Traveling Through Tennessee

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After our week at Lake Powhatan Recreation Area, it’s time to continue west. Our next planned stop is in Oak Ridge Tennessee. Our plan is to spend 3 nights dry camping in the parking lot of the Elks Lodge in town. It should be a straightforward drive across I-40 to I-81 though Knoxville and north to Oak Ridge - a 137 mile drive. Our dilemma is that there was a section of I-40 through the mountains that was destroyed from the Hurricane Helene flooding. More than a mile of the eastbound highway was completely washed away. While it is being repaired, there is a 12 mile stretch of I-40 that is one lane in each direction using the westbound lanes. From what we have read, it is slow going with narrow lanes in the best of times. If you are unfortunate enough to be going through when there is even a minor accident, all traffic comes to a stop. We’ve heard of 2 to 4 hours delays as damaged vehicles are removed. Admittedly, having our house with us, we would have access to food, water and a bathroom so it would just be an annoyance. But we decide that heading north on I-25 to I-81 is just a much safer bet even if it does come with an additional 62 miles pushing the total to 199 miles.

It was a longish travel day but went smoothly and we arrive at the lodge a bit before they were to open. We surveyed the lodge and decided on a spot on one side of the parking lot that should be out of the way, reasonably level and clear view of the sky for decent solar gain. When the lodge did finally open, we headed in to chat with the members and explain our plans. They were fine with our parking spot and hoped we enjoyed exploring the area. The roads next to the lodge seemed fairly busy but we were pleased to find that traffic thinned out later in the evening and it was a relatively quiet place to sleep.

One of the main things we wanted to do here was to see some of the sights in Oak Ridge associated with the Manhattan Project. Back in 2017, we had stumbled onto the Hanford B Reactor in Richland Washington state and taken a tour of the facility. It too was part of the Manhattan Project and we had learned how there were two other main locations - Los Alamos NM and Oak Ridge TN. It took us 9 years to finally make it here but our route should get us to Los Alamos in another 7 weeks so we can finally complete our Manhattan Project trifecta.

We had placed the Oak Ridge tour high on our list. In fact it was so high, we had signed up for the bus tour that the Department of Energy offers over two months ago as our travel plans were coming together. We need to arrive by 8:30 AM to check in for the tour. The good news is the lodge is only about 2 miles away so we don’t have too much travel time to account for. Our meeting location is the American Museum of Science and Energy located next to a mall with a large parking lot. We likely could have parked the rig here if we were just passing through the area and doing the tour on our way.

American Museum of Science and Energy

The museum doesn’t technically open until 9 but they do open the doors early for the tour group to go through the check in process. We only needed to show our drivers license but I suspect there had been behind the scenes security checks when we had purchased tickets since the tour will take us to some secure sites. There were probably close to 2 dozen people on our tour but the bus they have is plenty big enough for us to all fit comfortably. There is a bus driver and two tour guides. Cam is the main guide. He used to work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and has a deep understanding of what went on here even though he arrived decades after the Manhattan Project. Sarah is our second guide and will deal more with the logistics of the tour such as when and where photography is and isn’t permitted as well as herding us back into the bus at each stop.

Cam Explains the Manhattan Project

We will travel to 3 different stops on our tour. As we are driven to our first stop about 10 miles southwest of town, Cam gives an explanation of how Oak Ridge came to be. Back in late 1942, the US government wanted to develop a facility where they could try to enrich uranium for use in a possible weapon. This part of Tennessee was predominantly farmland with small homesteads. The topography and access to power and rail lines made this area ideal for what was planned. Property owners in the area were informed their land was going to be acquired by the government and given just a few months to leave.

Over the next year, construction happened at a rapid pace. Small towns were built to house all the workers required and these workers also built the huge plants that would be used to enrich the uranium. As the plants came online, even more scientists and military personnel arrived bringing the population to around 75,000 people! There were several different approaches to be tried since it was unknown if a process that worked in a laboratory could be scaled up to produce the quantities of enriched uranium required for a bomb. Our first stop is at the K-25 History Center. We get a brief description of what there is to see at this stop. It starts with short video that helps to reinforce what Cam described on the bus ride.

