By 8 a.m., we were packed up and had left the campsite and headed east toward Monteagle, TN. We passed through Winchester and connected on Hwy 41A east.
When we arrived at Cowan, we had to stop. It was such a cute small town. We needed to take some photos. We were stopped by a nice lady that ran a homemade candle and soap shop. We had such a nice conversation with her. We ended up buying a little sachet of scented beads. We thought it would be a good addition to the tent, especially by the end of the trip.
We walked down the street and were stopped by a gentleman asking us where we were from. Apparently we looked like tourist. I could have been the three cameras around Robert’s neck. Or it could have been the Missouri license plate. We had a great talk outside of the barber shop. We are so glad we made the stop.
By 10 a.m. we were at South Cumberland State Park. After getting a little passport book to collect stamps and trail maps, we were off to Foster Falls.
The hike to Foster Falls was a small one. We love waterfalls and it was worth the stop. We opted not to take the long hike, but just stick to looking at it from the overlook.
Our next destination was Signal Mountain to visit with one of Robert’s longtime friends, Amy. She lives in a little cabin on a lot of land near Walden. We stopped in Walden to get gas. Loved that we got 25.6 MPG!
We were in the parking lot of a little grocery store named Pruetts when Robert called Amy. He asked her if she’d heard of the place. She said, “Well yeah, I work there silly.” She finished up what she was doing and came to meet up with us.
We ended up going to her cabin. She lives on the most beautiful property I’ve ever seen. We had AMAZING phone and Internet signal. Who would have thought with her being so remote? It seems as though Signal Mountain has plenty of signal.
Amy is quite the mushroom broker. She has a lot of contacts with local restaurants and supplies them with great local mushrooms. She offered for us to try Chicken of the Woods. Robert kept telling her that he wasn’t a “fungi,” but he opted to try something new. Actually I had never tried it before either, so it was a new experience for both of us. We had our share of fried Chicken of the Woods. Pretty tasty.
Amy offered for us to stay in a place down the hill from her cabin that she had prepared for campers. We took her up on her offer and set up camp. It was the most peaceful stay we’ve had so far, so quiet and so dark. It was the first night we set up the annex room. It was a perfect office in the pitch dark of night!
