May 14-15, 2015: I'm On The Road, Again! The Start of the Presidential Leg

After a tearful goodbye, I headed off in the RV to attend my nephew's graduation in Colorado, while Jack stayed "back at the ranch" so he could attend Zach's graduation in North Carolina.  I started my trip by heading up to High Point, NC to exchange some LED lights I had purchased online for the RV so the owner could make sure I was getting the right ones this time.  He wasn't going to be available until Friday morning, so I stayed in a town a few miles up the road.  Stopped at a nice park in town overlooking a popular fishing lake to have dinner, then back to the local WalMart for a bit of shopping.

Next morning, I headed to the shop and the owner got me all squared away and back on the road through the Blue Ridge Mountain towns of Grandfather Mountain, Boone, Blowing Rock and Banner Elk, NC and on into Tennessee.  Rhododendron was in bloom and was gorgeous in purples and pinks.

I stopped at Andrew Johnson's home in Greeneville, Tennessee a bit late in the afternoon.  Found a place to park and visited the multiple components of this National park.   They have a small museum in the visitor center, his original tailor shop, his first home in Greeneville (born in Raleigh, NC) and his retirement home.

Andrew Johnson's Original Tailor Shop

The interior of the Tailor Shop with the statue of Andrew Johnson just visible in outside the window

Johnson's first home in Greeneville

The parlor in the Retirement Home

Johnson's grandchild's bedroom

Johnson's Retirement Home in Greeneeville

For the trivia minded folks, here are some interesting items about Andrew Johnson:

His father died when he was a toddler in Raleigh, NC, and his mother apprenticed him for six years to a tailor where he learned the trade.  He got into trouble with a neighbor for throwing rocks when he was about 12 and ran away, with the tailor posting a reward for his capture and return.  He finally settled in Greeneville, Tennessee as a older teenager, working as tailor.  He married, his education entirely self-taught, and involved himself in politics through state legislature, Governor, U.S. Senator and eventually chosen by Abraham Lincoln to be his running mate (Democrat).  He became president in 1865 and mostly continued Lincoln's legacy, but angered the Republican legislature so badly with his strict constitutional views about primacy of state's rights after the end of the Civil War, the House impeached him, but the Senate acquitted him by ONE vote.  He was the only President to get back into politics after leaving the Presidency and won election to the US Senate.  Interesting stuff.

My plans for a campground was in the Cherokee National Forest, but I did not know it was way in the forest in the mountains via a twisting, mountainous road.  Made it okay, got the last site available, only to find I had no phone service and knew Jack would be worried.  Luckily, text messaging worked even without enough strength for a phone call and we chatted that way.  Nice evening in the woods, listening to a rushing river just down the hill.