Drive Across the United States: Day Six Nashville to Virginia

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Tennessee is by the far the longest state on our drive across the United States.  We started in the far southwestern corner and drove the entire length of the state to the northeast corner at Bristol.  Our day ended right across the Tennessee/Virginia border in Abingdon, VA.

I lived in Nashville for two years and had just visited three months before.  This trip we decided to sleep-in a little and get rolling by 9 am.  The drive across Tennessee is long and there is not much to see outside the major cities.
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Knoxville is the major city in eastern Tennessee and has some nice sites.  For our trip I wanted to stop at McKay’s Books right along the freeway.  We had stopped here in 2016 to wait out a major rainstorm.  McKay’s is an awesome used book, music, movies store with 5 locations in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Before hitting McKay’s we stopped and had lunch at our only fast-food restaurant of the trip, Zaxby’s.  Zaxby’s is a Georgia-based chicken chain with locations throughout the southeast.  Zaxby’s chicken tenders had ranked top on a national list so we had to try them out.

After lunch, we spent an hour at McKay’s and bought a ton of books and even some CDs.  The store is huge, with two levels and I found all kinds of bargains.

From Knoxville it is a short distance to the Virginia border.  At this point you are hitting the edge of the Appalachian Mountains and the scenery improves.  On our last cross-country trip we had stayed in the scenic town of Abingdon, Virginia.

Near Abingdon is the Creeper Trail, a classic bike trail down a mountain.  We wanted to try this trail so decided to spend our last night in Abingdon.  We picked the Comfort Inn for $80 a night.  I booked directly through the Choice Hotel program because they offered some nice incentives.

For dinner we knew we wanted to hit the Bone Fire Smokehouse and Musictorium in downtown Abingdon.  This is a BBQ joint that features live music.  They have a cool sauce bar with a wide variety.  BBQ is not Virginia’s strong suit, but this place is all about atmosphere.

For an overview of this trip and other cross-country road trips we have taken be sure and see our guide.

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For our day five tour of Memphis go here.

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For tomorrow’s final leg including a 17-mile bike ride on the Creeper Trail go here

Drive Across the United States: Day Seven Creeper Trail and Virginia

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