At K-25 History Center

After the movie was over, we are given 30 minutes or so to wander the museum. This place is only about 5 years old so everything looks to be new except for the artifacts from the K-25 plant that are on display. There are lots of exhibits and several of the stops have even more videos to watch. One of the videos was a well done virtual walkthrough of the old facility. In its heyday, K-25 was one of the largest buildings in the world under one roof. It used gaseous diffusion to enrich the uranium. It was a U shaped building - over 1/2 miles long and 1000 feet wide. Today, the museum sits next to where K-25 sat. It was demolished and the site cleaned up between 2009 and 2013. We probably could have spent more time here learning but we needed to move on to our next stop.

How Uranium is Enriched

Research Paper from University of Rochester

It’s about an 8 mile drive to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The road into the place used to be open to the public but post 911, the security was tightened and now visitors must be screened in advance.  As we approached the entrance booth, our guides asked that we all behave and answer any questions the guards might ask. Even though we are on a sanctioned tour, we are still subject to random security checks. Fortunately we made it through without any additional screening other than the guard asking our guide if the list of names on the form matched the people on the bus. We were also told there was to be no photos or videos taken from the bus or at the one stop we will make. From what we could see it looks like an impressive place.

We stood outside one of the buildings and were split into two groups, one stayed outside and Cam showed a few photos of this area from long ago and explained what took place here during World War II. We are near where the X-10 Graphite Reactor sits. It was used as a small scale pilot plant to produce plutonium. The findings from this is what led to the development of the B Reactor we visited in Hanford years ago. Across the street from us was a huge tent. Cam explains that this was another building that was used during the Manhattan Project and was undergoing a major clean up to remove any trace radioactive material. The two groups swapped guides and we headed into the building with Sarah to learn about supercomputers. Apparently the tour used to go to where the supercomputer is located but there is some renovation work so it is not available right now. Instead we go to where ORNL has their quantum computer. Inside the building, we are permitted to take pictures. The quantum computer behind the windows is sleek looking but I’m not sure I understand the concept any better now.

Quantum Computer

After boarding the bus again, we head to the third stop - the New Hope Center. This is the visitor center for the Y-12 building. Y-12 was where the uranium was enriched by using electromagnetic separation. The devices were known as calutrons and the building had 1152 of them. I found it interesting that most of the operators of the equipment were women. Since most of the men were fighting in WWII, women were more available. The women were never told what they were doing other than supporting the war effort. They were given instructions on what knobs to turn, which dials to watch and where optimal production level was. There job was to focus on the controls and keep the calutrons running at peak efficiency. One of the guides at this location told a story of how early on in the process, some scientists were skeptical of the calutron girls being up to the task. They set up a test where the scientists would run some of the calutrons and some of the women would do the same. At the end of the weeklong test, the women had performed much than the PhD scientists. There were lots of display to see in the small museum and one hallway we were permitted to explore.

Explaining Y-12

Replica of Little Boy Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima

We head back to the bus and return to the AMSE center where we had started the day. By now the museum was open so we spend some time looking over even more displays about the Manhattan Project and Oak Ridge. There is definitely a lot to see here and the tour was very interesting and educational.

Plasma Globe

Kodak Camera Documented Manhattan Project

After the tour, we head back to the rig and have lunch. It was a nice day so we head out to explore the area a bit. We don’t have specific plans other than to drive west and find some geocaches in the two counties to the west of Oak Ridge. We didn’t find anything too special but did achieve our goal.

