Days 15 & 16 - 1/8 & 1/9 Knoxville, TN

Yesterday, we left New Orleans for Knoxville. On the way out of the city, we crossed Lake Pontchartrain, which is HUGE. The bridge seemed to go on forever. Mississippi was a fairly boring state to pass through via I-59. The landscape didn't vary much: very tall trees, creeks, & cattle farms.
One "fun" thing about MS was our second gas light scare of the trip. We knew it was time to get gas, but then none of the towns we passed seemed to have a station near the highway. Finally, as we came into Meridian, MS (and our trip mileage hit 5,000) we found a gas station. ::Insert sigh of relief::
Alabama looks like Pennsylvania from the highway: lots of mountains & trees. We encountered our first snowflakes of the trip in AL also. Just a few though. Nothing that stuck or caused driving problems.
As we crossed the border from AL into Chattanooga, TN, we entered back into the Eastern time zone after being gone for the past 2 weeks and one day. This somehow made Jolene feel a little bit back to normal.
After 9 hours of fairly uneventful driving, we arrived in Knoxville. We checked into a decent hotel (nicer than all of the motor lodges of the trip). After some rest at the hotel, we headed out to dinner & a movie. We ate at a nice (new) restaurant called the Smokey Mountain Brewing Co. After a scrumptious dinner, we headed to the also brand new IMAX theater across the street to see "Avatar". What a spectacular movie. Beautifully done. James Cameron has still got it (and then some).
Having seen a late movie, we didn't make it back to our room until about 2:00 am. After pj putting on & teeth brushing, we were in bed and ready for a good night sleep without the restraints of an early wake up by about 2:30am. At 2:45 am, the fire alarm went off in the hotel. It went off and on a few times before we finally put some clothes on and trudged down to the lobby to find out what was going on. Others were gathered there, but no one seemed to know anything. The only hotel employee in sight was on the telephone and we heard him tell someone that this was NOT a false alarm. Rick & I trudged back up to our room to get coats, gloves, the laptop, Rick' iPod & Jolene's purse. Back down we went, to find everyone going outside. After enjoying the humor of the situation of freezing our booties off in Knoxville, we made our way back into the lobby. The official story was that a homeless man made his way to the public bathroom & started a fire. The first floor was flooded thanks to the sprinkler system going off. Luckily we were on the second floor, so back to bed we went. The alarm never really stopped going off, & sleep was hard to come by for Jo. Rick, typically, slept like a log.
Today, we slept in. Yay! When we finally got ourselves out of bed and moving, we went to Cracker Barrel for brunch. Eating in a Cracker Barrel in TN is such a different experience than eating in one in Mt. Holly, NJ. In TN, 75% of the wait staff are sweet little old ladies, unlike the parolees and crackheads of Mt. Holly. Also, the southern twang heard throughout the place adds a certain authenticity to biscuits & gravy and grits. After stuffing ourselves silly on southern breakfast grub, Rick took Jolene for a mini-tour of The University of Tennessee. We drove by buildings where he had classes, the stadium where he watched many a football games, the library (of course), and even the parking lot he used frequently. We also went up into the Sunsphere (which is left over from the World's Fair that was held in Knoxville in 1982). It offers an amazing view of all of Knoxville. After this nostalgic tour, we headed back to the hotel for a nap before our evening plans. Jolene met up with a new friend for dinner while Rick tried to find some old friends. Both worked out well. Jolene & Sarah really hit it off. For those of you who don't know, Jolene met Sarah online. ::GASP:: We both participate in a message board and through posting came to realize that we have a bit in common. From there, we developed a long distance friendship. Sort of reminiscent of "pen pals". Rick ran into Jeff at the infamous Rick's Place. Rick thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Jeff, his friend from almost a decade ago. He is still the loveable guy Rick left behind. While all the news of the individuals Rick befriended during his time in Knoxville wasn't pleasant, he truly appreciated Jeff taking the time to meet up with him. We eventually all met up (including Sarah's husband Brad) at Rick's Place for a few drinks.
Now it is time for bed. Tomorrow we leave Knoxville for the last 650 miles of our trip.