

Knoxville, Tennessee

Best Hamburger I've Ever Had

   You wouldn't expect a great hamburger from a place named "Wise Guys Pizza", but you would be wrong! I knew we would be making the trip to Cherokee, North Carolina, so I Googled "best hamburgers in Cherokee". My husband and I have a plan to find really good burgers in small towns in each state surrounding Tennessee(so 8 different states). W
   We arrived just after they opened, the only ones in the joint. Of course, this is a "tourist" town, and February is not "tourist season". The titulary pizza had not been made. We ordered burgers, the "100% Angus Burgers", advertised on the sign outside. I got a bacon cheeseburger, with only barbque sauce on it. The prices are better than most fast food chains. The burgers were HUGE compared to most fast food chains. And the taste...we were in burger Heaven! Hands on a Bible, this was the best tasting burger I have ever had in my life! Oh and the fries were pretty tasty as well.
   So if you ever find yourself in Cherokee, on the edge of the Smoky Mountains, looking for grub, please check out Wise Guys Pizza. They are located in the Tepee Village Shopping Center on Big Dove Road just off Acquoni Road-this is pretty much the first stop light on Newfound Gap Road as you come out of the Smokies into town.
   And sorry no photo of the food, that really isn't my 'thing'!

Weird Wednesday and an Update

   I have not been posting lately and for that I apologize to the maybe 2 whole people who actually look at this blog. *waves at Mom as one of them* One of my "resolutions" was to get out more, and especially to take more photos. I have not been doing that. Today is March 2nd, the last time I picked up my camera was February 7th. There has been no real need. Nothing to photograph.

   So here is a weird dinosaur at a mini-golf in Knoxville.

No One Reads My Crappy Blog