We had to head back home today. Rather than just take I-40 straight into Greensboro, I noticed that we could easily take a slight detour on US 441 and then onto US 23 to get to I-40...

I believe south will take us to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...

So this is Pigen Forge, TN: A six-lane highway with too much retail and slow traffic...

So this is Gatlinburg, TN: A crowded four lane highway with too much traffic, too many pedestrians, too many tourists, too much retail, too many hotels, too many tourist traps, et cetra... Not a place I'd want to see again (sorry).

Welcome to the Sugarlands Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

This is the 4000th picture I have taken with my camera! So I have taken more than 2000 pictures since 16 Jul 2005 !

Will you believe that this pile is the only snow I've seen all winter? I know! It's unbelievable, yet true... There was a family playing with the snow from Florida (license plate) with a little baby. That must have been his first time to ever to see snow.

Morton Overlook: Elevation 4837 feet

Can you see US 441?

North Carolina - Tennesse State Line: Elevation 5048 feet

According to the sign, this is the "Back Country", where one can wander for days largely free from the sights and sounds of our everyday world. Few such places are left in America... (sorry for the large image size)

I know it's a poor picture, but you can sort of see the red curve showing US 441, the highway we just drove down to get through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Notice that in the valleys of the scale model, you can see the highway follow the creeks. It's only near the black state line when the highway has to go up and down the mountain ridges.

We have discovered the only Big Boy in North Carolina! I am so happy we went through Cherokee.

Not Asheville, but some small town near Asheville and I-40 along US 23.