Waterfall

Lake View

Elaborate Geocache

With one more full day in Oak Ridge, we decided that although there are other Manhattan Project museums and sites to visit, we had sort of gotten our fill of that topic and were in need of some outdoor exercise. The University of Tennessee has an arboretum in town and has about 5 miles of hiking trails as well as 5 geocaches. It sounded like a fun time so we head there mid morning to try to get in a decent hike before lunch. We started out on a nature trail near the main visitor building which wasn’t open when we arrived. The trails were nice and we started off finding the first few caches.

Nice Trail in Arboretum

Pretty Flower

Vibrant Yellow Tree

The initial trails were in a more remote portion of the park but we eventually made it over to the more developed grounds. They have a beautiful auditorium that wasn’t open but we could walk around and look in the windows. Quite the impressive place.

Indian Pink Blooms

Beautiful Auditorium

Chris Poses on Butterfly Bench

There is a nice wildflower garden near the auditorium so we checked that out before continuing on.

White Wild Indigo

Butterfly Artwork

As we head back to the parking lot, we had one more geocache to look for. We searched for this one for over 20 minutes. It hadn’t been found in over a year and had another DNF in the meantime, so we weren’t too disappointed needing to log a DNF. We had about half a mile back to the car but then I noticed I no longer had my prescription sunglasses. I generally take them off and hang them on the collar of my shirt when we enter a dark wooded area. I was sure they must have fallen off with all the bending over searching for this last cache. So back we went but after another 10 minutes looking for the glasses we decide to backtrack and look at other places they might have fallen off. I couldn’t recall the last time I remembered wearing them so that wasn’t going to help narrow down the search. We made it back to the auditorium but didn’t find them at the cache near there. By now it was 1 PM and hunger was getting the best of us. We made it to the parking lot having hiked a total of 4.8 miles and saw the visitor center was now open. We stopped to chat with the woman working and explained what had happened. She took my contact information and said if someone finds and returns them, she will give me a call.

Back at the rig, we had lunch while I stewed about my losing the glasses. Chris needed to get some groceries before we head to our next, more remote location. So she agreed to drop me off back at the arboretum while I retrace  my steps and she goes grocery shopping. I cannot recall a time where I have ever repeated a hike in such a short period of time. But I was on a mission and now I knew exactly where each of the caches we found are so I can concentrate on those locations since the glasses likely didn’t fall off simply while walking the trails. When I got the the 3rd cache, 2.5 miles into my second hike of the day, I found my glasses laying right next to the container. I do remember having to bend over to grab the cache but didn’t realize the glasses had fallen off. Fortunately they had not been damaged. I texted Chris with the good news and was told she was nearly done shopping and would pick me up in 20 minutes. I had time to let the woman at the visitor center know they were found and could ignore my contact info. I feel I know the trails at the UT Arboretum fairly well at this point.

Butterfly Spotted on Hike Number 2

The next morning we head out from Oak Ridge to go to Henry Horton State Park about 40 miles south of Nashville. It’s a 208 mile drive but the bulk of that is on Interstate highways so it wasn’t too tiring. Coming into a state park on a Saturday isn’t always a smart idea. Even though we know we have a campsite reserved, the rest of the park is likely full with the weekend crowd so navigating through a busy campground can be a challenge. Fortunately this park has decent spacing between sites and fairly large sites so it wasn’t a problem to get in and get setup. This drive brought us into Central Time Zone so we needed to get the bodies to readjust for that hour gained.

We have booked a site for 2 nights. There didn’t seem to be a lot of things to do in the area but it is a new region of Tennessee that we haven’t visited previously so we can spend our free day driving around the area getting caches in a few of the counties we don’t have yet. We pick a route that should get us to 5 different counties. We have picked out some geocaches with a fair number of favorite points but we didn’t really see any towns or things we needed to see along our route. Our first stop was at a business with a cache having over 200 favorite points. We suspected it would be something good but it wasn’t until we pulled up and saw the cache that we realized just how special it was. We always like finding ammo cans (preferably in the woods) but this cache was actually made up of 19 ammo cans assembled sort of like a robot. Fortunately the one with the logbook was obvious so we didn’t need to search through them all.

