Dayton, Tennessee

Crossville, Tennessee

Weather: low 66 degrees, high 76 degrees, cloudy skies, heavy rain late in the afternoon

This is the Rhea County courthouse, located in Dayton, Tennessee. More on our visit to Dayton later in this post.

Heavy rain showers passed through the area late last night, then again late this afternoon. At least the rainy weather held off long enough for people to enjoy their holiday and the fireworks. And it helped keep the temperatures low, which is why we came up here.

We took another road trip today, going south on Tennessee 68 to Spring City, where we picked up US 27 to Dayton. Then we drove west on Tennessee 30 to Pikeville to US 127 which we drove north on and back to Crossville. That sounds like a lot of driving, but it really wasn't. In addition, the scenery along the way was beautiful, and it seemed as though it took little time to drive between the different places. We drove through high hills, beautiful little valleys, interesting little towns, farm land, woods, and just plain old beautiful country. The worse part of the trip was that we had to go over a couple of mountains, which didn't help Carolyn's vertigo.

The highlight of our trip was the visit to Dayton, where the famous Scopes Trial was held as a publicity stunt by the town's leaders. For those who don't know about the trial, this was a trial that brought a teacher before the court for teaching evolution in the local high school. William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor and Clarence Darrow was defense attorney. The trial is credited with starting a decline in the teaching of evolution that was not reversed until the 1960s. An oddity of the aftermath of the trial is that William Jennings Bryan died five days after the trial ended. It's too bad that Dayton is remembered for this trial because the area has a lot to offer without that bit of bizarre history.

When we left Dayton, we drove west over Walden Ridge, which means we went up a steep road, then drove down a steep road to get to US 127. That part of the trip caused Carolyn some problems. Once we got to the top of the mountain and started down, we could see glimpses of the beautiful Sequatchie Valley, where Pikeville is located. From Pikeville, it was a fairly easy drive back to Crossville and the RV.

In the afternoon, we watched golf on TV and did some reading. After supper, I dumped our holding tanks. We have to decide tomorrow whether we'll stay here a few more days or move on to new places. Stay tuned to find out.

More later, be safe.

Today's town - Dayton, Tennessee: Home Of The Tennessee Strawberry Festival

Not all who wander are lost.