July 30 – Susannah started her day with a crack-of-dawn run with colleague Cynthia, a Nashville resident, who gave an informative and athletic tour of the Vanderbilt and Centennial Park parts of Nashville. So nice to have running company!

Then we all feasted on slow-cooked groats with nuts and berries (new fave – definitely going to make this at home!) at Krisi’s before getting on the road to continue east to the Smokies. Tennessee is a really wide state, and losing an hour because of the time zone change didn’t help.

After a couple of stops for groceries, we rolled into our verdant, brookside campsite at Cosby campground in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and connected with our friends Matt and Hillary and their kids at an adjacent campsite. We dined on burgers and dogs (vegan style) at our blazing (and smoking!) campfire and rounded out the meal with more s’mores and wine (limited selection in eastern TN…)

The girls shared a small tent for the night (think any of them actually slept?) and we all managed to weather the rain that fell all night – our first significant rain while camping.

Day 32: Nashville TN to Cosby TN – 244 miles.