Jeeping - June 28-30, 2019

For the second year in a row, The Husband and I (along with his sister and her husband) participated in the TN Trailjam at the Loretta Lynn Ranch near Waverly, Tennessee. 

Now, don't get the idea that we are hard-core trail enthusiasts.  Except for letting our grandchildren drive our Wrangler in the fields around our house, our Jeep had never been off-road until last year's trail ride.  We don't have big honkin' mud tires, lift kits, fancy suspension, and all that stuff.  Our 1998 Wrangler is stock; until recently, it was my everyday drive-to-work vehicle. 

We left Friday morning, stopped in town for breakfast, then made our way to Lexington, Tennessee on back-roads.  We'd booked two cabins at Natchez Trace State Park, but check-in time wasn't until 4 p.m., so we had time for another of our favorite activities, shopping in flea markets, before heading to the park.

The cabins were clean and stocked with linens and kitchen necessities, but there was no television or internet.  We stowed our stuff, then drove back to Pin Oak Lodge for its Friday night seafood buffet, which was . . . okay, as far as buffets go.  Afterward, we went back to the cabins, built a fire in the fire pit (despite the fact that it was about 200 degrees outside), and sat around and talked for a while.  One down-side to these cabins is that they do not have comfortable outdoor seating.  There were picnic tables outside each cabin.  Ours was weathered and somewhat green with moss (I suppose that's what it was), and I was a bit reluctant to sit at it for fear of stains on my pants and splinters in my butt and elbows.  Our cabin also came with a mouse, which I discovered during the middle of the night when I heard crackling noises from the kitchen and got up to find that our potato chip bag had been invaded. 

After breakfast, we headed to the trail ride.  We'd planned to join a Jeep trail to a local winery, but we didn't make it in time, so we just scoped out the vendor area and the various events.  There was a "Barbie Jeep" race, where full-grown adults rode their kids' toys down a steep hill.  It was pretty funny, except for one guy who dislocated his shoulder when his ride flipped and he took a bad fall.  After that, we drove around to the hill climb and watched as a few brave souls powered their Jeeps up a steep hill.  If our tires had been more aggressive, we'd have tried it, ourselves!  When we'd had enough of the mid-day heat, it was time to ride a trail in the shady woods. 

We stayed on the easy trail.  It was quite a bit longer than it was last year, and not quite as muddy.  We crept along the trail without incident.  About halfway through, we noticed a group of Jeeps had pulled off in an open field to watch another hill climb.  This hill was big and steep.  We watched a monster off-road vehicle go up it, but the sun was so hot that we gave up and went back to the trail before we saw whether or not any of the tricked-out Jeeps were going to attempt it.

It was almost 4 p.m. by the time we finished the trail, and we were all hungry.  There was food at the Trailjam, but we were hot and wanted to sit down to a meal in someplace cool.  We drove back to the group of businesses near the interstate and ate at Rochelle's, a barbeque joint.  My sloppy hamburger was hand-patted and delicious.  The Husband wasn't all that impressed with his rib dinner (but, to be fair, we live near a place that serves the best ribs in the world, so his standard is pretty high). 

The heat and dust and the jostling had pretty much sapped us all, so after we ate we called it a day and went back to our cool cabins.  The next morning, we packed up and headed home, traveling different back-roads just to see something different.  After three days of mostly driving in the heat, it sure was good to come home and stretch out on the couch.