The Familymoon Part I - The Drive to Tennessee

We had planned to leave the house at 3am on June 22nd. That was a Monday. On Sunday night we put off packing until late so we decided we'd get an extra hour of sleep and get up at 3am, leave at 4am. It was actually Duane's idea and I couldn't have been happier. Even though I would be able to sleep as soon as we got on the road.

We had bought this really cool cover for the bed of the truck and it was lockable! So we were able to pack the truck the night before. All we had to do was get up and go! And that's what we did. We had a 10 1/2 hour drive ahead of us.

First stop (with the exception of breakfast, lunch and bathroom stops) was Sevierville (pronounced severe), TN. This is where the county courthouse is that we needed to pick up our Marriage Licence.

The girls slept for a good bit of the morning but woke up bright and cheery and ready to drive some more!

Some more bright and cheery than others.

We finally made it to Tennessee!

Except after you hit the border you still have about a 3 hour drive to get to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area. We stopped for lunch at Hardee's. This is the equivalent to Carl's Jr. and I hadn't had a Western Bacon Cheeseburger in over 5 years. Used to be my favorite burger, but we don't have Carl's Jr or Hardee's in Louisiana. Of course I got my favorite burger and you know what? It just wasn't the same. Guess my taste buds have changed. Something else changed while we were in Hardees. THE TIME! Apparently there is a time difference between Tennessee and Louisiana that we weren't aware of. That meant we had one less hour to get to the courthouse before it closed at 5:30. And we had been planning on getting there at 4:30. So this meant we would be getting there right when it closed and if we got there a minute late we would have to drive an hour back out to Sevierville the next day...our wedding day!

The courthouse in Sevierville was in the town square and it was so pretty. Pretty brick building and paths through the grass. Trees and statues. Just very pretty. I wish I had taken a photo but we were in a big hurry to get in and pick up our license. We had just minutes to spare. And then their printers decided they were done for the day and didn't want to print out our license! After about 30 minutes and several phone calls our clerk was able to get our certificates and we were on our way.

We assumed that our GPS system would take us through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg before getting to Cosby, which is where our cabin was. Nope. Our Tom Tom decided he wanted us to take the scenic trail. And I am so happy he did. We went through the hills, twisting one lane roads and lots of trees. It reminded me of my old home. Especially this covered bridge. I wanted to stop and eat pancakes..but I didn't see any firemen.

We drove for miles. Past old barns.

And horses.

and more horses.

And I still couldn't get a picture of Bri. I did get a picture of her cute little pinky finger though! Isn't it sweet :)

I took a lot of pictures out the window. I wonder how much I missed because I was looking though the tiny little viewfinder? Lots I bet. But I was so happy with what I did see.

We passed over this river and even followed along side of it for a while. After such a long drive I just wanted to stick my toes in it. But we pressed on.

Everything was so green. And the driveways were these steep, winding roads. Another memory of California. My mom can attest to the fact that every friend I ever had as a child lived up a steep, winding road. I'll love her forever for driving me up those roads.

The GPS said we were getting close to our destination. We had been driving forever on this back road. And then we ran into this:

And we all groaned about having to drive all the way back and find the other way to go. But we had no choice and since it had been such a pretty trip, it wouldn't be so bad.

But still! We were ready to get to the cabin. And we needed to get ourselves in front of the TV so we could watch our LSU Tigers Baseball Team. They were playing in the College World Series. Just them and Texas were left. We weren't about to miss it.

And then we saw Copeland Rd. And we took the chance that it might take us around the road outage and get us to our cabin.

So we drove down Copeland Road, crossed Copeland Creek and it took us out to Hooper Hwy. Which is where our cabin was. How appropriate that I had to take a trip down Copeland road to get where I was supposed to be. Sounds like my real life.

A life that I'm so very excited about. With this waiting for you, wouldn't you be?