Ammo Can Artwork

Next we drove over to Shelbyville and found a couple more caches before heading to Lynchburg Tennessee. I suppose I should have realized what famous business is located in this town, but it wasn’t until we stopped at the welcome sign at the edge of town that we saw the sign stating Lynchburg is the home of Jack Daniel Distillery. We aren’t big whiskey fans so it was news to us. But we had to stop and check the place out.

Unexpectedly at Jack Daniel

Old Delivery Truck

Distilling Process

It was already 3 PM on a busy Sunday so there were no tour spots open but we were able to wander the various buildings open to the public. They have a big store with all sort of special whiskeys to purchase or a tasting room where you can sample their products. They didn’t seem to have much souvenir items for sale but we were told that a short walk into the small downtown area had lots of shops. There was just about everything you could imagine from shirts, caps, mugs and of course shot glasses. They even had oak whiskey barrels for sale. If we owned a place bigger than a motorhome, we may have purchased something like the barrel top stating “Jack Lives Here”. This was a fun and unexpected detour in what we thought would be a so-so day.

Downtown Lynchburg

I Could Use This

We finished up our day at a county to the west of camp. The cache we were searching for sounded interesting and challenging. About 25% of the cachers end up not finding the container but from the pictures, it looked like the location would be neat even if we struck out. The cache is hidden on a bridge over the Duck River. But it looks like this bridge has not seen any vehicle traffic in decades. It’s definitely a popular spot for people to come with spray paint and tag the bridge.

Overlooking Graffiti Bridge

We made it to near where ground zero was and started to look. The cache description said that you don’t need to do anything dangerous to make the find but there aren’t a lot of hiding spots especially for a regular size cache. We were almost ready to admit defeat when I stood back and took a more general view of the location. SPOILER ALERT! I noticed that along each side of the bridge were 3” drain holes through the concrete roughly every 8 feet. Then I noticed that there seemed to be a “missing drain hole”. I went over to where the hole should have been and felt along the surface of the bridge. There was a layer of small stone particles and as I brushed them away, I felt something out of place. The cache owner had a cylindrical container with a round plate glued to the top and small stones glued to the plate. It fit perfectly into the drain hole and practically disappeared once in place and the looses stones evened out. Quite the creative hide and we were pleased to have found it.

Do You See the Geocache?

There are lots of things to see and do within Henry Horton State Park and we probably could have spend another day or two here exploring but we have plans to spend 3 nights in Memphis so our short stop will have to suffice. If we ever do make it back, we should also plan better and book a tour at Jack Daniel.

Our next planned stop is Memphis. We’ve been there before but it was way back in 2013 when we still had our travel trailer. We had stayed at T.O. Fuller State Park on the south side of town but hadn’t been impressed with the campground or the neighborhood. This time we were going to stay at the Agricenter on the east side of town outside the outer loop. It sounds like the place is a fairgrounds and with nothing going on for the 3 nights at the beginning of a week, we figured there would be no issue staying there. However their reservation system is to email them with your request and they will get back to you. Even after sending a second email, we didn’t hear back from them so we needed a Plan B. Chris had seen there is another state park north of Memphis that didn’t have very good reviews but she also saw that the campground had been closed from late 2024 through December 2025 for a complete update and there weren’t many reviews since they reopened. We saw there was availability for the 3 nights we wanted and better yet the sites are full hookup. This will be the first time in 3 weeks since leaving The Great Outdoors that we will have sewer at our rig.

