Tennessee Travelers October Rally – Crossville, TN – Days 5 & 6

The main group activity for Friday was a tour of the now closed Brushy MountainState Prison but we elected to pass on the tour and make the 50 minute drive south on US-127 to Oren Wooden’s Apple House located just east of Pikeville, TN.  Running from southern MI to northern AL, you may be familiar with this road as home to the World’s Longest Yard Sale each summer.

It’s been several years since we drove thru the Sequatchie Valley and it was as pretty as I remember it, even though the grass was still dry from our drought.  We arrived at Wooden’s to discover that many others had the same idea as the parking lot was about full.

The bottom floor was about what I expected but with less of the jarred items (jellies, vegetables, etc) found in most tourist stores.  They had plentry of apples and good looking sweet potatoes though.

The upstairs was devoted to craft type items ranging from quilts to birdhouses.

They also had a pie shop and a café with a small buffet and this seemed to be where most of the customers were located.

We left Wooden’s with apples, sweet potatoes, cider, and an apple pie.

An unpicked orchard across the street.  They annually pick about 4-5 million apples from their 100 acres along with pumpkins, squash, and sweet potatoes.

On the way home we stopped at Simonton’s Cheese House for some gourmet cheese then at the Chestnut Hill Winery for some of Bev’s favorite Peach Wine.

That evening, we drove northwest of downtown Crossville for supper at Vegas Steakhouse & Lounge which is a nice looking restaurant just south of I-40 on N. Main St.  I enjoyed a nicely grilled piece of tuna with salad and roasted potatoes ($14.95) but Bev didn’t care for her Excalibur Beef Tips over rice ($14.95).  I would think a steakhouse would do mediocre on the fish but great with tenderloin beef tips – go figure.

On Saturday, we buttoned up the coach, said our good-byes, and headed back to Greenback in time to watch West Virginia get slaughtered by Oklahoma, as expected.

With no more trips planned, it’s time to put the coach to bed for the winter.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/18-10/19/19 event dates