Relax in Crossville, Tennessee

I am in Crossville, Tennessee today on my way to Florida. 

It's a quaint little town east of Nashville with Highway 127 running right through it.  

It was quite an adventure driving here from Kentucky on the way to Florida. I was driving after dark on a narrow country road that was hilly and had hairpin turns, and no street lights. A large owl flew out of a tree and scared me.  I kept thinking about the movie "Deliverance".  I finally arrived.   I stayed at a chain hotel just off the I-40 interchange. 

Why didn't I look at the route Google had plotted for me in advance!

 I had selected Crossville because my online research said it had a yarn store, a bike shop, a bookstore or two, and a coffee shop.  

On arriving downtown, I found the town still has diagonal parking spots along the main square.   It is Presidents Day, and several of the businesses were closed.

It also has a locally-owned drugstore!

  That is a rarity these days as the big chain stores have most put competing drugstores on each corner, then folded, leaving residents with a CVS or the pharmacy in their big-box  grocery store. 

The Yarn Patch was just around the corner from the square.  The owner, Heather, was just opening up as I walked up.  She placed a couple of sandwich signs on the sidewalk advertising locally-sourced yarn.  

The yarn store was delightful.

Heather carries supplies and equipment for knitting, crochet, spinning and embroidery, including sashiko.

After looking over the yarn in the store, I took a walk downtown. There was a giant boot on the sidewalk next door. 

The bike shop was not what I expected. It was a power sports center with Motorbikes, but it appeared to be out of business.  

There was a fantastic mural along the side of one of the buildings downtown. There may be more, but I was on foot.  

I had a cup of coffee at the Grinder shop across the street from the yarn store.  

Heather had advised me about a new book store in town, and I drove out to see it, but it seemed that it was closed due to being President's Day.  

There was a Buc-ees along the way, I stopped. What a crazy place!!  Lots of kitchy-type stuff and barbecued food.  I skipped at went to The Cabin restaurant a few miles down the road, where I had hush puppies like my mom used to make and a fabulous salad. 

Then it was time to hit the road for the next stop on this tour.