US Highway 19

Today I drove most of the day down US Highway 19. While I was on the road for most of the day, it was a very enjoyable drive through the mountains of West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. I was also filled with really good food.

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I left the hotel in Virginia around 7am and went to find an auto parts store that would read out the computer on my care, as I had a warning light come on that the dash that is supposed to mean that the tire pressure monitor is malfunctioning. It came on twice for a few minutes the night before and then went out. This has happened before and it turned out to be some sort of electrical interference. Neither AutoZone or NAPA would read it out, but the locale Goodyear was able to help me out, but didn't find any error codes pop up. If it happens again, I'll stop at a Hyundai dealership sometime next week.

After leaving Wytheville around 8. I decided to take a detour since I would arrive at my next destination (lunch) way too early if I went straight there. I decided to drive up I-77 north towards Bluefield and pick up US 19 up there. That turned out to be a great decision since there were two tunnels through mountains on I-77. I've always thought that tunnels through mountains are some of the coolest engineering feats. Unfortunately, Bluefield itself wasn't very interesting, as it was very empty and rundown. From there turned onto US 19, which I would follow for the rest of the day.

This highway would be my friend for the rest of the day

I followed US 19 back into Virginia and through Bristol and made it to my first destination, Ridgewood BBQ right as they opened at 11am. They even had a line of people out front waiting for

I've waited almost 8 years for this

them to open, so I knew I was making a good choice for lunch. I had tried to go here before a number of years ago on a road trip with some friends to Atlanta, but when we had arrived that time, they were closed for the afternoon. This time, however, they were open and they didn't disappoint. The baked beans were literally the best I've ever had, just the right level of tangy-ness. I got a mixed BBQ platter with both beef and pork, which was kind of like pit beef and pit ham, but smothered in BBQ

Simply Yum

sauce and with crispy edges. And lastly, the blue cheese dipping sauce was amazing with the fries. It was almost like a light tiger sauce, but was blue cheese. After that, I got back on the road and followed US 19E through the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. US 19 splits into and east route and and west route and meets back up a bit north of Asheville. These mountains reminded a lot of the Adirondacks, with their prominent peaks and similar slopes, but maybe a little greener than the upstate New York mountains that I'm very familiar with. I prefer mountains like these over the ridge-like ones you find in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

I've always enjoyed driving on rural highways through the Appalachians, as they offer some of the coolest landscapes you can find on the east coast. The only issue is that there wasn't good cell service along the way, so I missed being able to listen to the NASCAR race along the way. I'll have to put myself in a better position to listen to tomorrow's race while driving.

I made may way past Asheville and back into the mountains and eventually made it to Georgia, where I came across the most winding and curvy road I have ever been on. US 19 through the Chattahoochee National Forest was a drive with steeply banked winding corners down a mountain, which happens to be close to the southern terminus of the Appalachian trail. It was a fun drive that I wasn't expecting, but I'm real glad I made sure to do it before sunset.

After the road straightened out, I turned off of US 19 and stopped in Dawsonville, Georgia for dinner at the Dawsonville Pool Room. The Dawsonville Pool Room is known for celebrating their

This place was definitely hopping when Chase won last weekend

hometown NASCAR drivers, Bill Elliott and his son, Chase, whenever they win by blasting air sirens all night long. Inside is filled with racing memorabilia involving the Elliott's. And the food didn't

Hmm, I have some ideas for my next HVAC design

disappoint either. I had a surprisingly good cheese burger, and the largest "small" salad I've ever seen. And all for only $10. Its no wonder that the place was so busy for a seemingly "hole-in-the-wall" shop.

That's a small salad? Good thing I didn't get the large

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After finishing dinner, I made my way back to US 19, at this point in suburbia and am now at a Holiday Inn Express about a hour north of Atlanta. I got a great deal on a large room for only $70, just $5 more than the "okay" room that I had last night.

Real nice room

I think tomorrow I'm going to start heading west.