900 miles in two days

Roan Mountain, Tennessee, camping

Whew! We left early Monday when the birds were still stitching their songs. A long road took us to Roan Mountain, Tennessee, to camp overnight. I can't stop thinking about how long it would have taken the pioneers to travel that distance in a covered wagon. Or how these forests full of fresh green and bright purple trees would have looked, say, 500 years ago, when only the First Peoples were here. How it would have been to travel through the woods and hills on foot or horseback, at a slow, absorbent pace, instead of gliding along highways doing a mile a minute...