Day 4: Pigeon Forge, TN - Roanoke, VA

From one American classic song to another - goodbye, Old Smoky; hello, Blue Ridge Mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway, celebrating its 75th anniversary, gave me all the timeless escapism that had been lacking from the park itself yesterday.

Editor's note: "Parkway" in England is not a word associated in any way with beauty or nature. Bristol, Tiverton, and my own personal favourite, Didcot, all boast 1960's railway stations called Parkways as part of a Modern Enhancement of British Rail. Basically, they were situated out of town and had carparks. See - carPARK, railWAY. Brilliant. No image could be further from the Parkway along the Blue Ridge mountains - a single carriageway in part designed and wholly managed by the National Park Service. I'm going to giggle every time I travel Cardiff-London on FGW from now on. Well, smile wryly, at least.

We were treated to glorious views on both sides, scarcely another car on the road, ancient forests softening each peak, wisps of cloud above us one minute, below us the next, as row after row of mountains disappeared into the distance. Smoky indeed. The tunnels had no lights - after the blinding sunshine of the high clear air, the darkness was breath-taking. Beautiful bright yellow daisies completed the colour palette along the sides of the road, matching the central line perfectly. Huge black and irridescent blue kamikazi butterflies divebombed the car as we drove along.

Then we crested a hill and the weather changed; the greens and yellows vanished as everything turned to blue and grey. Just as beautiful - completely different. We sat at lunch watching each mountain opposite cloak itself in cloud and disappear. We had managed only a quarter of our planned drive, but it was clear that if we stuck to the Parkway, half our journey would be in the dark; the weather was the excuse we needed to head down the hill and find a freeway. Happily, the Future I-26 West (I know - time travel, too) is a modern Parkway (of the good sort), and we soared over and raced through the Cherokee National Forest and were home in time for tea.

Today’s statistics:

• Started driving: 10.04
• Finished driving: 19.15
• Miles: 353
• New States: 1
• New State license plates seen: 4 (with a following wind. I swear it was South Dakota).
• Viewpoints stopped at: 4
• Tickets bought for Monticello: 4
  
• Phone number for Gun Runners, Blountville, TN: 423-323-AK47
• Breakfast: Smoky Mountain Pancake House, Pigeon Forge
• Lunch: Mt Pisgah Lodge, Blue Ridge Parkway
  
• Dinner: Cold pizza from yesterday and apple pie in Waffle House for the kids / take-out Mexican in the room at the Super 8 for Mike and me.
  

Today’s Discoveries:

• My sons already have a glorious and blossoming relationship in which I am completely incidental.
• When Mike wants a beer, he REALLY wants a beer.
• I was wrong about the stuffed bear; Christopher really does love it.
  
• A corkscrew can be used as a bottle-opener as long as a) you've tried everything else in the room that's made of metal; b) you've made your fingers bleed; c) you've damaged at least three pieces of motel property and d) you REALLY want a beer.