The drive to Meeman-Shelby State Park was longer than we typically like to travel at 237 miles. But that’s the penalty for needed to drive so much further west than our original planned stop. We actually had several stops along the way to get a bit of a break. We were traveling through several Tennessee counties that we haven’t cached in yet. The problem is there aren’t rest stops with geocaches in those counties so we need to see if we can improvise. This takes a bit more planning when your geocaching vehicle is nearly 60 feet long. The first stop is at the Tina Turner Museum just outside of Brownsville. They didn’t really have parking for a rig our size, but I was able to pull up within 20 feet of the hide so Chris could make a quick grab while I sat in the No Parking Zone. The next stop was much easier. It wasn’t a rest stop but the parking lot for Parker Crossroads Battlefield was nearly empty and plenty big enough for us to get into and turn around. I went and got the geocache and even toured a bit of this Civil War site while Chris prepped lunch. Our last county was simply at an exit ramp from I-40. I was able to pull over next to another no parking sign and go check on the condition of the connections to the Jeep while Chris made the find. It turned out that this exit is not very well used so nobody even got off here during the few minutes we were parked there. Three more Tennessee counties under our belt.

We pulled into the state park and went straight to our site. Turns out we were supposed to stop at the visitor center but since the campground has been completely redone, not all the signs are up to direct incoming campers to register there. Chris drove back when we discovered there wasn’t a check in station in the campground. We have camped in well over 60 different state parks in our nearly 10 years of fulltime travels. There have been several that have pretty decent camping sites and amenities and many that have simply gorgeous locations, but I have to say that Meeman-Shelby SP campground is at or near the top of the list. The sites are nice and level with 50 amp, water and sewer. Plus they are super spacious. We could easily have parked another motorhome our size in our site without issue. We checked out the restrooms and shower facilities and these were even more impressive. Part of it might be simply because the campground has only been open for a few months, everything is in working order. But we were having hot and humid weather so the fact that the shower houses are air conditioned was a big plus. Normally when we have a site with full hookups, we shower in our rig. Not at this park, I almost looked forward to the short walk to the shower house each day we were here.

Spacious Campsite at Meeman-Shelby

We only had one thing on our agenda for the days we were in Memphis and that was to visit Graceland. After checking the weather forecast, we decide to go for a hike in the state park our first full day here and do Graceland tomorrow. There is the Woodland Trail that is just over 3 miles long with just under 500 feet of elevation gain. Best thing is we can get to it right from the campground. Our maps showed a spur trail off of a camping loop so we headed there and find the obvious trail down the hill. The only problem was the yellow caution tape across the trail. Turns out that a heavy rain had damaged this spur trail and a different one was created off of a different camping loop. Of course there wasn’t a sign to point us in that direction so we opted to use caution, like the tape said, and started down the trail. In the thousands of miles of hiking we have done over the years, this damaged trail was in better shape than some others I can think of. There were a few washed out sections but nothing we couldn’t handle.

Turtle

Once we were on the main trail that is a big loop, we had no troubles except for the heat and humidity. Even though we had gotten an early start, it was a very sticky hike. The was a neat old shelter along the hike that was the home for a geocache. There was one bridge that was obviously missing most of its structure but fortunately the creek the bridge normally would cross was dry so crossing wasn’t an issue. We made it back around and spotted another couple coming down a different spur trail. It looked like it might lead up to the camp, so we asked if that’s where they were coming from. Apparently they had been better informed than us and found the new spur trail. I will admit this one was much easier than the damaged one we came down earlier. It was nice to take a long shower in the air conditioning when we were done.

Chris Crosses Creek

Shelter Hide a Geocache

Missing Bridge

The next day was our trip to Graceland. It’s a bit of a drive from the campground since we are well north of Memphis and Graceland is on the south side of town. Being a Wednesday morning there were quite a few people although it didn’t seem packed. Neither of us are big Elvis Presley fans so we are only here for the novelty. Watching some of the other visitors, it’s clear their visit might be considered a pilgrimage.

