After breakfast we read more about the history of the only lighthouse in West Virginia – how it was a damaged wind generation base and all – so we were eager to climb to the top – something we were fairly certain we were entitled to for camping there (with no toilet/shower facilities.)

Turns out it was locked.  Turns out no part of our registration information had the code.  Turns out no one answered their phone at 9AM when they were supposed to be open.  So we consoled ourselves that – with the rain and fog – we wouldn’t see anything anyway and we hit the road for more mountainous interstate driving in the rain.

First on our agenda was a stop in Bristol Tennessee to see Scott Krelle, who took over many of the VideoRay training tasks from Tom.  After some confusion on where to meet, we parked Kahn and Polo and went to Pals Sudden Service , which Scott Krelle assured us was better than In-N-Out in California.  Scott should know, after retiring from a Sheriff’s department in Northern California a few years ago.  Always anxious to try local cuisine, we all ate burgers (and Tom added a hot dog,) and we had to agree that a Pals burger was great.

[ [ If we took a picture of Pal’s, it would be here ] ]

We then took a tour of downtown Bristol in Scott Krelle’s truck, and learned that it is in both Tennessee and Virginia, though Scott K assured us that the Tennessee part is nicer.  It is, in fact, the home of country music and Scott K had lots of good stories of the last days of Hank Williams.  It is near Kingsport, TN, where the next MATE competition will be held, so both Tom and Scott B promised to return in June.

After our too-brief visit with Scott K, we went to our planned stop in Bush’s Visitors Center https://www.bushbeans.com/en_US/about-us/visitor-center in Chestnut Hill, TN.  This has been featured in the Wall Street Journal within the last few weeks, but the lady greeting us was not impressed when Scott told her that is where he heard of the center. It is across the street from a huge Bush Bean cannery, and was well worth the slight detour on our way to Huntsville.  We learned everything you could want to know (did you know 20-25% of the Navy Beans grown in the US are purchased by Bush?), except Scott wanted to learn more about the lifecycle of the bean plant and corporation information – they never said whether it is a C Corp, and S Corp, or an LLC, though there was fascinating information on their strategic planning and board expansion.

On crossing the French Broad River, we noticed the water levels were significantly down. There were several For Sale signs touting “Waterfront Property” and we wondered if that still applied?

After purchasing some of the more exotic types and sizes of beans in the gift shop, we headed to our evening camping location – a Harvest Host location Bradley’s Pit BBQ and Sweet Spot .  As promised, they had good BBQ and Electric at $20/night, but the water was turned off.  For his evening meal Scott had the Sloppy Pig.

Internet was a bit spotty, so we deployed Starlink.  Since amazingly we’re going to by passing Ruby Falls a second time in Khan, we made plans for a full day tomorrow of caving there, then seeing Tom’s Niece Christine Fisher Easterwood in Scottsboro, AL, then seeing John and Elaine Hubbard in Huntsville AL.