Welcome to Graceland

We had not planned ahead in terms of booking tickets online, but we didn’t have any problems getting tickets at the main gate. There are several different tour options and prices. Several VIP tours are available with different features which run from $260 to $148 per person. If you want to see the various museums and the jets but skip the mansion, you can get in for $53. We went with the Elvis Experience package that provides for a self guided audio tour of the mansion, all the museums and the planes for $85. The mansion is on the east side of a major road while all the museums, planes and parking are on the other side. We get in line to board the next bus that will drive visitors across the road and up to the mansion which sits an eighth of a mile from the road. We are handed tablets and ear buds that will be used to guide us through the house.

Front of Mansion

There is a lot of staff working to herd visitors from the bus and up to the front entrance in an orderly manner and only letting people in as the prior group has departed the front rooms.

Nice Stained Glass Divider

Upstairs Off Limits

The audio tour explains each room and also directs visitors from room to room. The upstairs is not part of the tour.

Dining Room

Kitchen

Almost all of the rooms are decorated in unusual and flamboyant ways. Given Elvis died in 1977, it makes sense that the colors and styles were right out of the seventies. Let’s just say there was a lot of shag carpeting!

The Jungle Room

Billiard Room with Unusual Wall and Ceiling Treatment

TV Room

Being a large house but with normal size hallways, moving around with a lots of other people is a bit of a challenge. Where it became even more challenging was when we crossed paths with one of the VIP tours. They tend to move more slowly but I was able to hear some of the extra stories the tour guides talk about that the tablet doesn’t cover.

Business Office

The grounds are quite large so when we make it outside, it seems a bit less claustrophobic. and there are stables for the horses Elvis used to own.

Stable Area

Back of Mansion

Some of the outbuildings like the racquetball building have been turned into additional museum space. There are lots of things on display - old family pictures, info about his time serving in the military and plenty of tacky old furniture that used to be in the house.

Display Cases

Family Portraits

What s Sofa!

Lots of people were lingering near the various graves on the side lawn. Besides Elvis’ grave, his parents, a grandmother and his daughter and grandson are all buried there.

Stained Glass in Memorial Area

Elvis' Grave

As we moved on past the graves, I spotted a few horses out in a field. Of courses when I tried to get closer to take a picture, I was reprimanded by the staff to stay away from the horse field. The pool area looks to be quite nice.

Leave the Horses Alone

Pool

We walk back up to the front of the mansion and are offered the opportunity to get additional photos or selfies then board the next bus to take us across the street back to the other Graceland museums. The main museum has lots of rooms with different aspects from Elvis’ past.

1956 Eldorado

Trike

The car collection is rather impressive with at least a dozen cars and many motorcycles.

1959 Eldorado Convertible

More Motorcycles

By now we were rather hungry so we headed over to one of the restaurants operating on the grounds. Vernon’s Smokehouse had some decent barbecue that hit the spot. Then it was back into the rest of the museum rooms. There were displays about some of his movies. A few days later, we found a couple of them available to stream and continued our Elvis experience.

Jailhouse Rock

Another section had dozens of the elaborate outfits that he wore either at various concerts or movie roles. We would later find some of these costumes available at the gift shops. The prices were a little extreme and I doubt they would fit so I passed on getting one.

Quite the Jumpsuit Collection

Another section has all the awards Elvis got for his songs. A huge wall was covered with hundreds of gold and platinum records.

A Wall of Music Awards

Another area was dedicated to Lisa Marie Presley - his one daughter. There was a lot of things from her short life.

Lisa Marie Collection

The last things to tour are Elvis’ two planes. The larger jet is named after his daughter Lisa Marie. This one you can actually walk through. Up front is the living room, in the middle is the dining room and the rear is the bedroom. The smaller jet called Hound Dog II was used primarily for his manager and staff during concert tours.

The Lisa Marie

Inside Large Jet

The Smaller Hound Dog II

When done, we walked back across the street to get some pictures of the gate and stone wall. I was surprised to see how the wall is full of graffiti.

Graffiti Cover Wall Surrounding Graceland

It was a short visit to Memphis. I’m guessing that there is likely much more to see and do but we need to continue west with our next stop back in the Little Rock Arkansas area for 4 nights.